The Other Side Of Disclosure

By: Evan M
Published On: 10/8/2007 11:45:19 AM

Disclosure and openess is at the core of good governance principles. As pointed out in a recent editorial in Leesburg Today, it is important that voters know who their elected officials are talking to. In the case of Loudoun County, Supervisor Burton had his constituent email list revealed by a FOIA request, in an effort to understand the interests of the people he has been communicating with on a regular basis. The issue came to the floor at a Board of Supervisors meeting, when Supervisor Tulloch criticized Supervisor Burton for his  response to a FOIA request for his email list.

Burton has been roundly criticized (and appropriately so!) for counterpublishing the requesters' personal contact information over that same email list.

In August, Madison filed a FOIA request demanding to see Burton's newsletter subscriber list. Burton in turn, sent out a mass e-mail, containing Madison's contact information, to everyone in his list advising them of her request. - The Loudoun Times
The story has another side, however, which is the impact of name revelations on those who have been named. In Loudoun County, anti-development constituents, whose names are revealed through FOIA requests, might be subjected to SLAPP suits. Basically, many developers have a rather annoying habit of suing people critical of development to keep them quiet. This happened in 2004 in a lawsuit over a development near Oatlands plantation.
Even the most silly of lawsuits can require a busy citizen to appear at court, or hire a lawyer to make it go away. Most of our neighbors have neither the time, money nor inclination to fight ridiculous lawsuits because they chose to express their opinions to public officials. For the developers, however, a succesful SLAPP suit, which may be filed a the critical time when public comment is being considered by elected officials, may result in the approval of a multi-million dollar development, even as the finances and home life of the citizen sued is ruined.

This is why it was so important that the anti-SLAPP suit bill is now law in Virginia. This law, which was proposed by Senator Mark Herring and signed into law by Governor Kaine in April, prohibits lawsuits based on comments delivered by citizens in public hearings. (As long as the citizen does not make knowingly false statements.) This law will prevent powerful interests from initiating SLAPP suits to inhibit public comment on development and other important issues.

However, this law does not prevent lawsuits against people who are corresponding with their elected representatives by email. It will be interesting to see whether the citizens who Supervisor Burton has been corresponding with are named in any "tortious interference" lawsuits in the future.

(Crossposted from Leesburg Tomorrow.)

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