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 donations" ...
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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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Money to Burn
A 5-month investigation by the Environmental Health News reveals that the chemical industry spent at least $23.2 million over the past five years to lobby California officials and donate to campaigns in an effort to defeat bills that would have regulated flame retardants.
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Follow the Unlimited Money
Following the Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited donations to political campaigns from outside groups, the Sunlight Foundation launched a tool to track the activities and campaign contributions of organizations.
Tags: campaign; campaign contributions; politics; spending; donation
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The Mayor and the Money
Campaign finance reports of the Shreveport Mayor suggested that the campaign finance laws had been broken. Anonymous contributions, multiple entries for the same donation, donors that circumvented laws on contribution limits, and donors with questionable backgrounds were found in the reports.
Tags: election; mayor; contribution limit; campaign contribution; donor
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Menino's Rule
This series explains how Mayor Menino supervised a “building boom that benefited a handful of favored developers and consultants with close ties to him”. Put together, “the six most prolific developers built one out of every four square feet constructed by private developers since 1996”. The mayor violated a pledge not to accept donations by accepting money from these developers, which supported his campaign. Furthermore, he disregarded a city ordinance, which was designed to ensure that these projects benefited city residents.
Tags: Thomas M. Menino; city government; politicians; politics; Zoning Board of Appeals; neighborhood; corruption
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"Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund"
For over 20 years, The Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund has built up a "powerful political network" throughout the state that provided financial perks to its leader and employees. The fund marketed itself as a "nonprofit," a claim that the Tennessean proved false.
Tags: Charles "Bones" Seivers; Metro Finance; Murfreesboro; Morristown; Rich Riebeling; Bank of America; campaign donations
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The Favor Factory
The Seattle Times analyzed the 2008 defense bill and found that lawmakers - who had promised full disclosure of earmarks - were hiding $3.5 billion of them, about 40 percent of total earmarks. Some of the most prominent and powerful members of Congress used loopholes in a new reform measure to avoid disclosure.
Tags: defense bill; lawmakers; legislature; earmarks; vetting earmarks; campaign donors; campaign scam; wasteful earmarks; chemical-warfare decontamination kit; inferior products; Capitol Hill; Congressional favors; campaign donations
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Overseas Donors
The Associated Press investigated whether any donors to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain with foreign addresses were illegal foreign donors; whether the two campaigns were guarding against illegal foreign money by asking overseas donors for copies of their current U.S. passports as the Federal Election Commission instructs; and to what extent the two campaigns were failing to disclose basic information about donors such as their employers and occupations. The AP reviewed hundreds of thousands of donations from around the globe and found evidence that both campaigns took money first and asked questions later. The reporters found a smattering of illegal foreign donations to Obama as well as missing details in federal paperwork the law requires from Obama and McCain. During interviews with 123 donors in 11 countries, The AP found that Obama accepted illegal contributions from at least three foreigners. In one case, a Canadian noted with is donation that he was not an American; the Obama campaign accepted his money anyway, and the Canadian's note about his foreign citizenship actually appeared in Obama's campaign finance report. A donor in Australia admitted to the AP that he entered a phony passport number when making an Internet contribution to Obama. Just five donors, three for Obama and two for McCain, told the AP that the campaigns asked to see copies of their current U.S. passports.
Tags: Barack Obama; John McCain; campaign finance; illegal donations; foreign donations; campaign regulation; 2008 presidential election
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Neighborhoods for Sale
This eight-part yearlong series documented and exposed the nexus between the deep-pocketed developers who have transformed the city during the building boom of the past decade, the alderman who supported these wholesale changes and millions of dollars in campaign donations. The Tribune's series began by exploring how "pay to play" politics drives zoning changes in Chicago and showing how seemingly arcane official actions directly affect people across the city's neighborhoods. The Tribune also created a first-ever interactive database containing ten years of zoning changes, allowing residents to go online and research developments in their own neighborhoods.
Tags: real estate; pay-to-play; Richard Daley; interactive database; developers; corruption
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Obama's Homestate Gala Rakes in Lobbyist Donations He Shunned
Lobbyists, banned from contributing to Obama's campaign or his inaugural, donated thousands of dollars to the state society from his home state, holding its own inaugural ball.
Tags: lobbyists, campaign, campaign finance; donations; politics; inaugural ball