After receiving the fourth lowest score on State Intergrity Investigation Report, a spokesperson for Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R), told the Richmond Times-Dispatch the governor has assigned his secretaries of the commonwealth and administration to review the study.
The State Intrgrity Investigation looks at 14 categories to assess “corruption risk.” These are:
- Access to information
- Campaign finance
- Executive accountability
- Legislative accountability
- Judicial accountability
- State budgeting
- Civil service management
- Procurement
- Internal auditing
- Lobbying disclosure
- Pension fund management
- Ethics enforcement
- Insurance commissions
- Redistricting
Out of these, Virginia received an “F” on 9 categories.
Using Sunshine Review’s 10 point transparency checklist, we give the state website of Virginia a “C” on online transparency based on key public information made available online. Local governments in the state earn about the same grade using our transparency checklist to grade online transparency, with counties earning a “C”, cities earning a “B”, and school districts in Virginia earning a combined “C”.
Not every Virginia official sees this as a chance to improve. State Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th District) stated that the study “is an example of the lamest, most superficial analysis. Part of their criteria is the length of our legislative session? Are you serious?,” according to the McLean Patch.