Transparency News 7/18/16
Monday, July 18, 2016
State and Local Stories
The meetings subcommittee of the Virginia FOIA Council will meet TODAY at 10:30: House Room C in the General Assembly Building. No agenda has been posted.
When the Supreme Court of Virginia goes into special session Tuesday, it won't just hear arguments in the blow up between General Assembly Republicans and Gov. Terry McAuliffe over McAuliffe's mass restoration of felon voting rights. The case of four state senators, and two former ones, who were held in contempt of court more than three months ago will come before the state's highest court as well. The justices' decision in this case could reset state policy on just what emails and other documents legislators can keep secret during a lawsuit.
Daily Press
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority is coping with a turnover of more than half its board commissioners after a recent spate of resignations prompted by tougher economic-disclosure rules. Chairman Steve Davis, vice chairman Michael Lewis and commissioners Bud Morrissette and Mark Lowham in mid-June “elected to step down for personal reasons,” said Gerald Gordon, the EDA’s president and CEO. In addition, commissioner Sudhakar Shenoy asked not to be reappointed after 14 years’ service, an action unrelated to the other members’ resignations, said Gordon, who declined to comment further. In their resignation letters, Lewis and Lowham cited the new financial-disclosure rules as the central reason for their departures.
Inside NOVA
Tom McCracken has decided to cease seeking legal action to regain the Catawba District seat on the Roanoke County School Board. During an emotional sermon Sunday at CommUNITY Church, where he is the pastor, McCracken said God asked him to drop the issue because it is a distraction and a burden for his church and family as well as the school district. The board’s focus recently has been on McCracken. He abruptly resigned June 9 before the board voted to approve his wife’s promotion from special education coordinator to assistant principal at Northside High School. Then his lawyer sent a letter to the board last week seeking to rescind the resignation, claiming his colleagues had coerced him into quitting the post so that his wife could be promoted.
Roanoke Times
Ginger Stanley, 67, executive director of the Virginia Press Association for the past 28 years, bid adieu Friday to about 160 friends and associates at her retirement party at the trade association’s office in western Henrico County. Her last day there was June 30. She was honored at Friday’s event for being the voice of the Freedom of Information Act (a law that gives citizens the right to access information from the federal government), for maintaining vigilance and lobbying legislators to ensure a free press and transparent government in Virginia. She also learned at the event that the Virginia Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports journalism in Virginia, had established a fund in her name.
Free Lance-Star
National Stories
Arrested individuals have a privacy interest in preventing the release of their mug shots through the Freedom of Information Act, a divided Sixth Circuit ruled. Thursday's en banc decision (pdf), a 9-7 ruling, overturns a 1996 ruling by the same court, which held that FOIA required the release of booking photos. Detroit Free Press Inc. and the U.S. Department of Justice have been litigating the release of mug shots for over two decades. Judge Deborah L. Cook authored the opinion for the majority, finding that booking photos meet the criteria for exemption 7(c) of FOIA, which includes potentially "embarrassing" personal information.
AllGov
More people face traffic tickets than criminal charges, but until now, only the latter could be looked up online. Next week, however, a new website in Missouri will be opened that will allow ticket holders to search for their records in more than 30 area municipal courts -- a number that is expected to double as the website, municourt.net, becomes more established. The site will show case information, including upcoming hearing dates, money owed and any warrants on tickets. Aside from the convenience of being able to access case information without going to court, it's a huge leap toward transparency for a municipal court system that has for decades operated in secret.
Governing
It's been two years since a U.S. marshal shot and killed a defendant in Salt Lake City's federal courthouse, and federal officials still refuse to release the video or documents related to the incident. Since then, the marshal — who has never been publicly identified — has been cleared and the FBI has closed its investigation of defendant Siale Anguilau's death. But the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have also denied or not yet replied to requests from journalists under the Freedom of Information Act. Now, the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is taking new steps to demand better transparency about the killing.
KSL
The Illinois Freedom of Information law doesn't apply to the Illinois High School Association, which oversees Illinois high school athletics, a state appeals panel has ruled, rejecting the request by the Better Government Association to compel the IHSA to turn over certain documents. The BGA took its FOIA complaint against the IHSA to Cook County Circuit Court in 2014, asking the court to order the athletic association to release certain documents. But Circuit Judge Mary L. Mikva dismissed the one-count complaint. The Illinois First District Appellate Court has now chimed in on the BGA’s appeal of that decision, and justices there said Mikva was correct.
Cook County Record
Editorials/Columns
Along comes Helen E. Dragas, known to the north for her part in the abortive 2012 ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia. The erstwhile Board of Visitors rector and enduring firebrand has a stirred a new furor on Grounds, UVa’s required term for campus, disclosing that current Rector Bill Goodwin, the wealthy developer, discussed behind closed doors a $2.3 billion fund, in possible violation of the state Freedom of Information Act. This occurred last month, Dragas said, during the final hour of her final meeting after eight years on the Board of Visitors, closing a circle at the starting point, specifically what is known in Charlottesville as “the leadership crisis” of 2012. As rector, Dragas worked behind closed doors to maneuver Sullivan out the door, kindling a flaming backlash that resulted in the school’s first female president returning to the fore and its first female rector acquiring a pariah mantle that clings still, though she has succeeded in giving it a mighty shake. “I learned the hard way back then that no matter the topic,” Dragas told The Roanoke Times, “the public’s business must be done in public.” Public officials who learn such lessons are so rare they ought to appear on an endangered list.
Herald Courier
As if the University of Virginia didn’t have enough problems, now it has a clandestine “slush” fund – and secret board meetings over how to spend it. At least that’s the account given by outgoing board member Helen Dragas. First, she penned a commentary in The Washington Post alleging the board had squirrelled away a $2.3 billion pile of money even as it was raising tuition. A few days later, she alleged that at her final meeting, fellow board members may have violated the state’s open meeting laws to hold a closed-door session to talk about how to spend all that money. Well. That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get to it. Here’s the easy part: It sure does look like the university’s governing board ignored the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The board announced it would go into closed session to discuss personnel matters and consult legal counsel – two things allowed under the state law on open meetings. Instead, Dragas says, the board talked about that $2.3 billion “strategic investment fund.” Dragas is an imperfect messenger to be championing open government. She, of course, was the rector when the board clumsily attempted to oust UVa President Teresa Sullivan in 2012. On the other hand, that might make Dragas the perfect messenger; we all love the story of the reformed sinner. “I learned the hard way back then that no matter the topic, the public’s business must be done in public,” she said last week.
Roanoke Times
We are firm believers that the public’s business should be done in public, so we side with an open discussion about the details of the fund and its uses. Ms. Dragas stood behind her claims, telling the RT-D in an email that prior to her column being published that “neither the board nor the public was aware that a $2.3 billion slush fund was available for discretionary spending.” Now they are, as they should be. Let the public debate on the best uses of this fund begin.
Daily News Record
Winchester Star
This month marks the 50th anniversary of when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law. The nation was in the middle of a turbulent period, just as we are again now, and it is at times such as these when the public should most appreciate what this law truly means. Fifty years later, there are still those at every level of government who try to weaken FOIA — either by shackling it with unnecessary exemptions or by encroaching on its freedom an inch at a time. For this reason, we must not simply respect this legislation but also protect it as much as it protects us.
Daily Press
The more information we have, the harder it is to get, and the more dangers we face. Despite the amazing technological advances in digitization of government information and online distribution, citizens, journalists and nonprofit watchdog organizations are having a harder time than ever in seeing what our governments are up to and identifying the dangers in our communities. We are encountering a sort of social climate change — a gradual shift toward a darker, more opaque government. Federal agencies boast of processing more Freedom of Information Act requests than ever — about 700,000 a year — and at quicker paces. That is true, but what they don’t mention is that the rate of denying information is also increasing. About 77 percent of requesters don’t get what they ask for. In other words, the government is getting faster at stamping “denied” on people’s requests.
David Cuillier, Arizona Daily Star
The meetings subcommittee of the Virginia FOIA Council will meet TODAY at 10:30: House Room C in the General Assembly Building. No agenda has been posted.
When the Supreme Court of Virginia goes into special session Tuesday, it won't just hear arguments in the blow up between General Assembly Republicans and Gov. Terry McAuliffe over McAuliffe's mass restoration of felon voting rights. The case of four state senators, and two former ones, who were held in contempt of court more than three months ago will come before the state's highest court as well. The justices' decision in this case could reset state policy on just what emails and other documents legislators can keep secret during a lawsuit.
Daily Press
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority is coping with a turnover of more than half its board commissioners after a recent spate of resignations prompted by tougher economic-disclosure rules. Chairman Steve Davis, vice chairman Michael Lewis and commissioners Bud Morrissette and Mark Lowham in mid-June “elected to step down for personal reasons,” said Gerald Gordon, the EDA’s president and CEO. In addition, commissioner Sudhakar Shenoy asked not to be reappointed after 14 years’ service, an action unrelated to the other members’ resignations, said Gordon, who declined to comment further. In their resignation letters, Lewis and Lowham cited the new financial-disclosure rules as the central reason for their departures.
Inside NOVA
Tom McCracken has decided to cease seeking legal action to regain the Catawba District seat on the Roanoke County School Board. During an emotional sermon Sunday at CommUNITY Church, where he is the pastor, McCracken said God asked him to drop the issue because it is a distraction and a burden for his church and family as well as the school district. The board’s focus recently has been on McCracken. He abruptly resigned June 9 before the board voted to approve his wife’s promotion from special education coordinator to assistant principal at Northside High School. Then his lawyer sent a letter to the board last week seeking to rescind the resignation, claiming his colleagues had coerced him into quitting the post so that his wife could be promoted.
Roanoke Times
Ginger Stanley, 67, executive director of the Virginia Press Association for the past 28 years, bid adieu Friday to about 160 friends and associates at her retirement party at the trade association’s office in western Henrico County. Her last day there was June 30. She was honored at Friday’s event for being the voice of the Freedom of Information Act (a law that gives citizens the right to access information from the federal government), for maintaining vigilance and lobbying legislators to ensure a free press and transparent government in Virginia. She also learned at the event that the Virginia Press Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports journalism in Virginia, had established a fund in her name.
Free Lance-Star
National Stories
Arrested individuals have a privacy interest in preventing the release of their mug shots through the Freedom of Information Act, a divided Sixth Circuit ruled. Thursday's en banc decision (pdf), a 9-7 ruling, overturns a 1996 ruling by the same court, which held that FOIA required the release of booking photos. Detroit Free Press Inc. and the U.S. Department of Justice have been litigating the release of mug shots for over two decades. Judge Deborah L. Cook authored the opinion for the majority, finding that booking photos meet the criteria for exemption 7(c) of FOIA, which includes potentially "embarrassing" personal information.
AllGov
More people face traffic tickets than criminal charges, but until now, only the latter could be looked up online. Next week, however, a new website in Missouri will be opened that will allow ticket holders to search for their records in more than 30 area municipal courts -- a number that is expected to double as the website, municourt.net, becomes more established. The site will show case information, including upcoming hearing dates, money owed and any warrants on tickets. Aside from the convenience of being able to access case information without going to court, it's a huge leap toward transparency for a municipal court system that has for decades operated in secret.
Governing
It's been two years since a U.S. marshal shot and killed a defendant in Salt Lake City's federal courthouse, and federal officials still refuse to release the video or documents related to the incident. Since then, the marshal — who has never been publicly identified — has been cleared and the FBI has closed its investigation of defendant Siale Anguilau's death. But the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have also denied or not yet replied to requests from journalists under the Freedom of Information Act. Now, the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is taking new steps to demand better transparency about the killing.
KSL
The Illinois Freedom of Information law doesn't apply to the Illinois High School Association, which oversees Illinois high school athletics, a state appeals panel has ruled, rejecting the request by the Better Government Association to compel the IHSA to turn over certain documents. The BGA took its FOIA complaint against the IHSA to Cook County Circuit Court in 2014, asking the court to order the athletic association to release certain documents. But Circuit Judge Mary L. Mikva dismissed the one-count complaint. The Illinois First District Appellate Court has now chimed in on the BGA’s appeal of that decision, and justices there said Mikva was correct.
Cook County Record
Editorials/Columns
Along comes Helen E. Dragas, known to the north for her part in the abortive 2012 ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia. The erstwhile Board of Visitors rector and enduring firebrand has a stirred a new furor on Grounds, UVa’s required term for campus, disclosing that current Rector Bill Goodwin, the wealthy developer, discussed behind closed doors a $2.3 billion fund, in possible violation of the state Freedom of Information Act. This occurred last month, Dragas said, during the final hour of her final meeting after eight years on the Board of Visitors, closing a circle at the starting point, specifically what is known in Charlottesville as “the leadership crisis” of 2012. As rector, Dragas worked behind closed doors to maneuver Sullivan out the door, kindling a flaming backlash that resulted in the school’s first female president returning to the fore and its first female rector acquiring a pariah mantle that clings still, though she has succeeded in giving it a mighty shake. “I learned the hard way back then that no matter the topic,” Dragas told The Roanoke Times, “the public’s business must be done in public.” Public officials who learn such lessons are so rare they ought to appear on an endangered list.
Herald Courier
As if the University of Virginia didn’t have enough problems, now it has a clandestine “slush” fund – and secret board meetings over how to spend it. At least that’s the account given by outgoing board member Helen Dragas. First, she penned a commentary in The Washington Post alleging the board had squirrelled away a $2.3 billion pile of money even as it was raising tuition. A few days later, she alleged that at her final meeting, fellow board members may have violated the state’s open meeting laws to hold a closed-door session to talk about how to spend all that money. Well. That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get to it. Here’s the easy part: It sure does look like the university’s governing board ignored the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The board announced it would go into closed session to discuss personnel matters and consult legal counsel – two things allowed under the state law on open meetings. Instead, Dragas says, the board talked about that $2.3 billion “strategic investment fund.” Dragas is an imperfect messenger to be championing open government. She, of course, was the rector when the board clumsily attempted to oust UVa President Teresa Sullivan in 2012. On the other hand, that might make Dragas the perfect messenger; we all love the story of the reformed sinner. “I learned the hard way back then that no matter the topic, the public’s business must be done in public,” she said last week.
Roanoke Times
We are firm believers that the public’s business should be done in public, so we side with an open discussion about the details of the fund and its uses. Ms. Dragas stood behind her claims, telling the RT-D in an email that prior to her column being published that “neither the board nor the public was aware that a $2.3 billion slush fund was available for discretionary spending.” Now they are, as they should be. Let the public debate on the best uses of this fund begin.
Daily News Record
Winchester Star
This month marks the 50th anniversary of when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into law. The nation was in the middle of a turbulent period, just as we are again now, and it is at times such as these when the public should most appreciate what this law truly means. Fifty years later, there are still those at every level of government who try to weaken FOIA — either by shackling it with unnecessary exemptions or by encroaching on its freedom an inch at a time. For this reason, we must not simply respect this legislation but also protect it as much as it protects us.
Daily Press
The more information we have, the harder it is to get, and the more dangers we face. Despite the amazing technological advances in digitization of government information and online distribution, citizens, journalists and nonprofit watchdog organizations are having a harder time than ever in seeing what our governments are up to and identifying the dangers in our communities. We are encountering a sort of social climate change — a gradual shift toward a darker, more opaque government. Federal agencies boast of processing more Freedom of Information Act requests than ever — about 700,000 a year — and at quicker paces. That is true, but what they don’t mention is that the rate of denying information is also increasing. About 77 percent of requesters don’t get what they ask for. In other words, the government is getting faster at stamping “denied” on people’s requests.
David Cuillier, Arizona Daily Star
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