Transparency News, 9/9/2022
Friday
September 9, 2022
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state & local news stories
"Even if an elected official isn’t required to respond directly to the person requesting the information, they must alert someone who will."
A Norfolk Circuit Court judge dismissed most of a political activist’s lawsuit against the city of Norfolk and two city council members last week over claims they violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. But not before the city turned over dozens of documents in an attempt to resolve the issue. Yorktown-based political activist Josh Stanfield alleged the city government and City Council members Tommy Smigiel and Andria McClellan broke Virginia open records laws in five separate instances related to several information requests about a plan for a temporary casino at Harbor Park stadium. But in a Sept. 2 opinion, Chief Judge David W. Lannetti ruled that, in four of the five instances, the city, Smigiel and McClellan were not in violation the Freedom of Information Act — the Virginia law that guarantees citizens have access to public records — and dismissed Smigiel and McClellan from the lawsuit. Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, initially said the city’s response to Stanfield’s lawsuit, if upheld, would have had created a situation in which FOIA would not apply directly to elected officials. Rhyne said Lannetti’s ruling partially resolved that issue, however. She said Lannetti clarified that elected officials are required to alert a public body’s custodian of records when an information request is received. So, even if an elected official isn’t required to respond directly to the person requesting the information, they must alert someone who will.
The Virginian-Pilot
Read the full opinion here
Ongoing tensions on the Nottoway County Electoral Board reached a new level this week as the board’s two Democrats voted to censure their Republican colleague over an altercation he had with the county registrar last month at an election training event. Board member Tom Reynolds, who has lodged numerous complaints with the state about how the Nottoway election office is being run, was censured at a heated board meeting Wednesday, according to video of the meeting obtained by The Virginia Mercury. The censure vote doesn’t impact Reynolds’ ability to continue serving on the board and is simply a formal expression of disapproval over his conduct. By law, local judges have the power to appoint and remove electoral board members. The latest twist began when Tom Reynolds, who joined the board at the beginning of the year, tried to let a local Republican sit in on an election training event to “audit” the course to see if she wanted to become an election officer, according to Reynolds. The county registrar, Rodney Reynolds, objected to the presence of a visitor who was not an approved officer of election. Tom Reynolds felt the woman had the right to be there, and he announced to the group that Rodney Reynolds was trying to kick her out. That led to a confrontation between the two men, who are not related, that became so hostile the Nottoway sheriff’s office was called to the scene.
Virginia Mercury
The Spotsylvania County School Board received 21 applications for the position of superintendent and interviewed five candidates, the division’s new manager of executive communications, Jon Russell, said Wednesday. The School Board on Aug. 25 approved by a slim margin a motion to recommend attorney and former Spotsylvania County Administrator Mark Taylor for the position. Taylor has no background or experience in public education, but according to School Board members who approved his recommendation, he qualifies to receive a superintendent license under Option IV of Virginia Code’s licensure regulations, since he has the equivalent of a master’s degree and three years of successful senior leadership experience. Marie Durrer, chair of the Greene County Board of Supervisors, said on Tuesday that, to her knowledge, that board has not been contacted regarding references for Taylor. Greene County’s deputy county administrator, Tracy Morris, responded to an emailed question about whether county staff had been contacted regarding references for Taylor by stating, “The information requested below is regarding a personnel matter and is not subject to FOIA.”
The Free Lance-Star
The future of a committee convened by the State Air Pollution Control Board to improve public engagement and transparency in environmental permitting is in doubt with new leadership on the panel. Board Chair James Patrick Guy said he was “not disposed to … continue the committee at this time.” “If there’s a need for it in the future we can certainly discuss it,” he said. The Committee on Public Engagement was created in 2019 in the wake of the panel’s controversial approval of an air permit for the now-canceled Chickahominy Power Station in Charles City County.
Virginia Mercury
editorials & columns
"The system creates the impression that only a select few are permitted to handle carefully defined categories of truly dangerous information. But these rules do not describe what is actually happening."
After Roanoke grand juries indicted Robert Jeffrey Jr. on four felony counts last year, Jeffrey made himself the spectacle and caused considerable embarrassment for Roanoke and his fellow council members in the process. In October 2021, his colleagues quite reasonably asked him to take a leave of absence until his legal troubles were resolved. Jeffrey refused. “I am innocent of these charges. My intent is to stay in office,” he stated during the Oct. 18 council meeting. “I will be vindicated from these charges.” At the end of Jeffrey’s first trial in March, it took the jury 25 minutes to convict him of two felony charges of obtaining money from the city by false pretense. His second trial ended two days later when he pleaded no contest to one charge of embezzling from NNEO. The plea deal, legally the same as a guilty plea, bars the possibility of appealing that embezzlement conviction, and so he forfeited his council seat. And yet Jeffrey, as brazen and reckless as ever, has opened a new, ridiculous chapter, filing a petition for declaratory judgment demanding that he be reinstated on city council — which, if successful, would somehow have to be accomplished as he serves his prison sentence.
The Roanoke Times
Government officials are classifying so much that it is becoming impossible to prioritize and protect truly sensitive information, much less review classified records so they can eventually be released to the public. “We can no longer keep our heads above the tsunami,” wrote Mark Bradley in his letter introducing the Information Security Oversight Office’s annual report. The security classification system is designed to control information according to its level of sensitivity, ranging from confidential to top secret. Anyone seeking a security clearance to handle these materials must undergo rigorous background checks and training. But being approved for a level of clearance does not automatically give one access to classified information. Only those who already have access to a specific program’s information can grant others with clearance permission to see it, and only if the requestor has an explicit reason for their “need to know.” The system creates the impression that only a select few are permitted to handle carefully defined categories of truly dangerous information. But these rules do not describe what is actually happening.
Matthew Connelly, The Free Lance-Star
