Transparency News 5/22/17

Monday, May 22, 2017



State and Local Stories

If you respond to Freedom of Information Act requests in York County, you know who Robert Holloway is. The county resident has asked for so much information, it's hard for Gail Whittaker, the county's spokeswoman and FOIA officer, to narrow it down. A sampling of his requests includes emails between local officials, contracts, city-commissioned studies and how EPA standards are being addressed at the Yorktown Crescent housing development. Holloway accounted for more than 100 of the 124 requests that Whittaker received from January 2016 through this March. But he is the rare exception among FOIA requesters in the Peninsula's counties and cities. The Daily Press submitted its own FOIA requests to see who is curious for information — basically, a FOIA for FOIAs. Requests made in a 90-day period between December 2016 and March 2017 show area residents usually limit their requests to police reports. Requests for all other information are dominated by lawyers, consultants and research firms, who typically say why they're requesting information, or journalists.
Daily Press

Chesterfield County school leaders are considering altering their public comment policy after two people protested from their seats when they nearly lost their chance to speak. School Board members may do away with a rule allowing residents who have signed up in advance to speak on every action item, which are items on which board members vote. Instead, the School Board is exploring adding a block of time for public comments on all action items before the board discusses them.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Giles County Sheriff Morgan Millirons must answer more questions about missing documents related to a wrongful termination suit set for trial next month, a federal judge has ruled. Glen Conrad, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke, ruled on Thursday that fired sheriff’s Lt. Scott Dunn may submit additional questions about missing handwritten notes that Millirons has claimed detailed problems with Dunn’s job performance. Millirons must answer the questions before a jury trial set for June 26-28, Conrad said.
Roanoke Times



National Stories
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Suing the United States, a consortium of citrus growers claims the secretary of agriculture’s recent decision to remove the ban on lemon imports from Argentina was politically motivated, ignores science and puts the nation’s produce at risk. In lifting the ban, APHIS cited conclusions reached after a 2015 visit to Argentina, but APHIS has never disclosed any information about that trip, failed to issue a report on it, did not take public comment on it and has refused to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking information about the trip, according to the complaint.
Courthouse News Service

Conservationists claim in a federal complaint that the State Department has for five years left them waiting for public documents on the path of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Joined in the May 18 complaint by advocate Thomas Bachand, the Center for Biological Diversity accuses the State Department of having improperly stonewalled their attempts to learn more about the pipeline’s path from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Together, Bachand and the center have filed five requests for the data under the Freedom of Information Act since 2012.
Courthouse News Service

The Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Illinois High School Association has no obligation to release internal documents.   The watchdog Better Government Association wanted to get records from the IHSA (which organizes high school athletic tournaments) on its sponsorship deals with the likes of Gatorade and Nike. To this end, it filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act, which  is supposed to make sure anyone can get documents, memos, and even emails from a government body. However, the court treats IHSA as a private non-profit organization.
Northern Public Radio

The City of Seattle, Washington was one of the first U.S. cities to pursue open data, creating the first iteration of its open data portal in 2010 under Mayor Michael McGinn, a prominent proponent of government transparency. Since then, Seattle has established itself as a leader in open data, consistently increasing the volume and accessibility of available information. In 2015, Seattle was named a What Works City, and according to Seattle’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Michael Mattmiller, it came at the perfect time for building the city’s open data capabilities. “We were already thinking about how to re-engage the city and expand the open data portal’s use,” Mattmiller said. “One of the areas that we identified to focus on was this notion of creating an open data policy.” The city began work with What Works Cities partner the Sunlight Foundation to develop this policy. “It was very helpful for us to have the model policy language, to have specific policy objectives that we could work towards,” said Mattmiller. “But, we also realized that we had some unique aspects of Seattle that we had to mediate.”
Data-Smart City Solutions


Editorials/Columns


It took a liberal policy group, ProgressVA, to accomplish through public shaming what good-government advocates in Virginia have failed to accomplish over the years through reasoned arguments and rational discussions: force the Virginia General Assembly to take action that opens up the legislative process. The excuse of Assembly leaders, especially those in the House of Delegates, for failing to broadcast and archive these meetings was that it was just too hard, too technically demanding. Besides, over the years, some questioned whether or not there was any public demand or need to broadcast every meeting of Subcommittee No. 1 of the Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns. Well, ProgressVa proved them wrong.
News & Advance

The Friends of Liberty of Rappahannock County sponsored a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) training session last Wednesday evening, May 10th, at the County Courthouse. FOIA has been the center of great controversy in the county of late, and it was our desire to help lessen that controversy, and hopefully save our county needless expenses stemming from a misunderstanding of the law. The session was conducted by Maria J.K. Everett, Executive Director and Senior Attorney of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council in Richmond. Maria’s two hour presentation, including lively questions and answers, was thoroughly enjoyable, mixed with knowledge, understanding, humor and a desire to clarify the myths of the FOIA law, which she did impeccably.
Rappahannock News (letter to the editor)

Standing up for free speech is always timely. But we don’t want to let too much time elapse before taking note of this year’s Muzzle Awards from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. The “awards” — like the Razzies — recognize bad behavior, not good. What’s notable about this year’s “winners” (drawn from 2016 events) is that many of them seem to carry over a theme from the previous year. Last year, a Muzzle was awarded to higher education in general, due to the undeniable — and indefensible — trend of stifling free speech on college campuses. 
Daily Progress