High salaries, free spending at N.Y. agency

Michelle Breidenbach of The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post-Standard looks into the "high salaries and free spending of the public's money at the New York Power Authority," the state's publicly owned power generator. "NYPA's six trustees oversee a $2.2 billion budget that accommodates the patronage and pork-barrel spending that come with a state public authority as well as the pampering that comes with a private business. As a state public authority, NYPA's policies, practices and profits are separate from the rest of New York state government." After the stories were published, N.Y. Gov. George Pataki directed the agency to review its policies and the Assembly Energy Committee launched an investigation.

Martha Mendoza and Christopher Sullivan of The Associated Press used federal records to show that the amount of unpaid federal fines has risen sharply in the past decade, in an investigation that examined federal financial penalty enforcement across the nation. Individuals and corporations regularly avoid large penalties for wrongdoing — sometimes through negotiations, sometimes because companies go bankrupt, sometimes because officials fail to keep close track of who owes what under a decentralized collection system. "The government is currently owed more than $35 billion in fines and other payments from criminal and in civil cases, according to Justice Department figures." This is enough to cover the annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security. The story includes a breakdown of how much is owed by state.

Abraham Hyatt and Leslie Griffy of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, Calif., found that cities throughout that county don't follow state law when it comes to public records requests. "Only one of the county's seven cities supplied both of the public documents that The Tribune sought. Reporters asked for a directory of city employees' work numbers and the city's contract with its police union. City staff and officials who did not provide the documents claimed they were not public records."

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press' quarterly magazine, The News Media & the Law, reports "more than 450 cases in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., were completely hidden from the public through the use of a hidden docketing system that two federal appeals courts have declared unconstitutional." The report, written by Reporters Committee Journalism Fellow Kirsten B. Mitchell and Legal Fellow Susan Burgess, includes a chart, a how-they-did-it sidebar and a glimpse into secret docketing in a Florida case.

Michael J. Sniffen and John Solomon of the Associated Press used court records to show that despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the past three years. The investigation found that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of their plea bargains with the government. "Most of these defendants are involved in drug gangs, though lately a very small number come from terrorism cases." Some of these cooperating witnesses include multiple murderers and drug dealers but the public cannot learn whether their testimony won them drastically reduced prison sentences or even freedom.

Ken Armstrong, Justin Mayo and Steve Miletich of The Seattle Times used court records to show that since 1990, at least 420 civil suits have been sealed in King County, Wa. "These sealed records hold secrets of potential dangers in our medicine cabinets and refrigerators; of molesters in our day-care centers, schools and churches; of unethical lawyers, negligent doctors, dangerous dentists; of missteps by local and state agencies; of misconduct by publicly traded companies into which people sink their savings." The investigation found that at least 97 percent of the judges' sealing orders disregard rules set down by the Washington Supreme Court in the 1980s. Judges and commissioners have sealed at least 46 cases where a public institution is a party, 58 cases where a fellow lawyer is a party, usually as a defendant and sealed cases where the person being sued was a licensed professional — for example, a doctor, psychologist or counselor — who was subsequently disciplined by the state. The package includes a sidebar about how they did the reporting and the CAR techniques used.

Eleanor Yang of the The San Diego Union-Tribune used calendar records obtained under the California Public Records Act to show that UC San Diego Chancellor, Marye Anne Fox, has served as a director for 10 corporations and nonprofit organizations, while running the university for the past year and a half. Fox spent more than 180 hours attending board meetings — many of them on the East Coast — in the past 12 months. "For all of her outside positions, Fox, 58, an organic chemist, receives compensation that rivals her university salary of $359,000. " In the past year, she received cash and stock worth at least $339,260 from her board memberships, according to corporate annual reports, proxy statements and tax returns from the nonprofit organizations.

Paul Moses of The Village Voice reports that New York City's falling crime rate may not entirely credible. "The number of lost-property reports filed with police jumped by 44 percent from 1997 to 2004, according to a document the NYPD released to The Village Voice in response to a freedom-of-information request. Nearly half of that increase occurred in the last two years of that period. And 2005 was on pace, as of Nov. 1, to beat out the previous year. " The investigation found police are taking complaints that once would have been treated as grand larceny or another property crime and reporting them as "lost property." Grand larceny is one of the closely watched seven major "index" crimes monitored in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and it makes up nearly 60 percent of the reported index offenses, so police commanders know that if they are going to get their numbers down, they have to report fewer thefts. (Editor's note: For other reporters interested in evaluating crime rates, IRE offers Understanding Crime Statistics: A Reporter's Guide.)

Eric Nalder, Lewis Kamb, Phuong Cat Le and Paul Shukovsky of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer continue their investigation into abuse, misconduct and disciplinary lapses in the King County Sheriff's Department. The most recent stories examine the reasons for these failures in oversight — and reveal more cases of abuse, favoritism and retaliation against whistleblowers. The investigation, based on thousands of pages of documents received through public disclosure requests and interviews with dozens of present and former deputies and others, shows "An internal discipline system that often protects wrongdoing and punishes those who report it; A pervasive insider network that selectively rewards and protects its own, creating what critics call a culture of cronyism; And a union that has literally designed the department for its own control, successfully lobbying for an elected sheriff, and repeatedly protecting the jobs of problem officers."

Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times reports the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which supplies and promotes tap water to the city, spent $31,160 for bottled water. Citywide, city officials spent $88,900 on bottled water, "despite a 1995 directive by former Mayor Richard Riordan that said: The city's tap water satisfies most needs, and bottled water should not be provided ordinarily at city expense.'" The city controller, who said she was stunned, "compiled the bills in response to a Public Records Act request from the Times." The department spends about $500,000 a year on for a report on the quality of its water — "The latest report brags that DWP water 'meets or surpasses all water quality standards.'"