Frank Delano of the Fredericksburg Free Lance Star and Pamela D’Angelo of the Richmond Times Dispatch covered the decision handed down by retired Charlottesville Judge Jay T. Swett earlier this week.

Mr. Delano:

Swett said the officials failed to cite a sufficiently specific reason for closing the meeting to the public, and that County Zoning Administrator Robert Fink erred in not providing in a timely fashion a document requested by the plaintiffs.

Swett said that county owed legal fees to the plaintiffs’ attorneys in the FOIA suit, but fines against county officials were unjustified because they acted without knowledge of the law’s details.

Ms. D’Angelo:

In a written ruling, Swett found the county’s action was willfully done, though he found no evidence that members of the Westmoreland Board of Supervisors or the Industrial Development Authority knew the legal consequences of going into a closed meeting without providing information in the minutes.

Court ruling

Of course, what the judge says carries a lot of weight. However, he is wrong, and his decision circumvents the law. Virginia Code (1950) 2.2-3700 is the applicable section of law here. It states (in part):

The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities and afford every opportunity to citizens to witness the operations of government. Any exemption from public access to records or meetings shall be narrowly construed and no record shall be withheld or meeting closed to the public unless specifically made exempt pursuant to this chapter or other specific provision of law.

2.2-3702 states (in part):

Any person elected, reelected, appointed or reappointed to any body not excepted from this chapter shall (i) be furnished by the public body’s administrator or legal counsel with a copy of this chapter within two weeks following election, reelection, appointment or reappointment and (ii) read and become familiar with the provisions of this chapter.

Is the judge contradicting the established law in this area? It clearly states that officials will become familiar with the provisions of the law, and will be furnished a copy of the law. Is the judge intimating that the officials in Westmoreland County have not performed their duties according to the law?

This is pretty straightforward stuff really. I would think a judge of the stature of Judge Swett would realize that the civil penalty portion of the law is meant to be punitive in nature. Yet, in black and white in the decision, there it is.

The officials didn’t know the legal requirements of the law concerning closed meetings.

I hope the plaintiffs appeal this decision.

Others have different views, different perspectives, but from my perspective – Brian is the most qualified and has the skills to bring the party back from some very difficult times. I don’t have to go into them here, but the party has had some questionable practices. There is a tendency to favor metropolitan areas. The problem with that last one is that the party needs to grow much more, by bringing along more of the rural Democrats. I think Brian Moran understands this, and has the talent to start fixing it.

I am not going to discuss accusations made by others about the character of Brian Moran.

Brian Moran is a talent waiting to be used in Democratic politics in this Commonwealth. He should be at the head of these efforts to reinvigorate and further modernize the party. We can’t afford to allow him to work for anyone else. We need him now.

I hear people talking, playing the politics of destruction. Is that is what we are all reduced to, spreading damning accusations? It needs to stop. We need to be united in order to win.

Brian Moran for Chair, Democratic Party of Virginia.

Last evening, Brian McNeil of the Daily Progress reported that Clark has offered to drop out of the Congressional race if the person or persons that leaked this information to the press would come forward. He outlined conditions which would need to be met if he was to drop out of the race.

In order to drop out, Clark said, certain conditions must first be met. The person or persons who tipped off the media, he said, must reveal themselves, must say how they came in possession of the documents, disclose if they were compensated, reveal any political or campaign affiliation and say on whose behalf they gathered the information.

Clark said that in the interest of complete transparency, it would be worth it to drop out if the conditions are met.

Mark Lloyd, chair of the Lynchburg Tea Party, met with Clark a month ago in a restaurant in Lynchburg and told him he should drop out due to this information. At the time, Lloyd knew only of Clark’s bankruptcy, but not the other information.

In an interview, Lloyd said he knew about only Clark’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing in 1993 and didn’t realize Clark had such an extensive paper trail of unpaid medical bills and other expenses.

“I told Jeff that I had a person that basically found this out from a public records thing,” said Lloyd. “The only thing I knew about was the bankruptcy … I told him if he didn’t drop out, then this would come out.”

Lloyd, who said he was tipped off by a Lynchburg Tea Party member who wishes to remain anonymous, said he wasn’t trying to blackmail Clark into dropping out. He said he was merely warning Clark that running for office means that he will be vetted in public and his financial history would inevitably come out.

“There is no grand conspiracy,” Lloyd said. “There’s really no ‘there’ there.”

Clark, however, said it was quite clear that Lloyd was leaning on him to drop out.

“The whole point of the conversation was to try to get me to drop out,” Clark said. “He specifically told me, ‘This information doesn’t have to come out.’”

Campaign spokesmen for Perriello and Hurt both declined to comment Monday.

Obviously, this would change the dynamics of the race significantly.

Then, the next day, the Board will have an “informational meeting” in the voting district in which the proposed Cobbs Creek Reservoir is located. (August 5, 2010)

Does any of this strike you as backwards?

Recently the Board sent Tim Kennel, Chair, and Robert Oertel, member of the Board of Supervisors, to talk with Henrico and Powhatan Counties. The content of the meeting and the location were not made public. According to my reading of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, that is an illegal meeting, since the two Supervisors were a de facto committee of the Board. (2.2-3701 VFOIA, on what constitutes a meeting).

I have asked today that agenda, minutes and any other materials for those meetings be made a part of the public record. There is a history that goes along with Cobbs Creek Reservoir which I will be illuminating in future reports.

This legislation is no different than the poll taxes that were instituted in the former confederate states shortly after the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, the only difference is that instead of keeping people from voting it is preventing their organizations from fully participating in the election process. This will be another law that will have to be taken to the Supreme Court and hopefully overturned there.

You see, in Bill’s mind, everything he doesn’t like is unconstitutional. Never mind legal precedent or the Supreme Court. In fact, as you see above, he wishes for the day the DISCLOSE Act is before the high court to turn it over. I am positive he thinks that’s the only outcome. After all, he doesn’t like it. Bill also thinks that foreign corporations were already excluded from making political contributions. Of course, Bill has a favorite boogeyman that he mentions in nearly every screed. Can you guess? Yes, that’s right, it’s the unions in this country. Unions are not the powerhouse they used to be, now with only somewhere around 6% of the labor force belonging.

What is it about freedom of speech that these elected officials don’t get? Free speech is a God given right to be protected by our government not hindered by it. Of course the Democrats seem to feel that only unions are deserving of unlimited free speech since they have been exempted from this overbearing regulations. We can expect Perriello and liberal Democrats all over the country to have their campaigns subsidized with political advertising by unions like SEIU and conservative organizations will have to remain mute because of government infringement on their right to free political speech.

Once again we can thank Congressman Tom Perriello for ignoring his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

There it is. It’s unconstitutional because Bill said it was. In the comments, after having deleted my initial comment to the piece, he claims in a comment in response to me that not only is the DISCLOSE Act like poll taxes, it’s just like literacy tests. I’m looking forward to your next pronouncement of unconstitutionality, Bill. What will it be this time? Puppies? Goldfish?

Here’s what the purpose is, courtesy of the authors of the bill:

The DISCLOSE Act legislation will address seven major points:

1. Enhance Disclaimers
Make CEOs and other leaders take responsibility for their ads.

2. Enhance Disclosures
It is time to follow the money.

3. Prevent Foreign Influence
Foreign countries and entities should not be determining the outcome of our elections.

4. Shareholder/Member Disclosure
We should allow shareholders and members to know where money goes.

5. Prevent Government Contractors from Spending
Taxpayer money should not be spent on political ads.

6. Provide the Lowest Unit Rate for Candidates and Parties
Special interests should not drown out the voices of the people.

7. Tighten Coordination Rules
Corporations should not be able to “sponsor” a candidate.

Sounds evil to me.

A California school was the site of a staff member molesting a 17 year old disabled student, on school property. I have a big problem with this story, because this person is a minor child, but also with the actions of the school board in this case. The article details how the school district, in this case Santa Ana Unified School District, had the first instinct to cover it up and pretend it didn’t happen. The student’s mental capacity was said to be that of a seven year old.

The criminal former school employee was arrested and pleaded guilty.

I’ll let Raw Story pick up the details from here.

Now, a year after the aide’s guilty plea, the parents of the student have brought a civil suit against Gonzales for causing mental and physical trauma to their daughter and also against the school district for negligence. As a result, the district’s lawyers are fighting back — hard.

In a filing with the Orange County Superior Court, the attorneys claim that the wheelchair-bound girl “chose to encounter the known risk” of being alone with Gonzalez, that she “consented to” him lifting up her shirt, and that her injuries were the result of her having “failed to use due and reasonable care for her own safety and protection.”

They also charge her parents with having “negligently, carelessly and recklessly supervised, monitored, controlled and instructed the minor plaintiff so as to legally cause and contribute to her injuries and damages, if any.”

It goes on to detail that the school district lawyers also made a motion to have the parents to pay the legal fees of the district.

In light of intractable problems in this country’s schools, this serves as an example of all the wrong things happening. Parents had complained as far back as 2005 about Gonzalez, and the district ignored their pleas. Virginia schools have had their problems (TC Williams, Roanoke, etc.) but I can’t believe this is the way this was handled by a supposedly professional group of people in this district.

Shameful.