Bob O'Neil, a founding father of VCOG, and the organization's first president, stepped down from the board of directors in early October. O'Neil, who is the director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, pointed out that since his move to Washington, D.C., he is not a resident of Virginia anymore, but added in a note to then-board president Lawrence McConnell, "In spirit, I will always treasure VCOG as a shared enterprise going well beyond the collaboration of media and public members." At its October meeting, the VCOG board of directors unanimously passed a resolution praising O'Neil for his service.
Thanks to the great response to our spring FOIA workshop and our fall records management seminar, VCOG was awarded a grant from the National FOI Coalition and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to underwrite some of the costs of putting on more events. Plans are for an early-spring event in Roanoke and a later event in Northern Virginia.
The VCOG Blog is now interactive. New entries will be added each week and all readers are encouraged to comment. You have to provide a valid name/e-mail address, and VCOG reserves the right to bleep out offensive language, but comments pro and con are always welcome. Feel free to drop VCOG director Megan Rhyne an e-mail (mrhyne@opengovva.org) with your suggestions for new topics.