Transparency News, 4/25/2022

 

Monday
April 25, 2022

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state & local news stories

 

Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares has been ordered to perform an additional search for documents related to billionaire climate litigation advocate Michael Bloomberg requested by a watchdog. Judge C.N. Jenkins Jr. found last week that the AG did not adequately search for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records in Christopher Horner and the Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. “Petitioner had reason to believe that more documents existed and were being withheld,” Jenkins wrote in his April 15 order. “Respondent responded that their searches were done in good faith and in accordance with the language of the FOIA request…These documents were not produced nor provided to petitioners.” Horner filed the FOIA lawsuit in 2018 seeking information about privately hired special assistant attorneys general (SAAGs) whose salary and benefits are paid through an entity created by Bloomberg. A transcript of deposition testimony revealed that what was originally deemed privileged "working papers" by former Attorney General Mark Herring in a previous FOIA complaint, was actually a "GOLD Decision Memorandum," used in the aborted process of hiring of SAAGs.
Legal Newsline

A circuit court judge on Friday found that the state Office of Emergency Medical Services violated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and ordered the agency to comply with a request from an advocate for addiction recovery. The case stemmed from a monthslong back and forth in 2021 between the recovery advocate, Michael McDermott, and OEMS, which is under the Virginia Department of Health. The office’s failure to provide data it previously had turned over “pushed me to the brink,” McDermott said in an interview. “It’s a shame that public dollars had to be used here.” Judge Timothy K. Sanner in Goochland County ruled that the office’s referral of McDermott to an online data portal violated FOIA because the portal doesn’t have all the information he asked for and the office didn’t cite any FOIA exemption. The judge found the data portal is failing to comply with FOIA and found that some data on overdoses may have been omitted. McDermott's lawyer, Andrew Bodoh, acknowledged that the office was trying to help the public by making data available in the portal, but said the office still needed to comply with FOIA.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Former California congressman Devin Nunes’ defamation lawsuit filed in Albemarle County regarding a story published in a California newspaper by a California newspaper chain, has been denied an appeal by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Nunes’ suit charged that the McClatchy Co. — which owns several newspapers across the country, but none in Virginia — conspired with Virginia-based “center-right” operative Elizabeth Mair to defame the congressman and interfere with his investigations into Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and alleged Russian election interference. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, by Charlottesville attorney Steven Biss in Albemarle Circuit Court in April 2019. Though Nunes, The Fresno Bee and McClatchy are all based in California and McClatchy does not operate any papers in Virginia, Biss filed it in the county arguing that the company distributes to the state physically, digitally and via broadcast.
The Daily Progress

When Dale Wagoner becomes the next Henry County Administrator, he will be another in a succession of white men who have held the job. Wagoner, like other county administrators before him, was appointed internally to the position and without a public application process. He will take over the position later this year, following the retirement of current County Administrator Tim Hall effective July 1. . . . At its March 22 meeting, the Henry County Board of Supervisors heard from Joyce Staples, a resident of the Blackberry District, who said she spoke on behalf of “leaders and concerned citizens in the African American community” and challenged the county on its selection and appointment process for those in leadership roles. “We want to convey our disappointment, not with the appointment of Mr. Wagoner, but with the process that led to the appointment,” she said, and added, “there is a certain reputational risk associated with me speaking this evening, but because we strongly believe the process is flawed, we say enough is enough and choose to speak out.” She said that, in the last 20 years, the county administrator position has been open on three different occasions. “Each time, it has been filled from within the organization, by a white male with no announcements, job postings, or a single advertisement.”
Henry County Enterprise
 

 

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editorials & columns

"There is something dishonest about having “public meetings” at a time and place the public simply cannot attend."

It’s past time for Newport News to air and record city council work sessions for our citizens. In 1970, the city chose to build its City Hall at the extreme end of the city. Because of that decision, two-thirds of Newport News’s population now lives more than 11 miles from City Hall. Even under the best of circumstances, expecting the average citizen of Newport News to drive to City Hall or the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center to attend a City Council work session is extremely burdensome — more so than surrounding cities in Hampton Roads. Yet Newport News is the only city in our region that does not record and air work sessions of our city council. In addition to the distance, other factors make it difficult for the public to attend their representatives’ meetings. A significant portion of our population has work hours that do not allow them to attend work session meetings at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Many of us need public transportation or find it difficult to get through the heavy traffic that peaks during the work sessions. At City Hall itself, we have limited parking and more limited public seating at the work sessions. There is something dishonest about having “public meetings” at a time and place the public simply cannot attend.
Dave Jenkins, Daily Press

Journalists hold their government watchdog duties sacred, a task that requires freedom to criticize, interrogate and investigate authority — acts that can be illegal in countries where the state controls the media — and so some journalists can’t help but regard the prospect of government assistance of any kind with suspicion. What terms will be imposed, what compromises required, what stories silenced? When a community loses its newspapers, or when its publications are reduced to the point that they no longer send reporters to observe government meetings or craft stories that provide regional context for national issues, that’s called a news desert. The options floated so far to counter the spread of news deserts all have merit, though contemplating a universe in which they’ve been made law calls up the image of Dr. Strange peering into an alternate reality. [Reforms] require leaders to recognize that steps must be taken to fix and course correct before the problem becomes completely insurmountable. And then these leaders must roll up their sleeves, and do and try and try again.
The Roanoke Times

Is it possible to talk about politicians going “beyond the pale” in their behavior? The increasingly outrageous levels they are willing to go to gain an edge over opponents, political and otherwise, would suggest the answer is no. So it is, perhaps, refreshing that in our community, we’re having a robust debate about what is acceptable behavior for a public official when speaking from the dais. The debate was sparked Tuesday at the Stafford Board of Supervisors meeting. In the lead-up to the vote on the county’s new tax rate, board chair Crystal Vanuch took the opportunity to criticize two laws from 2014 and 2016 that severely limited counties’ ability to accept proffers—often cash payments—for each new home built in the county. It’s a legitimate concern, and one that should be shared by county officials statewide. Lost proffers mean the counties have to find the money for these services elsewhere, and that means tax increases. So, yes, the effect of these laws is a debate worth having in Virginia. There would be no complaints had Vanuch left it there. But she went a step further. “We have a state senator who supported both these pieces of legislation, Sen. Bryce Reeves, and this is a $57 million tax increase on Stafford residents, and I would like to hashtag it, ‘The Bryce Reeves Tax Increase’.” This raises eyebrows, of course, because Vanuch and Reeves are locked in a competitive race to represent the Republican party for the congressional seat in the newly redrawn 7th District. Two problems emerge. First, Vanuch is using a public forum, broadcast on local television and over the web, to launch #TheBryceReevesTaxIncrease. 
The Free Lance-Star

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