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 "junket" ...
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Congressional Travel
The three-month investigation scrutinized trips known as CODELs, or Congressional Delegations, and uncovered millions of tax dollars being spent each year to send members of Congress to exotic locations around the world under the premise of "fact-finding trips."
Tags: travel; federal spending; trip; Galapagos Islands; House of Representatives; junket; expense report; CODEL
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Dart Travel Spending
CBS 11 News reviewed thousands of pages of documents pertaining to travel expenses and credit card purchases by executives and staff members who manage Dallas Area Rapid Transit, AKA DART. We discovered dozens trips around the country and around the world for seminars. While traveling, executives enjoyed expensive accommodations. The station also found questionable expenditures on expensive catering, gift cards and purchases from Victoria's Secret. The expenses came at a time when the agency faced a $1,000,000,000 budget shortfall that jeopardized key transportation projects. CBS 11 producers followed a group of executives and board members to a transit junket in California where we watched as many skipped key meetings, attended steak dinners and parties thrown by companies who bid on transit projects. The station also watched as DART executives and staff members violated internal policies by using taxis and shuttles instead of local mass transit, a pattern found while reviewing dozens of other out-of-town junkets.
Tags: mass transit; Dallas; fraud; transit authority; travel expenses; questionable spending
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Tollway Junket
"The North Texas Tollway Authority, a public entity, sent 5 representatives on an all-expenses paid trip to Vienna, Austria to attend the International Bridge, Tunnel and Tollway Association's annual meeting. The trip cost tollway users more than $42,000 dollars and our hidden cameras revealed some representatives dining on five star meals, catered by companies with multi-million dollar construction contracts."
Tags: North Texas Tollway Authority; transportation; roads; toll roads; Texas; conflict of interest; funding; hidden camera; budget; public;
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Fire Alarm
Long Island, the last densely-populated region of the country served almost exlusively by volunteer firefighters, is now paying as much for its small-town service as many U.S. cities do for fully paid departments. In their efforts to cope with waning volunteerism, fire departments here spend extraordinary sums on premium trucks and equipment,travel junkets, enormous firehouses and costly perks- and for paid staff who answer calls, but are hired under every title but firefighter. Despite all the spending, most volunteer fire departments are not getting fire crews to respond as fast as volunteer standards say they should.
Tags: firefighters; volunteer firefighters; response time; perks; fire department budgets
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Phoenix travel
The Republic's investigation revealed that City of Phoenix employees and their supervisors had been frivolously spending public money on travel and junkets that had little, if any, direct benefit to the city and its taxpayers. Abuses were caused in part by poor city policies fraught with loopholes that made it easy for unscrupulous workers to take advantage of the system.
Tags: City of Phoenix; public funds; corruption; scandals; fiscal abuse; finances; public spending
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Networks of Influence
This investigation revealed the communication industry has spent $1.1 billion since 1998 to obtain political influence--more than twice a much as the oil and gas industry spent. Money spent on supporting candidates, lobbying, junkets and the practice of government officials leaving their jobs to work for the industries they used to regulate were all scrutinized. While broadcasters usually spent and equal amount of money supporting republicans and democrats, Sinclair Broadcasting Group spent more than 95% on republicans only. Detailed graphs included make the story easy to understand.
Tags: On-line; FCC; Federal Communications Commission; telecommunications; broadcast; political influence; lobby; television; radio; junket; Telecommunications Act of 1996; General Electric; Sinclair; Time Warner
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Judicial Junkets
ABC News investigates "big money lobbying of federal judges ... through the use of free junkets." Large corporations and foundations with interests in cases that come before the federal courts often invite the judges on all-expense paid trips. The main finding is that "one in ten judges, nearly 300 members of the federal bench, including two U.S. Supreme Court justices, have accepted the controversial free trips to one or several privately funded luxury "seminars" held at golf resorts, dude ranches and luxury hotels."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; ethics; financial disclosure; money and politics; hidden camera; undercover footage; business; right wing; justice; law
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Where the Party Never Ends
In These Times examines the loopholes in the gift rules that allow lawmakers to travel, eat and drink at lobbyists' expense. The story points to examples of senators and representatives receiving "education trips" to vacation spots, cheap concert tickets and free lunches. A major finding is that these dinners and junkets are important not only to the lobbyists and the organizations that pay for them . Lawmakers are dependent on the freebies, because they need the relationships with the big business in order to collect donations. "Until Congress imposes stricter campaign spending limits or implements some for of public financing of campaigns, national policy will continue to be dominated by wealthy players," the magazine reports.
Tags: subsidies; spending; federal funds; freebies; Common Cause; donations; campaign contributions; gifts
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Las Vegas Junket
This investigation examined Hamilton County, Ohio engineers wasting taxpayer money on so-called business trips. Hidden cameras reveal three county engineers spent virtually all of a three-day trip to a convention in Las Vegas gambling.
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT fraud malfeasance expense reports travel
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Senators Ski Cup
Inside Edition reports that "For years, the House and Senate have been under public pressure to toughen the rules governing valuable gifts and travel they are allowed to receive from businesses, special interests and their lobbyists... So when producer Stewart Harris and correspondent Steve Wilson learned details about the Senators Ski Cup (charity event) held January 13-16, 1994 in Park City, Utah, they pack their bags and headed off for a first-hand look. ... documented first-class travel and accommodations offered to the nine senators who were the guests of 34 corporate sponsors...slopeside condos and chalets paid for with funds from sponsors..."
Tags: TAPE; Transcript; junkets; lobbying; influence peddling; ethics