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 "partisan politics" ...
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A Question of Right
This story investigates reports that the Justice Department is not longer enforcing anti-discrimination laws. "Under the recent administration, efforts were being made to shift personnel within the justice department by using partisan politics. Some say these changes are dramatically changing the historic mission that the civil rights division was established to protect."
Tags: civil rights division; Justice Department; plaintiffs; anti-discrimination laws;
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Missile Defense: America's Costly Gamble
Supporters of the Pentagon's planned missile defense system say that eventually it will be able to stop almost any type of missile, in any stage of flight. Cabbage's investigation found that those claims are still a long way from being realized. While some of the basic technology has been developed, the system still needs extensive testing and a lot of refinement. The military's current tests are not challenging enough; they're really just used to make it seem as if the technology is progressing. Partisan politics also have a part in the slow development of the technology and the lack of appropriate testing.
Tags: missile; NASA; U.S. Strategic Command; defense; defense spending
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Guard Approves Donor Democrats for Flights in F-16
"The commander of the Indiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. George A. Buskirk, approved flights on an F-15 fighter jet for mostly major Democrat contributors and party activists." Previous commanders did not grant so many special flights; the increase seems even more shady once one realizes that Buskirk himself is a large contributor to Indiana Democrats. He justified many of the flights by saying that the person had some something good for either Indiana or the National Guard, but his excuses didn't hold up to scrutiny.
Tags: campaign donations; bribes; political favors; partisan politics; national guard; army; planes; campaign contributions
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The sick legislature syndrome
Governing reports on "the dangers of creeping partisanship" in the state legislatures. A major finding is that legislatures seem to be less partisan, when they are more of part-time bodies. The story compares the achievements of the "professional" legislatures - with full-time, large staff and stable membership, and the "citizen" ones - with part-time, small staff and high turnover, and hybrid. The two legislature types are exemplified with the Minnesota legislature, described as a "state-of-the art political institution," and the amateurish Tennessee's legislature. "Professionalism, partisanship and incivility are linked to each other in some unholy way," Governing reports.
Tags: politics; partisanship; bills; laws; Democrats; Republicans; Capitol; Minnesota House; lawyers; attorneys; laws; misuse; ethics
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Colored by Numbers
National Journal focuses on how "government budget forecasters offer various scenarios, both rosy and gloomy, but few ever hit the marks." The report finds that "despite all of the partisan rancor over tax cuts - or perhaps because of it - one thing seems certain: Ten-year budgets and the estimates they're based on are coming in for a good deal of scrutiny." The story looks at the political debate on government spending and projected tax cuts and exposes the fallibility of the forecasts prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. The author draws the conclusion that "budgetary restraint - in short enough supply, even during an epoch of deficits - may be entirely out of stock in an era boasting any surpluses at all."
Tags: money and politics; productivity; economic advisers; deficit; surplus; Republicans; Democrats; spending; revenue; Macroeconomics
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"How Independent Is the Counsel?"
In the Autumn of 1993, James Carville was sitting in the VIP lounge at Washington's National Airport. There he met an affable, well-dressed middle-aged man -- a stranger -- who began talking intensely about President Clinton. "Your boy's getting rolled" the man said, according to Carville. Carville said he thanked him for his views, but the man just kept on going, "like someone who had just listened to three hours of Rush Limbaugh," Carville said. In passing, the man told Carville he was a former judge, and that his name was Ken Starr. Less than a year later, Carville learned that man had been appointed to replace Robert B. Fiske, Jr. as the new independent counsel in charge of the Whitewater investigation. He was astounded, and at ne point even threatened to quit his paid consulting relationship with the Democratic National Committee in order to speak out against Starr. Twenty months later, many White House officials have come to share Carville's alarm, and see Starr as a serious threat. But Starr's critics are no longer limited to the White House. A number of independent legal and government ethics experts have begun to speak out against Starr, too.
Tags: Kenneth Starr; indendent counsel; partisan politics; Whitewater;
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Officer Down
Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams's tenure in LA has been marked by epic lying, partisan power struggles, and a political climate that stifles criticism of African American leaders. His failures have been kept under wraps by racial bullying, which emerged in force when local black leaders accused Wiliams's city hall detractors of criticizing him only because he is black. That strategy cut off what would have been a messy, but long overdue, public airing of Williams's seeming inability to carry out all the necessary duties of his job. Although few LA political leaders will admit it publicly, they are hoping that Williams will quit, saving LA from a tidal wave of political divisiveness, racial recriminations, and bureaucratic finger-pointing.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 2478)
Indianapolis Star takes in-depth look at the deterioration of Indiana's mental hospitals and the poor care patients receive; also, the state is reluctant to spend money to aid patients; shows how the Department of Mental Health has become threatened by partisan politics, 1983.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 1049)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists looks at the 27 - year history of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), created to conduct arms control research, formulate policy, and assist in negotiations; ACDA has been plagued by partisan politics and other problems, December 1988. * Krepon Burns ACDA
Tags: Krepon Burns ACDA
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No title (id: 406)
Common Cause Magazine article finds Defense Department engaged in partisan politics by unleashing a public relations campaign aimed at restoring faith in the Pentagon to coincide with the Reagan re-election campaign, November/December 1984.
Tags: None