Transparency News 9/5/17

Tuesday, September 5, 2017



State and Local Stories

Former Petersburg City Attorney Brian K. Telfair was found guilty Friday of lying to police about a supposed 2016 threat to city officials in which he used a prepaid cellphone to call himself but claimed an unknown “redneck” caller made racist threats to the mayor and two other city leaders. In finding him guilty after a two-hour trial in Petersburg General District Court, Judge Ray P. Lupold III said there was “no doubt whatsoever” that Telfair committed a “calculated” crime and admonished him for the harm he caused to the community. “This is not only a crime,” Lupold said from the bench. “This is a breach of trust; this is a breach of duty. We are held to a higher standard as lawyers.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) will no longer have to provide the names of teachers and other identifiable teacher information to supplement the Student Growth Percentile (SGP) data it provided Lansdowne resident Brian Davison, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in an opinion Thursday.  The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision comes after Davison, a father of two Loudoun County Public Schools students, took VDOE to court in 2014 after the department and LCPS denied his request to see the SGP data he said could be used to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of students’ schools, teachers and principals. 
Loudoun Times-Mirror

Attorneys for the state judicial commission want a district judge to set aside an order compelling the commission to produce records in the case of Judge Kurt Pomrenke. Last week Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent denied commission motions to quash subpoenas seeking information from the Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission’s investigation into Pomrenke. On Friday, commission attorneys asked for a stay and filed objections to that order. The commission argues its work is confidential and should remain so, even though transcripts and other materials related to its formal complaint against Pomrenke are on file for public review at the state Supreme Court, which is to hear that complaint this fall.
Herald Courier

Contrary to the public display of goodwill for the media after a closed-door meeting last week, the region’s top three elected officials clashed sharply over Metro funding, with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) saying the transit agency would get no additional money from his state. The summit discussion, according to people who attended or were briefed on it, was contentious and alarming to Metro’s supporters. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) was sufficiently concerned that he instructed the several dozen officials and staff attending that no one leak what was said to the media. If Hogan’s comments and other disagreements became public, McAuliffe warned, there would be no hope Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature would support Metro with additional money as he desires.
Washington Post

Protect America’s Consumers and similar groups have used the legal services of the Warrenton law firm Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky. The firm is headed by Jill Holtzman Vogel, a state senator from Fauquier County and the Republican Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor in November. It employs power lawyers such as Tom Josefiak, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and they are adept with election laws across the country.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Virginia State Unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) filed a lawsuit August 28 against Hampton City Schools for the release of information related to a request to rename several schools. After the events in Charlottesville on August 12,  SCLC Vice President Andrew Shannon submitted Freedom of Information Act requests on August 17 and August 18 to Hampton City Schools for certain public records. The lawsuit alleges that Hampton City Schools did not comply with the FOIA requests and have subjected Shannon to “utter hate, hostility, and animosity by some of the individuals, who were opponents against the renaming of HCS, who also appeared to carry vials of vitriol by making comments to Shannon such as “we don’t like your kind, go back to where you come from,” as they voiced their opposition to the re-naming of Hampton City Public Schools, during the HCS Public Hearings and Hampton City Public Schools Board Meetings.” A spokesperson for Hampton City Schools tells News 3 the school board received the FOIA request on August 21 and responded within five business days. They were unaware of the lawsuit until it was filed.
WTKR

This week’s Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting will provide extra time for the public to speak about the deadly Unite the Right rally, if they wish. “Because this will be the first Board of Supervisors meeting since Aug. 12, the scheduling decision was made in recognition of the emotion in the community surrounding recent events to make sure that we provide ample opportunity for public comment while also ensuring that the board has time to address other important issues on their agenda,” said Lee Catlin, assistant county executive. The board’s first meeting of the month typically begins at 1 p.m., but on Wednesday it will begin at noon, with the extra hour devoted to public comment.
Daily Progress



National Stories
​

To learn more about individual Arkansas legislators' General Improvement Fund grants, including those at the center of a federal investigation, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette submitted records requests under the state Freedom of Information Act to eight Arkansas Planning and Development Districts. The newspaper sought records since 2013, when two Northwest Arkansas legislators started supporting grants to Ecclesia College and Decision Point Inc. The newspaper collected more than 4,200 records of General Improvement Fund grants statewide. The Democrat-Gazette also requested all related records connected with General Improvement Fund grants to Ecclesia and Decision Point, including grant applications, checks and emails.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Beaufort County, S.C., council members so far have been tight-lipped about possible candidates to replace outgoing county administrator Gary Kubic, and they don’t plan to hold public interviews of finalists before making a hiring decision. County Council chair Paul Sommerville declined Friday to name any of the candidates under consideration for Kubic’s position. He did not identify the nine candidates as finalists, and asked a reporter with the Packet and Gazette about the definition of “finalist” under state law, then later informed the reporter that according to the county’s legal counsel, the identities of finalists didn’t have to be released to the public until after the hiring was completed. But the S.C. Freedom of Information Act doesn’t say that. The law reads that “materials relating to not fewer than the final three applicants under consideration for a position must be made available for public inspection and copying.”
Island Packet

In a filing made public Friday, lawyers for the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote that the department has no records supporting President Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower. "Both [the Federal Bureau of Investigation] and [National Security Division] confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets," the DOJ said in the filing, referring to Mr. Trump's tweets. A group called American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for department records related to Mr. Trump's claim, and took the Justice Department to court to compel production of any such records. 
CBS News

Residents of Crosby, Texas, woke Thursday morning to a 40-foot plume of black smoke darkening their sky. Don’t worry, said both government officials and personnel from Arkema, the owner of the plant emitting the fumes — there’s nothing toxic in your air. Locals had little choice but to take them at their word. That's because in recent years, state leaders have made it increasingly difficult for communities to learn what, exactly, sits inside the chemical plants in their neighborhoods — and just how dangerous it might be. The implications of such efforts came into focus this week, after Hurricane Harvey battered, drowned and endangered such facilities along the Texas coast.  State leaders argue restrictions are needed to prevent terrorists from targeting volatile plants.
Texas Tribune

The Library of Congress has put the papers of Alexander Hamilton online for the first time in their original format. The library holds the world’s largest collection of Hamilton papers—approximately 12,000 items concentrated from 1777 until Hamilton’s death in 1804, including letters, legal papers and drafts of speeches and writings. Now, these original document will be available for researchers, students or the generally curious anywhere in the world to explore and read at loc.gov/collections/alexander-hamilton-papers.
Free Lance-Star


Editorials/Columns


As brave and talented as Virginia State Police are in the field, every so often the agency's leadership leaves us wondering exactly what they were thinking and for whom they think they work. We understand that criminal investigations are necessarily low-profile until charges are filed. VSP leadership is quick to come forward when they want help from the public. And the agency will announce that someone has been killed or is missing, in bare detail. But there are basic bits of data that the state police should be releasing. Transparency builds trust.  Obfuscation destroys it. Case in point:
News Leader

Whether depending on our government for storm recovery, good schools, police protection or other important services, openness and access to information are essential to ensuring the job gets done. A free flow of information helps citizens keep watch on their government. It also allows journalists to report on matters of widespread interest by scrutinizing public records and meetings and, just as importantly, asking necessary, tough questions of government officials. In short, transparency leads to real news.  It leads to the truth.
Kelly Shannon, Corpus Christi Caller Times