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 "GOP" ...
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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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Jim Greer: GOP Collateral Damage
An investigation of how the Florida Republican Party including the President of the Senate, The Speaker of the House, and many powerful leaders lied and worked to undermine the Chairman of the Party, Jim Greer, in order to keep Gov. Charlie Crist from getting the U.S. Senate nomination and how it spent millions of dollars in contributions and lied about when it was caught.
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Stem Cell, Contraception Groups paid Huck
Financial disclosure statements from Mike Huckabee show he accepted thousands of dollars from public health groups advocating causes considered anathema to the conservative activists whose support he used to gain momentum for the 2008 Presidential candidacy.
Tags: Speaking fees; Novo Nordisk; Public Health Institute; Grant Makers in Health; GOP; morning-after pill;
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Uncovering 'Coingate': From State of Turmoil to State of Change
In the second year of investigations into corruption in the State of Ohio, a Toledo Blade investigation into investment and corruption scandals takes down a former COP county chairman who channeled illegal contributions through more than 20 conduits into the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign.
Tags: Ohio Bureau of Investigation; kickbacks; Ohio Republican Party; Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation; hedge funds; Coingate; GOP fundraiser Tom Noe; rare coin trading; pay-to-play; contribution laundering
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Corrupting Congress
The AP reporters revealed that lawmakers of both parties used frequent flier miles for airline tickets bought by lobbyists to pad their own mileage totals and to secure free travel. They exposed Bill Frist's controversial stock transaction, which prompted the SEC's insider trading probe and scrutiny of how the GOP Senate leaderused an AIDS charity to enrich his inner political circle. They also documented how Tom DeLay and his successor as House Majority Leader, Roy Blunt, orchestrated a carousel of donations that enriched their personal causes. Furthermore, they showed how DeLay underwrote more than a million dollars in luxury travel to Caribbean resorts, five-star restaurants and exclusive golf courses with political donations. Finally, they revealed that nearly five-dozen lawmakers in both parties wrote letters, sponsored legislation and made other official acts for Jack Abramoff's clients while simultaneously collecting money from them.
Tags: government; fraud
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TRMPAC
The series of stories explores the effect of the Republican sweep in 2002 of the Texas state government and the controversy behind the funding that got them there. This three year investigation was part of Tom DeLay's downfall, and led criminal investigations and civil lawsuits against the state's largest business organization.
Tags: Tom DeLay; campaign finance; Texas; Republican; Texas GOP; state government
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Republicans snap up state jobs
A Dispatch computer analysis shows that hiring in Franklin County has shifted toward Republicans after GOP Gov. George V. Voinovich took office. Republicans were 1.5 times more likely than Democrats to be hired, and of the new hires, Republicans on average are paid more than Democrats, among other findings.
Tags: politics; politicians; political favoritism; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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Revaluation Delay Hasn't Hurt Guilford
Guilford county residents were upset when, after a 1988 assessment, their property taxes increased dramatically. County officials decided that the best solution would be to have revaluations every four years, to make the increases less shocking. But, for various reasons the assessments were once again pushed back into eight year increments. These articles examine the effects of waiting eight years between revaluations.
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The Godfather in the Closet
This story looks at the career of Alex Arshinkoff, a local politico with a lot of power at the county, state and national level. Despite his conservative credentials, Arshinkoff was accused of groping a male teenage hitchhiker and offering political favors to an acquaintance who saw him at a gay nightclub.
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Starting Over
The National Journal looks at legislators who become lobbyists and finds that "after leaving Congress, GOP lawmakers find a niche on K Street and discover that some old habits are hard to break."
Tags: Congress; GOP lawmakers; lobbyists; K Street; Washington; D.C.