The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "House Ethics Committee" ...
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The Mark Foley Investigation
Almost a year after the media received the first emails Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) sent to underage Congressional pages, ABCNews.com's investigative team went online with the story. Using the interactive function of their website, former pages forwarded to ABC more email exchanges they’d had with Foley, some of which were sexually explicit. After the first posting, Foley staffers claimed the pages "misunderstood", and that political opponents were smearing Foley. When the more explicit emails were read back to Foley, he tried to bargain with the investigative team: he would resign if the site didn't post the emails. ABC said no deal, and Foley resigned the next day. The issue morphed into "who knew" and why Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert had done nothing before to stop Foley's behavior. The story sparked an investigation by the FBI's Cyber Division, and criminal charges were filed against Foley in Florida. This series includes interviews with Brian Ross on breaking the story, and other media stories about the ABCNews.com coverage.
Tags: Capitol Hill Page; Congressional Pages; Page Alumni Association; House Ethics Committee; sexually explicit messages to minors; Congressman Mark Foley; email messages; AOL Instant Messenger; Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert; FBI investigation; FBI's Cyber Division; House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children; Department of Justice; pedophile; Wired Safety
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Brian Ross Investigates: Conduct Unbecoming
"In a year-long series of stories for World News and Nightline, ABC News' chief investigative correspondent and his team reported on a pattern of unbecoming and unethical behavior in offficial Washington that culminated in the revelation's of Congreeman Mark Foley's sexually-explicit internet messages with high school students who served as Congressional pages." Stories in the series also examine some of the consequences from the lack of an ethics code for the Supreme Court and a probe of unethical behavior of a retired U.S. General.
Tags: broadcast; financial disclosure forms; lobbyist Jack Abramoff; Congressman Tom Delay; Congressman Mark Foley; instant messaging; Congressional Pages; House Ethics Committee; Kyle "Dusty" Foggo; CIA; Air Force; Department of Defense Inspector General's Office; Federal Election Commission; Political Money Line; Federalist Sociey; legal ethics; Supreme Court; Congress; Pentagon; influence peddling; FBI; IRS; Brent Wilkes; Taxpayers for Common Sense; Keith Ashdown; Porter Goss; Thunderbirds; General T. Michael Mosely; Senator Tom Coburn; General Hal Hornburg; Project on Government Oversight; Danielle Brian; U.S. Trademark Office; General John Jumper; Blue Angels; midterm elections; access; Campaign Legal Center; Gerry Hebert; pay to play; House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children; sexually explicit messages; sexual exploitation; graphic language; solicitation; Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert; Internet sex; FBI investigation; Congressman Tom Reynolds
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Series on Congressman Jerry Weller
Congressman Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) is married to a foreign government official, Zury Rios Sosa, daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt. Weller is a member of a committee "whose main focus is Latin America," and "has been silent about Guatemalan problems that affect the U.S., particularly drug smuggling." The investigation also found that Weller failed to report on his congressional disclosure form the amount of beachfront property he owns in Nicaragua, putting him in "violation of house ethics rules and U.S. law."
Tags: Jerry Weller; Zury Rios Sosa; Efrain Rios Montt; Guatemala; political conflicts of interest; politicians' financial disclosure forms
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Power Trips
A four-month investigation of members of the House and Senate revealed that lawmakers were accepting 'gifts of travel' worth tens of thousands of dollars although members of Congress are banned from accepting gifts worth more than $50. Using CAR, it was found that more than 4,800 trips-including golf trips, tickets to Wimbledon, and Swedish massage- totaling $14.4 million were paid by private groups. Surprisingly, not a single member of Congress was punished for 'abusing privately sponsored congressional trips'.
Tags: Lawmakers; congressional trips; House and Senate ethics committee; CAR
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U.S. Rep. Karen McCarthy's Troubling Performance
The Associated Press reveals that five-term congresswoman, Karen McCarthy, has a pattern of skipped votes, high staff turnover and questionable office spending. For years she had missed important votes on the floor and in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She hired, fired and lost aides at a seemingly dysfunctional rate. Her legislative record shows she passed only one bill in eight and a half years. And she was trying to stick taxpayers with a campaign consultant's bill in violation of House rules. McCarthy announced her retirement one month after AP broke the allegations.
Tags: Congress; Missouri Rep. Karen McCarthy; House Energy and Commerce Committee; taxpayers; House of Representatives; House Administration Committee; legislative record; campaign bill; campaign credit card; travel itinerary; votes; Congressional Observer Publications; Congressional Management Foundation; House spending records; National Conference of State Legislatures; Select Committee on Homeland Security; National Taxpayers Union; campaign consultant; campaign funds; personal spending; House Ethics Committee; Ways and Means Committee
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Congressman Bud Shuster
"60 Minutes investigates the relationship between Bud Shuster (chairman of the House Transportation Committee) and lobbyist Ann Eppard for over a year. Eppard was Shuster's former chief of staff and had built a career out of lobbying. This investigative report finds (among other things) ... that Shuster and sometimes his wife were receiving housing from Eppard. This violated the House Gift Ban."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Bud Shuster; Ann Eppard; lobbyists; ethics; politics; politicians
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"How Independent Is the Counsel?"
In the Autumn of 1993, James Carville was sitting in the VIP lounge at Washington's National Airport. There he met an affable, well-dressed middle-aged man -- a stranger -- who began talking intensely about President Clinton. "Your boy's getting rolled" the man said, according to Carville. Carville said he thanked him for his views, but the man just kept on going, "like someone who had just listened to three hours of Rush Limbaugh," Carville said. In passing, the man told Carville he was a former judge, and that his name was Ken Starr. Less than a year later, Carville learned that man had been appointed to replace Robert B. Fiske, Jr. as the new independent counsel in charge of the Whitewater investigation. He was astounded, and at ne point even threatened to quit his paid consulting relationship with the Democratic National Committee in order to speak out against Starr. Twenty months later, many White House officials have come to share Carville's alarm, and see Starr as a serious threat. But Starr's critics are no longer limited to the White House. A number of independent legal and government ethics experts have begun to speak out against Starr, too.
Tags: Kenneth Starr; indendent counsel; partisan politics; Whitewater;
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No title (id: 12499)
Deseret News stories helped expose millions of dollars worth of apparent fraud, embezzlement and campaign violations by Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz, R-Utah, and husband. As a result, both Waldholtzs were under investigation by a federal grand jury, the House ethics committee, and the Federal Election Committee.(Oct. 28 - Dec. 1995)
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Will Newt Fall: the countdown to indictment
Mother Jones Magazine reports that "The speaker of the House has systematically built his empire through dubious transactions. In violation of federal law, Newt's political action committee, GOPAC, has hidden the sources of at least $10 million in donations. Gingrich has also been deceptive about where the money was spent. To cover up his misdeeds, he has kept a tight hold on the House Ethics Committee and is counterattacking his Democratic opponents, who fear exposing their own ties to special interests. Only with a popular cry for a complete accounting - and an insistence on an independent, NONPARTISAN investigator - will we learn the truth about the speaker's dealings..."
Tags: Newt Gingrich Nancy Johnson quid pro quo conflict of interest influence power background