Transparency News 8/5/14

Former Richmond administrator Sharon Judkins has sued City Auditor Umesh Dalal for $10.7 million, alleging Dalal defamed her and acted with gross negligence in releasing a report on an attempt to boost Judkins’ retirement pension just before her departure from City Hall.
Times-Dispatch

A federal judge has said he does not have the jurisdiction to change his injunction barring the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors from engaging in sectarian Christian prayers during its meetings. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski — in his memorandum opinion entered Monday — said he cannot alter the injunction while the county’s appeal of his March 2013 ruling is pending in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Urbanski’s decision means that the county will continue to appeal, and members of the board of supervisors will continue to be barred from saying sectarian Christian prayers during board meetings. The judge also wrote that Pittsylvania County’s prayer practices are different from those of the Town Council of Greece, New York, which recently won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Roanoke Times

The Arlington County government has hired the person who will be tasked with improving transparency in government finances and operations. But, in an ironic twist, the same county government won’t provide any information on who that person is. County officials confirmed to the Sun Gazette on Aug. 1 that they have indeed selected an internal auditor. But county PR personnel – who were alerted to the hire by the newspaper’s inquiry – declined to provide any specifics, saying those would be released in September. “We will not be sharing further information about the new auditor until he/she starts work,” said county spokesman Mary Curtius, being careful not to reveal even the gender of the incoming employee.
Inside NOVA

The Powhatan County School Board admitted an ineligible employee when it allowed former school superintendent Margaret Meara to participate in the Supplemental Retirement Program and made the decision in a "legally defective" way, according to an opinion handed down by the state’s attorney general. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring reviewed the legality of the school board’s decision to allow Meara into the SRP after working part time at a reduced salary in the retirement program in the position of associate superintendent during her final year of employment. In his review, Herring called into question the way in which the school board made Meara a plan participant. Records submitted to him show the decision to admit her into the program was discussed in closed session, but when it was voted upon in open session, Meara was not identified by name or position and "it was not even disclosed that the school board was voting to admit someone to the SRP." The vote was merely ‘to approve SRP consideration,’ which does not identify in any meaningful way the substantive action to be taken, a necessary step to make a public vote valid as required by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, he wrote.
Powhatan Today
Read the opinion

National Stories

Paula Pedene, 56, is the former chief spokeswoman for this VA hospital. Now, she is living in a bureaucrat’s urban legend. After complaining to higher-ups about mismanagement at this hospital, she has been reassigned — indefinitely — to a desk in the basement. In the Phoenix case, investigators are still trying to determine whether Pedene was punished because of her earlier complaints. If she is, that would make her part of a long, ugly tradition in the federal bureaucracy — workers sent to a cubicle in exile. In the past, whistleblowers have had their desks moved to break rooms, broom closets and basements. It’s a clever punishment, good-government activists say, that exploits a gray area in the law.
Washington Post

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Monday it had unanimously ratified numerous administrative and personnel actions it took when it lacked a constitutionally valid quorum. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its June decision in the case NLRB v. Noel Canning that recess appointments made by President Barack Obama to the NLRB's five-member board were invalid. That decision called into question case decisions and official actions made by the labor law agency during a period in which it lacked the needed quorum of three members. Action on case decisions still lies ahead, but the board said in a news release it had separately ratified personnel moves and other administrative decisions it took during the same period.
Reuters

Marion Barry, the former mayor and current D.C. Council member, has racked up more than $2,800 in unpaid parking and speeding tickets on his Jaguar since 2012, according to city records. The Washington Post reviewed the records on the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles Web site Monday, two days after Barry (D-Ward 8) was cited for numerous violations after a late-night collision on Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
Washington Post
 

Editorials/Columns

The CIA's own investigation confirmed Sen. Dianne Feinstein's claims that agency employees tapped into senators' computer network in search of an internal CIA report on enhanced interrogation techniques – more properly known as torture – under the Bush administration. The finding was part of a report by the agency's inspector general and mentioned in a statement issued by the CIA. The torture report hasn't been released to the public. Perhaps, at that March forum, Brennan didn't know about the hacking. But being clueless, rather than deceptive, is hardly an adequate defense for the director of the CIA, and it certainly isn't enough to salvage his job.
Virginian-Pilot

Hey, here’s a great idea: Let’s have local public libraries stop buying printed books, and just buy e-books instead. Think of all the money that will save! Sound ridiculous? Of course it is. Anyone who has visited a branch library in recent months knows many residents still check out hardcovers and paperbacks by the armful. You also will observe that, despite the rise of e-readers, chains such as Barnes & Noble still do a healthy trade in printed books and magazines. Oh, and remember the “paperless office”? Desktop computing was supposed to do away with printed material. How’s that working out? Despite all this, a few bright sparks around the state continue to press localities to drop printed public notices, on the lamebrained theory that they are no longer necessary.
Times-Dispatch

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring gave the Powhatan County School Board two failing grades the other day. First, he found that the board violated its supplemental retirement policy by trying to include Superintendent Margaret Meara. Then the board compounded the error by trying to do it under the radar. By deliberating over the arrangement in a closed session, Herring found, the board violated the state’s open-meeting laws. The board voted on the issue in an open meeting, but nobody could have known that from the description of the agenda item: “to approve SRP consideration.”
Times-Dispatch

Citizens and media outlets typically haggle with government officials over the interpretation of FOIA when their requests are denied. Some adjust their submissions or ask the Illinois Attorney General to step in or simply give up. We [the Better Government Association in Illinois] take `em to court, because we won’t tolerate attempts to abuse or weaken the state’s open records law. We don’t file these suits to get our kicks or stir up dust — in fact, there’s much more at stake than the documents we’re seeking or the revelations the information may lead to. It’s about the public’s right to know how its government works, which is vital to a healthy democracy.
Chicago Sun-Times