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 "California Assembly" ...
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Broke State
As the country suffers from the recession, so does the state of California but not directly from the country’s recession. California’s recession is based off of poor spending decisions from legislators, representatives, and a number of agencies. Most of these bad decisions are costing the taxpayers “millions of dollars” and they are seeing little benefit from these costs.
Tags: assembly; state government; local government agencies; public funds; taxes; expenses; unemployment; Bill Lockyer; Schwarzenegger; prison
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OC Assemblyman In Bed With Lobbyist
When Michael Duvall, an Ex-Orange County assemblyman, described portions of his affair, he did not know it would be broadcasted for the public to hear. Duvall has been a consistent supporter for conservative issues and has long supported California families and their values. But after becoming the vice chairman of the Utilities and Commerce committee women, especially a lobbyist for the utility giant in California, began to notice him. This is how the affair started and resigning as assemblyman is how it ended.
Tags: Michael Duvall; Heidi DeJong Barsuglia; assembly district representative; conservative; Rules Committee; Republican; politician; affair; California
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Trade Secrets
California set up foreign-trade offices around the world to boost the state's exports and lure investors from other countries. However, documents obtained by the Register showed the trade offices repeatedly made false and overblown claims about the business deals they said they were instrumental in landing. In their last annual report, the offices took credit-at least 31 times on deals totaling $4.2 million-for export or investment deals in which they played little or no role. Six times, they took credit for deals that, in reality, did not happen. Officials in the state agency that had oversight responsibility for the offices said they never checked the accuracy of the offices' claims and believed they had no reason to.
Tags: commerce; trade offices; annual report; California Legislature; California Technology Trade and Commerce Agency; California Assembly; California Senate; brokerage; toxic-cleanup; Gigante USA; South Africa; Tokyo; Taiwan; Singapore; Tri-C Manufacturing; exports; Onlyone Products Inc.; H/A International; United Food and Commercial Workers union; U.S. Department of Commerce; California Bureau of State Audits; Department of Finance; private enterprise
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How one man quietly assembled... A Towing Empire: Blackhawk man has built fortune off Oakland contract
The Oakland Tribune tells the story of Oakland multimillionaire Bill Taylor, a politically connected businessman who owns the only towing company contracted with the city of Oakland. Taylor's contract with the city has never been audited and the true value of the contract is known to no one expect Taylor and his associates. The Oakland Tribune suggests that Taylor may be getting preferential treatment from city council members.
Tags: Oakland; California; Bill Taylor; towing; city council; government; city politics; Blackhawk
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Treading on Danger?
KHOU-TV began investigating car tires that lost their tread in December of 1999 "after receiving viewer complaints and a tip from a local Houston lawyer about the tire." Through interviews with victims and lawyers, KHOU found 30 deaths that were connected to "tread separation on ATX tires. And most of all, we didn't stop at Texas but for the first time started assembling a national snapshot of similar accidents in states such as New Mexico, California, Florida, Arizona, etc."
Tags: VIDEOCLIP; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Firestone tires; tires; car accidents; Firestone ATX; Firestone ATX II
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No cash, no contract
"For years, the Bay Guardian had heard rumors that to get the right to do business in Dan Francisco, you had to 'grease the skids' with [our] mayor, Willie Brown -- the former Speaker of the California Assembly. That meant paying money to somebody's campaign fund or paying lobbyist friends of the mayor handsomely to get his support...Here were credible sources admitting they had been asked to pay a bribe to get the mayor's blessing for a development project. Because they never paid it, they didn't get the deal."
Tags: Willie Brown; City government; Red's; Port of San Francisco; development; piers; real estate; campaign contributions; quid pro quo; FBI
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No title (id: 13867)
"Animal House" exposed the California State Assembly as a place where sexual harassment was common and where victims complained at their peril. Because of grave flaws in the system for addressing complaints, harassers faced no meaningful punishment, while women who complained faced sidetracked careers and firing. Meanwhile, the Assembly sought to keep its handling of the cases secret. (February 25 - 28, 1996)
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No title (id: 8153)
Sacramento (Calif.) Bee analyzes campaign-spending reports by members of the California Assembly who faced no serious opposition, and found that large amounts of money were raised; finds the funds were not spent on re-election, but used to wield power by passing it out to other candidates, initiatives and charities, Dec. 16, 1991.
Tags: CA Richardson CAJ
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Pals - The speaker and the developer: Willie Brown's ties to Ron Cowan
Oakland (Calif.) Tribune discloses the close business relationship between California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and a land developer, leading to a possible conflict of interests.
Tags: California; politics; California Assembly; Willie Brown; Grabowicz
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No title (id: 6678)
San Francisco Bay Guardian's 16 - story investigation of the California State Government concludes that special interests control legislation; looks at the Fair Political Pracitces Commission, which was established as a watchdog agency to attack state corruption, but does little; state legislators hold outside jobs that present conflicts of interests; details the conflicts of interests of Willie Brown, speaker of the assembly; California Newspaper Publishers Association acts like a traditional big-business lobby, Sept. 27, 1989.
Tags: CA Sacramento corruption newspaper chains legislators Willie Brown McLaughlin