Transparency News 1/19/16

State and Local Stories

HB 1197 (Del. STOLLE)
Prohibits the Commonwealth from publishing on a publically accessible website the personal information of any law-enforcement officer without first obtaining written permission from such law-enforcement officer. The bill provides that it is a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person to publish, sell, solicit, or trade on the Internet the personal information of any law-enforcement officer or his immediate family member knowing that he is a law-enforcement officer and with the intent to cause imminent bodily harm or the threat of imminent bodily harm to such individual.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+HB1197

SB 645 (Sen. McPike)
Defines the terms "critical infrastructure," "government infrastructure," "interdependency," and "security information" for purposes of FOIA and revises the related FOIA public safety record exemption to incorporate those terms. The bill also sets out conditions precedent in cases where a custodian of any public safety records elects to exercise his discretion to release such records.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?161+sum+SB645

 Follow these and other access-related bills on VCOG's annual legislative chart. Scroll to the bottom of the chart for the tab listing bills by committee and subcommittee 

Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., R-Buckingham, will move today to return the working press to the floor of the Virginia Senate. Garrett introduced a resolution on Monday that would reverse a change in Senate rules last week that banned the news media from their customary place on the chamber floor. He said he would seek to discharge the Committee on Rules, requiring approval by two-thirds of the Senate, to bring the resolution to amend the rules to a vote. “If folks have to go on the record, I can’t fathom that we would have trouble getting two-thirds of the votes in favor of transparency and access for the media,” he said Monday. “It’s not a partisan issue. It’s about accountability to the voters. We work for them, not the other way around.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia and its Governor’s Opportunity Fund bet $1.4 million on a failed business deal near Lynchburg that exposed the state’s weak control over industrial incentives and the application process for companies seeking grant money. An investigation by The Roanoke Times found: State analysts relied on a company website produced in China featuring misleading information, including the listing of a North Carolina address where the company never was located and production photographs and text lifted from an unaffiliated American company. Text similar to material on the website appeared in a pre-approval request to the state commerce secretary and a briefing for the governor before his meeting in Beijing with a project principal. Officials also relied on a site consultant who vouched for the company but hadn’t asked basic background questions, such as the company’s address in China, until shortly before the deal was closed. Approached by the same players in 2013, North Carolina officials made checks and asked questions that Virginia officials did not.
Roanoke Times

Leesburg still doesn’t have an interim mayor after an indecisive town council refused to make an appointment during last week's business meeting. The town council made five different motions to fill former Mayor Kristen Umstattd’s empty seat, but none earned the needed four-person majority. The first motion of the night would have opened the interim mayoral application process to qualified Leesburg voters. The four other failed motions nominated members Fernando “Marty” Martinez, Katie Hammler, David Butler and Vice Mayor Kelly Burk. Council members are divided over whether to offer the position to a member of the public or to a current council member. Complicating this decision are council members’ current and latent political aspirations. If the town council selects one of its own, it could set a potentially negative precedent of the interim mayor becoming a shoe-in for the next election. Burk would like to see an uninterested party take the interim seat. “I think it’s very elitist of us to assume that no one in the public is qualified,” Burk said. “It’s the time to allow others to join the table.” However, several on the council believe that with this year’s upcoming challenges, the interim mayor needs to be someone who is already familiar with the local government.
Loudoun Times-Mirror


National Stories
​
The U.S. Supreme Court tackles a case on Tuesday that can fairly be described as weird. The consequences, however, could be significant. The Supreme Court has long held that the government cannot retaliate against its employees for exercising their First Amendment right of free speech or association. But what if the employee is mistakenly perceived as taking a political position, when in fact he was doing nothing of the sort? That's what happened to Jeffrey Heffernan. After 20 years on the Paterson, N.J., police force, he was promoted to detective and given a plum assignment in the police chief's office. Then one day during the 2006 mayoral election campaign, his mother's yard sign supporting the mayor's opponent was stolen. "So she called me up and said, 'Listen, can you pick me up another sign?' " he recalls. Heffernan promised he would get the sign, and while he was off duty, he went to the challenger's campaign office; there the police officer was seen holding the sign and chatting with campaign workers. When he got back home, he says, "my phone rang, and I was told that I was ... being demoted and I was gonna go on a walking squad for 12 hours a day."
NPR

Editorials/Columns

Norment is angry with the media. To be fair, that’s understandable. He didn’t much appreciate the details of his personal life splashed across front pages and television screens throughout the commonwealth. It was embarrassing and Norment, more than most people, doesn’t swallow embarrassment easily. That does not justify this temper tantrum, however. Nor does it condone his promise of silence. The trouble is, there’s precious little that can be done to make Norment reverse this decision. Lest one think this is just journalists bellyaching about a perceived slight, understand that this decision has serious implications for citizens. Allowing media access to the Senate floor affords reporters a front-row seat for the sausage making. It helps them monitor debate and discussion as elected officials go about their work. That insight is invaluable to explaining how laws are passed and the reasons behind them.
Virginian-Pilot