Transparency News 6/26/18

Tuesday
June 26, 2018

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state & local news stories

The judge didn’t think the reporter's testimony would be essential to the case.

A judge ruled a Virginian-Pilot reporter will not have to testify in Portsmouth City Councilman Mark Whitaker’s felony trial that’s scheduled for next month. Judge Harold Burgess granted The Pilot’s motion to quash special prosecutor Andrew Robbins’ subpoena to have reporter Scott Daugherty take the stand. In ruling, Burgess said he didn’t think Daugherty’s testimony would be essential to the case or that Robbins couldn’t get the information elsewhere.
The Virginian-Pilot

One of the state’s biggest law and lobbying firms will no longer give money to Virginia lawmakers unless they also accept money from one of its clients, Appalachian Power Co. The unusual move by Hunton Andrews Kurth, formerly Hunton & Williams, affects lawmakers who signed a pledge by the group Activate Virginia saying they will not accept campaign donations from the state’s two large, regulated energy monopolies: Dominion Energy and Appalachian.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Ending his six-year tenure in Halifax County, County Administrator Jim Halasz tendered his resignation Monday night following an hour-long closed session by his bosses on the Board of Supervisors. Halasz’s departure, which takes effect July 1, comes after the county administrator became the focus of closed-door discussions by county supervisors on two separate occasions this month prior to Monday night’s meeting in Halifax. After huddling in private and then coming back out for open regular session, county supervisors accepted Halasz’s resignation on an 8-0 vote. Board Chairman Dennis Witt, in brief remarks, praised Halasz’s performance as administrator and wished him well. No other board members commented on his resignation. Halasz incurred the ire of Town of Halifax officials, local preservationists, taxpayers and others who faulted him for shunning citizen input as the county hammered out an agreement with judges on the courthouse’s future. Halasz also was at the center of a bitter, prolonged impasse between supervisors in 2015, which lasted until the 4-4 board split was broken with the election of new members in the hotly contested fall general election.
SoVaNow.com

stories of national interest

Approximately 1,000 D.C. Public Schools teachers do not have a D.C. teaching license, according to a yearlong investigation by the News4 I-Team. An I-Team analysis of databases obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from D.C. Public Schools and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) show approximately one of every four D.C. Public Schools teachers worked without licensure during the 2017-18 school year. The unlicensed include new and veteran teachers, including at least four members of the elite Chancellor’s Teacher’s Cabinet, which advises top school district officials on policies and meets monthly with the schools chancellor.
NBC Washington

Internet news company The Daily Dot filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court late Thursday over the NYPD's alleged refusal to release docs relating to Donald Trump's gun-license application, which were requested under the Freedom of Information Law in January. The Daily Dot also requested documents on pistol applications related to Eric and Donald Trump Jr. According to the suit, NYPD officials refused, claiming in their denial letter that "in addition to constituting an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, disclosure of the requested handgun license applications 'would endanger the life or safety of the applicant,'" Daily Dot lawyers claimed.
Daily News

Sonia Dusza just wanted to talk to a legislator during a break at a Niagara County Legislature meeting. But the 75-year-old North Tonawanda resident didn't get far Tuesday when she left the public gallery and stepped onto the floor where the lawmakers sit at their desks. An armed sheriff's deputy told her to leave that part of the chamber. "My God, it's gotten like we're the enemy, the citizens," said Dusza, a member of the Buffalo Niagara Open Government Coalition. "It's gotten beyond ridiculous." A new rule barring the public from the Legislature floor during recesses also prevents the public from attending committee meetings, which are held in a back room accessible only by crossing the floor, said Paul W. Wolf, president of the coalition.
The Buffalo News

Republican Senate hopeful Josh Hawley paid lawyers tens of thousands of dollars from his campaign funds to review emails and other documents from his time as a University of Missouri law professor before those records could be released under the state's Sunshine Law, according to documents obtained by The Star through an open records request. A Mizzou spokesman described Hawley's use of outside attorneys to review the emails as "very rare." Officials at the university could not remember a time in recent history where this had been done before.
McClatchy
 

"My God, it's gotten like we're the enemy, the citizens." 

editorials & columns

Banning all recording devices makes it less likely that the public will be aware of what’s going on in Virginia’s prisons.

JOURNALISTS WHO want to interview inmates in Virginia prisons should be allowed to use audio and video recording devices. The Department of Corrections’ overly restrictive policy banning the use of recording devices during interviews with prisoners is a problem not only for reporters but also for inmates and for the general public. Running afoul of the law and being sentenced to prison does not deprive a person of all constitutional rights. That’s especially true given that some people are mistakenly convicted. All Virginians should want responsible journalists to be able to do the best job they can of shedding light on prisoners and the state’s prison system, and doing so includes being able to conduct interviews with prisoners without burdensome restrictions. Granted, interviewing a prison inmate presents special challenges. The Department of Corrections is right to take reasonable steps to keep inmates, prison staff and visiting journalists safe. Some policies, such as requiring written requests for interviews 24 hours in advance and that inmates give written consent, are reasonable. Banning all recording devices, however, is an unreasonable impediment. It hinders the rights of prisoners to have their say, and it makes it less likely that the public will be aware of what’s going on in Virginia’s prisons.
The Virginian-Pilot