Transparency News, 7/28/21

A decision by Democratic leaders to impose broad restrictions on the Virginia General Assembly’s upcoming special session is drawing criticism from Republicans who say the rules will sharply limit meaningful debate on how the state should spend $4.3 billion in federal pandemic relief money. In a memo earlier this month, House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, told state lawmakers both money committees won’t entertain amendments proposed by members and won’t reopen discussion of the state’s regular budget. In a virtual news conference Tuesday morning, GOP leaders in the House of Delegates said that arrangement will result in rank-and-file lawmakers and the public being largely shut out of the process, with the details of how the money will be used potentially being hashed out in private by Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration and a small group of Democratic leaders. Gilbert said the two weeks planned for the session starting Monday should give ample time for the legislature to consider a range of ideas from Republicans and Democratic members alike. “If they’re just going to shove this down everyone’s throat I have no idea why we need to be there more than two hours,” Gilbert said.
Virginia Mercury

Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles announced that the city will be extending its strategic plan timeline in order to update the plan and streamline the budget process for fiscal year 2023. At a City Council work session Tuesday, Boyles said this will allow the council and the public to provide input about their priorities before each department prepares its own budget, which will be due to his office in November. A key change to the FY 2023 budget process is the requirement for each city department to prepare and present its own budget request prior to the development of the city manager’s budget, which is typically presented in March and voted on by the council in April. Last budget season, the police department budget was the subject of scrutiny from both councilors and members of the public who wanted to see greater transparency from the department. Councilor Lloyd Snook called the police budget an “$18 million black box.”
The Daily Progress

Steve Brotzman spends hours on his porch overlooking the city. His chair teeters close to the banister and he looks out toward downtown, striking up friendly conversations with neighbors on the sidewalks below as they pass by.  He’s lived in Staunton for more than twenty years and loves the community, but after building an online oasis for residents to connect during COVID-19, something became clear — people don’t always act the same online as they do in person.  Over the past year, Brotzman has become a virtual gatekeeper, a fighter of digital fires. The tradeoff of creating the public Facebook group for thousands of people in the community has resulted in sporadic arguments, threats and veered close to legal action. Despite all the good in the group, the tension and negativity has almost been enough for Brotzman to consider hitting delete.
News Leader

 

 

 

It’s costing Illinois more than $210 million a year for foster children to get medical care. And the agency in charge of this program is refusing to release how your money is being spent. When YouthCare, the healthcare program for Illinois foster children, rolled out, kids were promised easy access to doctors and unprecedented care. But one knows if they’re getting it. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the agency that oversees YouthCare, is now being hit with a lawsuit after refusing to release the performance data. YouthCare’s parent company, Meridian, gives quarterly reports about its performance to state officials. The Better Government Association filed public records requests to see them, but what they got was pages and pages of redacted performance data. Charles Golbert represents thousands of children in the state’s care and says the lack of transparency is frustrating. “If you don’t want your records to be subjected to FOIA, don’t accept big government contracts,” Golbert said.
KHQA

In 2013, Daniel Hale was at an antiwar conference in D.C. when a man recounted that two family members had been killed in a U.S. drone strike. The Yemeni man, through tears, said his relatives had been trying to encourage young men to leave al-Qaeda. Hale realized he had watched the fatal attack from a base in Afghanistan. At the time, he and his colleagues in Air Force intelligence viewed it as a success. Now he was horrified. It was such experiences, Hale told a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday, that led him to leak classified information about drone warfare to a reporter after leaving the military. U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady sentenced Hale, 33, of Nashville, to 45 months in prison for violating the Espionage Act, saying his disclosure of documents went beyond his “courageous and principled” stance on drones. “You are not being prosecuted for speaking out about the drone program killing innocent people,” O’Grady said. “You could have been a whistleblower … without taking any of these documents.”
The Washington Post

In the slew of public endorsements, most readily admitted that the Amendment [creating the redistricting commission] wasn’t perfect, but that by any objective measure, it presented a major leap forward for Virginia voters who cared about transparency, accountability, and fairness in their elections.   In the slew of public endorsements, most readily admitted that the Amendment wasn’t perfect, but that by any objective measure, it presented a major leap forward for Virginia voters who cared about transparency, accountability, and fairness in their elections.   The piece correctly points out that the Commission’s new makeup has a lack of representation from Southwest Virginia. As residents of Blacksburg, we agree. The region deserves an institutional voice, and we think Mr. Gillium’s departure was disappointing to see in this respect. Having said that, we flatly reject the Roanoke Times’ cynical attitude when it comes to saying “it would be nice — more than nice — if someone from Southwest Virginia had some say in how those new lines get drawn.”  They do, and it would have been nice — more than nice — if the newspaper provided proper context about how Virginians from the region can have their voices heard in this process for the first time in the history of our Commonwealth. Make no mistake: citizen participation is the cornerstone of Virginia’s new redistricting process. As of this writing, there have been 19 public meetings of the full commission (all of which provided opportunities for citizens to speak), and 16 regional hearings have been scheduled specifically to solicit feedback from different geographic areas of Virginia. This includes a public hearing for Southwest happening later this week. 
Ben Crawford and Nicholas Goedert, The Roanoke Times