Former Hardie Davis chief of staff Petula Burks is being sued at her new job in Richmond, Va., for blocking the release of public records and firing an employee who questioned the practice.
Burks left Davis’ office in 2022 to serve as director of strategic communications and civic engagement on the staff of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. Stoney, in his second term as mayor, announced his bid for Virginia governor in December.
Connie Clay, the former Richmond Freedom of Information officer, said upon joining the government there she soon realized Burks was frustrating the release of records, ignoring requests or charging exorbitant fees for their release.
Clay, an attorney, is seeking damages, attorney fees and an injunction against retaliation in her March 1 whistleblower suit against Burks and the city of Richmond. Richmond officials haven’t responded to the suit, filed in Richmond City Circuit Court.
Burks did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Virginia open record and meeting laws fall under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, which requires a government release records within five days or request an additional seven if more is needed.
Clay’s suit depicts an array of efforts undertaken by Richmond officials to block the release of public records.
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Burks, her supervisor, instructed Clay to wait the full five days then request an additional seven for all open records requests, the suit said.
In the role, Clay said she was sued multiple times by area journalists and other members of the public seeking access to public records, based on instructions Burks gave her.
One request was for casino proposals. Burks told Clay to withhold the records until the mayor and development officials could tell the public the casinos would not be Black-owned, as was promised in a 2021 referendum.
Other records Clay contends she was told not to release included employee overtime information, records pertaining to an employee’s death and personnel records tied to the mayor’s office.
Clay said she discovered Burks had demanded $3,000 for the release of records concerning a Confederate shrine in the city. After finding more than 100 related emails in the system, Clay said the file was deleted from her computer.
In each instance, Clay said she questioned Burks about the activities.
Soon, Burks would refuse to approve a $125 continuing-legal-education course for Clay. When Clay attempted to apply for another city job, Burks fired her in January, saying she was “not a good fit.”
Burks had less of a role in fulfilling open records requests in Augusta, where a role similar to Clay’s was created in 2021 to report to the city administrator. But her activities for the mayor instead became the topics of open records requests.
Credit card records sought by The Augusta Press and other area media revealed Davis had paid her $5,500 with a credit card for unspecified consulting work prior to her joining city government in September 2020.
When she came aboard, Davis would install a film studio in his office. He’d spend nearly $25,000 via credit card or check with LC Studios, a Florida video production company owned by a man with whom Burks had co-owned a Florida charity in Florida.
As the Augusta Commission implemented a credit card policy for the mayor, an internal audit found he’d spent so much with the one vendor the work should have been put out for bids.
