Virginia Coalition for Open Government

Transparency News 9/26/14

Friday, September 26, 2014

 

State and Local Stories

Gov. Terry McAuliffe will roll out a new set of ethics proposals before the 2015 legislative session, developing them through a bipartisan commission that will also take a deep dive into long-standing traditions of Virginia government. Virginia's unique-in-the-country one-term limit for governors, allowing the state legislature to elect judges, partisan redistricting and the state's wide-open campaign finance laws – all of it's on the table, McAuliffe said Thursday. He said he wants his appointed commission to "break free from old ways of thinking and to ask the tough questions."
Daily Press
Commission members

  • Viola Baskerville, of Richmond – CEO of Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia and a former member of the Richmond City Council.
  • Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
  • John T. Casteen III, former University of Virginia president.
  • Christopher Howard, President of Hampden-Sydney College.
  • Susan A. Magill, Vice President for Advancement at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and formerly of Pew Charitable Trust,
  • Courtney M. Malveaux, attorney at ThompsonMcMullan and previously commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Labor and Industry.
  • Joe T. May Chairman of the Board and Chief Technologist for EIT, LLC and a former member of the House of Delegates.
  • John Sherman, Jr., former President and CEO of BB&T Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.

A Washington and Lee University journalism professor is seeking to have a plea agreement made public in the case of a former student charged with killing another student in a December crash. Rockbridge County Circuit Court Judge Michael Irvine in August rejected a deal that was struck between the commonwealth’s attorney and Nicholas Hansel in the days leading up to a scheduled jury trial. The terms of the agreement were not revealed in open court, and Irvine ordered the document sealed. It remains in a brown envelope secured to Hansel’s case files in the clerk’s office. Brian Richardson, who has taught at W&L since 1990 and heads the journalism and mass communication department, said it troubled him that the judge sealed an agreement without offering any reason for doing so. Court records are presumed open and are to be closed only in narrow, exceptional circumstances.
Roanoke Times

The new face on the Roanoke County School Board will be a familiar one. For the first time in seven years the board will have a new member, but not one inexperienced in the workings of Roanoke County. Former Roanoke County supervisor Mike Altizer has been appointed to fill the post of former board vice chairman Mike Stovall, in part because he does not plan to seek re-election to the job. Board chairman Drew Barrineau read a statement before the vote. In it he said Altizer, who does not plan to run for the seat next year when the appointment expires, has the experience to lead right away and has been elected by the Vinton community. Barrineau said the board felt citizens in that area should decide who represents their interests. Thursday night’s vote put to an end to what has been an unusual situation for the school system. The county’s school board members are elected, not appointed. Not only that, but no one is able to recall the last time the board was tasked with appointing one of its own midterm.
Roanoke Times

Concerned Danville residents will again have a chance to speak up about the search for a new superintendent during two more public forums next month. After meeting with search firm BWP and Associates on Monday, the Danville School Board scheduled two additional public forums for Oct. 6 and 7.  “Community engagement is an essential part of this process,” said Danville School Board Chairman Ed Polhamus.
Register & Bee

Amid concerns about the management of two homeless facilities, the Prince William Board of Supervisors voted unexpectedly this week to restructure the county Department of Social Services, removing its power to hire a director, set policy and oversee the department’s $32 million budget. In a 5-to-1 vote, with Supervisor Frank Principi dissenting, the board fired existing Department of Social Services Director Janine Sewell and designated itself and County Executive Melissa Peacor in charge of the county’s social services department. The issue was not on the board’s public agenda and took place with little discussion after supervisors broke for closed session, a move County Attorney Angela Horan said was permissible under Virginia law to discuss personnel matters and pending audits. Principi, D-Woodbridge, said the board’s vote was premature and inappropriate given the lack of public notice. “I really choke on the fact that this [resolution] has not been made public. We got this about a half-an hour ago, 45 minutes maybe, and we have not had time to discuss it other than in closed session,” Principi said.
Inside NOVA
WHY ARE YOU A VCOG MEMBER?

"The ins and outs of the workings and non-workings of government, state and local in particular, have long fascinated me.  VCOG plays a vital role in holding those governments accountable to those of us who cared enough to elect them.  I’ve forgotten how long ago I joined VCOG, but renewing my membership each year is as automatic as pouring my morning coffee."
— John Sabean, Hillsville
 

National Stories

Pennsylvania's attorney general on Thursday identified top state officials who received pornographic emails on government computers, reversing course after a long-running fight with reporters who sought the release of the information. All of the officials named by Attorney General Kathleen Kane served under Governor Tom Corbett when he was attorney general and his successor, Linda Kelly. The list includes two current officials in the Republican governor's administration: Frank Noonan, the commander of the Pennsylvania State Police, and E. Christopher Abruzzo, the state's top environmental official. Citing an internal review, Kane's office had said it would not release the emails, which were passed between officials in the Attorney General's Office between 2008 and 2012. But it apparently reconsidered.
Reuters

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by The Charleston Gazette, saying the newspaper’s complaint includes a series of false charges that seek to “impugn” his character. In August, the Gazette sued Morrisey for refusing the release documents about his role in his office’s ongoing case against an out-of-state drug company, Cardinal Health, which his wife lobbies for in Washington, D.C. The newspaper requested the records under the state Freedom of Information Act. In a filing this week, Morrisey’s office alleges that the newspaper’s lawsuit is “meritless” and a “waste of this court’s time.”
Charleston Gazette
 

Editorials/Columns

Gov. Terry McAuliffe made a smart move by announcing a new commission to focus on ethics and redistricting. He also wisely appointed two Virginia statesmen, Republican Bill Bolling and Democrat Rick Boucher, to lead the panel. The announcement will help keep the issues in the public eye, where they belong. The commission’s activity should periodically do the same. Virginians should harbor no illusions about the power of yet another blue-ribbon panel to make a substantive difference. By itself, it won’t.But it can produce a set of recommendations that voters could then insist upon. McAuliffe deserves credit for staying focused on the cause of good governance. It’s up to the public to show a similar degree of commitment.
Times-Dispatch

Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the city's recently departed chief administrative officer, Byron C. Marshall, must think the people of Richmond are a bunch of fools. Why else would they attempt to hide from us the details concerning Marshall's sudden departure from City Hall? Their latest gambit was to ask City Council members to sign confidentiality agreements in order to find out why Marshall is no longer in City Hall. It's only the most recent example of Richmond's near-pathological addiction to secrecy, an addiction that's as corrosive to regional efforts at working together for the greater good as it is to building trust in our elected officials. They should know better.
Carol Wolf, Style Weekly

Recently, a panel convened at Ashland Coffee & Tea to discuss the topic of Hanover’s appointment process for school board members. This county is among the few in Virginia where the board of supervisors appoints school board members. In most counties, voters have that privilege, and each November during an election cycle, signs reading “Jo Schmoe for School Board” are right up there next to candidates for other local, state or federal offices. The gist of the recent panel, hosted by the Hanover Democrats, was that politics has crept into the appointment process here. It’s hard to believe that members of the board of supervisors don’t exercise some level of influence over their appointees, and this will be the case as long as the system stays the same in Hanover. No supervisor would knowingly appoint a board member whose goals go against their own. This is likely the case for other political appointees, as well. As such, members of the board of supervisors should be held accountable for their appointees’ actions. That’s the only check Hanover citizens have in this case.
Herald-Progress