Group Filing Injunction Against Closed Session for Baseball Talks

Liberty Guard is filing a freedom of information act injunction against the Fredericksburg City Council this morning to prevent the closed executive session on the Hagerstown Suns from occurring during Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

"There is an appearance of violation of Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws by government entities and officials entrusted with the well being of the citizens and taxpayers of the area," Liberty Guard president Joe Seehusen said in a telephone call with Fredericksburg Patch.  "We wanted to step in and ask basic questions and ensure the laws are being respected," he said.

Liberty Guard is a national nonprofit organization with some 90,000 members established to "protect and defend individual liberty." 

On August 2, a public meeting was cancelled between the Hagerstown Suns and the Fredericksburg City Council's Baseball Committee -- composed of Vice-Mayor Brad Ellis, Councilman Fred Howe and City Manager Bev Cameron. But an unannounced closed meeting was held instead.

Read: Fredericksburg Baseball: Why Was The Public Locked Out of Meeting?

Howe called the meeting a "fact-finding mission" and said that public notification was not required.

At that time Howe also said City Manager Bev Cameron was pulling together information from the team and preparing for another meeting, which also would be closed.

"The citizens have every right to know what is being said and done on their behalf, especially when the project being discussed includes taxation and could result in tax bills changing," Seehusen said.

"FOIA laws are in place to protect citizens and need to be followed," Seehusen said.  "It seems fairly straight forward that elected officials performing duties on behalf of citizens should follow the law," he said.  

"Government transparency is important to maintaining citizens' confidence in local, state and national government and elected officials," he said. 

Thomas H. Roberts & Associates of Richmond with their associate, Andrew Bodoh, representing Liberty Guard will file the injunction.  The firm was successful this year in winning a FOIA case in the Virginia Supreme Court.

Fredericksburg Patch will update the story as more information becomes available.

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