Transparency News, 5/31/2022

 

Tuesday
May 31, 2022

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Contact us at vcog@opengovva.org

 

state & local news stories

 

"Council members argued over a council member's decision to share the demographics of interview candidates for the commission with The News Leader."

“Apparently the Virginia budget deal is happening on a need-to-know basis and only two media outlets need to know,” Virginia Mercury reporter Graham Moomaw tweeted. “A small group of people – with heavy lobbyist influence – making decisions in secret, details of which will be released over Memorial Day weekend. Some might call that a sham,” Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Patrick Wilson replied. House Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) told The Virginia Star Friday that most reporters didn’t seem interested. He said, “They called me every other day like that, [Times-Dispatch reporter] Michael Martz did, and then [Senate Finance Chair] Janet Howell, she called [Post reporter] Laura Vozzella because she was calling her right along. So, you know, we didn’t know anyone else was interested, so we told them, ‘Come on down, and we’ll just give you a slight briefing and go from there.'” Del. Rob Bloxom (R-Accomack) explained why negotiators didn’t reveal many details to the public during the process. He said that when someone stakes a position in the media, if they change their position at all, they’re seen as the loser.
The Virginia Star

A Spotsylvania Circuit Court judge on Friday declined to rule on the appeal of two claims of violations of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act on the part of the Spotsylvania School Board. Judge Ricardo Rigual put the appeal on hold until Aug. 10, after a July 19 General District Court trial, which will determine whether School Board Chair Kirk Twigg and School Board members April Gillespie, Lisa Phelps and Rabih Abuismail violated FOIA by failing to hold a vote before entering a closed meeting on Jan. 10, 2022. In March, General District Court judge John Martin dismissed these two claims for lack of precedent, but determined that the claim that the closed meeting was unlawful because Twigg did not first hold a vote to enter it has merit. Rigual on Friday questioned whether the Circuit Court has the authority to act as an appeals court and said that “the rules regarding when cases are right to be appealed are so we don’t bifurcate cases.”
The Free Lance-Star

The legal effort in Virginia Beach to get two school library books ruled obscene may be a longshot — in part because, a pair of local legal experts say, such a legal conclusion is quite rare. In Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Judge Pamela Baskervill, found probable cause that “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas are “obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors.” But what exactly is “obscene?” Virginia law says it’s any item containing sex as a dominant theme “which, taken as a whole, does not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” This can be anything from books to photos to sound recordings. Virginia Beach lawyer Kevin Martingayle said the circuit court’s decision is going to be a “tough call” and the context of each book as a whole will play a part in the decision. Martingayle pointed out a rare example of a work being challenged and the court actually ruling something was obscene: the 1973 case of Commonwealth v. “The Devil in Miss Jones” in the Richmond Circuit Court. Judges in the case outlined the film, saying that the only scenes that did not contain any sexually explicit content were the opening and closing scenes.
The Virginian-Pilot

The Staunton City Council meeting on Thursday night began with a song from Ernest Holley in the wake of the tragic deaths at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. In what should have been an evening of togetherness quickly became another night of infighting. It began when Vice Mayor Mark Robertson said council member Brenda Mead should be replaced as liaison on Staunton's first Equity and Diversity Commission. "To me, this looks like we just want to punish Ms. Mead. We just want to punish her, and we're going to take her out of that position," said member Carolyn Dull.  During the previous city council meeting on May 4, council members argued over council member Brenda Mead's decision to share the demographics of interview candidates for the commission with The News Leader. No names were ever shared. What was seemingly insight into the potential makeup of Staunton's first commission to nurture equity and diversity in the community turned into an argument about Mead sharing, what the majority referred to, "as confidential information," with the newspaper, along with concerns shared by the majority about losing trust in Mead for having provided this information publicly. 
News Leader

Floyd Town Council released its first official statement to address the ongoing lawsuit brought by Councilman David Whitaker during its meeting on May 19. It largely summarizes the timeline of events that began October 2021 when Whitaker filed the suit in regard to the number of temporary political signs allowed on property in town limits in the Zoning Ordinance. Salem-based Guynn, Waddell, Carroll & Lockaby, P.C., is the town’s legal counsel, while Whitaker is representing himself. Town Clerk Lynn Gregory said the town has paid a total of $10,180 as of May 18 for its legal defense.
SWVA Today
 

stories of national interest

The Justice Department has released portions of a previously unseen alternative version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia. However, the 37-page report prepared at the direction of Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann and released this week under the Freedom of Information Act is heavily redacted. Justice Department officials withheld large swaths of the document on grounds of ongoing investigations, privacy and protecting internal deliberations.
Politico

 

editorials & columns

"I am met with skepticism that the problems don’t exist or that the ones that do are one-offs"

I am mindful of the fact that FOIA procedures are followed day in and day out just the way they are supposed to. Thank goodness! But all too often, when trying to advocate for improvements to FOIA, I am met with skepticism that the problems don’t exist or that the ones that do are one-offs. They may be one-offs for that public body. They may be one-offs under the precise set of facts, like not quite on-point. But you’d have to be an ostrich not to understand that citizens are being denied access to records and meetings if not every day, at least every week. That stings. And it just doesn’t have to be that way.
Megan Rhyne, VCOG's Substack newsletter

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