LG Earle-Sears' Ethics Filings Officially Released, FOIA Violation Lingers
The Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council released the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ethics filings and amendments of LG Winsome Earle-Sears.
As I reported last week, and as Brandon Jarvis has since reported, I submitted FOIA requests to Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R), Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), and the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council concerning trips to Israel and Statement of Economic Interest disclosures.
LG Earle-Sears Substantially Amends 2025 SOEI Filing, Invites Ethics Lawsuit
Last week I reported on House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D), Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears’ (R) trips to Israel as revealed at the recent meeting of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.
Miyares has since responded to my FOIA request, and though his office is still processing my request, they did turn over a set of scheduling records previously released to another requester. You can download these records here:
Yesterday, the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council released in response to my FOIA request all of Earle-Sears’ Statements of Economic Interest, Session Gift Reports, and any amendments to those forms for 2023, 2024, and 2025. You can download these records here:
These records are important, as the Council’s online searchable database does not display previous versions of a filing. As Council staff informed me in March: “Our system does not publish multiple forms and therefore defaults to the most currently available copy of the form.”
As you’ll see in the 2025 document, Earle-Sears did submit an amended filing after I reported on May 16, 2025 about her original filing and its nondisclosure of a trip to Israel.
As you’ll also see in that document, Earle-Sears submitted an amended Session Gift Report on May 16, 2025 that appears to remove a gift from Dominion Energy and another from the Virginia Agribusiness Council. These two gifts, however, were from 2024, disclosed on her 2024 filings, and perhaps appeared on the original 2025 filing out of carelessness. A review of the other documents lends credence to this explanation.
Lingering FOIA Violation
On May 15, 2025, I submitted a FOIA request to the two official email addresses for Earle-Sears on her official websites: “ltgov@ltgov.virginia.gov” and “Press@ltgov.virginia.gov” requesting:
any and all records, including but not limited to emails and text messages to both personal and official accounts/devices, mentioning or concerning the Lieutenant Governor's trip to Israel in 2024. This trip was reportedly discussed in the recent meeting of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.
Despite Va. Code § 2.2-3704(B)’s requirement that her office respond to me “in all cases within five working days of receiving a request,” I have not received any response yet. Unless a written response arrives by mail today postmarked within that five-working-day timeframe, I’m presuming she has violated my rights under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
And recall that the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council told me earlier this year:
“There appears to be no provision in FOIA that this office is aware of that would seem to preclude the utilization of a declaratory judgment action in the adjudication of a FOIA dispute.”
FOI Advisory Council Opinion: Declaratory Relief & Virginia FOIA
Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act lays out the process by which an individual can bring the matter to a Virginia court, if the individual believes their rights under FOIA have been violated. Specifically, Va. Code § 2.2-3713 provides for the filing of a “petition for mandamus or injunction, supported by an affidavit showing good cause.”
So — unless a compliant FOIA response arrives by mail today — I’ll add a violation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to my ethics complaint against Earle-Sears, and tomorrow I’ll file it in Richmond Circuit Court.