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 "campaign contributors" ...
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Investigating Adams County corruption
Elected and appointed officials in Adams County, northeast of Denver, misused millions of tax dollars, benefiting from campaign contributors, their relatives and themselves. The elected assessor slashed millions of dollars from the taxable values of warehouses owned by his leading contributor then personally kept their taxable values unchanged through his first two terms of office.
Tags: corruption; tax; campaign; officials; Denver
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"Scrutinizing Scholarships"
"Each member of the Illinois General Assembly, the state’s legislative body, can give up to eight one-year scholarships away to any Illinois public university student." When deciding on the scholarship recipients, lawmakers can pick any rubric they want to choose them. In fact, "lawmakers awarded 196 scholarships to relatives of campaign contributors." These scholarships affect the universities because the scholarships are like tuition waivers, which leave the bill for the universities. Further, "university officials note the GA scholarship program costs their institutions about $12 million per year."
Tags: Illinois; FOIA; General Assembly; University
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Sweetheart Deals
This investigation looked at "county-owned land deals in Prince George's County. They found that most of the deals - worth millions of dollars - went to people with close ties to County Executive Jack B. Johnson, including a business partner, golfing buddy, a former business partner and campaign contributors. Many of the deals were not put out to bid."
Tags: housing market; real estate; corruption; preferential treatment; favoritism; graft; sweetheart deals
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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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Sheriff Barrett Investigation
This investigation used campaign contributors, background discussions and county records to uncover major fraud in the Fulton County Sheriff Department. The reporters found out that the sheriff invested millions of tax dollars in an "illegal investment scheme."
Tags: investment; fraud; tax fraud; police; law enforcement; money trail
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Under the Influence: Money in Trenton
In the face of campaign contribution reforms, the staff at The Record perform an extensive investigation into the major contributors for candidates in the 2003 New Jersey state legislature elections. What they found was that candidates and contributors have discovered new ways around contribution limits through a process called "wheeling," which transfers large sums of money into key candidates' races. Using data from the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, reporters discovered a number of flaws in the information that had gone unnoticed, and contributors who had gone unpunished. According to the questionnaire, "The Record learned that the toughest penalty these legislatures would face was a fine, and even that was unlikely if they returned the funds befor ethe commission learned about it."
Tags: CAR; New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission; Division of Financial Recording; wheeling; lobbying
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Rate of exchange
This investigation, fueled by memos that noted campaign contributions on one side and policy areas that interested the donors on the other, tracked how Texas legislators passed the favored bills of their campaign contributors, including some legislation that was harmful to consumers.
Tags: campaign contributions; Texas legislature; Texans for a Republican Majority
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Computer study of Cuomo donors finds correlation with contracts; Mr. Cuomo's fund-raising overkill
This report uses computer assisted analysis reporting to reveal correlations between Gov. Mario Cuomo's campaign donations and state government contracts. The analysis revealed that Cuomo's largest campaign contributors had close ties to the state government.
Tags: None
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Pay to play: How big money shapes state government
In this special reprint of a series of stories, The Record examines the pay-to-play system in which politicians reward campaign contributors with government contracts. The Record staff sent out almost 1,000 written requests for public records and analyzed more than 500 packages of financial documents. The story focuses on five individuals playing different roles: a government attorney, a New Jersey State Department employee and campaign fund-raiser, a banker, a nominee to the Port Authority, and the governor. The State Department employee and the Port Authority member later resigned following the newspaper's investigation.
Tags: state government; government contracts; political fund-raising; campaign fund-raising; nepotism; pay to play
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In no time, valuations are reduced: Douglas County Board members, alone or in pairs, cut almost $60 million from tax rolls this summer in unreviewed decisions
"A World-Herald analysis shows that the seven Douglas County board members, working alone or in pairs, cut almost $60 million from county tax rolls in cases that the full board rubber-stamped -- but never reviewed. Individual board members made decisions on the spot, often with little evidence or little time to examine property owners' claims. Most property owners obtained at least some reduction. In one noteworthy example, a lone commissioner cut nearly $11 million from the valuations of a campaign contributor who owns numerous apartments and office buildings -- reductions that were opposed by the county assessor's office and not supported by the board's own professional advisor. Some of his decisions took as little as one minute, and the whole process lasted less than an hour."
Tags: property taxes; city government; corruption; political favors