OPINION: Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy?
Virginia's FOIA laws are notoriously weak. That doesn't mean governments should exploit that weakness and keep information from citizens.
By Scott Vezina
GUEST COLUMNIST
In a letter to W.T. Barry on August 4, 1822, James Madison wrote from Montpelier, “A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” Less than 50 miles away, the residents of the historic City of Fredericksburg should heed these words.
In the last several weeks, we’ve seen another attempt from the current Fredericksburg City Council to hide information from those that elected them.
There were many great candidates, including retired and disabled veterans, realtors, and a local business owner, that applied to fill the Ward 3 vacancy on the Council where Susanna Finn was eventually selected. These applicants also included the last three citizens that publicly ran to represent the Ward. One of them served on the Planning Commission, Fredericksburg Electoral Board, Rotary Club, Parking Advisory Committee, and several other boards and commissions throughout the city. He was the last one to run for the now vacant seat and he lost by only 27 votes in an extremely close election.
Another applicant was an elected official representing the Ward for many years and only lost when he ran for a city-wide At-Large seat this past election. Although he lost city wide, he outperformed the other candidates in his own Ward showing the will of the people closest to where he lives.
A third applicant was a School Board candidate that secured 43% of the vote in the last election.
Surely, these applicants and their perspectives would have been highly desired. Instead, they were denied interviews from our City Council, who still refuse to give a rationale.
In less than a year, this would be the second time a city resident hired an attorney against the city. By court order, they agreed to disclose the documents requested, not because they admit to wrongdoing, but because of “exercising its discretion.” This is the same “discretion” that denied requests from the public several times over the last several years. This is the same “discretion” that denied multiple FOIA requests claiming “closed sessions,” or “working papers therefore not subject to disclosure.” This is the same “discretion” that despite an overwhelming public outcry, rushed through and passed a path forward for Data Centers in Celebrate Virginia. In reality, the only time the City exercises its “discretion” to share knowledge and be open to the public is after they are sued and told by the judge to settle.
One just has to read the latest Public Release from the city to see the arrogance (City Public Release). While emphasizing that the City Council committed no wrongdoing, they imply that they are only releasing select records so the public can understand the process. In reality, the documents released make no mention of how they determined which candidates to interview (or not interview), or what criteria they used to determine the best candidate. The Public Statement ended with ‘advice’ to Fredericksburg Citizens, “To assist members of the public in better facilitating records disclosures through a non-adversarial process in the future….” Considering the fact that multiple FOIA requests are being denied, perhaps City Council should be the ones to avoid the adversarial process in the future.
For the last several years, City of Fredericksburg citizens have been requesting information on decisions and deliberations of the City Council and staff. These voices have grown considerably louder over the short term in relation to issues like Accessory Dwelling Units, Marye’s Landing, eliminating the Railroad Overlay District to allow for higher density housing, data centers, school expenditures, establishing new development as “by-right”, and now the Ward 3 City Council Vacancy.
In each of these issues, the public has merely asked for questions to be answered and discussions to be open to the public so they can make informed decisions. In response to these questions and requests for transparency, City Council has proven many times that they simply don’t care. This was witnessed by text messages between City Council members in January 2024 during a Public Hearing where City residents came to voice their thoughts and concerns with a proposed project.
“Smile through the Bs,” one council member wrote.
“Oh yeah, this is fun. Or at least it will be when we pass this with no fanfare,” responded another.
In another case, a council member apparently responding to a speaker said:
“She has literally never heard of Toronto.”
Making fun of residents and disregarding comments is NOT something that we need from our elected officials.
This recent lawsuit was more than a single issue; it was the culmination of many years of frustration of City residents being ignored. The lawsuit represented the legal voice of all the Citizens of Fredericksburg saying that we have had enough, and we demand answers from our elected officials.
Perhaps James Madison was prognosticating the current lack of empathy of citizens for their elected officials. It is true that for local elections, there are more registered voters that don’t show up on election day in the City than those that do. When we vote by the color of the sample ballot without knowledge of the quality of the candidates running, then we succeed as a society to fall into the farce and tragedy that James Madison warned about over 200 years ago. When we vote with ignorance because of party affiliation only, we get the current Fredericksburg City Council.
Scott Vezina lives in Fredericksburg and is chair of the Fredericksburg Republican Committee.
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Thank you so much for printing this important view of what is happening here in Fredericksburg. Literally hundreds of people wrote letters and attended the "public hearings" held regarding Data Centers in the tiny city chambers. The local environmental groups paid for a real forum, held at the Dorothy Hart Center. At that forum, almost 150 attended and almost every one of them wrote a question on a note card. The mayor said we should "trust the city council," which I have always done in the past.
At the last "public hearing" there was almost five hours of public comment with it being heavily against the Data Centers. At 12:30 the next morning, after the last letter from a member of the community, the council voted without discussing all that they had heard from the upset members of "their" communities that they supposedly serve. Three of the most stunning comments to me were about the suggestion of their mishandling of our public funds that may be the reason for such haste and refusals to listen; the fact that with their approval, four of the five FAMPO recommended routes for a secondary bridge crossing the Rappahannock will mean a parallel bridge is the only option instead of creating a loop that would direct drivers west without going through the quagmire that is Route 3 and will continue the concentration of fumes in our downtown area, and; the third is the damage building such a bridge would inflict upon endangered species and a natural area in Stafford. So, not only is our city council not listening to the people that voted for them, they are not being good neighbors. It is a sad time for our country and even sadder one for our city. Our trust has been misplaced.