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 "election judge" ...
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Missing from the Bench
WVUE tracked a local judge who was living hundreds of miles from her judicial bench. The series helped prompt a Federal Grand Jury investigation.
Tags: judge; judicial system; court; justice; elected official;
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Making Mistakes: Absentee Ballot Investigation
The story reveals problems with the counting of absentee ballots for the 2008 US Senate election recount. Apparently, absentee ballots were being accepted and counted, even though they didn’t follow the strict rules of the state. The final margin of victory was “312 votes”. Not a large number and leads to suspicion, which has made way for changes in the way future votes will be counted.
Tags: Al Franken; Norm Coleman; Senator; state government; general elections; senate seat; election judge
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Judge Hecht
Newly elected Superior Court judge, Michael Hecht, was accused of picking up "male prostitutes" and of threatening to kill one of them to keep him quiet. Reporters found a number of witnesses and sources in downtown Tacoma who backed up the scandalous claims. They also found that the police were in the middle of a similar investigation. Hecht denies all charges.
Tags: Judge Michael Hecht; Pierce County; Judge Sergio Armijo; Tacoma
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Judges Under the Influence
The Charlotte Observer found that prominent defense lawyers in three coastal North Carolina counties helped judges get appointed and elected; and rarely lost when they took DWI cases to trial before them.
Tags: Driving while intoxicated; judicial appointment; defense attorneys; lawyers; Department of Human Services; John Nobles; Judicial Standards Commission; buying Judges
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The Governor and His Judges
The Rio Grande Sun investigated the puzzling appointment of their new county judge: Arizona Gov. Bill Richardson appointed Thomas Rodella to the bench despite reports that Rodella had fixed tickets for people during his time as a state police officer in order to get votes and backing for his wife's bid for state office. After the Sun published their expose, the judge was forced to resign.
Tags: politics; state government; Arizona State Police; election campaigns; judicial appointments
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The Battle Over the Courts: How politics, ideology, and special interests are compromising the U.S. justice system
Beginning with the Warren Supreme Court, this article "examined how various interest groups used the courts as a new means to achieve political ends. The movement began with civil rights groups in the 1950s. In recent years, other organizations, especially business and consumer groups, have joined the fray, treating judicial elections like any other political election as a means of installing judges sympathetic to a cause. The result has been a political free-for-all over the courts, a development that is eroding the judicial branch's independence and neutrality."
Tags: checks and balances; politics; federal court
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Prescription for Pain
The stories demonstrated that Eastern Kentucky led the nation in the distribution of prescription narcotics-much of it illegal. Reporters found a series of unlikely accomplices to the illegal trafficing including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Local cops were corrupt or compromised and a $30 million federal enforcement effort was rendered ineffective by a lack of cooperation among the police agencies involved. The reports found an elected judge who admitted that he'd had private business dealings with rug dealers and was unilaterally lowering drug offenders' sentences set by plea bargains. The reporters also found that effecive drug treatment was hard to find in rural areas of Kentucky. The newspaper also produced an examination of how OxyContin was marketed through "detailing," the practice of sending sales men directly into doctor's offices. The reporting also took readers inside one local drug ring. Finally, the newspaper examined how public Medicaid payments were providing some rural Kentucy drug dealsers with millions of silent partners-U.S. taxpayers- who were helping to ensure their supply.
Tags: prescription narcotis; illegal trafficking; federal Drug Enforcement Administration; OxyContin; painkillers; FBI; methanphetamine; taxpayers; medicaid; substance abuse; rural Kentucky; Social Security Administrationn; drug traffickers; drug abuse; lortab; tylox; xanax; cocaine; marijuana; Lee County Sheriff's Department; Beattyville; Beattyville Police; Operation Grinch; Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program; HIDTA; Kentucky State Police; Office of National Drug Control Policy
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Queens County judgeships: No Republicans need apply
This series looked at the election process for state and city judges in Queens. After two months of investigation, the reporters found that the Queens County Democratic Organization and its chairman, are in firm control of who makes it to the bench in the borough's state and city courts. The Democrats have an unbroken record of winning judicial elections, going back to at least 1990. The investigation also found the chairman of the Queens County Democratic Organization, also a lawyer, can gain lucrative appointments and contracts from their friends on the bench.
Tags: Queens County Democratic Organization; judicial elections; election process; state judges; city judges; bribery; Brooklyn judiciary; Brooklyn Democratic party; election records; campaign finance; Queens County Bar Association; Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Queens County; Queens State Supreme Court; Office of Court Administration; New York City Civil Court; Commission to Promote Public Confidence in Judicial Elections; judgeship; Queens Treatment Court; Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Queens County Republican Party; Commission on Judicial Conduct
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Abnormal volume of "disabled" voters raises suspicions
Immediately following the municipal elections in Hearne, Texas, rumors started floating about voter fraud. There seemed to be too many absentee voters, too many disabled voters, and too many voters all together for such an election. It turned out, the mayor (who won by a landslide) and the election judge locked up the absentee ballots. The mayor then subpoenaed the ballots. The publicity from the story led a resident to come forward who had made photocopies of a portion of the applications prior to the election. The reporters went door to door to verify the names on some suspicious looking applications. Some homes were vacant. Handwriting experts verified that some signatures on the applications were most likely forged by one person.
Tags: municipal election; absentee voters; disabled voters; absentee ballot applications; Secretary of State election office; the Freedom of Information Foundation; Robertson County Republican Party; Texas Municipal Clerks Association Inc.
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Insider Connections: A multibillion-dollar public pension fund can be a ready source of financing--if you know the right people.
This story details and explains the scandal behind the 2,200 acre PebbleCreek Golf Resort, a new planned retirement community in Goodyear. The resort is controversial because it was funded by a $10 million loan from the retirement trust funds of Arizona's firefighters, police officers, judges, elected officials and prison guards.
Tags: scandal; pension; retirement funds; controversial; trust funds; loans; funding