Va. gov’t employee names now left off credit card expenses | State

Rhyne said she’s unaware of a time that someone committed identity theft simply by having the name of a state employee who uses a credit card. Seeing how particular workers spend money is important, she said.

“It does show us the actions of the individual who may be abusing the credit card system, and if it’s not done by name it means that that person avoids scrutiny and avoids accountability,” Rhyne said.

William Turner, a former chairman of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors, had received previously public records so he could look for wasteful government spending.

But when Turner said he asked for credit card spending by a courts employee, the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia told him last month he could no longer get such records because of the new advice.

Instead, the executive secretary provided a list of monetary expenditures for the entire agency that lacked who spent the money or on what it was spent, according to the newspaper.

Alisa Padden, director of legislative and public relations in the Office of the Executive Secretary, said future requests for public records on credit card expenditures would provide information on how the money was spent, but not the list of names of cardholders.