Transparency News, 8/18/2022

Thursday
August 18, 2022

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state & local news stories

I posted a faulty link to the City of Norfolk's response in a FOIA case. This is the correct one.

Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Colette McEachin has chosen not to release a dozen records related to an alleged July 4th mass shooting plot, despite the fact that her office dropped charges against the two men allegedly involved. CBS6 problem solver Melissa Hipolit requested texts and email communications to and from Colette McEachin before and after July 4th related to the alleged plot, but Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Bauer said the records are exempt from mandatory disclosure as part of a criminal investigative file. Bauer said the 12 records that exist relate to an ongoing criminal investigation as the two men are being prosecuted in the federal courts. Megan Rhyne with the Virginia Coalition for Open Government said, "It's not a mandatory prohibition on release. They can release what they want."
WTVR

A special prosecutor and the Virginia State Police are investigating the Nottoway County election office following months of misconduct accusations raised publicly at state board meetings. The State Board of Elections had formally asked the office of Attorney General Jason Miyares to look into the matter, but the board suspended that request Tuesday after being told a law enforcement investigation was underway.  It’s unclear exactly what’s being investigated. Both Miller and the state police declined to comment Wednesday. Last year, former Department of Elections Commissioner Chris Piper sent a letter ordering the Nottoway elections board to undergo new training on the duties of the office and the state’s Freedom of Information Act. After reviewing “voluminous materials regarding alleged irregularities” in Nottoway, Piper wrote, state officials determined the board had failed to act appropriately.
Virginia Mercury

The Virginia Board of Education on Wednesday deferred a decision on whether to grant a superintendent’s license to Mark Taylor, a former Spotsylvania County administrator who the county School Board is considering to lead the school division. Taylor’s name was on a list of “qualified persons for the Office of Division Superintendent of Schools” for the Board of Education to certify at its meeting Wednesday, but after discussing the matter with an attorney in closed session, the board voted unanimously to remove his name from the list. Taylor was on the board of School Board Chairman Kirk Twigg’s nonprofit business, Emerging Stars, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and Taylor’s wife, Francesca, wrote letters to the editor in support of Twigg’s campaigns for School Board in 2015 and 2019. Taylor does not have a background in education and his own children were homeschooled, according to a 2015 Free Lance–Star article, but he could qualify for a superintendent’s license under Option IV of the Virginia Code’s licensure regulations for school personnel. Under this option, individuals may be considered eligible for a superintendent’s license if they have a master’s degree or equivalent, three years in a senior leadership position and a recommendation from a “Virginia school board interested in employing the individual as superintendent.” The Spotsylvania School Board has not taken any public votes to recommend anyone for the office of superintendent. The board last discussed the issue July 8, when it held a special meeting “to discuss the two finalists for the superintendent position.” No vote was taken at that meeting and the superintendent search has not been on the agenda of any of the five meetings the School Board has held since then. “The School Board as a whole did not vote or authorize the chairman to send a recommendation for superintendent licensure for anyone to the VDOE,” school board member Dawn Shelley said. “You have a letter that has the word ‘confidential,’” he told the board. “We are still in private session because our attorney advised us that we can’t vote in public on anything until an individual is on the list.” Twigg said there was “a choice made in private session” by “majority thumbs-up vote to support a candidate.”
The Free Lance-Star