Category: Government Transparency
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Transformation Has a Long Way to Go
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Eric Moeller, Governor Youngkin’s Chief Transformation Officer, has his work cut out for him. In Executive Order No. 5, the Governor said that the chief responsiblities of the position would be to “to help build a culture of transparency, accountability, and constructive challenge across our government.” As for building a “culture of…
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FOIA Council Response on Open Meeting Requirements in Discussions of Local Government Contracts with Public Unions
by James C. Sherlock I submitted questions to the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council concerning FOIA open meetings requirements applicable to local government sessions discussing contracts with unions. I received a very prompt and thorough reply. The following is the response of Alan Gernhart, Esq., Executive Director.
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UVa Free Speech Committee Could Use Some Transparency
by Walter Smith In February of 2021 University of Virginia President Jim Ryan appointed a committee to articulate the university’s commitment to free speech and free inquiry. With great fanfare, the Board of Visitors “unequivocally” endorsed the tepid, politically correct statement on June 4, 2021. On June 7, 2021, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act…
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Emil Faber Weeps
by Walter Smith The statue of Emil Faber, founder of Faber College (of Animal House fame), bears a quote, “Knowledge is good.” The reigning philosophy at the University of Virginia, by contrast, seems to be, “Only some knowledge is good.” By way of introduction, let us note that the University of Virginia Alumni Association this…
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Why Is UVa Hiding Its Campus Climate Survey Results?
by Walter Smith Jim Bacon recently posted an article urging Governor-elect Youngkin to take full advantage of his higher-ed Board of Visitors appointments if he wishes to remain true to the education reform momentum that played a big part in his election. Bacon’s bits (pun intentional!) on the Boards as political plums with a go-along-to-get-along…
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Virginia Beach: Will Cronyism Make a Comeback?
by Kerry Dougherty Do you ever find yourself longing for the days of rampant, in-your-face, shameless cronyism in Virginia Beach? Ever wish the Three Amigos were still on city council fetching water for their favorite developers? Ever miss the days when the city’s business was conducted in secret with public votes just for show? You…
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In Fairfax, Illegal-Alien Rights Trump Citizen Rights
by James A. Bacon Apparently, protecting illegal aliens from U.S. immigration authorities is more important to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors than safeguarding the transparency of police blotters, which have been a mainstay of local media crime reporting and public information about crime in the community. The Fairfax County Police Department has stopped publishing…
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Bacon Bits: Reality Sucks Edition
Bye, Bye, Brackney. The City of Charlottesville will not renew the employment contract of Police Chief RaShall Brackney, who took on the job in June 2018, the City announced on its website yesterday. No explanation was given. However, the announcement follows less than two weeks after publication of a survey of Charlottesville police officers showing…
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Unequivocal Support for Free Speech… but Not Transparency
by Walter Smith To the tune of “Unforgettable”… Unequivocal you’re not at all Unequivocal nowhere this fall Like an empty phrase that runs from me How your illusion does things to me Never before has something been less Unequivocal in every way The University of Virginia formed the Free Expression and Free Inquiry Committee in…
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Challenging JMU with a Slingshot
by Joe Fitzgerald The reasons Jake Conley might win are moral and the reasons he might lose are legal. Jake Conley is the Breeze editor suing JMU over FOIA requests the student newspaper made for the location of Covid cases on campus. Call it the Dorms to Avoid suit. JMU declined to provide the info,…
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Loudoun School Board Flouts Law, Constitution
by Emilio Jaksetic According to The Virginia Star, the Loudoun County School Board has issued new procedures for its public meetings that improperly restrict the right of Virginians to comment at public meetings. Citing “ongoing security threats” the school system website declared: “Only people signed up to speak to the School Board will be allowed…
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DMV Still Hiding Full Gas Tax Amounts
by Steve Haner The Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles is now hiding only 22% of the state’s existing motor fuels tax with misleading website data, not the 26% it was hiding when I wrote about this last year. In the chart you first find searching DMV on motor fuel tax rates, set out below, there…
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Descano Promises More Sunlight for Criminal Justice Data
by James A. Bacon Steve Descano, Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney, plans to begin publishing data on prosecutions as part of his campaign to root out alleged racial and socioeconomic disparities in the county’s criminal justice system, reports The Washington Post. Data to be published online will cover such metrics as race, charging, sentences, bail decisions,…
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Fear and Loathing in Mathews County
by Carol J. Bova When Mathews County Supervisor Amy Dubois offered a resolution on June 22 that the Board of Supervisors meet at the high school auditorium instead of the Historic Courthouse, surprised members of the public attending called out, “Why?” At the meeting, all Dubois said was, “We were urged by an organization within…
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Beach School Board’s Meeting Was Legal. But It Wasn’t Right.
by Kerry Dougherty Good news for elected officials who find the public’s presence at their meetings a pesky distraction, who give half-hearted, last-minute notice of meetings and then lock the doors to the building where the meeting is being held. It’s all legal! Yep, apparently Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act law has broad exemptions for…