Transparency News, 7/11/2022

Monday
July 11, 2022

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state & local news stories

"The system benefits from more information; sheriffs and regional jail superintendents need to see records on what other jails are doing so they can fix or avoid their own problems."

More than 300 employees from five state agencies have resigned since Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Virginia's new telework policy in early May, according to records obtained by 8News. This includes 183 Virginia Department of Transportation employees, 28 of whom cited "telework options" as the reason for leaving. Two VDOT workers who listed telework as the reason did move to another state agency, records obtained by 8News after filing a Freedom of Information Act request show. 8News filed record requests for just seven of the several state agencies in Virginia, five of which reported resignations since Youngkin's telework policy was made public. The data shared with 8News comes from a handful of state divisions and agencies and only represents a small portion of the workers employed by the state.
WRIC

The state officials who review jails found a Northern Virginia sheriff in violation of state regulations after the death of a 46-year-old man who was left unattended by medical staff. The Arlington County Jail submitted a corrective action plan to the state on how officials there plan to comply with minimum state standards following the October 2020 death of Darryl Becton. The state officials at the Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails last month were satisfied and voted in favor of closing their investigation. But what’s in the action plan for the Arlington jail and others that violated state standards? It’s unclear because the board won’t release those plans publicly. The board, through its executive director, cited a discretionary exemption in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act in withholding the action plans in four cases that a board committee voted in June to resolve. The FOIA exemption allows government officials to withhold public records if the records are prepared exclusively for use in a closed meeting. Mark Krudys, a lawyer in Richmond who regularly files litigation over deaths of people in jails, said it’s not just the public and families that should see such records. The system benefits from more information; sheriffs and regional jail superintendents need to see records on what other jails are doing so they can fix or avoid their own problems, he said.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Sometimes even legislators need a little help creating laws. Delegate Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, honored 16 Virginians for their help in creating and passing a baker’s dozen of laws, including two who worked on two bills passed by the General Assembly. The bills were passed into law in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 legislative sessions. Bell gave his Citizen Lawmaker awards at a Thursday event at the Central Branch of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library.
The Daily Progress

In the wake of concerns raised by a small group of residents about possible conflicts of interest, Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler said Thursday she has recently sold at least $50,000 in stock she and her husband held in Blackstone, Inc., the parent company of a firm involved in one of two rezoning applications at the heart of a controversial proposal to create a new data center corridor in the protected “rural crescent” on land adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.
Prince William Times

Former Norfolk Treasurer and Councilman Anthony Burfoot's third request to appeal his 2016 conviction on public corruption charges was denied this week in court. He was sentenced to six years, and served more than three when he was released from federal prison due to coronavirus concerns back in May 2020.
WAVY
 

stories of national interest

"The court held that if government turns over records voluntarily, after being sued but before a judge takes action, the requesters have not prevailed under the law and can no longer seek attorneys fees."

Obtaining public records from reluctant officials could become harder and more expensive after a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling Wednesday about what it means to prevail in open records lawsuits. In a case that started when the city of Waukesha tried to bring summer league baseball to Frame Park in 2017, a divided court found the city didn't violate the law by withholding a draft contract for two months after a citizens group requested it under the open records law. More crucially, the court also held that if government turns over records voluntarily, after being sued but before a judge takes action, the requesters have not prevailed under the law and can no longer seek attorneys fees. "Absent a judicially sanctioned change in the parties' legal relationship, attorney's fees are not recoverable under § 19.37(2)(a)," Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote for the majority.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A federal judge has overruled the District of Columbia’s attempt to toss a lawsuit claiming that, at his former job, Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham created a “watchlist” of lawyers, activists and journalists whose requests for public records would be delayed or denied. Judge James Boasberg denied the district’s request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by attorney Amy Phillips. The suit claimed that Newsham, as chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, designated people whose requests would receive extra scrutiny to limit the release of information that “may lead to criticism of the department.” Phillips’ lawsuit is based on information provided by Vendette Parker, who was MPD’s Freedom of Information Act officer from October 2017 to January 2020. The lawsuit is accompanied by a 12-page statement signed by Parker. In her statement, Parker says that on her first day in the office, she was told by a supervisor that Newsham “felt he was being blindsided as the media and others confronted him with questions regarding records they had obtained from FOIA, records he was unaware had been released.” 
InsideNoVa

editorials & columns

"We need municipalities to preserve and publicly archive these files so we can find ways to do better."

The joint settlement obligates the city to give the Library of Virginia all the body-camera footage from the June 1, 2020, events at the Lee and Stuart monuments, along with radio traffic recordings, dispatch reports and all the relevant policies, among other things. The city must allow these materials to be accessed and reproduced by the public. Additionally, the public can contribute their own videos, pictures and narratives of those events to tell the story of what really happened that day. This collection is a memorial to the victims of the police violence, for there is no memorial better than the truth. This collection will be a repository of information for public policy advocates to study how something like this happens and to discuss how to stop it from happening again. This will be a model for other cities and litigators to address police misconduct in the future. We need municipalities to preserve and publicly archive these files so we can find ways to do better. We need accountability and responsibility.
Andrew Bodoh, The Washington Post