Transparency News, 8/20/21

A Suffolk citizen filed a complaint against the Suffolk School Board after she was told to leave the room where the school board was holding its retreat. The board did not allow anyone in the meeting room, instead asking everyone to watch the meeting on a TV in another room. Read the complaint on VCOG’s shared drive.

In the fall of 2011, then-Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe was in Philadelphia providing security for the Old Dominion University football team when he arranged to meet with Gerard “Jerry” Boyle at a hotel. Boyle was the owner of a Nashville business that had for years provided medical services to inmates at the Norfolk City Jail — a facility run by McCabe — and also happened to be in town. The two met in a hotel lobby, where Boyle handed McCabe about $6,000 in cash. The former sheriff said he couldn’t remember if the money was in an envelope or handed to him in a loose stack of bills. It was just a loan, McCabe said, and he intended to pay it back. But when asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa O’Boyle if he ever repaid the money, McCabe said no. He also never repaid Boyle for the $3,000 or so in cash the businessman gave McCabe during a trip to a casino several years before that. Nor did he ever report the money on financial statements he was required to file each year he was in office.
The Virginian-Pilot

Despite the state Health Commissioner’s latest emergency order which will require students to wear masks inside all K-12 schools, dozens lined up to the podium to demand the Williamsburg-James City School Board go against those orders. Those who spoke in favor of wearing masks were ridiculed by those in the crowd. On numerous occasions, Chairman Jim Kelly threatened to end the public comment period as citizens directly violated the board’s request to not cheer, clap or call out between commenters. However, not one of the dozens in attendance was removed from the meeting despite not following instructions or masking guidelines. “Public comment is a privilege, not a right,” School Board member Kyra Cook said. Currently, there is no state requirement for local governments to hold a public comment period. So, the School Board reserves the right to close that portion of the meeting at any time.
The Virginia Gazette

 

The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision on Thursday requiring the state’s Republican-led Senate to produce records related to its audit of the 2020 election. A three-judge panel unanimously rejected a petition brought by the state Senate that argued it has immunity from the legal action and that it doesn’t have many of the sought records in its possession.  Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp ordered the Senate on Aug. 2 to “immediately” deliver documents, invoices, and other records associated with the audit to liberal watchdog group American Oversight, which filed multiple requests under Arizona’s Public Records Law after taking the legislative body to court arguing its document disclosure was unsatisfactory.
Washington Examiner

 

Over a year ago, we wrote that when it comes to COVID-19, transparency equals trust. There are enough conspiracy theories floating around about COVID-19 that the last thing we need is government officials withholding information.  All that does is contribute to the conspiracy theories. There are enough conspiracy theories floating around about COVID-19 that the last thing we need is government officials withholding information.  All that does is contribute to the conspiracy theories. And when Virginia’s declared state of emergency ended June 30, the dashboard stopped being updated.   If, in fact, the emergency was over, we wouldn’t have a big problem with this. But the emergency is not over. COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly now than it was this time last year. Cases and hospitalizations are soaring – and deaths, a lagging indicator, will, sadly, follow.
InsideNoVa

When Virginians voted nearly 2-to-1 last fall to establish a bipartisan redistricting commission, the idea was to embrace a fairer method of drafting the state’s political maps. There was certainly reason to hope for an end to the brazen incumbent-protection racket that had prevailed for decades, enabling sitting lawmakers, helped by ever-more-deft technological gizmos, to choose their own voters. But even before the commission has drawn a single state legislative or congressional district, it is engulfed in tribal partisan skirmishing, precisely the opposite of the compromise and consensus it was designed to encourage.
The Washington Post

The hope and optimism, the hard work and consensus-building all appear to have been for naught: Virginia still can’t seem to escape the cynical, self-serving partisanship that dominates its redistricting process. This looming failure also illustrates how deeply, dangerously entrenched are the political divides in our commonwealth.
The Daily Progress