Transparency News 4/26/17

Wednesday, April 26, 2017



State and Local Stories

VCOG is offering an in-person FOIA and records management training seminar, May 17, at the Library of Virginia. Click here for tickets and details.




Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said Tuesday that he thinks the Richmond School Board should offer a public explanation for its decision to part ways with Superintendent Dana Bedden. “I wish the School Board would explain a little bit more to the public,” Stoney said. “I think the public is owed that.” His comments came during the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s 71st Public Square at the newspaper’s downtown offices. The event was a question-and-answer session that focused on Stoney’s first 100 days in office. The first question he faced from Times-Dispatch President and Publisher Thomas A. Silvestri, the moderator, concerned Bedden’s departure, which the School Board announced in a news release Saturday. Since then, board members have repeatedly declined to comment beyond citing “philosophical differences” with Bedden. Stoney said that although he thinks the public deserves more of an explanation, he supports the School Board’s decision, calling it an opportunity for the district and the city.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Norfolk City Council held a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss City Attorney Bernard Pishko. The meeting followed a Virginian-Pilot article published last week that revealed he helped craft a secret agreement meant to control who became city treasurer. Mayor Kenny Alexander would not discuss details of what was said behind closed doors, but said he will hold a follow-up meeting with Pishko. The mayor said last week that some council members have expressed “concerns” about Pishko recently. Two weeks ago, the council learned Pishko wrote a letter on city letterhead in support of then-Treasurer Anthony Burfoot ahead of his sentencing on public corruption and perjury charges.
Virginian-Pilot

After a nearly seven-month investigation of the Rockbridge Area Department of Social Services, a special grand jury has decided not to recommend charges. The grand jury had been asked to determine whether there was criminal conduct within an agency accused of giving lackluster attention to reports of child abuse or ignoring them altogether. Some of the written reports were shredded, an internal social services review found last spring. Rockbridge County Commonwealth’s Attorney Christopher Billias, who announced the decision Tuesday, said he could not comment on the grand jury’s reasoning. Although a sealed report on the panel’s findings was submitted to Circuit Judge Malfourd “Bo” Trumbo, state law allows for such reports to be released when they do not result in charges. “It is within the sound discretion of the Court to make a determination of whether or not to unseal the report for public review,’’ Billias said in a news release. Trumbo is out of the office this week, and it was unclear when he might take up the matter.
Roanoke Times



National Stories
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University of California administrators hid $175 million from the public, its governing board and lawmakers in a secret reserve fund even as the UC raised tuition and asked the state for more funding, the state auditor said in a scathing report released Tuesday. Auditor Elaine Howle said the office of UC President Janet Napolitano also overcharged the system's 10 campuses to fund its operations, paid its employees significantly more than state employees and interfered in the auditing process. Napolitano denies the audit's claim and said it unfairly mischaracterizes her office's budget processes and practices. She said much of the $175 million Howle identified is already committed to systemwide university programs ranging from research grants to medical and academic programs, leaving just $38 million in reserves for unexpected expenses such as the need to respond to cybersecurity threats. The office argued it did not need to disclose its reserves because the regents had approved the spending in previous years' budgets.
McClatchy

Some of the state’s leading news media attorneys are concerned that a proposed expansion of rules on public access to court records in Tennessee is overly broad and could erode access at the trial court level. The Tennessee Supreme Court has proposed changing Rule 34 “Policies and Guidelines Regarding Appellate Judicial Records,” which defines certain court records not open for inspection, such as unpublished drafts of judicial orders and opinions, for appellate courts. The changes would broaden the rule to apply to records maintained by the “clerks of the inferior courts” and add a new exemption for any records that “potentially undermine the inherent constitutional powers granted to the court…”
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

The American Civil Liberties Union along with a journalist, a professor and an activist on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, accusing the agency of violating California's open records law, local media reported. The complaint claims the police department in the second largest city in the United States fails to comply with the California Public Records Act by not responding to requests for records within the time allotted by law and, in some cases, ignores requests altogether, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Reuters

Editorials/Columns


Let’s face it: Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney owns the education issue in Richmond. It wasn’t forced on him, either — he went after it. The mayor — or his administration — can’t campaign on education, craft an education compact that is supposed to transform the city’s education system — and then try to stay at arm’s length from the subject at the first sign of controversy. How the “Education Mayor” deals with Bedden’s ouster and replacement is a test. And the entire city is watching.
Richmond Times-Dispatch