Transparency News 8/27/15
Thursday, August 27, 2015
State and Local Stories
In March, Gov. Terry McAuliffe talked tough about getting to the bottom of how a black University of Virginia student ended up in a bloody arrest by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control police. He said he ordered an immediate independent investigation by the state police and personally called students to discuss the arrest of Martese Johnson in Charlottesville. He also called for patience. "You've got to wait for the results to come back in," he said on a radio program. "We don't know the full facts. We've got to let them come out." The report is done, and McAuliffe has read it. It concluded that the agents involved in the arrest did not violate ABC policy. McAuliffe said Wednesday he agrees with a decision that the three agents be put back on the job. But McAuliffe, in comments Wednesday morning on WTOP radio's "Ask the Governor" program, said the report can't be released publicly. Although McAuliffe's lawyer says he's correct, the governor's position was called into question by Johnson's attorney and the state's leading open government advocate. "It has a lot of personal information data in the administrative review," McAuliffe said. "Under code section, I'm not allowed to release that report." Maltese Johnson’s attorney, Daniel Watkins, doesn’t even have the report, Watkins said when reached by phone. Watkins said he's read it but doesn't have a copy and said he doesn't understand why McAuliffe won't release it publicly.
Virginian-Pilot
BBC reporters Franz Strasser and Tara McKelvey encountered a big obstacle in their coverage of a double slaying of journalists at a Virginia mall. The two reporters were covering the manhunt of the suspected shooter when they were ordered to delete footage by police. On Wednesday night, Corinne Geller, the statewide public relations manager for the Virginia State Police, tweeted at Strasser.
PRI
Last week’s informational meeting about a proposal to designate Ben Venue Road as the county’s first official rural historic district began as a celebration of Rappahannock County’s rich history — and ended in a shouting match, colored by a bit of antigovernment fervor and fueled by property records that remain (as they do in many rural areas) incomplete and hard to decipher.
Rappahannock News
National Stories
Public concerns about the safety of trains carrying oil have increased with the derailments in places like Galena, Ill.; Mt. Carbon, W. Va.; Aliceville, Ala.; Lynchburg, Va.; Casselton, N.D.; and especially Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where 47 people died in 2013. Federal regulators responded to these incidents by requiring railroads to upgrade their oil train cars, to double check safety equipment on unattended trains, and to tell states when and where oil trains would be passing through their borders. This last requirement was hard won. This summer, the Federal Railroad Administration tried to encourage states to sign nondisclosure agreements with railroads about the location of oil trains. After several states balked, the agency relented. California, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Oklahoma have all signed nondisclosure agreements, while Idaho, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have refused to do so, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Governing
Despite an explicit statutory requirement to keep Congress "fully and currently informed" about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the President may withhold proliferation-related information from Congress if he determines that doing so could harm the national security, according to a sweeping opinion from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that was prepared in 2003. The opinion, written by then-OLC deputy John C. Yoo, was released this week under the Freedom of Information Act. See "Presidential Authority to Protect National Security Information," January 27, 2003.
Secrecy News
Editorials/Columns
So here's a response given by the Port Authority spokesman when asked for email sent/received by a authority board member during a one-month period:
VCOG Blog
The mistreatment of patients at Veterans Administration hospitals outraged the nation last year, as investigations showed that veterans were being inadequately treated — or not treated at all — while VA officials tried to cover their tracks by falsifying records.
Journalists continue to track this story, in an effort to expose wrongdoing so that it can be corrected. And that is our topic today: not the VA scandal alone, or any of the other scandals uncovered by citizen or media investigations, but rather an important tool used to pursue those investigations — the federal Freedom of Information Act. Congress must strengthen this vital tool so that the facts about our federal government may be aired and voters can hold their leaders accountable for mistakes. In addition to the VA scandal, the FOIA has aided reporters in uncovering abuses at the CIA and delays in inspecting the nation’s decaying infrastructure, among many other stories.
Daily Progress
We have no doubt that the millions in charitable donations annually dispersed by Dominion do a lot of good across the commonwealth. The money surely helps the civic, educational and religious groups that receive it, and benefits countless Virginia residents in myriad ways. Of course, things are never simple with the electric monopoly that serves most of the state. The company's foundation distributed about $15 million annually from shareholders. However, the Associated Press reported recently that some of Dominion's other charitable donations come straight from customers' pockets. The money ultimately comes from what Dominion charges its customers. According to records obtained by the AP, Dominion has "passed well over $1 million dollars in donations onto consumers in recent years." By disseminating money in this way, Dominion seeks to maximize its influence through charitable donations as well as political donations. And it has used that sway to undermine the authority of state regulators and to erase rules designed to protect those same consumers. It may be legal, but it's also not entirely honest.
Daily Press
State and Local Stories
In March, Gov. Terry McAuliffe talked tough about getting to the bottom of how a black University of Virginia student ended up in a bloody arrest by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control police. He said he ordered an immediate independent investigation by the state police and personally called students to discuss the arrest of Martese Johnson in Charlottesville. He also called for patience. "You've got to wait for the results to come back in," he said on a radio program. "We don't know the full facts. We've got to let them come out." The report is done, and McAuliffe has read it. It concluded that the agents involved in the arrest did not violate ABC policy. McAuliffe said Wednesday he agrees with a decision that the three agents be put back on the job. But McAuliffe, in comments Wednesday morning on WTOP radio's "Ask the Governor" program, said the report can't be released publicly. Although McAuliffe's lawyer says he's correct, the governor's position was called into question by Johnson's attorney and the state's leading open government advocate. "It has a lot of personal information data in the administrative review," McAuliffe said. "Under code section, I'm not allowed to release that report." Maltese Johnson’s attorney, Daniel Watkins, doesn’t even have the report, Watkins said when reached by phone. Watkins said he's read it but doesn't have a copy and said he doesn't understand why McAuliffe won't release it publicly.
Virginian-Pilot
BBC reporters Franz Strasser and Tara McKelvey encountered a big obstacle in their coverage of a double slaying of journalists at a Virginia mall. The two reporters were covering the manhunt of the suspected shooter when they were ordered to delete footage by police. On Wednesday night, Corinne Geller, the statewide public relations manager for the Virginia State Police, tweeted at Strasser.
PRI
Last week’s informational meeting about a proposal to designate Ben Venue Road as the county’s first official rural historic district began as a celebration of Rappahannock County’s rich history — and ended in a shouting match, colored by a bit of antigovernment fervor and fueled by property records that remain (as they do in many rural areas) incomplete and hard to decipher.
Rappahannock News
National Stories
Public concerns about the safety of trains carrying oil have increased with the derailments in places like Galena, Ill.; Mt. Carbon, W. Va.; Aliceville, Ala.; Lynchburg, Va.; Casselton, N.D.; and especially Lac-Megantic, Quebec, where 47 people died in 2013. Federal regulators responded to these incidents by requiring railroads to upgrade their oil train cars, to double check safety equipment on unattended trains, and to tell states when and where oil trains would be passing through their borders. This last requirement was hard won. This summer, the Federal Railroad Administration tried to encourage states to sign nondisclosure agreements with railroads about the location of oil trains. After several states balked, the agency relented. California, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Oklahoma have all signed nondisclosure agreements, while Idaho, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have refused to do so, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Governing
Despite an explicit statutory requirement to keep Congress "fully and currently informed" about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the President may withhold proliferation-related information from Congress if he determines that doing so could harm the national security, according to a sweeping opinion from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that was prepared in 2003. The opinion, written by then-OLC deputy John C. Yoo, was released this week under the Freedom of Information Act. See "Presidential Authority to Protect National Security Information," January 27, 2003.
Secrecy News
Editorials/Columns
So here's a response given by the Port Authority spokesman when asked for email sent/received by a authority board member during a one-month period:
VCOG Blog
The mistreatment of patients at Veterans Administration hospitals outraged the nation last year, as investigations showed that veterans were being inadequately treated — or not treated at all — while VA officials tried to cover their tracks by falsifying records.
Journalists continue to track this story, in an effort to expose wrongdoing so that it can be corrected. And that is our topic today: not the VA scandal alone, or any of the other scandals uncovered by citizen or media investigations, but rather an important tool used to pursue those investigations — the federal Freedom of Information Act. Congress must strengthen this vital tool so that the facts about our federal government may be aired and voters can hold their leaders accountable for mistakes. In addition to the VA scandal, the FOIA has aided reporters in uncovering abuses at the CIA and delays in inspecting the nation’s decaying infrastructure, among many other stories.
Daily Progress
We have no doubt that the millions in charitable donations annually dispersed by Dominion do a lot of good across the commonwealth. The money surely helps the civic, educational and religious groups that receive it, and benefits countless Virginia residents in myriad ways. Of course, things are never simple with the electric monopoly that serves most of the state. The company's foundation distributed about $15 million annually from shareholders. However, the Associated Press reported recently that some of Dominion's other charitable donations come straight from customers' pockets. The money ultimately comes from what Dominion charges its customers. According to records obtained by the AP, Dominion has "passed well over $1 million dollars in donations onto consumers in recent years." By disseminating money in this way, Dominion seeks to maximize its influence through charitable donations as well as political donations. And it has used that sway to undermine the authority of state regulators and to erase rules designed to protect those same consumers. It may be legal, but it's also not entirely honest.
Daily Press
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