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By DAN TELVOCK
At 4:29 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2006, a local Republican leader fired off an e-mail to Spotsylvania Supervisor Gary Jackson.
The sender, Russ Moulton, criticized Spotsylvania school Superintendent Jerry Hill and the failed prosecution of Hill on election-law violation and obstruction of justice charges
That e-mail is now at the center of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Hill filed against Spotsylvania County Thursday and his exploration of additional civil litigation.
EXEMPT OR NOT?On April 20, Hill's attorney, Steven Webster, filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking from the county government all public records of allegations used against him or connected to his criminal case.
On May 16, Hill paid $1,178 for his request. On June 4, he received about 60 e-mails, including two containing a dialogue between Moulton and Jackson. About 30 documents were not disclosed because of an "attorney-client privilege."
But those two e-mails between Moulton and Jackson were provided with some information blacked out. (PDF)
County Attorney Jacob Stroman redacted paragraphs, stating the information was not about public business. Hill's attorney again asked for the e-mails in their original form. Stroman replied that the blacked out portion of the e-mail was "not even remotely related to the transaction of public business."
In August, The Free Lance-Star filed a FOIA request seeking the same e-mails and received a similar reply. Stroman declined an offer to have a member of the Virginia FOIA Advisory Council review the e-mails to determine if they contained information that could be exempt.
Hill's FOIA lawsuit alleges the county government mishandled his document request by not answering it in a timely manner as required by the Act, and for not releasing all of the e-mail between Jackson and Moulton. He is seeking an injunction against the county to force it to comply with all deadlines in future FOIA requests and for the county government to pay his court costs.
WHAT THE E-MAIL SAYSYesterday afternoon, Moulton, who is chair of the GOP's 28th District Senatorial Committee and 1st District, forwarded The Free Lance-Star the original e-mail he sent to Jackson (PDF). It includes the paragraphs the county attorney redacted.
Those paragraphs contain Moulton's sharp criticism of Hill and King George County Commonwealth's Attorney Matt Britton, who was the special prosecutor in the Hill case.
"I am very critical of Jerry Hill for politicizing his office," Moulton said yesterday. He said when his children came home with a flier that "ripped" supervisors and the General Assembly for not fully funding the schools, he became outraged with the "highly politicized material."
In 2005, the School Board ordered Hill to send parents fliers that criticized what it considered the low amount of money supervisors set for the bond question. Supervisors said it crossed the line--a legal one that resulted in Hill being charged with an election-law violation and obstruction of justice in February 2006.
A judge dismissed the election-law charge in June 2006. Britton dropped the obstruction charge two months later.
Moulton, who now lives in Stafford County, also is critical of two other politically charged cases that Britton handled as a special prosecutor. The county government redacted the two paragraphs that contained those statements.
Moulton ends his e-mail stating that the Stafford School Board did the right thing in firing former Superintendent Jean Murray in August 2006, but "Hill was more deserving of a firing than she was, but both should have been axed."
The county government blacked out that information, too.
REACTION TO E-MAILA reporter forwarded the e-mail to Hill's attorney, Webster, for comment. After he read it, he said: "I absolutely believe that the county has construed the Act in a way that is overly restrictive and that is contrary to the spirit of the statute."
"Another example of that is the cost that was quoted for searching their records," Webster said. "No citizen can afford $38,000 in response to a FOIA request."
Webster said there is still a Sept. 9, 2006, e-mail that is partially redacted in which Jackson replies to Moulton, and 30 other documents the county withheld, citing attorney-client privilege. Moulton said he couldn't find Jackson's reply e-mail and wouldn't feel comfortable releasing it if he did have it.
"The burden will be on [the county government] to demonstrate that the documents are exempt, not on us to prove that they are subject to disclosure," Webster said. Jackson and Hill did not return messages seeking comment yesterday. Stroman, the county attorney, was at a conference, his secretary said, and could not be reached for comment.
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438JUNE 2005--Supervisors vote to put a $41 million school bond referendum on the ballot. SEPTEMBER 2005--School Board members say the amount isn't enough. Board members opine on school system Web site, at public meetings and on fliers that question supervisors' authority to set the bond amount. Supervisors demand an investigation into whether the fliers violate state law. FEBRUARY 2006--Spotsylvania School Superintendent Jerry Hill indicted on an election-law charge and obstruction of justice. Special prosecutor Matt Britton says Hill obstructed justice by directing School Board members to forward all investigative inquiries to the School Board's attorney. Britton also says Hill deleted portions of a memo that investigators asked for in a FOIA request. Hill's attorney says the redacted information was exempt from the FOIA statute. JUNE 2006--Judge drops the election-law charge. AUGUST 2006--Britton drops the obstruction charge. APRIL 20, 2007--Hill sets the stage for a possible lawsuit by filing two FOIA requests seeking the investigative information used against him and the insurance policies for constitutional and public officials. APRIL 27--County responds that it would cost between $1,178 to $31,864 to honor Hill's request. MAY 15--Hill sends check for $1,178. Hill's attorney says his client should have received the information when the county received the check on May 16 or a response as to why it wasn't forthcoming. County waited another five days to respond, stating it needed another seven days to gather the information. JUNE 4--County sends information Hill requested, but blacked out one e-mail and said other materials were exempt. SEPT. 27, 2007--Hill files lawsuit charging the county mishandled his FOIA request. He asks a judge to release an original e-mail between Supervisor Gary Jackson and former Spotsylvania resident Russ Moulton. |
On Sept. 8, 2006, Republican Party leader Russ Moulton responded to an e-mail from Spotsylvania Supervisor Gary Jackson. The exchange included discussion of a criminal case against school Superintendent Jerry Hill. After the charges against Hill were dismissed, he began submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to the county for documents related to his prosecution.County Attorney Jacob Stroman redacted portions of Moulton's e-mail, saying they were "not even remotely related to the transaction of public business." WHAT WAS LEFT OUT? Moulton provided The Free Lance-Star with the entire e-mail yesterday. The following paragraphs were redacted by Stroman:1. Britton threatened Mike Rothfeld with two felony counts of intentional campaign literature disclaimer violation, where one of the pieces was a letter from the candidate on his letter-head and signed by the candidate. 9 pieces were found in evidence that didn't have the disclaimer on them from a print run before his campaign discovered the error. The law allows a felony only if it can be proved it was intentional. Britton threatened felony prosecution for months, but finally settled at the Courthouse the day of the court trial for 9 $100 misdemeanor pleas--$900 and a damaged record and thousands in attorney fees and taxpayer expense. Incredible. Typical would have been a $50 fine and no criminal charge or frankly dismissal. Am convinced this was pressure from the Chichester crowd, and Britton's concern about running for re-election within Chichester's district in King George.
2. Britton also went after Claude Dunn, who handed out "are you saved" tracts in addition to his properly disclaimered Campaign pieces. Hap alleged the tracts were political material that needed to have the disclaimers. Britton kept the investigation open for months until AFTER the election, leaving Claude in a public-relations cloud through the election. No question, Claude isn't the best candidate, and his decision to pass out religious material with his campaign material of dubious political sense, but that case should have been dismissed on its face! 5. Stafford School board had the guts to do the right thing with a status-quo NEA/VEA superintendent who saw as her only job to extort money and tax hikes out of the BOS in the name of the children. Hill was more deserving of a firing than she was, but both should have been axed. If folks like Hill and Jean Murray spent more time working on how to improve our kids academics and test scores and less time organizing politically to bilk the taxpayer, we'd all be better off, most importantly the kids. WHAT ARE PUBLIC RECORDS? The Virginia Freedom of Information Act defines says the term public records "means all writings and recordings that consist of letters, words or numbers, or their equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting or other form of data compilation, however stored, and regardless of physical form or characteristics, prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees or agents in the transaction of public business." READ MORE To read the documents in this case, visit fredericksburg.com. |