Transparency News 9/14/15
Monday, September 14, 2015
State and Local Stories
A Floyd County woman said her bill for a public records request in Franklin County is too high, and said that the county is "stonewalling" her attempts to view records about county employee's correspondences with representatives of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. But Freedom Of Information Act expert Alan Gernhardt said the cost of the request may be accurate because large requests for information require many hours of manpower and quickly add up.
WDBJ
After Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo’s report to City Council stated that 70 percent of the people police stopped were African-American, the Public Housing Association of Residents and the local NAACP filed a lawsuit seeking police records under the Freedom of Information Act, according to their lawyer, Jeff Fogel. Judge Rick Moore ruled September 11 that what had been described as “narratives” of temporary detentions, aka stops and frisks, were criminal investigative files and exempt under FOIA. He read a handful of the reports, saying, “I think it’s in the public interest to hear so there’s not a veil of secrecy.” Fogel initially made a FOIA request for the narratives in June 2014 and was told he could have them, but then he became ill, according to the lawsuit. When he requested them again in February, he was told they were criminal investigative files and exempt under FOIA. In court he asked Longo why he changed his mind.
C-Ville
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has paid Virginia nearly $40,000 to cover the cost of personal trips on state-owned planes since taking office last year, trying to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in the wake of the gift scandal that led to criminal convictions for his predecessor, Robert F. McDonnell. In his first 19 months in office, McAuliffe (D) took 16 flights for personal reasons, all but one of them out of state. He attended NCAA tournament basketball games and functions for his children, and he socialized with longtime friends Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton. State law affords the governor full use of the two planes owned by the commonwealth and does not require him to reimburse the state for personal trips, said Randy Burdette, director of the state Department of Aviation. The 11-passenger King Air 350 planes, made by Beechcraft and purchased in 2007, also are available to state agencies and lawmakers, but for official business only. Bob Holsworth, a retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor, said there should be formal guidelines for use of the state plane — especially if it’s going to be used in a personal way. And, he said, the state recently impaneled just the agency to take a look: “This is the perfect issue for the ethics commission to develop guidelines for.”
Washington Post
The Supreme Court of Virginia now will release opinions when they are ready, without waiting for the court’s official sessions, according to an announcement on the court’s website. The court will no longer hold opinions for release during a session of court following oral argument, the announcement said. “Instead, opinions will be released when deemed ready by the Justices and will typically be issued and posted on the Court’s website on a Thursday,” the court said.
The change is effective immediately.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
National Stories
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has won the Court Statistics Project 2015 Reporting Excellence Award. “The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is being recognized as a leader among state courts when it comes to reporting on its caseload. These statistics are essential for effective management of the state appellate courts. Publishing these data and inviting comparison with other courts demonstrates a commitment to transparency and accountability that is the hallmark of a well-run court,” said Richard Schauffler, Director of the Court Statistics Project at the National Center for State Courts.
West Virginia Record
Editorials/Columns
As a voting member of the council that is charged with dusting off the law and adding a little more sunshine to the mix, here are five things I've learned so far about Virginia's FOIA review process — and why you should care. 1. The law may protect the public's right to know, but Virginia's government agencies don't always agree. 2. The study was to start with the idea that all information as public, but that's not what's happening. 3. If you are a public agency, you hold all the cards. 4. All exemptions will be considered, even the ones that make no sense. 5. What happens to a government official who denies a FOIA request? Mostly nothing.
Marisa Porto, Daily Press
Nothing in state law prevents the governor or anyone else from releasing the investigative report [of the ABC incident involving UVA student Martese Johnson]; disclosure, under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, is left to the discretion of authorities who've misled Virginians about their responsibility to operate openly. Whether it is a local police force that refuses to release an incident report, or a City Hall that attempts to hide a developer's proposal, government at every level in Virginia has been guilty of violating a law designed to increase trust in public agents. Republican Sen. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach and Del. Todd Gilbert of Shenandoah are coordinating a joint hearing to press the governor's administration into releasing the report on U.Va. The hearing appears unfortunately necessary, and its cause should draw bipartisan support. But the focus of the hearing should be broader.
Virginian-Pilot
There are two matters of intense public interest that are being kept under wraps, both involving the University of Virginia. One involves the independent review the U.Va. leadership called for after the later-retracted Rolling Stone article that described in detail a gang rape of a young student at a fraternity party. The other report is the Virginia State Police report on the arrest and scuffle state ABC agents had with a U.Va. student leader at a bar on St. Patrick’s day.
Free Lance-Star
Moviegoers know the final scene from “Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Arc” by heart. The camera is focused tightly on a man placing a lid over a wooden crate marked “Top Secret” containing the Arc of the Covenant, hammering it shut. Then, we see him pushing the hand cart with the Arc as the camera slowly pulls out to reveal a giant warehouse, filled floor to ceiling with other wooden crates, all marked “Top Secret.” The worker takes a left turn down an aisle and vanishes as the credits begin to roll. Sometimes, life imitates art, and this is one of those times. Sitting somewhere in Richmond, likely locked away in a lawyer’s office or on a password-protected computer, are two documents all Virginians should have access to but don’t because some government bureaucrat or some politician doesn’t want the information getting out.
News & Advance
From being accused — perhaps wrongly — of caring more about its public image than about the safety of its students, the University of Virginia now has taken a stance that seems to assert more concern about its students than about its public image. The decision might appear virtuous on the surface; however, it might not, in fact, best serve either the university or its students. The university has decided not to release an independent review of its actions surrounding last fall’s devastating Rolling Stone article, in which the university was portrayed as harboring a “rape culture.” The report could be released with the student’s name redacted. Or other steps could be taken to shield only those portions of the report that would tend to reveal the student’s identity, leaving intact portions of the report that might shed light on UVa’s — rather than the student’s — actions.
Daily Progress
AS FAR AS power trips go, Portsmouth Mayor Kenny Wright’s latest is a doozy. The leader of Hampton Roads’ most dysfunctional and cash-strapped city has galvanized a majority on the City Council to help him amplify distractions, clamp down on dissent and rule over a city government that is unraveling. Conditions keep getting worse. Last week, as The Pilot’s Johanna Somers reported, Wright and three other council members amended a rule of order to muzzle any person who publicly discusses conversations that took place during a closed session. Failure to comply is punishable by censure, fine of at least $1,500 and reprimand by the council’s majority. Of course, nothing in state law forbids a council member from publicly talking about a matter that was discussed in closed session. But that apparently doesn’t matter to the mayor, or to his followers on the council: Mark Whitaker, Curtis Edmonds and Paige Cherry.
Virginian-Pilot
State and Local Stories
A Floyd County woman said her bill for a public records request in Franklin County is too high, and said that the county is "stonewalling" her attempts to view records about county employee's correspondences with representatives of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. But Freedom Of Information Act expert Alan Gernhardt said the cost of the request may be accurate because large requests for information require many hours of manpower and quickly add up.
WDBJ
After Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo’s report to City Council stated that 70 percent of the people police stopped were African-American, the Public Housing Association of Residents and the local NAACP filed a lawsuit seeking police records under the Freedom of Information Act, according to their lawyer, Jeff Fogel. Judge Rick Moore ruled September 11 that what had been described as “narratives” of temporary detentions, aka stops and frisks, were criminal investigative files and exempt under FOIA. He read a handful of the reports, saying, “I think it’s in the public interest to hear so there’s not a veil of secrecy.” Fogel initially made a FOIA request for the narratives in June 2014 and was told he could have them, but then he became ill, according to the lawsuit. When he requested them again in February, he was told they were criminal investigative files and exempt under FOIA. In court he asked Longo why he changed his mind.
C-Ville
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has paid Virginia nearly $40,000 to cover the cost of personal trips on state-owned planes since taking office last year, trying to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in the wake of the gift scandal that led to criminal convictions for his predecessor, Robert F. McDonnell. In his first 19 months in office, McAuliffe (D) took 16 flights for personal reasons, all but one of them out of state. He attended NCAA tournament basketball games and functions for his children, and he socialized with longtime friends Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton. State law affords the governor full use of the two planes owned by the commonwealth and does not require him to reimburse the state for personal trips, said Randy Burdette, director of the state Department of Aviation. The 11-passenger King Air 350 planes, made by Beechcraft and purchased in 2007, also are available to state agencies and lawmakers, but for official business only. Bob Holsworth, a retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor, said there should be formal guidelines for use of the state plane — especially if it’s going to be used in a personal way. And, he said, the state recently impaneled just the agency to take a look: “This is the perfect issue for the ethics commission to develop guidelines for.”
Washington Post
The Supreme Court of Virginia now will release opinions when they are ready, without waiting for the court’s official sessions, according to an announcement on the court’s website. The court will no longer hold opinions for release during a session of court following oral argument, the announcement said. “Instead, opinions will be released when deemed ready by the Justices and will typically be issued and posted on the Court’s website on a Thursday,” the court said.
The change is effective immediately.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
National Stories
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia has won the Court Statistics Project 2015 Reporting Excellence Award. “The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals is being recognized as a leader among state courts when it comes to reporting on its caseload. These statistics are essential for effective management of the state appellate courts. Publishing these data and inviting comparison with other courts demonstrates a commitment to transparency and accountability that is the hallmark of a well-run court,” said Richard Schauffler, Director of the Court Statistics Project at the National Center for State Courts.
West Virginia Record
Editorials/Columns
As a voting member of the council that is charged with dusting off the law and adding a little more sunshine to the mix, here are five things I've learned so far about Virginia's FOIA review process — and why you should care. 1. The law may protect the public's right to know, but Virginia's government agencies don't always agree. 2. The study was to start with the idea that all information as public, but that's not what's happening. 3. If you are a public agency, you hold all the cards. 4. All exemptions will be considered, even the ones that make no sense. 5. What happens to a government official who denies a FOIA request? Mostly nothing.
Marisa Porto, Daily Press
Nothing in state law prevents the governor or anyone else from releasing the investigative report [of the ABC incident involving UVA student Martese Johnson]; disclosure, under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, is left to the discretion of authorities who've misled Virginians about their responsibility to operate openly. Whether it is a local police force that refuses to release an incident report, or a City Hall that attempts to hide a developer's proposal, government at every level in Virginia has been guilty of violating a law designed to increase trust in public agents. Republican Sen. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach and Del. Todd Gilbert of Shenandoah are coordinating a joint hearing to press the governor's administration into releasing the report on U.Va. The hearing appears unfortunately necessary, and its cause should draw bipartisan support. But the focus of the hearing should be broader.
Virginian-Pilot
There are two matters of intense public interest that are being kept under wraps, both involving the University of Virginia. One involves the independent review the U.Va. leadership called for after the later-retracted Rolling Stone article that described in detail a gang rape of a young student at a fraternity party. The other report is the Virginia State Police report on the arrest and scuffle state ABC agents had with a U.Va. student leader at a bar on St. Patrick’s day.
Free Lance-Star
Moviegoers know the final scene from “Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Arc” by heart. The camera is focused tightly on a man placing a lid over a wooden crate marked “Top Secret” containing the Arc of the Covenant, hammering it shut. Then, we see him pushing the hand cart with the Arc as the camera slowly pulls out to reveal a giant warehouse, filled floor to ceiling with other wooden crates, all marked “Top Secret.” The worker takes a left turn down an aisle and vanishes as the credits begin to roll. Sometimes, life imitates art, and this is one of those times. Sitting somewhere in Richmond, likely locked away in a lawyer’s office or on a password-protected computer, are two documents all Virginians should have access to but don’t because some government bureaucrat or some politician doesn’t want the information getting out.
News & Advance
From being accused — perhaps wrongly — of caring more about its public image than about the safety of its students, the University of Virginia now has taken a stance that seems to assert more concern about its students than about its public image. The decision might appear virtuous on the surface; however, it might not, in fact, best serve either the university or its students. The university has decided not to release an independent review of its actions surrounding last fall’s devastating Rolling Stone article, in which the university was portrayed as harboring a “rape culture.” The report could be released with the student’s name redacted. Or other steps could be taken to shield only those portions of the report that would tend to reveal the student’s identity, leaving intact portions of the report that might shed light on UVa’s — rather than the student’s — actions.
Daily Progress
AS FAR AS power trips go, Portsmouth Mayor Kenny Wright’s latest is a doozy. The leader of Hampton Roads’ most dysfunctional and cash-strapped city has galvanized a majority on the City Council to help him amplify distractions, clamp down on dissent and rule over a city government that is unraveling. Conditions keep getting worse. Last week, as The Pilot’s Johanna Somers reported, Wright and three other council members amended a rule of order to muzzle any person who publicly discusses conversations that took place during a closed session. Failure to comply is punishable by censure, fine of at least $1,500 and reprimand by the council’s majority. Of course, nothing in state law forbids a council member from publicly talking about a matter that was discussed in closed session. But that apparently doesn’t matter to the mayor, or to his followers on the council: Mark Whitaker, Curtis Edmonds and Paige Cherry.
Virginian-Pilot
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