Transparency News 9/2/13

 

Monday, September 2, 2013
 
All the best to you this Labor Day Holiday! Thanks for reading Transparency News.

State and Local Stories

 

After months of escalating tension between Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the threat of an ongoing political battle and courtroom drama may have finally come to an end. For weeks, Delgaudio(R-Sterling) has vowed to fight the disciplinary action taken against him in July by the Board of Supervisors. But on Friday, he abruptly changed course and instead announced that he would accept the board’s vote to censure him, and would not appeal the dismissal of a lawsuit he had filed against the board.
Washington Post

A demographic map showing the racial distribution of the population of the United States has garnered national attention for its creator, a University of Virginia researcher. Dustin Cable, a statistician in the Demographics and Workforce Group at UVa’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, used Census data and a computer template to create an interactive map of the United States with 308 million data points. Each point represents a person counted by the Census Bureau, and the dots are color-coded by race. This allows users to look at the population density, distribution and racial segregation in one easy-to-use map, which allows users to scroll and zoom in and out.
Daily Progress

A defense fund formed by a Pittsylvania County minister to provide financial help to the board of supervisors in its public prayer case has been incorporated and is awaiting approval for nonprofit status. Matthew Speck, pastor at Piney Grove Baptist Church in Renan who is forming the organization, said the fund was incorporated by the commonwealth in June and he applied for 501 (c) 3 (nonprofit) status from the Internal Revenue Service in early May. The fund’s name is Praying in Jesus Name, Inc.
Register & Bee

National Stories

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that records of visitors to the White House were off limits to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Allowing public access to the information would circumvent Congress' intent to give the president discretion to keep his appointments calendar secret, the court said. The unanimous three-judge panel, however, did affirm a federal district trial judge's finding that the public could submit requests for visitor records related to other agencies housed within the White House complex, such as the Office of Management and Budget.
Blog of LegalTimes

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow had access to names of officers who helped killed Osama bin Laden but Judicial Watch can't have the same information, a judge said. A few months after a Navy Seal team killed bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011, Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal met with four CIA officers and one Navy Seal who had been involved in the raid as part of research for the film "Zero Dark Thirty," Courthouse News Service reported. Bigelow and Boal were told the full name of the Navy Seal and the first names of the CIA officers, information they didn't use in the film. Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see records of the communications between the filmmakers and the government, but the names of the officers were redacted.
UPI.com

An Illinois judge denied a Patch reporter protection under the state shield law and ordered him to reveal his confidential source about a high-profile double murder trial in the town of Joliet. Will County Circuit Court Judge Gerald Kinney ruled on Thursday that reporter Joseph Hosey must provide the court with all the documents he received from his confidential source “and any and all information which tends to identify the source of the material provided” related to the January stranglings of two Joliet men, Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Editorials/Columns

Virginian-Pilot: Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's credibility suffered another blow recently, after a southwestern Virginia newspaper unearthed records showing a senior assistant in his office communicated through email dozens of times with attorneys representing energy companies in a lawsuit filed by property owners.

Roanoke Times: Hunton & Williams is a prestigious Richmond law firm with a long list of high-dollar clients, so when one of its lobbyists went schmoozing at Morton’s The Steakhouse last winter, it’s fair to assume the guests were not asked to limit their orders to the soup and salad section of the menu. And yet the official cost-per-mouth for that dinner came to just $24 per person, thus allowing the legislators or state government officials to remain cloaked in anonymity as they chewed on their iceberg lettuce. But let’s get real. They were munching on filet mignon or some other choice cut of Angus. The total bill for three came to $426, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s $142 per person for those who don’t have a calculator handy. According to state law, the identities of the diners is required if the tab reaches $50 per person. But the lobbyist split the bill among six clients: Virginia Uranium, Appalachian Power Co., Virginia Credit Union League, Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield and Genentech. It’s cheating, but it’s not illegal under Virginia’s squishy ethics laws. Seventy percent of entertainment expenses reported by lobbyists did not identify the recipients, according to The Virginian-Pilot.