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 "legislative record" ...
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Executive Decisions
The story identified a pattern of involvement by Executive Council - the wing of the bureaucracy serving the premier - in vetting and withholding information from FOI requests, contrary to the letter of open-records legislation and sworn testimony by civil servants.
Tags: Canada; open records; FOIA; executive council; premier; Newfoundland; Danny Williams; purple files
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Behind the Politics of Alabama's Community Colleges
"Alabama legislators received jobs and contracts from the state's two-year colleges, often for work that included their legislative duties. it's not clear from system records what lawmakers did for the money the received from the colleges, and in some cases system officials could not determine if any work was performed."
Tags: colleges; higher education; legislatures; state government; public records
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Snubbin' the Public
"The Texas Observer has been fight through the courts" to have video surveillance of Texas House hallways to verify whether a James Leininger was privately lobbing legislators. "At issue is whether all video surveillance by state agencies will be held as secret under the justification of homeland security."
Tags: video surveillance; homeland security; FOIA; lobbying; Texas; public records; state government
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Takings Initiatives Accountability Project: The Center for Public Integrity investigates ballot initiatives that would radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states
The [non-partisan]Center for Public Integrity investigated 2006 "ballot initiatives that were designed to radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states. They discovered that a trio of "secret donors" accounted for 99% of the propostions' bankrolls, and some of the initiatives did not comply with campaign-finance and other regulations. Then the Center revealed that 85 percent of the funding was coming from a single wealthy real estate investor and Libertarian activist, Howard RIch All but the Arizona inititative failed at the ballot. The Center for Public Integrity set up a stand-alone website-- www.takings initiatives.org-- and filed more than 50 articles on it. "Our general practice-- and a novel one as far as we can tell-- was to mount verbatim transcripts of the interviews on our website, including audio recordings where available. We sought to allow proponents, opponents funders and experts to have a chance to present their side of the story in their own words." The Center also checked with state and federal regulators for compliance of relevant laws and regulations.
Tags: Takings Initiatives; takings clause; ballot initiatives; land-use regulation; environmental regulation; tax-exempt organizations; Howard Rich; Andrea Millen Rich; Council for Responsible Government; William A. Wilson; state campaign-finance filings; public records requests; state freedom of information requests; America At Its Best; Americans for Limited Government; John Tillman; Howard Ahmanson; Fieldstead & Company; property rights; prefessional signature-gatherers; Colorado At Its Best; term limits; nonprofit advocacy organizations; Sam Adams Alliance; Sam Adams Foundation; Legislative Education Action Drive; Parents in Charge Foundation; Social Security Choice.org; Illinois Charitable Trust Bureau; educational vouchers; tuition tax credits; National Taxpayers Union; First Class Education; Susquehanna International Group; Jeffrey YAss; Cato Institute; Alliance for School Choice; Decision Education Foundation; Eric Brooks; Susan Mitchell; Pete Sepp; Kern Family Foundation; Generac Power Systems, Inc.; Milton Friedman; Taxpayer Bill of Rights; TABOR; Laird Maxwell; This House is MY Home; John Whitehead; Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Exoxemis, Inc.; Family Farm Preservation Pact; Citizens for Community Protection; Kelo v. City of New London; eminent domain; New York Millionaires Assistance Act; Wallace Global Fund; Nicholas C. Dranias; PRNewswire; Eric O'Keefe; getliberty.com; George Soros
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Broken Ballots
After a primary election in "an inner city legislative precinct in Memphis" finished with a margin of just 13 votes for the winner, the Commercial Appeal looked into the election. Among its findings were: "names of dead people and others on vacant lots were used to cast ballots." Also, a poll worker who was tasked to monitor voting and "whose signature appears on Election Day records including vote tallies from voting machines was actually in New York on a taxpayer-funded trip that day, not at the polling place." In addition, hundreds of deceased persons and people who have moved away are still on the voter lists, and many Election Day workers at the polls have criminal records.
Tags: Election fraud; false voter registration; dead people on voting lists
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The McConnell Machine
The Herald-Leader investigates U.S. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, whose campaign fundraising has reached impressive levels to the tune of $220 million, largely on behalf of fellow Republican senators. As the 2006 mid-term elections approached, McConnell was seen as a likely contender for Senate Majority leader, should the Republicans retain control (they did not, and he is now Senate Minority Leader). Anticipating this news, the Herald-Leader "examined McConnell's 22-year record of aggressive fundraising, cozy ties with top donors and related actions in the Senate." The newspaper found that McConnell benefited from his "influence over a little-known foreign aid committee; his marriage to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who regulates his corporate donors; and a former McConnell chief of staff turned Washington "gatekeeper lobbyist," whose clients tend to receive appropriations earmarks and helpful legislation from McConnell." McConnell has gained a reputation as an opponent of campaign-finance reform.
Tags: Campaign finance; Mitch McConnell; Elaine Chao; Senate Minority Leader
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Tennessee Waltz: Legislation for sale
Times reporters exposed fraud and graft among Tennessee state legislators, and an FBI investigation of the matter. The state's ethics watchdog agency was found to be passive and ineffectual, failing to audit legislators, or keep records or enforce regulations.
Tags: state government; watchdog; corruption; lobbying; fraud; graft; state legislature; ethics; bribery; lobbyists; FBI
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U of L Foundation
A classic case of negotiating over public records, this series of stories chronicles the legal battle between the University of Louisville and the Courier-Journal. Since filing suit in 2001, the newspaper maintained that the public needs to know the donors who contribute to the McConnell Center for Political Leadership, which was founded by Senator Mitch McConnell. The donor list to the McConnell Center includes some of the largest corporate names in Kentucky, names that also rank among the top donors to McConnell's political campaigns. The stories even uncovered legislative attempts, by Sen. McConnell and his allies, to block access to foundation documents. In November 2004 the courts ruled in favor of the newspaper.
Tags: FOIA; University funding; University of Louisville; McConnell Center for Political Leadership; Senator Mitch McConnell; donors to campaigns; donations to universities; public records; data negotiation; political fraud
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Justice Withheld
In 1941, Florida legislators passed a law that allows judges to block records of the convictions of felony offenders, sparing them a life of potential economic hardship and the scorn associated with being convicted felons. It was intended to be a one-time break to help first-time offenders, but it allows people to say they have never been convicted of a crime. The Herald examined how widespread "withholds" had become across Florida and who had been receiving them. The reporters analyzed a database containing millions of prison and probation records, finding that this law intended as a one-time break for first-time offenders had turned into something much more.
Tags: adjudication; felony; offender; Florida criminal justice system; jurists; legislators; victims; sexual assault; rapists; child molesters; child pornographers; first-time offender; withhold; House Committee on Crime Prevention; Corrections and Safety; Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation; prosecutor
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Greene County Prison Land Deal
Using a multitude of public records, the News & Observer uncovered how a "politically connected state transportation official and two state correctional officials" influenced the sale of land for a new prison for their own personal benefit. The resulting series of stories shows the political influence exerted by the transportation official not only on the matter of the prison sale, but on other matters as well such as hirings and promotions within the Department of Corrections. Among other things, at the same time the department wanted to "eliminate the positions that oversee construction, purchasing and personnel," even the state's own legislators had no idea their budget proposal included paying off three top officials ready to retire with nearly $200,000. The paper was also able to track -- and subsequently expose -- the intricate web of transactions designed to hide the massive profit the three were making from the prison land deal.
Tags: corruption; state government; politics; corrections; transportation; payoff; retirement; land; land use; sale; budget; prison