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 "PACs" ...
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Buying the Election
“Never Mind the Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election” investigates previously unreported ways that businesses have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which overturned a century of campaign finance law and allowed corporations to spend directly on behalf of candidates. The piece debunks a common misperception that businesses have taken advantage of their new political spending powers primarily through so-called Super PACs. In fact, most Super PAC donations have come from extremely wealthy individuals, not corporations. The investigation shows how corporations have instead used a variety of 501(c) nonprofits, primarily 501(c)(6) “trade associations,” to direct substantial corporate money on federal elections. As one prominent advisor to GOP candidates as well as corporations points out, "many corporations will not risk running ads on their own," for fear of the reputational damage, but the trade groups make these ad buys nearly anonymous. In 2010, 501(c)(6) trade associations and 501(c)(4) issue-advocacy groups outspent Super PACs $141 million to $65 million. The investigation shows that the growth of trade association political spending has had a number of significant ramifications, such as increased leverage during beltway lobbying campaigns. Most troublingly, legal loopholes allow foreign interests to use trade associations to directly influence American elections. One of the most significant revelations in the piece was that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industry, had funneled corporate cash to groups that had run hard-hitting campaign ads while being led in part by a lobbyist for the Saudi Arabian government, Tofiq Al-Gabsani. As an API board member, Al-Gabsani was part of the team that directed these efforts, which helped defeat candidates who supported legislation that would move American energy policy away from its focus on fossil fuels. Federal law prevents Al-Gabsani, as a foreign national, from leading a political action committee, or PAC. But nothing in the law stopped him from leading a trade group that made campaign expenditures just as a PAC would.
Tags: Elections; campaign finance; corporations; Super PACs
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"Medicare and Home Health Care"
The Wall Street Journal investigated the home health care industry, which has seen increased growth during the last few years. After studying the data found in "millions of Medicare files," reporters found evidence of fraudulent behavior. Several home health companies including one of the largest - Amedisys Inc. - are "taking advantage of the Medicare reimbursement system" by finding ways to pay themselves more.
Tags: Amedisys Inc.; Medicare; home health; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; MedPAC; William Borne; LHC Group; Gentiva Health Services; Almost Family
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Friendly Dealings
"The story uncovered the close ties between Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and a political operative named Jeff Larson. It detailed how Larson arranged for Coleman to live in his $1 million townhouse for only $600-a-month. It also showed that Coleman failed to pay some of his rent, and how Larson's company, FLS Connect, had been given $1.6 million in business by Coleman's PAC and Senate campaign committee. The story also disclosed that Larson's wife, Dorene, was on Coleman's Senate payroll under her maiden name, Kainz. After National Journal questioned Coleman about the arrangement with Larson's wife, the senator's staff announced she would be leaving her job the following month."
Tags: corruption; Minnesota; Jeff Larson; Dorene Larson; Norm Coleman; FLS Connect;
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Chris Dodd: Pac-Man
Democratic Presidential candidate and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd took in more money, as a percentage total, from political action committess than any candidate running for the presidency.
Tags: campaign; corporate money; funding; 2008 election; electoral college
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Legislature: Money: Funding, expenses reported; Politicians find ways to finance campaigns; Agriculture, energy leading PACs; Lawyers, energy executives top list of donors; Tribes favoring Dems in giving; Contributions used for rent
WOrld reporters were able to show how campaign contributions are directed to a few legislative leaders and how little documentation of expenditures is required. They also were able to identify large contributors and, in some cases, get them to talk about their motivations. Reporters found a couple of national organizations that had circumvented the state's reporting laws, and that a lot of legislators either don't know the rules or don't pay much attention to them.
Tags: campaign; state government; donations; legislators; finance
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Randy "Duke" Cunningham
The Union-Tribune reveals that Rep. Cunningham was involved in shady dealings with MZM, a Washington, DC-based defense contractor--a bribe that contributed to ending the congressman's career and sending him to prison. Reporters also detail Cunningham's relationship with California military contractor Brent Wilkes, identified as Coconspirator No. 1 in the federal corruption case against Cunningham.
Tags: Randy Cunningham; Duke Cunningham; House of Representatives; Congress; corruption; bribery; conspiracy; Mitchell Wade; Federal Elections Commission; MZM Inc; PAC; ADCS; Brent Wilkes; CAR; Federal Aviation Administration; Lear
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The corruption of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and the congressional system that permitted that corruption
Stern reveals that Rep. Cunningham sold his California house to a defense contractor at an inflated price that turned out to be a $700,000 bribe--one of many payoffs that ended the Congressman's career and sent him to prison. Copley News Service and San Diego Union-Tribune reporters detail Cunningham's involvement with a shady developer in New York and a small, well-connected defense contractor in San Diego. The reporters also shed light on the explosion of earmarks in federal legislation and how this development led to corruption like Cunningham's.
Tags: Randy Cunningham; Duke Cunningham; House of Representatives; Congress; corruption; bribery; conspiracy; Elizabeth Todd; Federal Election Commission; Mitchell Wade; MZM Inc; PAC
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Outsourcing the Pentagon
This study examined $900 billion in defense contracts in the six fiscal years between 1998 and 2003. After assembling Pentagon databases into a single table of 2.2 million records, the study identified and profiled defense department contractors who received at least $100 million between fiscal years 1998 and 2003. Among other findings, no-bid contracts accounted for 40 percent of the Pentagon's business in that time period.
Tags: Military; Defense spending; government contracts; Pentagon; Halliburton; Science Applications International; PACs; the Carlyle Group; CAR
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Hobson provides energy to get money flowing
This story deals with campaign contributions for Republican Congressman David Hobson. In the first nine months of the last two year election cycle, he raised more than two and a half times the campaign cash he received during the same period in 2001. Numbers grew when he accepted a new chair for Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee. Hobson's appropriations clout grew 2.7 times with his new chair, meanwhile his campaign contributions increased by 2.6 times in the early going of this election cycle.
Tags: Congressman David Hobson; energy and water appropriations committee; Kara Anastasio; campaign contributions; campaign committee; political action committee; PAC; Federal Elections Commission; Dayton Development Corporation; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Department of Defense; NASA
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Freshmen-Fund Raising
Jonathan Salant of the Associated Press performed a computer-assisted analysis of PAC contributions to House freshmen, and found that the first-year lawmakers received more money from special interests under the jurisdiction of their committees than they received prior to their election. Using campaign finance disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and analyses done by the Center for Responsive Politics, the reporter built a database of 37 freshmen House members. It revealed that "all but two of the lawmakers got a larger percentage of their PAC money from the industries and unions under their panel's jurisdiction than they had received before getting their committee assignments." Said one source: "Committees are often where the action is."
Tags: contributions; freshmen; congress; federal election commission; FEC; CAR; special interests; PAC; political action committee; Ginny Brown-Waite; donations; center for responsive politics; database; data