Transparency News 6/8/15
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Virginia Coalition for Open Government View this email in your browser
Monday, June 8, 2015
State and Local Stories
The FOIA Council Meetings and Records Subcommittees and the Proprietary Records Work Group will meet June 17 and 18.
In an effort to better avoid conflicts of interest, Virginia Beach has revamped a disclosure form used to shed light on transactions involving developers, bankers and contractors. It's twice as long as the previous version and asks for more details. It comes in the wake of state and federal probes into votes taken by some members of the City Council. Applicants for a wide variety of items - including rezoning requests, conditional-use permits and wetlands projects - must complete the disclosure. It asks about the people and companies involved, property ownership and services provided by accountants, architects, purchasers, builders, engineers, banks, attorneys and real estate brokers. The updated, four-page document contains more clearly defined boxes for that information and more detailed instructions. Like its predecessor, it also asks whether any public official or city employee has a stake in the request.
Virginian-Pilot
In two of the most competitive House of Delegates races in the state — one held by a Newport News Republican and the other by a Williamsburg Democrat — the big money is betting on incumbency. And even when incumbents face an easy — unopposed — ride back into office, they're raking in thousands from special interests with long General Assembly wish lists, the latest campaign finance reports filed at the state Department of Elections show.
Daily Press
In 1997, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression brought the Rev. Jerry Falwell and pornographer Larry Flynt together for a debate on freedom of speech and expression. Not surprisingly, Director Josh Wheeler and former Director Bob M. O’Neil both cite the debate between Falwell and Flynt one of the center’s greatest moments. The center’s uncompromising stance on expression — that it’s all in bounds — has aligned it with extremists on the left and right, Westboro Baptist Church members picketing military funerals, online gossip writers and high school newspaper editors. It’s a message Wheeler said he wants to spread as the center approaches its 25th anniversary in September. This week, the center will begin raising money to create a mobile version of its First Amendment Monument — the chalkboard on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall where visitors can write anything they want. This year, the center plans to bring a scaled-down version of the monument to communities around the region and beyond. This “Mobile Monument,” as Wheeler calls it, will provide more than 400 square feet of chalkboard space on a 20-foot shipping container that has public exhibits inside. The tour is set to begin with the 2015 Lockn’ Music Festival in September.
Daily Progress
District 1 Supervisor Walt Zaremba fired back at his primary opponent Friday over criticisms she'd made over his work on the Historic Triangle Collaborative. "It's apparent that my opponent doesn't know anything about the HTC," he said. Rebekah Sandridge, who is challenging Zaremba in Tuesday's Republican primary, questioned the propriety of a group that receives public funding holding meetings that are not open to the public. Zaremba questioned Sandridge's motives in raising the issue. "Attacks such as the one launched in that article by my opponent are exactly why our political system is so polarized. While my fellow HTC members and I would have no problem debating the merits of private versus public meetings, clearly fostering such a debate was not Ms. Sandridge's intent when she misstated facts on this matter," Zaremba said. "Her intentional choice of words such as 'lobbyist' and 'secretive back room sessions' were intended to discredit and defame. However, to knowingly misstate facts not only casts doubt on the integrity of the speaker but is anything but transparent." Zaremba cited the fact that Sandridge said the minutes of the group are secret. "They are right there on the HTC website," Zaremba said. "None of HTC's members are lobbyists, past or present. What members are is the president of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the president of the College, the executive director of the Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation, the elected officials of the three jurisdictions and their administrators, just to name a few," Zaremba went on. "All of us freely offer our time, energy and experience to this committee in service to our community. We want to avoid having our discussions devolve into the same, self-serving, mind numbing rants on 'what's in it for me' that too often occurs when certain individuals come to the table"
Virginia Gazette
It would take the tuition and fees paid by 62 students to finance the annual compensation of the president of George Mason University, 54 to pay the University of Virginia president’s salary, and 46 to support Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao’s paycheck. That analysis by The Chronicle for Higher Education finds that the salaries of top executives at six of the seven Virginia public institutions included in the survey were above the national median for fiscal 2014. U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan’s total compensation of $674,700, including base pay of $494,700, earned her the 17th spot on The Chronicle’s national survey.
Times-Dispatch
The Virginia Supreme Court is putting its process to evaluate judges under the microscope. The planned review comes just months after the General Assembly used the process to justify the ouster of five sitting judges, including veteran Richmond General District Court Judge Birdie H. Jamison. The five whom the legislature did not re-elect to new terms on the bench included three women, two of whom are African-American. The legislature’s action sent shockwaves through the state’s judicial ranks. The concerns have reached Virginia Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons. He wants a second look taken at the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, which relies on surveys of lawyers. He wants to ensure the results are as reliable as advertised.
Richmond Free Press
An old safe gathering dust recently yielded treasures that Del. Joseph Yost hopes will now increase interest in Giles County history. Yost, R-Pearisburg, also the Giles County Historical Society executive director, opened the safe in late April after becoming head of the organization last summer. At first, he said, he couldn’t find the combination — and when he did, it took a former director’s magic touch to finally get the door open. The items inside were worth the wait, Yost said. In the middle of safe, pieces of blue cloth protected 19th century silverware made of real silver. It belonged to the Johnston family, the owners of the first brick home in Giles County, and is now on display next to the society’s museum in Pearisburg. On a hodgepodge of shelves were documents like a charter for the local Daughters of the Confederacy, old maps of the area, old silver dollars and silver shot glasses. Tucked into one small compartment of the safe were two land grant charters for George Pearis for the land in and around present day Pearisburg signed by two governors.
Roanoke Times
National Stories
The Duggar family apparently didn't understand the facts regarding the police report involving their son Josh Duggar's molestation allegations. The city attorney in Springdale, Arkansas, subtly struck back Thursday, after the reality TV parents from "19 Kids and Counting" said the release of the 2006 police report was illegal because the children involved were minors. Not so fast. While Springdale City Attorney Ernest B. Cate never mentioned the Duggars by name, he did say in a statement Thursday that the police report in question was released under a Freedom of Information Act request on May 20, which was a day before In Touch magazine published that report online.
Mercury News
Records from the State Department's office of inspector general reveal the agency watchdog has taken early steps toward investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address and server during her time as secretary of state. Steven Linick, State's inspector general since June 2013, signaled his office is making "preliminary" preparations for a larger probe of the policies that allowed Clinton to determine which of her official communications she wanted to withhold from the public, according to documents obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group Cause of Action.
Washington Examiner
Even with college costs and student debt in the national spotlight, the pay packages — and especially the benefits — of public university presidents continue to grow. The median salary for public university presidents was $428,250 in the 2014 fiscal year, up about 7 percent from the previous year, according to an annual survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The survey included data on 238 chief executives at 220 public universities and systems in the United States. Two presidents earned more than $1 million: Rodney A. Erickson of Pennsylvania State University, at $1.49 million, and R. Bowen Loftin of Texas A & M, who stepped down during the year, at $1.12 million. Joseph A. Alutto of Ohio State, an interim president whose term ended last year, was third, at $996,000. But it is not only the money that is substantial. “This year, we took a close look at the perks and benefits, and found that 80 percent of these presidents are getting housing and cars,” said Sandhya Kambhampati, a reporter at The Chronicle who compiled the data. “There were also presidents who got maid service, personal trainers and food stipends. The list of benefits has grown from previous years.”
New York Times
The question of whether the federal Freedom of Information Act is an effective tool was hotly debated at a two-day hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. Requesters answered emphatically that the FOIA process is broken, but agency employees disagreed. FOIA requesters including reporters and watchdog groups testified before the committee on Tuesday, addressing the FOIA barriers they’ve encountered, including backlogs, request delays, excessive redactions, and unreasonable fees. Government officials responsible for responding to FOIA requests testified on Wednesday morning and, in stark contrast to the countless stories of inefficiency, gave themselves a pat on the back for what they considered to be competence and timeliness in response to FOIA requests.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Editorials/Columns
As we’ve noted several time this year, gerrymandering serves not one purpose but two. It helps the majority party solidify its hold on power. And it also allows incumbents to stay in office as long as they want to. Perhaps we should take a moment to point out the way in which money acts as a force multiplier in the latter regard. Consider, by way of example, the 93rd and 94th House of Delegates districts. Bottom line? If you’re an incumbent, you can expect substantial re-election help from your party, whichever one that is, and from Virginia’s business community. If you’re a challenger, you’re pretty much on your own. Add this financial advantage to the advantage incumbents receive from redistricting, and it’s little wonder Virginia’s General Assembly sometimes resembles less a citizen legislature than a landed aristocracy.
Times-Dispatch
Bill Bolling, a former lieutenant governor, this week denounced the fact that state lawmakers will sit on the council. Created by state law, it will guide legislators and approve trips from lobbyists costing more than $100. "I don't believe any sitting member of the General Assembly should be sitting on the ethics panel," he said, in the story by The Pilot's Patrick Wilson. "I think it's a conflict of interest.... It puts them in a really tough spot when they're being asked potentially to sit in judgment on their colleagues." Indeed it will, which is why composition of the council should be changed. Bolling was in office during the scandal involving Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. The couple were convicted in federal court last year on a host of corruption-related counts. Both McDonnells have appealed. The value of dispassionate, autonomous analysis can't be overstated. If you don't have a stake in the outcome, you're more likely to judge an issue fairly, without playing favorites.
Roger Chesley, Virginian-Pilot
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling believes that state legislators should not serve on the ethics advisory council that was established this year by the General Assembly.
Bolling said he thinks legislators have a natural conflict when they’d be asked to make decisions on fellow legislators. “It puts them in a really tough spot when they’re being asked potentially to sit in judgment on their colleagues,” Bolling said. Virginia legislators have steadfastly insisted that they are the ones who should be policing the actions of fellow members of the General Assembly. Having outsiders digging into legislators’ conduct would become too political with accusations being made simply to influence elections, they say.
Free Lance-Star
For the better part of four years, Pittsylvania County has been in a no-win legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union. That fight has cost the county government nearly $75,000 in legal fees — and untold amounts of time and energy. On Monday, members of the board of supervisors met to discuss the case. There’s time to launch an appeal, but that would only waste more time and more money. The board’s attorney, state Sen. Bill Stanley, thinks a victory has already been won because those outside pastors leading the invocation before board meetings can say Christian prayers. We don’t subscribe to the notion that the county government needs to feel like it won something before it lets this matter drop. Legally, it didn’t win anything. Legislatures all over this country open their meetings with pastors reciting Christian prayers. In Pittsylvania County’s case, the content of the prayer was never the issue, it was the person reciting the prayer. At this point, the wise thing for the county government would be to let Urbanski’s ruling stand and ensure that every pastor in Pittsylvania County who wants to lead the board and the public in voluntary prayer before board meetings is able to do so.
Register & Bee
Virginia Coalition for Open Government View this email in your browser
Monday, June 8, 2015
State and Local Stories
The FOIA Council Meetings and Records Subcommittees and the Proprietary Records Work Group will meet June 17 and 18.
- The Meetings Subcommittee will meet at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17, 2015.
- The Records Subcommittee will meet at 10:00 AM on Thursday, June 18, 2015.
- The Proprietary Records Work Group will meet at Thursday, 1:30 PM on June 18, 2015.
In an effort to better avoid conflicts of interest, Virginia Beach has revamped a disclosure form used to shed light on transactions involving developers, bankers and contractors. It's twice as long as the previous version and asks for more details. It comes in the wake of state and federal probes into votes taken by some members of the City Council. Applicants for a wide variety of items - including rezoning requests, conditional-use permits and wetlands projects - must complete the disclosure. It asks about the people and companies involved, property ownership and services provided by accountants, architects, purchasers, builders, engineers, banks, attorneys and real estate brokers. The updated, four-page document contains more clearly defined boxes for that information and more detailed instructions. Like its predecessor, it also asks whether any public official or city employee has a stake in the request.
Virginian-Pilot
In two of the most competitive House of Delegates races in the state — one held by a Newport News Republican and the other by a Williamsburg Democrat — the big money is betting on incumbency. And even when incumbents face an easy — unopposed — ride back into office, they're raking in thousands from special interests with long General Assembly wish lists, the latest campaign finance reports filed at the state Department of Elections show.
Daily Press
In 1997, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression brought the Rev. Jerry Falwell and pornographer Larry Flynt together for a debate on freedom of speech and expression. Not surprisingly, Director Josh Wheeler and former Director Bob M. O’Neil both cite the debate between Falwell and Flynt one of the center’s greatest moments. The center’s uncompromising stance on expression — that it’s all in bounds — has aligned it with extremists on the left and right, Westboro Baptist Church members picketing military funerals, online gossip writers and high school newspaper editors. It’s a message Wheeler said he wants to spread as the center approaches its 25th anniversary in September. This week, the center will begin raising money to create a mobile version of its First Amendment Monument — the chalkboard on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall where visitors can write anything they want. This year, the center plans to bring a scaled-down version of the monument to communities around the region and beyond. This “Mobile Monument,” as Wheeler calls it, will provide more than 400 square feet of chalkboard space on a 20-foot shipping container that has public exhibits inside. The tour is set to begin with the 2015 Lockn’ Music Festival in September.
Daily Progress
District 1 Supervisor Walt Zaremba fired back at his primary opponent Friday over criticisms she'd made over his work on the Historic Triangle Collaborative. "It's apparent that my opponent doesn't know anything about the HTC," he said. Rebekah Sandridge, who is challenging Zaremba in Tuesday's Republican primary, questioned the propriety of a group that receives public funding holding meetings that are not open to the public. Zaremba questioned Sandridge's motives in raising the issue. "Attacks such as the one launched in that article by my opponent are exactly why our political system is so polarized. While my fellow HTC members and I would have no problem debating the merits of private versus public meetings, clearly fostering such a debate was not Ms. Sandridge's intent when she misstated facts on this matter," Zaremba said. "Her intentional choice of words such as 'lobbyist' and 'secretive back room sessions' were intended to discredit and defame. However, to knowingly misstate facts not only casts doubt on the integrity of the speaker but is anything but transparent." Zaremba cited the fact that Sandridge said the minutes of the group are secret. "They are right there on the HTC website," Zaremba said. "None of HTC's members are lobbyists, past or present. What members are is the president of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the president of the College, the executive director of the Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation, the elected officials of the three jurisdictions and their administrators, just to name a few," Zaremba went on. "All of us freely offer our time, energy and experience to this committee in service to our community. We want to avoid having our discussions devolve into the same, self-serving, mind numbing rants on 'what's in it for me' that too often occurs when certain individuals come to the table"
Virginia Gazette
It would take the tuition and fees paid by 62 students to finance the annual compensation of the president of George Mason University, 54 to pay the University of Virginia president’s salary, and 46 to support Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao’s paycheck. That analysis by The Chronicle for Higher Education finds that the salaries of top executives at six of the seven Virginia public institutions included in the survey were above the national median for fiscal 2014. U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan’s total compensation of $674,700, including base pay of $494,700, earned her the 17th spot on The Chronicle’s national survey.
Times-Dispatch
The Virginia Supreme Court is putting its process to evaluate judges under the microscope. The planned review comes just months after the General Assembly used the process to justify the ouster of five sitting judges, including veteran Richmond General District Court Judge Birdie H. Jamison. The five whom the legislature did not re-elect to new terms on the bench included three women, two of whom are African-American. The legislature’s action sent shockwaves through the state’s judicial ranks. The concerns have reached Virginia Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons. He wants a second look taken at the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, which relies on surveys of lawyers. He wants to ensure the results are as reliable as advertised.
Richmond Free Press
An old safe gathering dust recently yielded treasures that Del. Joseph Yost hopes will now increase interest in Giles County history. Yost, R-Pearisburg, also the Giles County Historical Society executive director, opened the safe in late April after becoming head of the organization last summer. At first, he said, he couldn’t find the combination — and when he did, it took a former director’s magic touch to finally get the door open. The items inside were worth the wait, Yost said. In the middle of safe, pieces of blue cloth protected 19th century silverware made of real silver. It belonged to the Johnston family, the owners of the first brick home in Giles County, and is now on display next to the society’s museum in Pearisburg. On a hodgepodge of shelves were documents like a charter for the local Daughters of the Confederacy, old maps of the area, old silver dollars and silver shot glasses. Tucked into one small compartment of the safe were two land grant charters for George Pearis for the land in and around present day Pearisburg signed by two governors.
Roanoke Times
National Stories
The Duggar family apparently didn't understand the facts regarding the police report involving their son Josh Duggar's molestation allegations. The city attorney in Springdale, Arkansas, subtly struck back Thursday, after the reality TV parents from "19 Kids and Counting" said the release of the 2006 police report was illegal because the children involved were minors. Not so fast. While Springdale City Attorney Ernest B. Cate never mentioned the Duggars by name, he did say in a statement Thursday that the police report in question was released under a Freedom of Information Act request on May 20, which was a day before In Touch magazine published that report online.
Mercury News
Records from the State Department's office of inspector general reveal the agency watchdog has taken early steps toward investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address and server during her time as secretary of state. Steven Linick, State's inspector general since June 2013, signaled his office is making "preliminary" preparations for a larger probe of the policies that allowed Clinton to determine which of her official communications she wanted to withhold from the public, according to documents obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group Cause of Action.
Washington Examiner
Even with college costs and student debt in the national spotlight, the pay packages — and especially the benefits — of public university presidents continue to grow. The median salary for public university presidents was $428,250 in the 2014 fiscal year, up about 7 percent from the previous year, according to an annual survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The survey included data on 238 chief executives at 220 public universities and systems in the United States. Two presidents earned more than $1 million: Rodney A. Erickson of Pennsylvania State University, at $1.49 million, and R. Bowen Loftin of Texas A & M, who stepped down during the year, at $1.12 million. Joseph A. Alutto of Ohio State, an interim president whose term ended last year, was third, at $996,000. But it is not only the money that is substantial. “This year, we took a close look at the perks and benefits, and found that 80 percent of these presidents are getting housing and cars,” said Sandhya Kambhampati, a reporter at The Chronicle who compiled the data. “There were also presidents who got maid service, personal trainers and food stipends. The list of benefits has grown from previous years.”
New York Times
The question of whether the federal Freedom of Information Act is an effective tool was hotly debated at a two-day hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. Requesters answered emphatically that the FOIA process is broken, but agency employees disagreed. FOIA requesters including reporters and watchdog groups testified before the committee on Tuesday, addressing the FOIA barriers they’ve encountered, including backlogs, request delays, excessive redactions, and unreasonable fees. Government officials responsible for responding to FOIA requests testified on Wednesday morning and, in stark contrast to the countless stories of inefficiency, gave themselves a pat on the back for what they considered to be competence and timeliness in response to FOIA requests.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Editorials/Columns
As we’ve noted several time this year, gerrymandering serves not one purpose but two. It helps the majority party solidify its hold on power. And it also allows incumbents to stay in office as long as they want to. Perhaps we should take a moment to point out the way in which money acts as a force multiplier in the latter regard. Consider, by way of example, the 93rd and 94th House of Delegates districts. Bottom line? If you’re an incumbent, you can expect substantial re-election help from your party, whichever one that is, and from Virginia’s business community. If you’re a challenger, you’re pretty much on your own. Add this financial advantage to the advantage incumbents receive from redistricting, and it’s little wonder Virginia’s General Assembly sometimes resembles less a citizen legislature than a landed aristocracy.
Times-Dispatch
Bill Bolling, a former lieutenant governor, this week denounced the fact that state lawmakers will sit on the council. Created by state law, it will guide legislators and approve trips from lobbyists costing more than $100. "I don't believe any sitting member of the General Assembly should be sitting on the ethics panel," he said, in the story by The Pilot's Patrick Wilson. "I think it's a conflict of interest.... It puts them in a really tough spot when they're being asked potentially to sit in judgment on their colleagues." Indeed it will, which is why composition of the council should be changed. Bolling was in office during the scandal involving Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. The couple were convicted in federal court last year on a host of corruption-related counts. Both McDonnells have appealed. The value of dispassionate, autonomous analysis can't be overstated. If you don't have a stake in the outcome, you're more likely to judge an issue fairly, without playing favorites.
Roger Chesley, Virginian-Pilot
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling believes that state legislators should not serve on the ethics advisory council that was established this year by the General Assembly.
Bolling said he thinks legislators have a natural conflict when they’d be asked to make decisions on fellow legislators. “It puts them in a really tough spot when they’re being asked potentially to sit in judgment on their colleagues,” Bolling said. Virginia legislators have steadfastly insisted that they are the ones who should be policing the actions of fellow members of the General Assembly. Having outsiders digging into legislators’ conduct would become too political with accusations being made simply to influence elections, they say.
Free Lance-Star
For the better part of four years, Pittsylvania County has been in a no-win legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union. That fight has cost the county government nearly $75,000 in legal fees — and untold amounts of time and energy. On Monday, members of the board of supervisors met to discuss the case. There’s time to launch an appeal, but that would only waste more time and more money. The board’s attorney, state Sen. Bill Stanley, thinks a victory has already been won because those outside pastors leading the invocation before board meetings can say Christian prayers. We don’t subscribe to the notion that the county government needs to feel like it won something before it lets this matter drop. Legally, it didn’t win anything. Legislatures all over this country open their meetings with pastors reciting Christian prayers. In Pittsylvania County’s case, the content of the prayer was never the issue, it was the person reciting the prayer. At this point, the wise thing for the county government would be to let Urbanski’s ruling stand and ensure that every pastor in Pittsylvania County who wants to lead the board and the public in voluntary prayer before board meetings is able to do so.
Register & Bee
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