January 2014 – James K. Galloway

Grant Would Fund Active-Shooter Training

Del. Michael Webert (R-Marshall) wants to grant Virginia police entry to computers without warrants, and fund military exercises for local departments.

RICHMOND – A bill is advancing through the House that would grant “active shooter” training funds to smaller police forces, which currently have no budget to accommodate the over-time pay to prepare for mass shootings.

Delegate Mike Webert, R-Marshall, said the Fauquier County Sheriff Department recently integrated an active shooter program. To do so, he said the department brought in experts from Fairfax, which has a larger police force. “(Fairfax) has one of the best task forces in the nation,” Webert said. “A lot of their guys end up training our smaller localities. So, we want to be able to provide our localities with the tools to help keep our children safe.”

Webert said the initial training cost Fauquier County money that was not in the police budget, which is why he introduced legislation calling for a $500,000 training grant. His bill would grant funding up to $50,000 per locality to provide overtime pay for police officers to be trained to respond in the event of a shooting.

Lt. James Hartman, of the Fauquier County Sheriff Department, said his department is “very much in favor of the bill and (supports) it 100 percent.”

Hartman said it is obvious the active shooter and training grant fund is needed in jurisdictions like Fauquier County. He described his department as “too small to be big, and too big to be small,” adding that the force has about 125 sworn officers covering patrols and stationed in schools. Hartman said overtime pay for active-shooter training exceeds the police budget. He said over-time costs between $16,000–$17,000 for each training session and consists of about 22 officers.

The training covers response tactics leading to the neutralization of an active shooter. Usually, Hartman said, his department will go into a school when students are out and stage a simulation using actors. County schools even have color-coded doors so officers easily can communicate their locations from within a building. Although his department trains for the first critical minutes of a public school incident, Hartman said “active shooter” applies to more than just school shootings. “Active shooter incidents across the country mainly have just been in schools,” he said. “But we’ve also seen active shooters in workplaces, such as the Navy Yard shooter (and) movie theaters.”

Hartman said his department already has conducted four training sessions and had a fifth planned in January.

Chief John Venuti of the VCU Police Department would not discuss specific training. “The VCU Police Department provides active shooter training to the campus community,” Venuti stated in an email. “We do not discuss specific information pertaining to training, technology or tactics.”

Webert said he hopes to convince the appropriations committee to create a grant from the currently unappropriated federal fund, which he said is about $15 million.

This story appeared in RVA News and Emporia News.

Trial Date Set For McDonnells

Bob and Maureen McDonnell could face trial as early as July 28.

RICHMOND — A trial date has been set for former Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his wife Maureen for July 28, following a Friday arraignment at a Richmond federal courthouse. Both pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges.

Federal authorities say the McDonnells repeatedly asked Johnnie Williams, a Richmond-area businessman, for loans and gifts totaling more than $165,000. The 43-page indictment alleges the McDonnells asked for money, clothes, golf fees, equipment, numerous trips and private jet rides in exchange for access to political clout.

Prosecutors allege that McDonnell helped promote Anatabloc, the company’s new product. The indictment states McDonnell pitched Anatabloc during an official meeting March 2012 with the secretary of administration in which they would discuss the state employee health plan.

“[Robert McDonnell] pulled some Anatabloc out of his pocket,” the indictment states, “and told the secretary of administration and one of her staff members that Anatabloc had beneficial health effects, that he personally took Anatabloc and that it was working well for him.”

The indictment states Maureen McDonnell traveled with Star Scientific in October 2011, speaking favorably of the product at corporate functions.

The report states that under Virginia. law, certain state officials and employees – including the governor and members of his staff – are required to annually file a standardized disclosure statement of their personal economic interests on or before Jan. 15 each year.

The indictment describes specific charges against Maureen, stating she intentionally avoided annual reporting requirements by transferring a total of 5,000 Star Scientific shares into newly opened brokerage accounts in the names of her five children.

“[Maureen McDonnell] further informed the broker that these transfers had to occur before year-end in order to avoid reporting requirements related to the ownership of Star Scientific stock,” the report states.

Federal documents state Williams took Maureen on an April 2011 shopping spree in New York City, in exchange for a seat beside McDonnell at a political event. The document states Williams spent about $10,999 at Oscar de la Renta, $5,685 at Louis Vuitton and $2,604 at Bergdorf Goodman, and later sat next to the governor.

According to the indictment, Williams sought independent studies in July 2011 to lend credibility to Star Scientific’s new product, Anatabloc. But when he approached the Tobacco Commission – a state research institution – it refused to fund the research as requested by a for-profit entity.

Among the gifts listed in the indictment was a custom Rolex watch inscribed with the words “71st Governor of Virginia.” Maureen McDonnell met privately with Williams to discuss ways the state could research Star Scientific’s Anatabloc. The indictment alleges Maureen complimented Williams’ watch, and asked him to purchase a similar watch she could give to her husband. Williams purchased the watch. On the same day Williams asked what she wanted inscribed on the watch, Maureen scheduled herself to attend an Aug. 30 luncheon with state researchers.

Text messages from 2012 between Bob McDonnell and Williams appear throughout the document, discussing share prices of Star Scientific.

“Good announcements lately,” McDonnell told Williams in a text, according to prosecutors. “Stock looks good. Hope all is well. You and [Williams’ wife] enjoy the 4th of July.”

In a text message sent to McDonnell, Williams reassured McDonnell that Star Scientific shares were continuing in a favorable trend.

McDonnell denied helping Williams in a public address this past week, and said he has done nothing illegal; adding that his behavior is characteristic of many elected officials in his position.

“I will use every available resource and advocate that I have,” McDonnell said, “for as long as it takes to fight and prevail against these false allegations and the unjust overreach of the federal government.”

Judge David Novak said Friday the McDonnell case will be tried in the courtroom and will not be tried in the media and ordered attorneys on both sides not to comment publicly on the case.

“The gamesmanship with the media ends now,” Novak said.

This story appeared in Virginia News Feed, Virginia Business, The Suffolk News-Herald, Northern VA Times, The Centreville Independent, Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, Emporia News, Gazette.net, The News Journal, and AltDaily.

Privacy Concerns Table Search, Seizure Bill

RICHMOND — A bill that would give Virginia police power to search private computers without a secondary search warrant was tabled after a committee determined the bill’s language failed to protect Fourth Amendment rights.

According to Delegate Mike Webert, R-Marshall, who is chief patron of the bill, the purpose of the bill “is not more money and power.”

Webert said his bill was meant to “streamline the process” of searching through a citizen’s computer, by eliminating the need for two warrants.

“A lot of times, what will happen is somebody (police) will go, and they will confiscate a computer looking for child porn – then they need to go and get another search warrant to search inside the computer,” Webert said. “We just wanted to streamline the process so that they (police) could go ahead and look into the computer.”

The bill first became problematic when it was written to include entire public networks or households, which would have enabled immediate searches upon seizure of any number of personal computers in a household.

After narrowing down the bill’s language to apply only to the personal computers of a certain individual, the House criminal law subcommittee determined there still were Fourth Amendment problems, which only can be addressed during the 2015 session, once the language is changed again.

“It has nothing to do with giving (police) more power,” Webert said in a mid-January interview. “It has nothing to do with that.”

He later said he highly doubts state police would have requested the bill with the intention of subverting Fourth Amendment rights.

However, Lt. James Hartman of the Fauquier County Sheriff Department said the bill would “absolutely” give police more power to investigate computers.

Hartman said the legislation would afford his department new powers to solve computer crimes including fraud and embezzlement, but “first and foremost,” he said the legislation would expedite police power to prosecute crimes against children, such as child sex abuse.

“We don’t have a computer lab here at Fauquier,” Hartman said, “so we almost always rely on partners in jurisdictions next door, and other counties to help with these examinations.”

The bill went before the Joint Commission on Technology and Science in December, which addressed Fourth Amendment and privacy issues. Present at the discussions were state police, the commonwealth’s attorney, prosecutors, the attorney general’s representatives and representatives from AOL, Facebook and Google.

Webert said he understands the corporations represented are known to be complicit with Fourth Amendment rights violations. He said the language of the bill changed dramatically after the corporate reps expressed privacy concerns.

The bill originally was requested of the McDonnell administration by the state police, said Delegate Kenneth R. Plum, D-Reston, as a means for expediting investigations into computer crime by removing the need for a secondary warrant to search a computer. Currently, probable cause must be established to obtain both warrants.

“It (the bill) dealt with a very practical problem they (police) had,” Plum said. “They sometimes needed to take it (a computer) to some place other than where they may originally have taken it for a warrant, and that was simply because I think the technology support they need, they don’t have every place in the state.”

Virginia already sends guns and drugs to labs without a second warrant, and Webert said computers are different. He said he wanted the language to reflect that

“To get gun particles off of a gun that had been fired doesn’t need a second search warrant,” he said. “Whereas computers – due to the new digital age – it’s the same but different.”

Webert said he wants to help police catch child pornographers, who keep illegal images on their computers. He said there were magistrates who complained about needing a secondary warrant to search through files on a suspect’s computer.

However, Webert also said he could not recall any specific case in which a magistrate said the procurement of a secondary search warrant became problematic to an investigation.

The resolution was to narrow the bill’s terminology to individual users on a given network and not to include the network of an entire business or household, Webert said.

“The language originally had ‘network,’” Webert said, “and (when) other people (are) using a network, there’s risk of invading their privacy.”

This story appeared in The Southwest Times and The Virginia Free Citizen.

McAuliffe Inauguration Renews Campaign Promises

Terry McAuliffe inauguration - Photo by Dana Carlson — Photo Credit: Dana Carlson

RICHMOND – Tight security and steady rain Saturday did not dampen the spirit or the campaign promises of Democrat Terry McAuliffe as he became Virginia’s 72nd governor.

McAuliffe, who has never held elected office, won this past November’s nationally watched election against conservative, Tea Party-endorsed Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli. McAuliffe succeeds Republican Bob McDonnell as governor.

McAuliffe’s national supporters include President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, for whom McAuliffe raised funds. Clinton was in prominent attendance at the inauguration, as were his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

McAuliffe took the oath of office in a formal morning suit from Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Cynthia Kinser. The entire event took place in front of the historic Capitol building designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1785 to resemble a Roman temple.

Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates William Howell, R-Fredericksburg, opened the ceremony by reminding the audience of about 1,500 people they were not supposed to be using umbrellas. Members of the audience were searched by security — men in trench coats and flat-brimmed hats — sometimes more than once at the same checkpoint.

“Members and guests are reminded that you’re not supposed to be using your umbrellas,” Howell said, as it rained, heavily at times. “But if you don’t think you’re blocking anybody else’s view, it’s OK with me.”

McAuliffe’s inaugural address echoed themes from his campaign, including expansion of Medicaid, women’s rights and gay rights. “The Virginia way” is the national model for fiscal discipline,” McAuliffe said. “We are one of the best states to do business because we have worked together to minimize regulations and to keep taxes low.” He also called the commonwealth’s business model “a tradition we should be so proud of.”

McAuliffe thanked former Gov. McDonnell for his leadership, noting a smooth transition into his first day as governor. Near the end of the speech, McAuliffe reminded the public that he was about to issue an executive order putting a $100 limit on gifts to himself and other politicians. After the ceremony, McAuliffe signed Executive Order No. 1, prohibiting workplace discrimination, with new protections for transgender people.

McAuliffe previously had told a room of reporters in December that he “would be inclined” to issue an additional executive order allowing fee waivers for Freedom of Information Act requests that fall under the “public good.” Such provisions exist in federal law but not in Virginia law. Such an executive order would protect the public from prohibitive costs associated with filing a FOIA request, which can have a chilling effect on disclosure.

The new governor is facing a 20-20 Republican-Democrat split in the Virginia Senate. He noted the value of bipartisan consensus, and again congratulated McDonnell on a job well done, referencing a major transportation bill passed with bipartisan support the previous year.

A 19-gun salute by the Virginia Army National Guard, airmen from the Virginia Air National Guard and members of the Virginia Defense Force preceded a series of appearances by religious leaders, who blessed the inauguration with ceremonial dance and speeches.

Representatives from Virginia’s 11 American Indian tribes performed a blessing march and stopped to play drums in front of the governor. Rabbi Jack Moline of the Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria gave McAuliffe his blessing in a speech.

This story appeared in Virginia News Feed, The Virginia Free Citizen, Suffolk News-Herald, Potomac Local, Emporia News, and South Hill Enterprise.