Ms. Burch is the FOIA assistant to the Governor. She recently requested sanctions on me because I persist in my request for the names of the six credit card holders in the Governor’s office. (One of the first things he did on taking office was to increase the credit card budget from $500,000 to $1,000,000.) The ex-Co-Ceo of the Carlyle Group has grown comfortable with large sums, while we hayseeds from Virginia get dizzy with “millions.”
Her request for sanctions on me arrived on April 17, 2023. Suspiciously, it was undated, which in itself is reason to dismiss this motion for sanctions.
This motion can only be valid if she proves that the incidents she is referring to occurred during the time frame of the petition (May 1) to the date of the motion. In other words, she can only file a motion for sanction based on events that occurred during the life span of the petition.
Nowhere in her motion for sanctions does she present any evidence that the motion applies to the current petition. She refers to April 2023 many times. Then she admits that she is violating the requirement that she must confine herself to the time from the origin of the petition to April 17.
She refers to 15 requests in April. So again, she admits that she has included April 2023 in her motion, and by law she must not include anything in her motion that occurred before the May 1 petition.
Ms. Busch lies when she says there are many unpaid bills, yet she cannot produce them. Also she describes that since 2017 “he has filed 27 suits.” Whether this is true or not, she is including pre-May 1, 2023 evidence in her motion for sanctions, which is not allowed.
If she cannot produce “many unpaid bills,” she has again lied and such fraud should alone make her motion invalid.
On page 3 she proclaims that “I have full knowledge of the staffing of the Governor’s FOIA office.” This is another lie unless she can produce evidence that I requested this information and that she sent it.
On item 10 she states that “I have no facts that indicate that these records exist.” Attached is one page of a 29 page document from the Comptroller’s office showing that such records exist. The 29 page document, of which I have attached one page, following, shows that she has 1450 records, fifty transactions per page.
Item 13 is a mystery to me. The fact that the date has been removed from all nine identical letters should indicate to the public that something is wrong. Why would I send nine identical letters with no date to the person? Attached is a copy of this letter as I sent it one time.
Again, a letter in April cannot be considered in a motion for sanctions because April 2023 is prior to the time in which it would have been legal on May 1, 2023.
In item 14 Ms. Burch comments on the Commonwealth’s “limited resources.” May I suggest that if the Governor didn’t spend so much of the public’s “limited resources” on alcohol, catering, candy, imported cuisine and many other items, there would be resources to fulfill a simple FOIA request, namely, who in the Governor’s office has a Small Purchase Credit Card, and is spending so much on frivolous expenses.
