Transparency News 6/8/17

Thursday, June 8, 2017



State and Local Stories

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The Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday from major auto title-lenders and a nonprofit news organization that wants the lenders' individual financial reports to be made public. The lenders are required to report information to the Bureau of Finance, which is overseen by the State Corporation Commission. The information is used to monitor the lending companies and aggregate a financial report on all lenders. The individual reports are not disclosed.
Daily Press

A revision to Gloucester County's new audio recording policy now means that majority of conversations between staff and members of the public will not be recorded, but meetings and calls may be. After receiving a "good bit of comment" on the proposal, County Administrator Brent Fedors said he made changes to the audio recording policy he introduced last month, making what he called Tuesday a "180-degree turn." He said he took the feedback to heart and made the adjustments but he is still willing to listen to more input. Starting July 1, the county will record all meetings held by boards, commission, committees and other similar groups established by the Board of Supervisors or county administrator, according to the revised policy, which is not unlike what the county already does. It will not record day-to-day interactions or every phone call. Recordings also will be used in the human resources office for internal investigation interviews and on some telephone calls to the county's main line. Callers will hear a message that states that this call may be recorded for quality assurance.
Daily Press

Should two retired judges who campaigned against relocating the Augusta County courthouse be disciplined for violating judicial rules against political activity? Or, as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rutherford Institute contend, were they engaged in protected free speech, a right put at risk for all judges if the Virginia Supreme Court punishes them as recommended by the Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission? The Supreme Court will hear arguments today on a JIRC complaint that asks the justices to censure former Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III and former circuit court Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr., for opposing a voter referendum question on moving the county courts.
Roanoke Times



National Stories
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MuckRock users come from different walks of life and all parts of the country, united in the idea that government by the people must be a government that is open to the people. Thanks to that belief - and a helpful community of committed FOIA filers - MuckRock users have now collectively filed 10,000 successful FOIA and public records requests, releasing almost 1.5 million pages of previously secret government records into the public domain.
MuckRock

Josh Duggar has filed a motion to join his sisters in a lawsuit against the City of Springdale and other officials.  The initial lawsuit was filed by Jill Dillard, Jessa Sewald, Jinger Vuolo and Joy Duggar on May 18 in Fayetteville. It targets the City of Springdale, police officials and Washington County. The lawsuit claims that in 2006, they were interviewed about the molestation when they were minors and were told the documents would only be shared with police officials and child services. It states in 2015, InTouch Magazine filed a Freedom of Information Act request  to the Springdale Police Department for the molestation documents. Then Police Chief Kathy O'Kelley and Springdale City Attorney Ernest Cate determined the documents should be released based on the FOIA. The lawsuit states this action was "hastily and improperly" done.
NWA

Judicial Watch is suing the Department of Homeland Security for records related to the suspension of reports naming sanctuary cities that don't comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detainer policy. "Sanctuary cities are violating federal law and putting public at risk. It's that simple," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said regarding the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Washington Examiner

The state of Vermont argued Wednesday that government employees' personal email accounts should be shielded, in most cases, from the reach of the state public records law. The arguments about emails came as the Attorney General's Office defended its response to a public records request from Brady Toensing. Toensing, an attorney based in Charlotte and Washington, D.C., who serves as vice-chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, wanted to see state employees' communications with more than two dozen people. The Vermont Secretary of State's Office and other observers have historically said that all government-related emails are public records, regardless of whether they reside on government accounts or personal accounts. Toensing sued the state after the Attorney General's Office declined to ask state employees whether their personal email accounts contained any responsive public records, and he appealed again to the Supreme Court when a lower court decided in favor of the state.
Burlington Free Press


Editorials/Columns


We are delighted to welcome Ferguson to our neighborhood by the City Center fountain. It's good that a company that's become an international giant from roots planted in Newport News has decided to stay in the town where it has been such a generous corporate citizen.  To help Ferguson make its decision to stay in Newport News — rather than move to Hampton, York County, or four distant states that were also interested — the commonwealth is providing $4.1 million in grants and tax credits. In order to accurately assess this deal, the public needs information. The city is committing much more: a $3 million piece of land; a $4.8 million rebate of taxes (spread out over 10 years), and a $2 million grant; $700,000 for a road extension, plus $500,000 for landscaping, lighting and other aesthetic improvements; and a $26.5 million parking garage, with a $500,000 bridge to connect the garage to the new Ferguson office.If the state's laws surrounding the Freedom of Information Act were stronger, this wouldn't be an issue. But until that happens, we have to wonder about economic development deals that rely on large sums of public funds, when the public is told so little about them.
Daily Press

It’s one thing for Katie Couric to smear a gun-rights group like the Virginia Citizens Defense League. After all, she’s just a TV reporter. But it’s a shame to see a federal judge get in on the act. U.S. District Judge John Gibney Jr. did so when he tossed out the VCDL’s defamation suit against Couric. The TV celebrity had interviewed members of the group for part of her documentary, “Under the Gun.” At one point she asks them: “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?”
Richmond Times-Dispatch