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 "campaign funds" ...
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Profiting from the Auto-Bailout
September, 2012 the Obama campaign launched television ads blasting Romney’s November 2008 New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” In an article for The Nation Magazine, funded by The Nation Investigative Fund we discovered that Ann Romney, personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romneys’, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment. It all starts with Delphi Automotive, a former General Motors subsidiary whose auto parts remain essential to GM’s production lines. No bailout of GM—or Chrysler, for that matter—could have been successful without saving Delphi. So, in addition to making massive loans to automakers in 2009, the federal government sent, directly or indirectly, more than $12.9 billion to Delphi—and to the hedge funds that had gained control over it. One of the hedge funds profiting from that bailout— $1.28 billion at the time of publication — was Elliott Management, directed by Romney supporter, Paul Singer.
Tags: Bailout; political campaign; Obama; Romney; Paul Singer
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Beneath the Surface of Political Expense
The Kukmin Daily finds that several lawmakers in South Korea's National Assembly used campaign contributions to fund golf outings, trips to the sauna and even haircuts.
Tags: South Korea; campaign contributions; greed; campaign finances
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"Stimulating Hypocrisy"
This report investigates the 2010 "Pledge to America" campaign waged by Republicans. As many Republicans were labeling the stimulus plan as wasteful, a series of letters obtained by the Center for Public Integrity revealed that these were the "same lawmakers requesting stimulus funds for their pet projects."
Tags: Congress; Pledge for America; stimulus; Republicans; pet projects; earmarks
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Bloomberg's Offshore Millions/The Secret Campaign of Mayor Mike
The two stories take an unprecedented look at Mayor Michael Bloomberg's finances. One story uncovers how Bloomberg used a loophole to invest charitable funds in overseas tax havens. The other story examines the questionable tactics of his secretive campaign effort called "ballot security."
Tags: Bloomberg; mayor; election; finances; campaign spending
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"Political misuse of a public database, a collection of stories by Harford Courant staff writer Jon Lender"
Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz exploited an extensive yet recondite database of "36,000 Connecticut citizens" by submitting a FOI request within her office. By using her own staff and a "taxpayer-funded budget," she tracked and documented citizen's "political and personal information" and created the database to boost her aspiration of reaching higher office.
Tags: Susan Bysiewicz; FOI; Richard Blumenthal; campaign; taxpayers; Democrat; state attorney general; governor
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Secret Scholarships
This series reveals a number of scholarships being awarded to "campaign donors, politically connected families and, in at least one instance, a lawmaker's relative." Also, it reveals that many scholarship recipients are required by law to be represented by lawmakers when they receive their scholarships, which many were not. Further, these scholarship programs are practically unregulated and many experts believe the money should be given to those most in need.
Tags: education; funds; Columbia College Chicago; General Assembly; district; financial support; tuition; money
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"Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund"
For over 20 years, The Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund has built up a "powerful political network" throughout the state that provided financial perks to its leader and employees. The fund marketed itself as a "nonprofit," a claim that the Tennessean proved false.
Tags: Charles "Bones" Seivers; Metro Finance; Murfreesboro; Morristown; Rich Riebeling; Bank of America; campaign donations
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Lisa Knows Best;The Perks of Office
City Pages takes a hard look at the Minneapolis City Council members' questionable behavior. Lisa Goodman for instance is a formidable power player who oversees downtown development. Her friends benefit from her position while her enemies are targeted. Councilwoman Barb Johnson meanwhile spent campaign funds on laundry, cell phone bills and haircuts which helped rack up more than $100,000 in her campaign expenses.
Tags: corruption; Minneapolis; City Council; Councilwoman; Lisa Goodman; Barb Johnson; municipal; campaign; haircuts; dry-cleaning;
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Politics, scholarship and the Armenian Genocide
The first story in the series documented the resignation of Donald Quataert, a distinguished American scholar, who stepped down from the chair of the Georgetown University-based Institute of Turkish Studies. Quataert said he had been forced out by a defunding threat from the Government of Turkey. Several board members also resigned and said political infringement of academic freedom was the reason. The second story in the series looks at evidence of a deliberate attempt to maintain Turkish state control of the U.S. nonprofit. Present and former Turkish ambassadors controlled the endowment that provided almost all the funding for the scholarly institute at the time of Quataert's resignation. Also, founding members of the institute as well as endowment trustees had been party to Ankara's decades-long campaign to suppress international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Tags: Armenian Genocide; Institute of Turkish Studies; Turkish scholars; improper financial control; Middle East Studies Association; public denial; politics versus academics
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Ohio Attorney General: Price of Corruption
WBNS-TV (Columbus, Ohio) revealed a pattern of corruption inside the state's highest law enforcement office including cronyism, misuse of state funds and property, improper use of campaign funds, ethics violations and cover-up. The reporters found that the Attorney General had used campaign funds to rent a condominium for two of his friends/employees that was later tied to sexual harassment,alleged crimes involving state vehicles and the hub for cronyism. Their reporting revealed that the Attorney General created a "transition fund" as an unregulated 501 c4 non-profit account. Through law enforcement, the station learned that this fund funneled at least $2,000 in inappropriate payments to the Attorney General's friend/employee/condo-mate.
Tags: Ohio Attorney General's Office; corruption; 501 c4 non-profit; cronyism; abuse of public funds; misappropriation of funds; abuse of power