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 "pay-to-play" ...
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ABC News Partnership: Better Business Bureau Investigation
The ABC News Investigative Unit along with six ABC local affiliate stations conducted an unprecedented investigation of the Better Business Bureau.
Tags: BBB; Better Business Bureau; pay-to-play; finance; consumer watchdog
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Brian Ross Investigates: Better Business Bureau -- Pay to Play Scandal
An investigation of the Better Business Bureau revealed it was running a "pay to play" scheme. Businesses that paid for a BBB membership were given A plus ratings while those that didn't received F ratings. Following the investigation, the BBB immediately apologized and launched an internal investigation.
Tags: BBB; Better Business Bureau; consumer watchdog; business; scam
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Neighborhoods for Sale
This eight-part yearlong series documented and exposed the nexus between the deep-pocketed developers who have transformed the city during the building boom of the past decade, the alderman who supported these wholesale changes and millions of dollars in campaign donations. The Tribune's series began by exploring how "pay to play" politics drives zoning changes in Chicago and showing how seemingly arcane official actions directly affect people across the city's neighborhoods. The Tribune also created a first-ever interactive database containing ten years of zoning changes, allowing residents to go online and research developments in their own neighborhoods.
Tags: real estate; pay-to-play; Richard Daley; interactive database; developers; corruption
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Juice vs Justice
According to the Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Justices rule on matters in cases where they have received donations from lawyers or defendants, without disclosing their financial interests or relationships, and without withdrawing when a conflict of interest exists. The Los Angeles Times reports "A common perception among a dozen out-of-state lawyers interviewed about their experiences in Nevada courtrooms is that justice in Las Vegas is just another form of legalized gambling." The Times reported this series because more than a quarter of all visits to Las VEgas are made by Southern Californians, and over a third of alll business relocating to Nevada come from California.
Tags: Blackstone; judicial corruption; good-old-boy culture; Las Vegas; Nevada Supreme Court; political fundraising; financial contributions; juice; disclosure; campaign funds; endorsements; pay-to-play
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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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Brian Ross Investigates: Conduct Unbecoming
"In a year-long series of stories for World News and Nightline, ABC News' chief investigative correspondent and his team reported on a pattern of unbecoming and unethical behavior in offficial Washington that culminated in the revelation's of Congreeman Mark Foley's sexually-explicit internet messages with high school students who served as Congressional pages." Stories in the series also examine some of the consequences from the lack of an ethics code for the Supreme Court and a probe of unethical behavior of a retired U.S. General.
Tags: broadcast; financial disclosure forms; lobbyist Jack Abramoff; Congressman Tom Delay; Congressman Mark Foley; instant messaging; Congressional Pages; House Ethics Committee; Kyle "Dusty" Foggo; CIA; Air Force; Department of Defense Inspector General's Office; Federal Election Commission; Political Money Line; Federalist Sociey; legal ethics; Supreme Court; Congress; Pentagon; influence peddling; FBI; IRS; Brent Wilkes; Taxpayers for Common Sense; Keith Ashdown; Porter Goss; Thunderbirds; General T. Michael Mosely; Senator Tom Coburn; General Hal Hornburg; Project on Government Oversight; Danielle Brian; U.S. Trademark Office; General John Jumper; Blue Angels; midterm elections; access; Campaign Legal Center; Gerry Hebert; pay to play; House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children; sexually explicit messages; sexual exploitation; graphic language; solicitation; Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert; Internet sex; FBI investigation; Congressman Tom Reynolds
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Uncovering "Coingate"
After breaking a story of Ohio's $50 million investment in rare coins and the mired issues attached to this, in April, the (Toledo) Blade decided to dig deeper, filing public records requests with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to inspect the coin transaction and business records of the state's rare-coin investment. This brought a refusal from the coin fund's manager, saying the fund was exempt from the state's Open Record Laws. Once the Supreme Court of Ohio ordered the release of the records, it was discovered that $13 million dollars of the state's investment was missing.
Tags: coingate; FOIA; corruption; pension fund; Ohio Supreme Court; rare coins; Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
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Uncovering "Coingate" and Ohio's pay to play culture
What began as an investigation into Ohio's $50 million investment in a rare-coin fund controlled by one of President Bush's biggest Ohio fundraisers led to a year-long probe of Ohio's pay-to-play system and corruption in the office of Gov. Bob Taft.
Tags: coingate; rare coins; pay-to-play; political corruption; Tom Noe; Gov. Bob Taft; fundraising; President Bush; FOIA; Ohio; corruption
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Cleaning up New Jersey
Two-part series that investigates the corruption of pay-to-play in local and state governments. The series explains how taxpayers are affected, how those in power profit from the system and how the pay-to-play game is kept alive.
Tags: FOI; pay-to-play; New Jersey state government; corruption
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Clout on Wheels
This investigation revealed the waste and corruption within the city's Hired Truck Program, in which the city hires dump trucks and low-wage drivers to haul debris and material at city work sites. The newspaper found that many trucks sit idle while the company reaps payments from the city. One trucking company owner admitted paying bribes to city officials to get work, while others doled out campaign contributions to city officials. Following the series, the FBI arrested the man who ran the city's program, and 14 other people, including 10 current or former city employees, were arrested.
Tags: city government; mob; campaign contributions; pay to play; corruption; contracts; bribery; trucking