Transparency News 7/24/17

Monday, July 24, 2017



State and Local Stories

The group pushing to let Hanover County residents vote in November on whether to switch from an appointed School Board to an elected one has faltered but is exploring its next steps. The advocacy group, Hanover Citizens for an Elected School Board, did not have enough signatures for a petition to have a referendum on the way Hanover chooses its School Board members, according to Molly Poisant, who was active in the effort.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

After weeks of discussion, Loudoun supervisors agreed Thursday night on a 62 percent raise for the next Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission effective 2020.  The last time the Board of Supervisors had their salaries increased was in 2008. Under Virginia code, the board cannot increase its compensation during the current term or put the proposal up for a vote via referendum. 
Loudoun Times & Mirror



National Stories
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Although nothing in the Constitution or federal law explicitly says presidents are immune from indictment while they remain in office, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has asserted that they are. A newly disclosed legal memo from the office of Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton, challenges that analysis. The National Archives made the memo public in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The New York Times.
New York Times

Greenwood, Delaware, kettle corn maker Dan Kramer appreciates life in the slow lane. Except when it comes to state government. All told, the septuagenarian has spent more than four years waiting for the Attorney General's Office to rule on his public information requests, making him the longest-running petitioner in recent memory. "You're just sitting here, wondering what in the world is taking so long for them to come to a conclusion," drawls Kramer, who has filed six appeals with the state attorney general since 2011, four of them unsuccessful. "It totally flabbergasted me." State law mandates that Delaware's top law enforcement official rule on Freedom of Information Act appeals within 20 days. In reality, the appeals process drags on for months or even a year, long after governments vote on contracts or approve controversial developments, a News Journal analysis found.
News Journal

Macomb County, Michigan, Clerk Karen Spranger on Thursday asked the state Attorney General to investigate whether officials from County Executive Mark Hackel’s administration violated the law when they had court records moved to accommodate renovations against Spranger’s wishes. Spranger and her staff can no longer access them in their current location. But county officials say the file transfer is part of the wide-scale renovation of county buildings and that Spranger could easily gain access to the files but refuses to obtain the required security clearance for herself or her employees.
Macomb Daily Politics

Mississippi’s football coach, Hugh Freeze, resigned Thursday after university officials found a “pattern of personal misconduct” that started with the university’s investigation into a call to an escort service. Athletic Director Ross Bjork said the university’s investigation had started last week after concerns were raised over a phone call, revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request, that lasted less than a minute. The university looked into the rest of Freeze’s phone records and found more reasons for concern.
New York Times

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Trump administration for records on an executive order President Trump reportedly planned to release targeting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, the ACLU claimed the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, and Treasury violated the Freedom of Information Act by failing to release the records it requested on the reported draft order.
The Hill

Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, traveled to his home state, Oklahoma, 10 times over three months this year, largely at taxpayer expense, according to a report released Monday. The findings from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit group founded by former E.P.A. officials, are drawn from Mr. Pruitt’s calendar and the travel expenses he has submitted for reimbursement. Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the documents show Mr. Pruitt spent 43 out of 92 days from March through May in Oklahoma or traveling to or from the state.
New York Times


Editorials/Columns


Our Founding Fathers considered a free press so instrinsic to the democratic ideal that they wrote it into the very first amendment of the document that launched our nation. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the only security of all is in a free press." Subsequent statesmen have had their ups and downs with the fourth estate, but have always understood and respected the need for a truly independent media. President Donald Trump, as he so often does, stands as an exception — and the tone he chooses to set in the Oval Office poses a clear threat not only to the press, but to American citizens in general. What is at risk here is your access to information.
Daily Press

The health-care clusterfudge continues. Senator John McCain has brain cancer. President Trump throws another public tantrum. Russia, Russia, Russia. That about covers the Big Political Headlines of the week. Now for something really sexy: the creeping assault on the Freedom of Information Act. Stop right there! No clicking over to that Tucker Carlson YouTube rant. This is another one of those ticky-tacky, below-the-radar issues that may sound like a nonprescription substitute for Ambien but is, practically speaking, super important.
The Atlantic