Transparency News 7/28/16

Thursday, July 28, 2016
 

Hillary Clinton may be in hot water for hiding her emails. But Tim Kaine has the opposite problem. He and his staff turned over so many records at the end of his time as governor that the Library of Virginia is still in the process of archiving them all. Archivist Roger Christman says the Library of Virginia’s online archive of Kaine’s emails is the first of its kind in the nation.  “We decided to release it online, and that’s what slows it down because you have to be more responsible about making sure things are restricted." But, Kaine used his power as governor to shield public access to his calendar after critics questioned how much of his time was devoted to being chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
WVTF

State legislators have joined former Rector Helen Dragas in questioning the process which led to the formation of the University’s $2 billion Strategic Investment Fund. Kevin Martingayle, Dragas’ attorney, said the issues of tuition price and funding allocation are best settled by experts. Martingayle also claimed the closed meetings leading up to the establishment of the fund do not reflect the University’s responsibility to make its dealings public under the Freedom of Information Act. “I think what we’re doing right now is we’re having a timeout,” Martingayle said. “We’re going to take a good, close look at the way the meetings are held, whether they are as public as they’re supposed to be, and then once we make sure we’re complying with the law then we can decide whether or not, on top of what the law requires, there’s a way to be even more open.”
Cavalier Daily


National Stories
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A new state law will make it expensive for local governments that choose not to comply with orders to turn over documents ruled public under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Gov. Bruce Rauner earlier this month signed House Bill 4715 into law, which significantly increases fines that can be levied against local governments if they violate court orders or binding attorney general’s opinions that a FOIA request denied by the body must be made public. The law is one of two signed by Rauner that collectively are called “Molly’s Law,” named in honor of a family that encountered roadblocks trying to investigate their young daughter’s death.
Northwest Herald

Today we are releasing a report on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program at the United States Secret Service (USSS), the fifth in our series of assessments of FOIA programs at components of the Department of Homeland Security. Like other OGIS reports on agency FOIA program assessments, the report includes findings and recommendations about the USSS FOIA Program.
The FOIA Ombudsman


Editorials/Columns

The whistleblower complaint was filed by a long-time employee with the inspector general’s office and by two private consultants. They allege that the office mishandled the investigation into why and how Mr. Mitchell died — with 80 percent of the work having been done simply from behind a desk. The complaint also alleges that the inspector’s office misled state legislators about this fact. It further claims that officials ignored open-records requirements and hid documents. And it says that a general drift toward investigative passivity and leaders’ reluctance to take internal complaints seriously have been occurring for a long time. The inspector general’s office is supposed to root out incompetence and error, not house them. The office hasn’t had a chance to defend itself yet, but the formal whistleblower complaint is not the first time it has been criticized in this case. The commonwealth not only needs to get to the bottom of the Jamycheal Mitchell incident, it also needs to determine what — if any — problems might lie in the heart of the inspector general’s office itself.
Daily Progress

THUMBS DOWN: To the County Board, whose members this month flunked Transparency 101. And it’s not the first time. Part of the Arlington Way, these days at least, is for those faced with  a decision they don’t like to moan and whine. And at first, we were tempted to put the angry reaction of Woodlawn students (and mostly parents) in that category. But the reality is, county officials did not do their due diligence on this issue. In an effort to get the development package wrapped up so County Board members could head off on vacation, this particular decision was rushed through with no input from the Planning Commission, Park and Recreation Commission, Public Facilities Review Commission or the site’s building-level planning committee. Perhaps the anger wouldn’t have been so intense had this County Board not talked up the issue of transparency so much at the beginning of the year – yet had so little to show for all that talk.
Arlington Sun Gazette