Transparency News 1/25/16

State and Local Stories

John Stewart Bryan III, who spent more than 50 years as the fourth and final generation of his family to work in the media business, died Saturday. Mr. Bryan, longtime chairman of Media General Inc. and former publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, suffered a fall at his home on Jan. 15 and had been hospitalized at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital since then. Standing up to state and local governments and businesses trying to thwart the public’s right to know was a hallmark of Mr. Bryan’s career. “If I have made any contribution, it has been being part of a newspaper that was trying to provide the right information for people to make up their own minds in the city of Richmond and central Virginia,” Mr. Bryan said in an interview in October.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Bryan was a founding director of VCOG)
There is a certain type of man you are more likely to encounter in fiction than in real life: courtly, genteel and principled; a man of rectitude, who does not make a show of his rectitude; a gentleman, but one without artifice. J. Stewart Bryan III — the president, chairman and CEO of Media General and, for many years, the publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch — was just such a man.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

On the agenda for today’s civil law subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee is HB 1117, patroned by Del. Manoli Loupassi. The bill would grant immunity from defamation suits to citizens appearing at public hearings before local government boards. The possibility of defamation suits is sometimes given as the reason why closed sessions are needed, or why elected officials won’t engage with citizens who come to speak at public meetings. Name calling is one thing, but speaking what one sincerely believes to be the truth is another.
Here is the link to the subcommittee members. Consider contacting them (especially if you are a constituent of one) to express your opinion.

Personal information for 1,400 employees at the University of Virginia became vulnerable after a “phishing” email scam was sent to the several U.S. colleges and universities. The FBI recently notified UVa of a data exposure following an extensive law enforcement investigation. The FBI said the suspects are in custody. In the scam, emails were sent asking recipients to click on a link and provide network access system usernames and passwords. Once the perpetrators were able to gain access to a component of a human-resources system, W-2s for approximately 1,400 employees (for years 2013 and 2014) and the direct deposit banking information of 40 employees were accessed. The university has more than 20,000 employees.
Daily Progress

Montgomery County residents working to remove Circuit Court Clerk Erica Williams from her elected position amid allegations that she has abused and mismanaged her office face long odds, legal experts say. “It can’t happen over just policy differences,” said Roger Wiley, a Richmond attorney specializing in state and local government issues. “There has to be some active wrongdoing.” Late last month, Williams dismissed four long-term employees, and a fifth declined reappointment. The dismissals came weeks after the Democrat’s November re-election, and the affected staffers have said they believed their decision to not actively participate in her political campaign during the election led to their unemployment. Williams denied that politics played a role. “I maintain that the employment decisions I made are in the best interest of the office,” Williams wrote in a recent email. “My employment decisions were not political in nature.”
Roanoke Times

Last week, Newport District Supervisor William McCarty said he could bring sledgehammers from home to raze the wooden barrier that separates the audience from where the Isle of Wight county supervisors, the county administrator and county attorney sit during meetings – if cost is an issue, that is. It doesn't sound like it will come to that, but the barrier's days are numbered. Supervisors voted 4-1 on Thursday to have the barrier removed. Rudolph Jefferson, Hardy District supervisor, cast the dissenting vote. Jefferson was not ready to let go of the fence that was installed in August 2014, citing security reasons. "If you know from last year, we had some aggressive people here," Jefferson said. "Some came up, and you didn't know what they had."
Daily Press

For anyone looking for an informative and entertaining podcast to follow, a new locally produced one might be worth including in your downloads. After publishing its pilot episode last fall, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression recently announced the launch of its “Muzzled: Stories of Free Speech and Censorship in America” podcast. Founded in 1990, the center in Albemarle County has been an advocate for free speech and filed hundreds of legal briefs in federal and state courts across the nation. The new podcast, recorded at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and available at tjcenter.org, is expected to continue the center’s tradition of free speech advocacy and education.
Daily Progress

National Stories
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Maryland is one of just a few states that notify lawmakers and other government officials when someone looks at the financial disclosure forms those officials are required to file — a practice that transparency advocates say could scare people from holding politicians accountable. As in most states, public officials in Maryland must file reports spelling out their sources­ of income, property holdings and business relationships. State law makes these reports available to the public as a safeguard against government officials abusing their power in an effort to enrich themselves. But unlike the District, Virginia and dozens of other states, Maryland agencies email officials every time a person looks at their disclosure forms. The notifications include the name and home address of the person conducting the search.
Washington Post

The Justice Department has told a community activist that statistics she is seeking on the outcomes of criminal prosecutions in the District are not available, though the agency says it will try to provide her data that could be useful. Denise Rucker Krepp, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for Hill East, adjacent to Capitol Hill, said she plans to appeal the decision, which she called “nonsense.” The Justice Department is still formulating a new response to Krepp, who gained attention when she held a bake sale and raised $2,000 to pay for any documents that were uncovered.
Washington Post

The public could learn how much a Kentucky state pension is worth to legislators under a bill unanimously approved Wednesday by a Senate committee. Senate Bill 45 would require public disclosure of individual benefits for current and former legislators enrolled in the legislative pension system, the judicial pension system, the Kentucky Retirement Systems for state employees or the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System for educators. Some legislators dramatically inflate their state-subsidized legislative pensions by taking jobs in the executive or judicial branches that pay more than $100,000 a year, using a benefits-enhancement law the General Assembly approved.
Lexington Herald-Leader

Maine people are interested in what their governments are up to. That's the upshot of a new report issued by the state's ombudsman for opening meetings and public records. In 2015, there were 416 inquiries about public meetings and public records handled by Brenda Kielty, a lawyer with the Maine Attorney General's Office. She is the state's first official Freedom of Access Act ombudsman. Kielty, who issued a report to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, said that was a 37 percent increase from the 303 inquiries she handled in 2013. She said the bulk of those 2015 contacts, 169, came from private citizens and the second-largest sector, 96, were contacts from other state agencies.
Maine Sun Journal

Bill Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas is preparing a mass release of documents related to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump this spring, potentially roiling the GOP nomination race. The National Archives, which operates the 12-year-old library, is releasing the documents in response to a Freedom of Information request.  The billionaire developer and real estate tycoon has a long history with the Clintons, and current Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton notably attended his third wedding in 2005.
Daily Mail

The State Department is asking a federal court for a one-month extension for the January 29 release of emails from former agency secretary Hillary Clinton, citing in part problems from this weekend’s snow storm and sparking outrage from Republicans about the delay influencing early voting in the White House race.
Fox News

University of Iowa officials say they weren't intentionally ignoring a letter from the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. It's just that no one had gotten around to opening the letter until last weekend. In a letter dated Dec. 30 and sent to the new university president, FOI Council Executive Director Randy Evans raised concerns about UI's refusal to release documents related to work done for the university by a company owned by former Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn. The letter came in response to an Associated Press article concerning how Strawn’s company had received contracts worth about $320,000 without competitive bids. AP reported that UI was keeping some of the documents secret under a section of Iowa’s open records law that allows for confidentiality if release would serve “no public purpose.”
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Editorials/Columns

We were almost speechless when we heard that the reporters covering the Virginia Senate proceedings were banished from the upper chamber floor to the balcony overlooking the floor. A popular three-letter abbreviation came to mind right away.
Inside NOVA