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Imagine if you were sitting down to dinner tonight and your spouse said she had something really important to talk with you about. You’re not totally surprised by this because she’s been gone a lot, taking whispered phone calls, sending late-night texts. But you still don’t really know what might come next. “SURPRISE!” she exclaims. “We’re moving to Boston!” This may be the best opportunity that has ever come your family’s way. Ten years from now you may find yourself wondering why you even hesitated. But right now, you’re feeling kind of blindsided. Announcements of economic development deals can have that same impact on the public. And certainly that’s how many are receiving the news of the Amazon HQ2 deal with Virginia. Yes, it may be. It may be the best opportunity ever to come the commonwealth’s way, and 10 years from now I may wonder why I even hesitated. But the announcement has come with a cost. Not in dollars and cents but in trust and transparency.
Megan Rhyne, Virginia Mercury
A jury ruled Portsmouth Vice Mayor Elizabeth Psimas defamed the city auditor in comments to the media and should pay him $775,000 in damages. “Her statements to the press were gratuitous and unnecessary,” said Christian Connell, the lawyer for former auditor Jesse Andre Thomas, who was fired in 2016. “If she wanted to critique him as her employee and subordinate, she certainly had the right to do that. But she didn’t need to do it publicly ... in a way to basically destroy him.” It’s not clear whether the city is covering Psimas’ legal costs or will pay any judgment if the court upholds the jury verdict. City Attorney Solomon Ashby declined to comment “given the nature and posture of this matter.” In court records, Connell cited an interview with WAVY reporter Joe Fisher in which Psimas “intended to suggest that Thomas had done nothing since he had been hired as the city auditor.” “What is the auditor doing?” Psimas asked the reporter rhetorically, according to the lawsuit. “Where are the finished products? Where are the audits?” Connell also referred to a letter Psimas wrote to The Virginian-Pilot shortly before Thomas was fired. “The community is disgusted with the situation,” she wrote. “We have many dedicated and hard-working city employees. I’m sure they are just as disgusted as I am with Thomas’ handsome salary and absence of product.”
The Virginian-Pilot
The $400,000 of public money given to an airline that planned to launch service from Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport was never repaid after the airline backed out. The incentive payment for Elite Airways was part of a package meant to bring air service between the airport and the New York area after the collapse of People Express. The $400,000 paid to Elite came from the Regional Air Service Enhancement Committee, or RAISE, which is funded by seven area cities and counties. Elite spokeswoman Rebecca Emery declined to provide details about how the airline used the money or to respond to a question about whether it might have been spent to support new service at other airports.
Daily Press
Charlottesville is bracing for the maelstrom of media attention that is expected to accompany the murder trial of James Alex Fields Jr. Two orders dictating behavior at the Charlottesville Circuit Court House were released Monday that suggested an idea of what the city is expecting. Signed by Judge Richard E. Moore, one of the orders instates a ban on electronic devices, backpacks, purses, firearms, bags and any item that the judge or a bailiff could deem disruptive on the court premises from Nov. 26 through Dec. 14. The premises are defined as anywhere within the courthouse, courtroom and ground outside the courthouse, which includes the front steps, according to the order. Though the clerk’s office will remain open during trial, which is scheduled for three weeks, the same restrictions will apply for those visiting the office, said Charlottesville Clerk of Court Llezelle Dugger. Moore’s second order applies the same restrictions to the viewing room at Levy Opera House, effectively establishing it as a second courtroom. A live camera feed will show the hearing for those who are unable to get into the courtroom, though no cameras will be allowed in either the courtroom or the viewing room.
The Daily Progress
Charlottesville City Council wants to ask the General Assembly to give it free range to decide its members’ salary. Council voted, 4-1, on Monday to hold a public hearing at its next meeting on proposed charter changes regarding councilor pay. Councilor Mike Signer cast the lone dissenting vote. The proposal, presented by Mayor Nikuyah Walker as part of the city’s legislative priorities for the 2019 General Assembly, could more than double councilor pay. Councilor Kathy Galvin was concerned that tying pay to the city manager’s salary wasn’t transparent because that salary is decided in closed session.
The Daily Progress
Activists who believe the fix is in and the Arlington government already has rolled over for Amazon used what limited opportunities they had at the Nov. 17 County Board meeting to demand more accountability and transparency from elected officials. Shortly after the Nov. 12 announcement of Arlington’s selection, county officials released what they say is the complete package offered to Amazon. But on Nov. 17, they acknowledged that non-disclosure agreements mean some information, particularly that transmitted to Arlington from Amazon, has not been released.
InsideNoVa
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