The Freedom of Information Advisory Council found itself on a list no state agency wants to be on: a list suggesting that various boards and commissions be shuttered.

The list, which also includes recommendations for consolidating other boards, has been compiled by a subcommittee on Governor Bob McDonnell’s Government Reform Commission.

Not all recommendations for closure or consolidation were explained, but the note next to the FOIA Council recommendation says, “ Statute already provides for attorney fees and OAG could issue official opinions if needed.”

Let’s start with the attorneys' fees.

Two roads cross at “The Busiest Intersection in Virginia”: Money and politics.

So says the promotional brochures for the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), the 13-year-old non-profit founded by David Poole to shine the light on political contributions and political expenditures in Virginia.

The organization, which now boasts three employees and may soon be adding a fourth, recently added data from local elections, and has already begun tracking the progress of the decennial redistricting process.

Don’t visit VPAP’s website (www.vpap.org) if you’re not willing to be sucked in for a half-hour minimum.

At the Virginia Coalition for Open Government's annual conference, the panel topics were very different, but there was nonetheless a common thread running through them all.

Panelists and speakers who gathered at the Capitol on Oct. 22 discussed lobbying the General Assembly, access to information on college campuses, government technology, FOIA basics and using FOIA to create prize-winning journalism.

Just about every panel or speaker at some point got around to emphasizing a common element in the access equation: our humanity.

The relationship between the citizen and the individuals in government underpins every facet of access policy.

When lobbying the legislature, it's not enough to simply show up for hearings and write e-mails in support of or in opposition to proposed legislation, panelists said.