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 "Division of Elections" ...
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Reality Show
"This book is a two-year, behind-the-scenes look at the three network news operations; their coverage of such major events as the Iraq war, the midterm elections, the presidential campaign, Hurricane Katrina, the Mark Foley scandal, and the Virginia Tech massacre; the battles for anchor succession within each news division, and their struggle for survival in an era of instantaneous information."
Tags: news organizations; information wars; anchor successions; news division; major events;
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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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Some donors get new posts
The investigation found that people who contributed to Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign and major donors to the Republican Party of Florida were far more likely to get plum appointments to the state's powerful boards and commissions during the Bush tenure than those who contributed t the Florida Democratic Party of Bush's opponents.
Tags: Governor Jeb Bush; Republican Party of Florida; Florida Democratic Party; appointees; elected officials; Commission on Ethics; Division of Elections; Common Cause of Florida; Florida Prepaid College Board; Judicial Qualifications Commission; Land Acquisition and Facilities Advisory Board; Miami-Dade County School Board District; Governor's Mansion Foundation; Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Prison Rehabilitative Industries; Diversified Enterprises Board
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The many investigations of J.D. Johnson
A FW Weekly investigation finds that "a corrupt county commissioner with a sleazy past ... has broken numerous laws, got favorable zoning changes and built roads to nowhere for his political supporters, paved streets in sub-division where his son had new house near where other homeowners have been waiting for years to get streets paved; used his position to get himself and his friends and family out of trouble with the cops, used threats to intimidate his political enemies...." The story sheds light on how the commissioner helped elect a born-again Christian as sheriff. When their friendship soured, the government official ended up the subject of a secret investigation ordered by the sheriff.
Tags: FOIA; campaign finance; contributions; fund-raising; money and politics; Texas Open Record Act; law enforcement; conflicts of interest; abuse of power
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Roads To Nowhere: Squandering Highway Money in West Virginia
The series investigated "questionable and wasteful expenditures by the state Division of Highways." The reporter found out that "Since 1997, Gov. Cecil Underwood and the Legislature have approved the sale of $ 440 million in state road bonds. This year [2001] they hope to sell another $ 110 million. These bond sales will create a long term debt of more than $ 1 billion....The bond sales brought few additional federal matching funds to West Virginia...Much of the state road bond cash, moreover, was spent for routine resurfacing and maintenance, which has a short life span. Voters will still be paying off road bonds for years after these improvements are worn out." In some of the stories the reporter exposed "the failure of weak state laws to control overweight coal and lumber trucks that pose major threat to public safety."
Tags: diskette; FOIA; Virginia state Division on Highways; state issued bonds; wasteful expenditures; road construction; overweigth trucks; public safety; taxpayers; election
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Judges demand order in the court records
Chicago Lawyer examines the first 10 cases filed in 1997 in four of Cook County's busiest divisions. The investigation found pervasive errors including missing orders of protection and missing transfer orders. The clerk, an independently elected official, largely shrugged off the results of the survey and judges' complaints, saying she does not believe the errors are all that bad.