The City of Richmond, Virginia, has agreed to pay more than a half a million dollars to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by a former public records officer.
Richmond has been labeled a “City of Darkness” due to its apparent aversion to transparency, which explains the case of Connie Clay, who served as the city’s Freedom of Information Act officer from 2023 until her termination in 2024.
Clay lost her job after she urged city leaders to stop delaying and withholding records that residents had a legal right to see, WTVR reported. During an interview, she said, “It’s just such a huge disappointment that the bureaucrats in City Hall do not want to follow the law. And if don’t say something, who will?”
The former official cited “many instances where I was asked to withhold information that should have been released or to sit on records that should have been released” and recalled telling her boss that “the city needs to stop doing stupid things.”
Clay sued Richmond in March 2024 for $250,000, alleging wrongful termination and retaliation for trying to enforce the state’s FOIA law. After over two years of litigation, the city doled out over $670,000m to defend itself before agreeing to a $549,000 settlement that included damages and a portion of Clay’s attorney’s fees.
Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II defended the city’s conduct, claiming “While the City has consistently maintained that the facts of this case did not meet the legal requirements necessary to qualify the Plaintiff as a whistleblower under Virginia law, continued litigation is not in the best financial interest of the City or its residents” and stressed that the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Richmond officials tell me they paid $549,000 to settle the lawsuit with Connie Clay.
— Sabrina Moreno (@sabrinaamorenoo) April 10, 2026
That's on top of the $671,000 the city spent defending the lawsuit these past two years, bringing the total cost to at least $1.2 million
Richmond isn’t the only local government that prefers secrecy over transparency. In North Charleston, South Carolina, federal prosecutors charged current and former city officials in an alleged bribery and kickback scheme involving rezoning votes and federally funded anti-violence grants. Several defendants have pleaded guilty or been sentenced in connection to the scheme.
Clay’s decision to take a stand against her local government and former employer is admirable. It is precisely the type of attitude we need to have when it comes to dealing with government corruption. When they go to these lengths to avoid transparency, the reality is that they are trying to avoid accountability.
Unfortunately, there are far too few Connie Clays out there. Many in these positions will go with the flow because they do not want to risk losing their jobs or dealing with other forms of retaliation. This is how corrupt officials get away with abusing their positions.
