Transparency News 9/24/14
State and Local Stories
The Portsmouth City Council decided behind closed doors Monday night to retain City Auditor Jesse Andre Thomas. The heated discussion prompted one council member to storm out of the meeting. The majority of the council was not willing to part ways with Thomas, who has come under scrutiny for not producing an audit in more than 17 months on the job. Thomas earns $92,700 a year. Several council members who attended the meeting declined to comment as they left the closed session discussion. Bill Moody, one councilman who believes Thomas should be fired, left the meeting abruptly and stepped onto an elevator, visibly agitated. "I think the citizens of Portsmouth are going to be upset," Moody said before the doors closed. He also criticized one council member, Paige Cherry, who left the meeting through a side door after saying he had to attend a meeting, Moody said.
Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk Police Chief Mike Goldsmith has ordered 300 body cameras for his officers - a purchase intended to improve transparency of policing and eliminate "he said/she said" disputes. City Manager Marcus Jones told City Council members about the request Monday at their annual retreat. The department has more than 700 officers. The purchase comes after police shot and killed two men armed with knives in June and wounded a woman when she was shot by an officer in her car in August.
Virginian-Pilot
House Speaker William J. Howell announced Monday that he will block the confirmation of three former legislators’ nominations to state employment until the U.S. Justice Department assures him that the appointments are legal. In a letter to top Justice Department officials, Howell (R) said he did not actually think the three latest appointments were improper — but was prompted to pose the question because the FBI is investigating another ex-legislator who resigned amid job talks. Howell made clear how he feels about that case, involving former state senator Phillip P. Puckett (D). The speaker said Puckett did nothing unusual in June when he stepped down while discussing a job for himself on the Republican-controlled state tobacco commission and a judgeship for his daughter.
Washington Post
Former Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Byron C. Marshall will receive $163,617 in severance pay after his sudden exit from City Hall, according to the mayor’s office. Marshall, who served in the city’s top administration position for five years and resigned Sept. 12, left behind many questions, which have gone unanswered by city officials and council members who signed nondisclosure agreements. The severance pay includes unused paid vacation. Marshall, whose base salary was $181,560, was entitled to at least seven months of severance pay under his employment agreement, which equates to about $105,000.
Times-Dispatch
National Stories
A judge presiding over the Colorado theater massacre criminal case heard arguments on Monday about whether to allow cameras at the murder trial of accused gunman James Holmes, something both prosecutors and defense lawyers oppose. Attorneys for broadcast and print news outlets have asked Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour to allow expanded media coverage of the proceedings, which are set to begin in December. Prosecutors and public defenders argued that letting cameras in the courtroom could expose witnesses and lawyers to threats, intimidation, or other forms of harassment. Samour said he will issue a written ruling by next week.Reuters
The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) has created a new award in honor of the late Kenneth F. Bunting, former executive editor and associate publisher of the Seattle Post- Intelligencer. Bunting was honored posthumously September 12 with WCOG’S James Madison Award for his long-term commitment to open government. He was one of WCOG’s founding board members and had served as director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) based at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.
Washington Coalition for Open Government
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is denying an allegation by a top Associated Press journalist that the agency has politicized the handling of requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “FOIA requests are handled by career staff,” Kevin Griffis, an HHS spokesman, told the Erik Wemple Blog in a brief interview on Friday. Griffis was responding to a much-shared AP post summarizing “8 ways the Obama administration is blocking information,” an inventory of press restrictions compiled by AP Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee and presented at a meeting of the American Society of News Editors, the Associated Press Media Editors and the Associated Press Photo Managers. Under obstruction No. 7, Buzbee alleged, “The administration uses FOIAs as a tip service to uncover what news organizations are pursuing. Requests are now routinely forwarded to political appointees. At the agency that oversees the new health care law, for example, political appointees now handle the FOIA requests.” “That is categorically false,” says Griffis. HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for administering Obamacare’s Healthcare.gov.
Washington Post
Editorials/Columns
The [tobacco] commission, in addition to paying health costs, was supposed to help folks in the tobacco belt recover from the local economic pain as cigarette smoking slowly diminished. In fact, in its 15 years of existence, the commission has figured in a stunning array of scandals, including the recently concluded corruption trial involving former governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. Complaints abound about wasteful spending on dubious projects as well as cronyism. It has been that way from the beginning. In its first year of operation, the commission spent 80 percent of that year’s money, $58 million, on no-strings payouts to 25,150 people who held now- defunct federal quota rights to grow tobacco, hundreds of whom didn’t even live in Virginia.Peter Galuszka, Washington Post
Petty politics sullying the integrity of judicial elections by Virginia’s lawmakers? Unbelievable? Not at all. But the behind-the-scenes hardball that news columnist Dan Casey related last week about the courting, then spurning, of a highly qualified candidate for a General District Court seat in Danville cast a bright light on a political spoils system ripe for abuse. Time to call again on Virginia lawmakers to do what politicians are loath to do: Give up some of their leverage for deal-making on unrelated issues and, of course, prime opportunities for rewarding political friends and punishing those who have offended.
Roanoke Times
