Transparency News 5/28/15

Thursday, May 28, 2015

 



State and Local Stories


These days, Wednesday evenings in the Daily Press newsroom in Newport News, VA, mean pizza. And data. Lots and lots of data. The paper, which recently moved from a 1960s building to new downtown digs, has been opening its office up for monthly meetings of the local chapter of Code for America, a national nonprofit that builds open-source technology designed to make government more transparent and responsive. Code for America is perhaps best known for its work with city officials. But in Newport News, where the group’s volunteers decided last fall that they could fulfill their mission by working with the local newspaper, a project to circumvent an open-records obstacle has turned into what may become a lasting partnership—one that arrived at a good time for the Daily Press. “I’ve been trying to get a database person in the newsroom for a long time,” said Marisa Porto, the paper’s editor and vice president of content. But she has struggled to make a hire for her relatively small newsroom, she said; skilled coders can get opportunities in bigger communities. Like many papers its size, the Daily Press can use all the programming help it can get. As Daily Press reporter Dave Ress told me: “I have zippo code skills.” That’s where Code for America comes in.
Columbia Journalism Review

Culpeper’s battle over cut-through traffic on Burgandine Avenue, which many hoped would be settled Wednesday, will continue for at least another month. And the fight between the Madison Grove Homeowner’s Association and the Culpeper Town Council has now turned from contentious to nasty. “I think everyone on [the] Town Council is well aware by now that [Public Works Director] Jim Hoy has consistently opposed a sensible solution to Madison Grove’s cut-through traffic problem,” Rick Fields, primary spokesman for Madison Grove, emailed. It went on to add, “In addition, Jim Hoy is currently under investigation for possible tampering with the independent traffic study.” The Town Council had commissioned that study last year and it resulted in a recommendation to keep the public street open (the subdivision residents had wanted it closed at Ira Hoffman Lane). Immediately upon convening May 20, the Town Council adjourned its special meeting and had Town Manager Chris Hively follow up with Fields. In reply to a Hively email, which The Free Lance–Star received through a Freedom of Information Act request, Fields said that it was he who was conducting the investigation because “Madison Grove residents are furious that the independent traffic study included information from the outside which was false, incomplete and misleading.”
Free Lance-Star

Susan Stimpson, House Speaker Bill Howell's opponent for the GOP nomination from the 28th District, filed suit in Stafford County Circuit Court on Wednesday challenging the State Board of Elections’ recent decision to change absentee ballot rules within a month of the election, announced her campaign. The key points of Stimpson’s complaint and request for injunction are: . . . 4. The State Board of Elections continues to stonewall efforts to obtain information on the exact details and requirements of the change, the meeting minutes and the audio of the meeting. They have not responded to Freedom of Information Act requests, covering up a clear abuse of power by Speaker Bill Howell.
Inside NOVA

The FBI and Virginia State Police are conducting joint interviews in their separate criminal investigations of votes taken by Councilman John Uhrin and Mayor Will Sessoms, and the city has turned over more than 5,000 pages of documents subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. FBI Special Agent Chris Emsley has questioned at least one elected official and a local businessman as part of a federal grand jury investigation into Uhrin's July 2, 2013, vote giving tax breaks to renovate the historic Cavalier Hotel. Uhrin's wife was hired to market 83 luxury homes to be built on the property. The company building the homes and a second company that is marketing them are owned by her longtime employer, Bart Frye. Emsley was accompanied by state police Detective Rob Cully, according to City Councilman John Moss and the businessman. Cully has been assigned to the office of a special prosecutor, Michael Doucette, who is looking into dozens of votes taken by Sessoms that involved customers of TowneBank, where he served as a president. Although the investigations are thought to be unrelated, both lawmen sought information about council votes that gave tax incentives and advances totaling $36 million to developers of the Cavalier project, Moss said.
Virginian-Pilot

National Stories

It's hardly an invasion of privacy for someone to scan a license plate. After all, that plate was meant to be public. But with millions of scans, patterns emerge. That means unusual activity stands out. And some police agencies have started experimenting with this kind of analysis. Ron Sloan is director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. They've tried analyzing licence plate scans from an area near where a murder victim was found. But states keep passing new restrictions on how long police may store license plate data. Under these laws, police have only a few months before they have to hit delete. Still in the long run, these state laws may be moot because even as states limit the size of police databases, private ones keep growing. Jennifer Lynch is an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She says the nation's biggest collections of license plate data are in private hands, controlled by companies such as "Vigilant Solutions." And their information is basically unregulated.
NPR


Editorials/Columns

For more than three months, the Town of Altavista Police Department has been the subject of a criminal investigation by the Virginia State Police. The probe began Feb. 24, and was quickly followed by a March 3 announcement that department employees were put on paid leave. Silence has been the rule of the day in Altavista since February. Silence from town and state police officials when asked questions by the public and silence when asked questions by the news media. Indeed, in mid-March, Town Manager Waverly Coggsdale even refused to tell News & Advance reporters who was running the force on a day-to-day basis, citing the personnel exemption of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. With the resignation of Chief Walsh, an 18-year veteran of the Altavista force who was just promoted to chief in December 2013, it’s time for that silence to end. Altavista’s elected officials need to be transparent and open with residents about what is going on inside their police department. Town residents and taxpayers — Chief Walsh’s salary was more than $69,000 — need to know their money is being spend wisely and properly.
News & Advance

Every case before Virginia’s highest court is a big deal. But for the second time in as many years, the Supreme Court of Virginia is poised to decide issues of great significance for FOIA, above and beyond the regular significance of the court’s decisions. Next Wednesday, June 3, the Court will hear the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) v. Scott Surovell. This is not the first time Delegate (and Senate-candidate) Surovell has fought for transparency, and in this case, he seeks to do so by bringing some sunlight to the administration of the death penalty in Virginia. The death penalty may be on the decline in Virginia, and now abolished in Nebraska, but it remains a hot and heavily litigated subject. This post explains the case and includes links to the parties’ briefs – DOC’s Opening Brief, Surovell’s Brief, and DOC’s Reply Brief. (A very large tip of the hat to Surovell’s counsel, who provided these copies. The Supreme Court of Virginia, apparently content to be below average, still does not deign to provide the public online access to briefs or other case documents.) Here are the issues for the Supreme Court to decide (as stated by Surovell): Did the circuit court err in ordering VDOC to produce the records at issue where, testimony failed to establish that disclosure would jeopardize security, and where VDOC failed to show any nexus between disclosure of these records and the speculated security risks? Where a public body subject to VFOIA disclosure requirements fails to show that it would be unduly burdensome for it to create a redacted copy of a document that contains non-exempt and exempt material, does VFOIA permit that public body to withhold the entire document without review of its decision to do so?
Open Virginia Law

Already, the process of selecting our next president has begun. Nearly 350 people - yes, you read that right - have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run. Some, such as Jeb Bush and Jim Webb, have yet to fill out the forms. Imagine if instead of being vetted by the public, a small group of people not only kept the list of candidates private, but also chose the next president and just presented him or her to us. Would we be willing to accept that process? Not a chance. Yet, that's exactly what Norfolk's School Board is doing in its selection of the city's next superintendent. Appointed by City Council, the seven-member School Board has decided to conduct the search and make the selection in secret, outside of the prying eyes of the very public that he or she will serve. Yes, there is a difference between the job a president does and that of a school superintendent. And yes, the process is different because of it; we don't, for example, elect a superintendent. But that doesn't diminish the importance of the role. Norfolk's public schools have unique challenges. Given the track record of the School Board - Norfolk is choosing its fourth superintendent in five years - it is difficult to trust it to make the right decision.
Vivian Paige, Virginian-Pilot

Ken Cuccinelli’s lawsuit against a PAC that collected money in his name sends a clear warning to those who would misuse today’s campaign machinery. Too bad the message couldn’t have been even stronger.  First is the very practical matter of money. It’s futile to speculate over “what ifs,” but impossible not to ask: What if Mr. Cuccinelli’s campaign had actually obtained the $2.2 million that was raised in his name? Could the money have turned the tide in the election? Money surely was diverted from campaign coffers, as donors — in sincere belief they were helping Mr. Cuccinelli — answered StrikeForce’s marketing call and sent funds to the PAC instead of directly to the candidate. Second is the issue of candor and fairness. The PAC did collect money for Mr. Cuccinelli — $10,000 out of $2.2 million. But donors assumed that most of the funds were destined to go to the candidate — not to the PAC’s own bank account, or those of its cronies. “Buyer beware” goes the old saying. Apparently, “Donor beware” applies, as well. To the extent that the lawsuit serves notice to other PACs to avoid such misleading conduct, it has served a public purpose. "This lawsuit will set a precedent for how other PACs operate in the future, and it will help protect individuals who may otherwise fall victim to such schemes," Mr. Cuccinelli said.
Daily Progress

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