The Sunshine Review Gazette
From Sunshine Review
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A collection of news stories from around the nation on government corruption, FOIA legislation & litigation, and the good news for transparency advancement. To contribute, follow these steps.
Chicago Alderman helps expose bribery
Carothers helped the FBI as apart of an agreement between the two parties. In exchange for Carothers help in exposing local corruption, the FBI has agreed to reduce past corruption charges against him. In 2006, Carothers was charged for accepting a $40,000 bribe from a local developer who was pursuing city approval for a residential development.[1]
In addition, Carothers later admitted in 2007 to having had received around $45,000 from Aiyash in exchange for his support of a proposal that granted Aiyash permission to develop in a certain area.[2]
No jail for Mr. Ross in $4 million scheme
John Ross and his wife created a fraudulent book scheme, extorting more than $4 million from Davis School District. John Ross was sentenced November 4 to pay a fine of $500, without jail time.
He will be required to forfeit almost $800,000 from bank accounts he and his wife, Susan Ross, own. The two are required to turn over two vehicles and homes in Layton, South Weber and Mountain Green.
Maryland state pension gap grows to $17.5 billion
Maryland will likely have to add $189 million to its teacher and employee pension funds by next year. Lawmakers learned this on November 4 as officials with the State Retirement Agency explained results from fiscal 2009.
The $17.5 billion needed to close the gap is in addition to the approximately $28.6 billion that the pension office already has set aside.
This knowledge was announced at a meeting of the General Assembly’s Oversight Committee on Pensions. It will likely have a big effect on the state’s budgeting process next year.
Although Maryland already has a deficit of more than $2 billion, officials will likely need to increase contribution to the pension funds from $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion.
Washington Task Force Suggests New Records Office
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Olympia, WA On Tuesday November 2, the Washington state open records task force announced that it would endorse a new Office of Open Records, which when created by the legislature, would handle open records disputes and reduce the need for pursuing remedies through the judiciary. The Office would be modeled after open records offices in other states, including Pennsylvania and Connecticut. While their function was merely advisory, the committee hopes that the four legislators on the committee will endorse and sponsor a bill to create the office sometime in the near future.[3]
Former Butler County Commissioner indicted for corruption
The indictment revolves heavily around Michael Fox's alleged involvement with a close friend and the owner of NORMAP Telecommunications, Robert Schuler. As county commissioner, Fox is said to have used his political influence in order to secure a contract for NORMAP Telecommunications that was worth $1.8 million dollars. [1] The contract was for installing fiber optics across Butler County. After the contract was secured for NORMAP, the company was bought by Schuler. As owner of NORMAP, Schuler is alleged to have transferred $360,000 to Fox in 2002 in order to help him pay off his death. Schuler is also said to have transferred $100,000 to a consulting company that was owned by Fox. [2]
Arizona Supreme Court Rules Electronic Information Subject to Records Requests
Tuscon, AZ On October 29, 2009, the Arizona Supreme Court delivered a landmark FOIA decision in Lake v. City of Phoenix, determining that electronic "metadata", like creation dates and time stamps of electronic files, are subject to the same records laws as the documents themselves. The decision came about as a result of a public records request made by a police officer for filed performance reports.
Nevada News Bureau says state transparency site needs improvement
Eighteen months have passed since Gov. Jim Gibbons issued an executive order requiring the state’s financial information to be posted on an easily searchable website for the public.
Nevada’s transparency website has been up and accessible since January. However, the only content available so far is budget and spending information for fiscal years 2006 to 2008. It now includes the 2009-11 legislatively approved budget.
As of early November 2009, the website have a searchable database and taxpayers can delve into detail showing actual payments to vendors, State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said said. Citizens can search by vendor name or by agency.
However, financial data is still being loaded into the system for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, as well as for the current 2010 budget year. The site is supposed to have the current budget and spending information by the end of October. The information will supposedly be updated nightly, Clinger said. After it reaches this step in development, Clinger said Nevada’s site will be about 70 percent complete. It will be missing data on contracts between state agencies and other entities as well as details of the state payroll is also a work in progress.[3]
California government pays more interest than companies
California collected about $80 billion in taxes in the fiscal year (ended June 30), compared with $3.6 billion in revenue for Houston-based Diamond. California has never defaulted on its debt. The state paid 1.5 percentage point more in interest, about $785 million in additional cost for taxpayers over the 30-year life of $1.75 billion in Build America Bonds.
California and many other states are not requiring municipalities to file timely financial information. The disclosure that state and local governments provide to investors is in the “dark ages,” said Gary Pollack, of Deutsche Bank AG’s Private Wealth Management unit in New York.
“The municipal bond market is the last bastion of hidden information,” said Timothy Koch, chairman of the finance department at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
U.S. taxpayers are paying as much as $6 billion a year because public officials’ financing is in the dark in the $2.8 trillion tax-exempt bond market, according to data and interviews from more than a dozen states. However, the recession is forcing municipal governments to cut spending or raise taxes.[3]
Oklahomans for Responsible Government call for improved transparency website
When Oklahoma Open Books launched two years ago, it was one of the first websites devoted to state government transparency. The website tracks the overall spending of state agencies as well as their specific expenditures. In addition, the website lists the state payroll, state grants, and state contracts. [4]
Since Open Books launched, many other states have followed suit with their own government transparency websites. A critic from the OFRP, Peter Rudy, says that Oklahoma's website has fallen behind other states. Rudy notes that the website fails to disclose the travel expenses of individual employees, does not contain a check register, and does not track the reception of federal stimulus money.[5]
Delaware think tank launches school transparency website
The website contains budget data and performance measures for Delaware's K-12 public schools. It is accumulated for policymakers, school administrators, teachers, school board members, taxpayers and parents to access. One can search current and historical information for each of Delaware's 19 school districts. One can compare up to five school districts at a time.
The site only has only school district information, but it will be expanded to included school-level data.
The data on this website is directly from the State of Delaware Department of Education website. SunlightOnSchools.org is modeled after the North Dakota Policy Council's SunshineOnSchools.org, which had previously been emulated by the Montana Policy Institute, which hosts SchoolsOpenMT.org.[3]
Kansas think tank reveals transparency website
Kansans have a clear look at how their state and local tax dollars are spent. Its sponsor is the Kansas Policy Institute, "an independent non-profit organization that works to put citizens in charge of open, efficient government."
KansasOpenGov gives taxpayers an unbiased look at spending and other raw data. Kansans can participate in a forum in order to add their own thoughts and analysis. There are sources from all official State government agencies and departments that provided the information. The think tank is working on gathering data from school districts and many local government entities.[3]
Public records held by hired agencies subject to Pennsylvania’s open records law
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Clearfield County, PA - Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law has been interpreted by the Office of Open Records to mean that records held by a company hired by a Commonwealth agency are considered public records and are subject to the law. Therefore, the records need to be supplied by the agency even if they do not have physical possession of the required records.
In this case, the Greater Pennsylvania Regional council of Carpenters requested public information about the payroll disbursements of a Clearfield County grant given to the Bionol ethanol project through the Clearfield County Economic Development Corporation. The Office of Open Records ruled that the records are public and still subject to the Right to Know Law.
Bionol estimates the cost to copy the payroll records, redacting social security numbers, is approximately $6000 for the 6,000 pages, and that it would take longer than the 30-day deadline given by the Office of Open Records. Furthermore, Bionol is asking for the payment up front. The Right to Know law limits the county charge for public records copies to 25cents per page. The law does not actually say who would be responsible for the additional cost, so negotiations are in process.[6]
Washington think tank reveals school district transparency project
The new project aims to open school districts’ books and check registers and show them online.
In order for taxpayers to know how a school district spends its money by allowing individuals to look into the details of a district’s budget to understand where their tax dollars go and to whom.
In 2008, the EFF asked each school district, in a letter to the superintendent, in the state to link to their budgets and warrants on the websites' homepages. The Washington Public Records Act makes the information public, the EFF just asked school districts to make it readily available to parents and taxpayers. The EFF then drafted a follow-up letter to each district encouraging greater participation.[7]
As of October 2009, seven school districts have responded by posting their budgets and check registers online, making them the first members of the EFF School District Transparency Honor Roll.
The EFF is encouraging parents and other Washington state taxpayers to encourage the other 289 districts to follow their positive example. Some districts that have refused to post budgets or expenditures online, some districts are considering the request, and some districts have not responded.[8]
Prosecutor who oversaw Senator Steven's corruption case resigns
Last year, a jury found Alaska Senator Ted Stevens guilty for corruption. He was found to have failed to publicly disclose the over $250,000 dollars that he received from an Alaskan oil company C.E.O, Bill Allen, between 1999-2006. Bill Allen is currently being tried for bribing several Alaska politicians.[9]
In April, however, Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed Steven's case. The case was dismissed on grounds that the trial was unfair. The prosecution collected notes from a key witness before the testimony of the witness. The testimony ended up conflicting with the notes. This information would have helped the case of the defense. The prosecution, however, never handed over the notes to the defense.[10]
Pennsylvania Judge Exempts School District Documents and W-2 Forms
Monroe County, Pennsylvania Monroe county judge, Ronald Vican, overturned two rulings of the newly founded Office of Open Records (OOR) this month, dealing a blow to Pennsylvania transparency and open records. The cases revolve around a number of school district documents including information packets and W-2 forms.
Cincinnati officials get taxpayer-bought free stuff
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory has accepted $7,800 in free tickets to the Macy's Music Festival at Paul Brown Stadium over the past four years.
Hamilton County commissioners gave themselves first access on buying Reds Opening Day tickets, at face value, to the county-owned suite at Great American Ball Park. Sometimes the commissioners paid for the tickets with campaign funds and used them to reward campaign volunteers.
Many more county employees have free use of the luxury suites to entertain business leaders at the baseball games, to reward foster parents and to provide incentives to recycle. The suites are a perk from the lease agreements agreed upon by the Reds and the Bengals, which also include free food.
In 2008, county taxpayers paid for more than $20,000 worth of concessions for guests in the suites, such as Montgomery Inn barbeque, Donato's Pizza and Graeter's ice cream.
Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes has said the county should give up its ticket perks, calling it "a witches' brew of problems," yet the commissioners disagree.
According to the Ohio Ethics Commission, whose job it is to police the state's conflict-of-interest laws, free tickets to sporting events could, in some cases, "affect the objectivity and independence of judgment" of public officials in dealing with the teams.
County commissioners in charge of the suites say they're just trying to make use of the county-owned facilities: the two stadiums that were built using money from a voter-approved, half-cent sales tax from 1996.
"They're very common. I've seen them in just about every stadium built in the last 10 years, or 15 years," said Paul Anderson, associate director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University and an expert in stadium financing. "Typically those are used for charity, or when the city is trying to sell itself. It's not supposed to be for the personal use of county board members."
The tickets weren't intended to be free, as the lease requires the county to pay for all tickets. However, there is no record of the county paying for any tickets, according to the county auditor's office.
The Reds' agreement says that the stadium "provide a private suite for Hamilton County's private use."[3]
Minnesota stimulus earmarks include iPods
Nearly 5,000 households in Minneapolis public housing high rises would benefit from this proposal. The provision is working to fill the gap created because these people are unable to receive the city's own public WiFi service without devices.
The proposal's summary states that residents of these public housing neighborhoods who graduate from the first level of the city's Broadband University "will be eligible to receive their choice of wifi-enabled devices--laptops or handheld iPod Touches," effecting an estimated 6,300.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan provides $7.2 billion to expand access to and adoption of broadband services nationwide and "help bridge the technological divide and create jobs building Internet infrastructure."
In the first round of spending this money, $4 billion will be dispersed in the form of loans and grants. It remains unclear how many projects will be funded per state.
The proposals' executive summaries are online.[3]
U.S. Representative from Alaska referenced in corruption investigation
The documents surfaced in the ongoing corruption case of Bill Allen. Allen was a CEO of the now-defunct oil service company V.E.C.O. While a C.E.O, Allen bribed state legislators and officials with the aim of garnering political support for his company in the legislature. The legislators were responsible passing or rejecting legislation that dealt with taxes for oil companies[11].
Some of the politicians who have been tried for their involvement with Allen include former state House Speaker Pete Kott and former Representative Vic Kohring. Also, Senator Ted Stevens was tried and found guilty for receiving gifts from Allen without reporting the gifts. Steven's case, however, was ultimately dimissed because the prosecution withheld evidence that was favorable to the defense[12].
Ohio Man Fined for Open Records Request
Cleveland, OH Brain Bardwell was ordered by an Ohio court on Monday to pay $1,050 to Cuyahoga County to cover the cost of the attorney who prosecuted his open records request lawsuit. Bardwell, who runs a non profit group called Citizens for Sunshine, made an open records request for documents relating to a potential medical mart, to be constructed in Cuyahoga County.
Critics Say Recovery Website Reveals Little
The Recovery website, Recovery.gov, discloses information such as the amount of ARRA money awarded to each state, the amount of ARRA money spent so far in each state, the number of jobs created by the ARRA in each state, the contracts that are funded by ARRA money, and the government agencies receiving ARRA money. The website discloses a wealth of information but critics say, however, that it is not enough[13].
Oklahoma Supreme Court's Rule Prevents Bulk Release of Case Information
Tulsa, OK On October 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma modified their procedures for the release of the records of case information, in an attempt to bar the bulk release of case information.
The Court, which has historically maintained an online list of all criminal and civil court rulings through the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network and the On Demand Court Records websites, established a new internal rule which will prevent the disclosure of "all or a significant subset of electronic case information" [14]. The rule comes in response to a request from a business for all the Supreme Court records, which would have cost the business between $20,000 to $40,000 for the Courts to produce it. The court claims that the rule was made through consultation with the Oklahoma Open Records Act and the policies of supreme courts in other states. They also claimed that the rule was in compliance with current open records legislation and would not prevent future compliance.
Dallas City Council divided over ethics reform
The proposal for ethics reform comes in response to recent political corruption in the city council. A few weeks ago, Don Hill, a former city council member, was convicted for extortion and bribery. While serving on the council, Hill extorted real-estate developers. He threatened them that he would not grant approval of their zoning permits unless he received money from them. On many occasions, Hill successfully employed this extortion scheme to secure large sums of money from real estate developers[15] .
The proposed ethics reform is designed to prevent other city council members from engaging in the sort of political corruption for which Don Hill was convicted. Specifically, the proposed ethics reform would limit a city council's member control over permit granting. As it currently stands, a single city council member has great control over any permit granting in his district[16] .
County assessor charged for tax evasion and mail fraud
As county assessor of Christian County, Sandra Bryant-Littles had the responsibility of ensuring that evaluations of property were fair. To have a fair evaluation of property, a property owner must fully disclose his or her pieces of property. But Sandra Bryant-Littles, however, is said to have purposely avoided disclosing some of her properties. She is said to have,for example, failed to disclose six of her vehicles she owns. These vehicles, thus, went untaxed. Now Sandra Bryant-Littles faces charged for her supposed tax evasion.[17]
In addition to tax evasion, Sandra Bryant-Littles is being charged for mail fraud. She is said to have received a bill from the county collector that underrepresented the expenses she had to pay. Instead of informing the tax collector of the mistake, Bryant-Littles is said to have intentionally mailed the underrepresented amount back. The charge of mail fraud against Bryant-littles rests on this.[18]
Washington Supremes say judicial records not public
OLYMPIA, Washington: On October 15, the Washington State Supreme Court released its decision in City of Federal Way v. Koenig.
In the 7-2 decision, the court holds that Washington's Public Disclosure Act does not apply to the state's judicial records. [19]
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