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THE IRE JOURNAL FROM THE IRE OFFICES VOLUME 28  NUMBER 1

EDITOR & IRE DEPUTY DIRECTOR We battle the absurd Len Bruzzese

MANAGING EDITOR as journalism pays price Anita Bruzzese

ART DIRECTOR for years of ambivalence BRANT HOUSTON Wendy Gray 004 was not a stellar year for the relationship between public officials and investigative SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Steve Weinberg 2journalists. The number of attacks by judges and prosecutors on journalists doing their jobs was startling CONTRIBUTING LEGAL EDITOR and signaled that journalism will not get easier in this era of fear and secrecy. David Smallman The assault on the confidentiality of sources was high on the list of concerns. In the past year, judges and prosecutors tried to bully reporters into breaking promises and EDITORIAL INTERN revealing anonymous tipsters. Attempting to force a reporter to reveal a confidential source in a Katie Underwood democratic society should be a last resort of the courts. Frustrated or belligerent judges and prosecutors, however, have subpoenaed reporters, levied fines and threatened imprisonment when there were alternatives to getting the information. For a IRE detailed look at the situation, see the fall issue of The News Media and the Law (www.rcfp.org), a publication of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brant Houston The result of these rash moves was to create an absurdist and Kafkaesque world. Not one reporter we know of has revealed a source who didn’t agree to be revealed. But that BOARD OF DIRECTORS didn’t stop a state judge from imprisoning investigative reporter Jim Taricani of WJAR-Providence, R.I., in Taricani’s own home – even after Taricani’s source revealed his own identity. In confining CHAIR Shawn McIntosh, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Taricani, the judge reportedly said it was “a myth” that sources would dry up if reporters broke confidentiality agreements. We beg to differ: Not only would sources dry up, some of them would PRESIDENT probably sue. David Boardman, The Seattle Times Meanwhile, federal judges threatened reporters with prison time or levied fines in other cases, VICE PRESIDENT including the infamous case of finding who leaked information that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. Duane Pohlman, WEWS-Cleveland The unreal quality of judicial attacks on investigative journalists is most pronounced. Commentator and columnist Robert Novak “outed” Plame as an agent, but it’s the daily inves- TREASURER tigative reporters who are under attack. As of this writing, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Cheryl Phillips, The Seattle Times Matthew Cooper of Time could face imprisonment for not revealing sources in the case. SECRETARY Miller didn’t even write a story and neither she nor Cooper “outed” Plame. Novak’s response Stephen C. Miller, The New York Times to prosecutors remains unknown and he continues to write and appear on CNN without judicial interference. We hope Novak or a prosecutor or judge will soon answer that riddle. Paul Adrian, KDFW-Dallas/Fort Worth During 2004 we also faced new denials and prohibitions on reporting. Stephen K. Doig, Arizona State University We try to report on terrorist-related issues, but information is withheld so that we are now a nation of unknown numbers and identities of detainees. We try to report on court proceedings, but James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post it can be illegal for the parties to talk about them or say they exist. We wait months or years for Andy Hall, Wisconsin State Journal answers to FOI requests that officials brazenly ignore under the umbrella of national security or Dianna Hunt, Fort Worth Star-Telegram just plain arrogance. Ironically, some information requested is originally collected to protect the Mark Katches, The Orange County Register public but is denied release because officials say it could endanger the public. [See the FOI column Deborah Sherman, KUSA-Denver by Joe Davis on page 13 for more on this.] This makes as much sense as the initial post-9/11 ban on taking fingernail clippers aboard Nancy Stancill, The Charlotte Observer airplanes. Then, we had a governor in Maryland who reached new heights of royalty by instructing state officials not to talk to two BaltimoreSun reporters because their reporting offended him. The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is published six times a year by Investigative Reporters and We have brought some of this on ourselves. For two decades, the press has become afraid of or Editors, Inc. 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of ambivalent about pointing out outright lies and the increasing manipulation of the media. Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. Until recently, the press has been hesitant to write about increasing secrecy and to expose those E-mail: [email protected]. U.S. subscriptions are officials who ignore open records laws and requests for interviews. Instead, some journalists said $70 for individuals, $85 for libraries and $125 writing about these issues would be “inside ball” in which the public has no interest. When did for institutions/businesses. International subscriptions are $90 for individuals and $150 for freedom of information become “inside ball” in a democracy? all others. Periodical postage paid at Columbia, The press also has been a sometime puppet of officials who use the issue of personal privacy MO. Postmaster: Please send address changes CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 × to IRE. USPS #451-760 Brant Houston is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted © 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. Reporting. He can be reached through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 573-882-2042.

4 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 5 CONTENTSFEATURES

THE IRE JOURNAL 18- 31 MONITORING THE POLICE TABLE OF CONTENTS UNDERREPORTING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 Failure to report crimes helps agency 4 We battle the absurd lower crime rates, broaden power base as journalism pays price By Noah Bierman and Wanda J. DeMarzo for years of ambivalence The Miami Herald By Brant Houston, IRE DOUBLE DIPPING 6 HOLLYWOOD CAR 2005 Records show hundreds of police officers CAR conference offers paid for being in two places at same time panels and workshops By Donovan Slack for newbies, veterans The Boston Globe By The IRE Journal staff POLICE SHOOTINGS 7 BORDERWORLD Creation of database reveals patterns IRE works with Mexican organizations in the use of deadly force by officers to focus on the future of border reporting By Lise Olsen and Roma Khanna Houston Chronicle By Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle 8 BOOKS OF 2004 KENTUCKY VICE War-related books provide glimpse Before some arrests, officers get of White House hawks, suspect vaccines naked, have sexual contact with spa prostitutes By Steve Weinberg By Jason Riley The IRE Journal The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal 11 Solid journalism still best protection from libel suits when covering terrorism By Ashley Gauthier U.S. News & World Report 32-40 VOTING AND CAMPAIGNS 13 Environmental hazards: CAMPAIGN FINANCE What you don’t know 527s come of age, wield clout as never before just might hurt you in effort to influence latest presidential election By Joseph A. Davis By Aron Pilhofer SEJ Watchdog Project The Center for Public Integrity

FELONS Attempts to purge criminals from rolls ABOUT THE COVER lead to odd racial disparity in Florida From double dipping to the use By Chris Davis and Matthew Doig of deadly force, the activities Sarasota Herald-Tribune of local police call for close REGISTRATION monitoring. Snowbirds’ double voting demonstrates vulnerability of voting’s honor system Cover Story By Russ Buettner Pages 18-31 (New York) Daily News Cover photo by POLITICS State grant for nonprofit community center Wendy Gray, The IRE Journal may have found way into campaign coffers By Vanessa Hua and Christian Berthelsen San Francisco Chronicle

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 3 FEATURES I FEATURESR E N E W S

Make plans to be in Denver Wage and hour database MEMBER NEWS in June for IRE Conference now available through IRE ohn Burnett of National Public Radio Preparations have begun for the 2005 IRE The IRE and NICAR Database Library has Annual Conference, set for June 2-5 at Hyatt processed a new database containing enforcement J won the 2004 Edward R. Murrow Award Regency-Downtown Denver. actions by the Wage and Hours Division of the in investigative reporting for radio network/ The annual event typically boasts more than 100 Department of Labor. syndication service. The award recognizes his panels, workshops, roundtables and classes. The The Division is responsible for the enforcement Thursday – or Optional Day – lineup of the week- of several labor laws covering such areas as child reporting on the accidental bombing of an Iraqi end will offer panels focused on computer-assisted labor, overtime, minimum wage, and medical or village by the U.S. Air Force.  Peter Byrne has reporting techniques. Discussions are under way to family leave. bring back that day’s Criminal Justice Track, co- The Wage and Hour Enforcement database con- moved to The North Bay Bohemian (Santa Rosa, sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists. tains information about the violations, penalties and Calif.) where he will write a weekly investiga- The other days of the conference will feature employers, including wages owed, the specific child tive news column, “The Byrne Report.” He was a sessions on beat coverage, writing, editing and labor violation and the location of the employer. managing, legal issues, FOI, sourcing and more. Journalists can use this data to investigate the staff writer at SF Weekly.  Sherry Chisenhall, The popular Show & Tell room will allow broad- compensation paid by employers in their area. For managing editor of The Wichita Eagle, has been casters to view investigative reports by peers, offer example, you can identify local companies with the named editor of the paper.  Gary Cohn has critiques and ask questions. Hands-on classes will worst record for failing to pay employee overtime. be offered in CAR skills, one-on-one mentoring Current as of Sept. 30, 2004, the data includes joined the Los Angeles Times as an investigative will be offered for both print and broadcast mem- 660,000 records of individual enforcement actions. reporter. He was the Atwood Professor at the bers and a computer demo room will highlight For more information, visit www.ire.org/datalibrary/ University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Department new software, data and services available for your databases/wages/ or call the 573-884-7711. newsroom. of Journalism and Public Communications. Keep an eye on www.ire.org/training/denver05/ IRE members take awards  Joe Demma has joined the South Florida for the latest details, including registration infor- in environmental reporting Sun-Sentinel as investigations editor. He was mation. Five IRE members won top honors from the Society of Environmental Journalists, which selects the managing editor at The Modesto Bee. IRE members win recognition winners each year in its Awards for Reporting on  Justin Ellis has received the Bob Drake in ACRE reporting contest the Environment. Young Writer’s Award from the Maine Press Twelve IRE members won first-place awards • Paul Adrian, Joe Ellis and Paul Beam, all of in the 2004 Association of Capitol Reporters and KDFW-Dallas, won in in-depth reporting for Association. He’s a reporter at the Portland Editors reporting contest. “Dirty Waters, Dirty Secrets.” Press Herald and a former IRE staff member. • The Orange County Register’s Jenifer B. McKim, • Seth Borenstein of Knight Ridder Newspapers’  Eric Eyre and Scott Finn of The Charleston William Heisel and three other reporters won the Washington bureau won in beat reporting for a John Aubuchon Freedom of Information Award, collection of stories on the environment. (W.Va.) Gazette won the 2004 Casey Medal in honoring investigative reporting that enhances • The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee’s Tom Knudson won Project/Series (75,000-200,000 circulation) from understanding of state government. in in-depth reporting for “State of Denial.” • Deb Kollars of The Sacramento Bee won for • Chris Raphael and Jason Felch won in online the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill Col- in-depth reporting (newspapers over 75,000) for reporting for “Peru: A Gamble in the Jungle,” a lege of Journalism for “Closing Costs: School “Paying for Schools.” three-part series produced for PBS Frontline/World Consolidation in West Virginia.”  Mark • Michael C. Bender of The (Grand Junc- and Washingtonpost.com. tion, Colo.) Daily Sentinel won in columns/ Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams of the San commentary/analysis (newspapers under 75,000) Sunshine Week spotlights Francisco Chronicle have received the 2004 Dick for political writing. open-government benefits Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award • Paul E. Kostyu of The (Canton, Ohio) Reposi- IRE is among the journalism groups and media for their coverage of the Bay Area Laboratory tory won in two categories, in-depth reporting and companies supporting Sunshine Sunday on March single report (newspapers under 75,000). 13. The day kicks off “Sunshine Week: Your Right Co-Operative, or BALCO, steroid controversy. • Aron Pilhofer and Derek Willis won for in-depth to Know,” an opportunity to highlight the impor-  Jim Finkle has moved from The Orange reporting (online publications) for a Center for tance of the public’s right of access to government County Register to Broadcasting & Cable maga- Public Integrity investigation, “Silent Partners: information. How Political Non-Profits Work the System.” Participating news organizations will feature zine in Los Angeles, where he is a reporter. • Nanci Wilson of KEYE- Austin, Texas, and Tisha editorials, op-eds, editorial cartoons, and news  Robert Gammon of the Oakland Tribune Thompson of WMAR-Baltimore tied in in-depth and feature stories about why open government is reporting (television 51 and over). important to everyone. Some will mark stories that won the 2004 Casey Medal in Project/Series • Kate Clements won in single report (magazines) couldn’t have been written without open records. (under 75,000 circulation) from the Uni- for “Risky Math,” an article published in Illinois The initiative, spearheaded by the American versity of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College Issues Magazine. Society of Newspaper Editors with a grant from • Associated Press reporters Don Thompson won the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, CONTINUED ON PAGE 41 × in beat reporting and Patrick Howe won in in- expands the Sunshine Sunday efforts nationally Send Member News items to Len Bruzzese at depth reporting. and across media. [email protected] and include a phone number for verification.

4 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 5 ��

FEATURESI R E N E W S FEATURES COSTS Registration: $150 (Students: $100) To attend, membership must be current. See www.ire.org/training/hollywood05 for latest details.

CONFERENCE Annual Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference, March 17-20, 2005 Renaissance Hollywood Hotel 1755 N. Highland Ave. CAR conference offers sessions Hollywood, Calif. for newbies and veterans For reservations: Call 800-468-3571 by Friday, Feb. 18, to get BY THE IRE JOURNAL STAFF the discounted room rate of $164. Ask for the IRE/2005 Annual CAR Conference room block. he 2005 Annual Computer-Assisted Reporting panels on nearly every beat and 60 hands-on classes To reserve a room online, use the link from T Conference will feature an Advanced Day for on spreadsheets, database analysis, statistics, map- www.ire.org/training/hollywood05. CAR veterans, special tracks for broadcasters and ping and downloading data from the Internet. beginners and several sessions for Spanish-speak- KNBC-Los Angeles is hosting the conference ing journalists. and the Los Angeles Times and The Orange County panels and hands-on classes in Spanish. The Advanced Day will take place on Thursday, Register are sponsors. A local committee of jour- Experienced practitioners can learn to hurdle March 17, and will be followed by three main days nalists is helping to ensure that regional topics are data challenges with advanced programming, of panels and hands-on training for all levels of expe- covered and is putting together a dining and tourism sophisticated mapping techniques, scraping data rience and expertise. Main conference days will run guide for those visiting the L.A. area. from the Internet and employing more complex from Friday, March 18, through Sunday, March 20. The conference Demo Room will offer informal statistical methods. Prospective attendees should All sessions will be held at the Renaissance Holly- tutorials and small workshops on specific federal and sign up ahead of time for hands-on classes through wood Hotel in downtown Hollywood, Calif. state data and analytic techniques. Top CAR jour- the IRE Web site. Practitioners in CAR will conduct more than 40 nalists can use the room to share some of the latest The conference also will have workshops on techniques and stories in an informal setting. teaching CAR that will help educators and news- Among the topics will be using data analysis to room trainers. In addition, there will be panels on �� report on homeland security, pollution, homicides, writing and editing the data-heavy story. natural disasters, elections and campaign Just some of the likely hands-on class offerings: finance, inequities in education, exploita- • Excel 1: Performing simple calculations and sorting �� tion of the poor, the military and the war in • Excel 2: Calculating ratios and rates in Excel Iraq, and immigration border issues. �� • Excel 3: Learn pivot tables, filtering and more Advanced topics will include social • Excel and Internet: Importing data from the Web network analysis, data cleaning, open- • Beyond basics I: Using advanced Excel functions �� source tools, constructing intranets and • Access 1: Learn to select and sort data items you choose mining text databases. Special attention �� • Access 2: Summarizing databases with counting and summing will be paid to access of data and other • Access 3: How to join tables, matching information between files �� FOI issues. • Database Building: Using Access forms to ease the process Speakers and instructors will come from • Making the most of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Factfinder print and broadcast newsrooms, both large � �� • Census demographics to help cover your community and small. • SQL automation: How to spend zero time on recurrent tasks � �� For beginning CAR reporters, the con- • Web sites and search techniques for reporters � �� ference will include a start-to-finish track • Backgrounding people on the Internet and a mini-boot camp of hands-on training. � �� • Perl: An introduction to Perl and regular expressions The mini-boot camp will offer a series of • Introduction to social network software classes – open to the first 36 who sign up for • Mapping 1: Displaying data geographically with ArcView 9 �� them – that will take novices through data • Mapping 2: Importing and selecting data by attribute �� analysis with spreadsheets and database • Mapping 3: Geocoding managers, finding data on the Internet and �� • Mapping 4: How Spatial Analyst can improve stories downloading that data into their programs. �� • SPSS 1: Navigate SPSS, using descriptive statistics and frequencies �� The classes will be linked to panels that • SPSS 2: Doing crosstabs to show the data in different ways �� highlight these skills to produce in-depth • SPSS 3: Basic linear regression techniques and diagnostics � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � stories. • SPSS 4: Scripting with SPSS to automate time-consuming tasks Planners are working on presenting some

6 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 7 FEATURES I FEATURESR E N E W S

It is a place where the unthinkable happens over and over again. People disappear, sometimes their corpses dissolved in vats of acid. A U.S. citizen, and suspect in the murder of Mora, is beaten to death in jail after he is released into the general population a few days before a key public hearing. Money disap- pears for public projects and poor public officials suddenly become land barons. All those things – and more – make Borderworld ripe for investigation. It’s a world in which IRE members need to reach out and connect. We need to learn from each other, BORDERWORLD exchange information and tips and even collaborate on stories if we ever hope to get to the bottom of IRE works with Mexican organizations any of this. That’s why IRE worked with the Center for to focus on the future of border reporting Ethical Journalism in Mexico (CEPET in Spanish) and Periodistas de Investigacion, which IRE helped begin in the mid-1990s to put on this conference. The IRE trabaja con organizaciones mexicanas border conference received support from the Hous- ton Chronicle, El Mañana and the Knight Center for para mejorar la cobertura periodística de la frontera Journalism in the Americas. Panelists included Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News; John Burnett, National BY LISE OLSEN Public Radio; Valerie Godines, The Orange HOUSTON CHRONICLE County Register; Pedro Armendares, Periodistas de Investigacion; Molly Molloy, La Guia and New RE is all about training and networking – and per- they cover and attempt to investigate can be huge: Mexico State University; Lorena Figueroa, Diario I haps nowhere else in the United States do journal- multinational firms that run the factories and pollute de Juárez; Brant Houston, Investigative Reporters ists need friends more than on the border. the air and water; the massive political organizations and Editors; Ginger Thompson, The New York With that in mind, more than 80 journalists gath- of Mexico’s PRI, organized crime on both sides of Times; Leonarda Reyes, CEPET and formerly ered in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, at a November con- the border and accompanying political corruption with Reforma, El Norte and TV Azteca; Lise ference sponsored by IRE and other organizations. of all stripes. CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 × The purpose was to share techniques and knowledge and to create a web of protection and support that will help build better border investigations. �� The participants came from media as far east as Matamoros/Brownsville and as far west as Tijuana/ �� San Diego – meaning journalists who cover nearly all of the invisible line that separates and connects �� the United States and Mexico. (One U.S. participant �� traveled from Cuba, though he’s moving to the border �� area soon). �� The conference had its light-hearted moments – NPR’s John Burnett even brought out his har- �� monica at one point. But no one could forget that �� the challenges of investigative reporting along the �� border are real. �� Five Mexican journalists have been killed in the �� past year – the worst tally of any Latin American �� country in 2004. Two of them were top editors at �� border newspapers. One, Roberto Mora, was the �� editor of El Mañana in Nuevo Laredo and an original �� member of the conference planning committee. �� In two days of intense sessions in Nuevo Laredo, �� many reporters and editors talked about how they �� feel pressure or even fear in the region that is, in �� some ways, becoming a country unto itself: Bor- �� derworld. �� Many newsgathering organizations that cover the �� border – on both sides – are small. The organizations ��

6 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 7 BOOKSFEATURES FEATURES BOOKS OF 2004 War-related books provide glimpse of White House hawks, suspect vaccines

BY STEVE WEINBERG THE IRE JOURNAL

s usual, it is difficult to generalize about the ‘Chain of Command’ A investigative/explanatory books by journalists On Sept. 11, 2001, Seymour Hersh and David published during the past year. But one comment Remnick conversed. Hersh, one of the most accom- seems indisputable: It was a year of memorable plished investigative journalists in the world for 35 books about the unforeseen consequences of war. years running, had been writing for The New Yorker and as a book author. Lots of war-related books captured my attention magazine after a career encompassing The Associ- Hersh and Remnick decided that the investiga- and are listed starting below. Two of those many ated Press, The New York Times and seven books. tive reporter, in the editor’s words, “would have to worthy books, one by a renowned veteran print Remnick, The New Yorker’s editor, was well-known follow this story no matter where it went and that investigative reporter, the other by a relatively – within the journalism realm at least – as perhaps he would likely have to publish more frequently, obscure television journalist, continue to resonate the best editor alive, following his own distinguished ranging into foreign and domestic intelligence com- loudly in my mind. reporting and writing career at The Washington Post CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 × INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004 very year, Steve Weinberg does his best to compile this exclusive list B • Benedict, Jeff for The IRE Journal. It consists of books of investigative or explanatory • Bacon, David Out of Bounds: Inside the National E Basketball Association’s Culture of journalism, broadly defined, published for the first time during 2004, The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S.-Mexico Border Rape, Violence and Crime in the United States, in English. The list is limited to authors who work (University of California Press) (HarperCollins) primarily as journalists for American media outlets, and who are trying • Berry, Jason, and Gerald Renner to reach general audiences through retail bookstore sales. If you know • Bacon, John U. America’s Corner Store: Walgreen’s Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power of a book unintentionally omitted from this list, please send an email to Prescription for Success in the Papacy of John Paul II [email protected]. (Wiley) (Free Press) • Bianco, Anthony A • Anderson, Bonnie M. • Ball, Edward Peninsula of Lies: A True Story of Ghosts of Forty-Second Street: • Allen, Eddie B. Jr. News Flash: Journalism, Infotain- A History of America’s Most Infa- Low Road: The Life and Legacy of ment and the Bottom-Line Business Mysterious Birth and Taboo Love (Simon & Schuster) mous Block Donald Goines of Broadcast News (Morrow/HarperCollins) (St. Martin’s) (Jossey-Bass) • Bamberger, Michael Wonderland: A Year in the Life of • Bing, Jonathan, and Dade Hayes • Allen, John L. Jr. • Anderson, Jon Lee Open Wide: How Hollywood Box All the Pope’s Men: The Inside Story The Fall of Baghdad an American High School (Atlantic Monthly Press) Office Became a National Obsession of How the Vatican Really Works (Penguin Press) (Miramax) (Doubleday) • Anderson, Rick • Bamford, James A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and • Bird, Christiane • Allman, T.D. Home Front: The Government’s War A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Rogue State: America at War With on Soldiers the Abuse of America’s Intelli- gence Agencies Revolts the World (Clarity Press) (Ballantine) (Thunder’s Mouth/Nation) (Doubleday) • Atkinson, Rick • Birkbeck, Matt • Alterman, Eric In the Company of Soldiers: A • Barlett, Donald, and James Steele Critical Condition: How Health A Beautiful Child: A True Story of When Presidents Lie Chronicle of Combat in Iraq Hope, Horror, and an Enduring (Viking) (Holt) Care in America Became Big Busi- ness, & Bad Medicine Human Spirit (Berkley) • Anastasia, George • Atwood, Roger (Doubleday) The Last Gangster: From Cop to Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, • Beach, Patrick • Black, George Wiseguy to FBI Informant, Big Ron Smugglers and the Looting of the The Trout Pool Paradox: The Ameri- Previte and the Fall of the Ameri- Ancient World A Good Forest for Dying: The Tragic Death of a Young Man on can Lives of Three Rivers can Mob (St. Martin’s) (Houghton Mifflin) (Regan Books) the Front Lines of the Environ- • Auletta, Ken mental Wars (Doubleday) • Blake, John • Andersen, Christopher Media Man: Ted Turner’s Improb- Children of the Movement American Evita: Hillary Clinton’s able Empire (Lawrence Hill Books) Path to Power (Norton/Atlas) (Morrow)

8 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 9 FEATURES FEATURESBOOKS

INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

• Blum, David • Browne, David • Bryson, Christopher • Carter, Graydon Tick Tick Tick: The Long Life and Amped: How Big Air, Big Dollars and The Fluoride Deception What We’ve Lost: Bush’s War on Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes a New Generation Took Sports to Seven Stories Press Democracy and Freedom (HarperCollins) the Extreme (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) (Bloomsbury) • Brzezinski, Matthew • Bookchin, Debbie, and Jim Schumacher Fortress America: On the Frontlines • Carter, W. Hodding The Virus and the Vaccine: The True of Homeland Security—an Inside Stolen Water: Saving the Everglades Story of a Cancer-Causing Monkey Look at the Coming Surveillance From Its Friends, Foes and Florida Virus, a Contaminated Vaccine and State (Atria) the Millions of Americans Exposed (Bantam) (St. Martin’s) • Burkett, Elinor • Bowden, Mark So Many Enemies, So Little Time: An Road Work: Among Tyrants, Heroes, American Woman in All the Wrong Rogues, and Beasts Places (Atlantic Monthly Press) (HarperCollins)

• Breslin, Jimmy • Byron, Christopher The Church That Forgot Christ Testosterone Inc.: Tales of CEOs (Free Press) Gone Wild (Wiley) • Briody, Dan The Halliburton Agenda: The Politics C of Oil and Money • Cabbage, Michael, and William B. (Wiley) Harwood • Bryce, Robert Comm Check: The Final Flight of • Brock, David Cronies: Oil, the Bushes and the Rise Shuttle Columbia The Republican Noise Machine: of Texas, America’s Superstate (Free Press) Right-Wing Media and How It Cor- (PublicAffairs) rupts Democracy (Crown) �� ■ �� ■ ��

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KC Half-IRE JanFeb05-F.indd 1 10/12/04 5:34:53 PM BOOKSFEATURES FEATURES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 signs; other hand, the remaining sections in Hersh’s book munities, the military, the State Department and the • missed capturing 9/11 mastermind Osama bin have been covered well by previous authors during White House.” Laden in Afghanistan or his other hideouts; 2003-04, including journalists James Bamford, Ron Between that conversation and last month, Hersh • lied about their reasons for invading Iraq; Suskind, Bob Woodward and James Mann; White published 26 investigations in The New Yorker, • planned poorly for the warfare in Iraq and the House insider Richard Clarke; U.S. Sen. Bob totaling enough words to make a book. “Chain of aftermath; Graham; and a Central Intelligence Agency analyst Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib” • worsened U.S. relations within the world commu- publishing under the name “Anonymous.” (HarperCollins) includes information from many nity, especially involving Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Hersh believes the evidence about human rights of those investigations, plus updated and expanded Syria, Iran, Israel and Turkey; and violations leads inexorably to the conclusion that information when practical. Each of the book’s eight • besmirched the U.S. reputation for caring about the torture methods used at Abu Ghraib cannot be sections can be read in isolation, because they are human rights, as military guards and intelligence blamed solely on a few renegade military and civil- only loosely connected stylistically and chronologi- officers mistreated Iraqi prisoners, most notably ian operatives. cally. That said, the book is greater than the sum of its in the Abu Ghraib compound. “The roots of the Abu Ghraib scandal lie not in eight parts. It provides a compelling, mostly damning By far the freshest, and thus most powerful, the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists, but picture of how President George W. Bush, along with section of the book involves the human rights in the reliance of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld his civilian and military advisors (especially Defense violations. The revelations concerning Abu Ghraib on secret operations and the use of coercion – and eye- Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick by Hersh (and, to a lesser extent, other journalists) for-an-eye retribution – in fighting terrorism,” Hersh Cheney) allegedly: are from 2004, not previous years, and have never says. “Rumsfeld’s most fateful decision, endorsed by • failed to halt the 9/11 attack despite warning been told in such horrifying, credible detail. On the the White House, came at a time of crisis in August INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

• Cashill, Jack • Cook, Christopher D. • Davis, Jayna • Domanick, Joe Ron Brown’s Body Diet for a Dead Planet: How the The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Cruel Justice: Three Strikes and (WND Books) Food Industry Is Killing Us Connection to the Oklahoma City the Politics of Crime in America’s (New Press) Bombing Golden State • Chatterjee, Pratap (WND Books) (University of California Press) Iraq Inc.: A Profitable Occupation, • Cooper, Marc (Seven Stories Press) The Last Honest Place in America: In • DeBare, Ilana • Dougherty, Jon E. Search of Paradise and Perdition in Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Illegals: The Imminent Threat Posed • Christianson, Scott the New Las Vegas Fall and Surprising Revival of Girls’ by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Innocent: Inside Wrongful Convic- (Nation Books/Thunder’s Mouth) Schools Border tion Cases (Putnam/Tarcher) (WND Books) (New York University Press) • Corson, Trevor The Secret Life of Lobsters: How • DeParle, Jason • Dubose, Lou, and Jan Reid • Chideya, Farai Fishermen and Scientists Are American Dream: Three Women, The Hammer: Tom DeLay – God, Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Ten Kids, and a Nation’s Drive to End Money and the U.S. Congress Missing Voters Favorite Crustacean Welfare (PublicAffairs) (Soft Skull Press) (HarperCollins) (Viking) • Dudley, Steven • Claire, Rodger W. • Cose, Ellis • Devine, Robert S. Walking Ghosts: Murder and Gue- Raid on the Sun: Inside Israel’s Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Recon- Bush Versus the Environment rilla Politics in Colombia Secret Campaign That Denied ciliation, Reparation and Revenge (Anchor Books) (Routledge) Saddam the Bomb (Atria) (Broadway Books) • Dinges, John E • Cramer, Richard Ben The Condor Years: How Pinochet • Earley, Lawrence S. • Colin, Chris How Israel Lost: The Four Questions and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Looking for Longleaf: The Rise and What Really Happened to the Class (Simon & Schuster) Three Continents Fall of an American Forest of ’93: Start-ups, Dropouts and (New Press) (University of North Carolina Press) Other Navigations Through an • Curtis, Brian Untidy Decade Every Week a Season: A Journey • Dobbs, Lou • Ellingwood, Ken (Broadway Books) Inside Big-Time College Football Exporting America: Why Corporate Hard Line: Life and Death on the (Ballantine) Greed Is Shipping American Jobs U.S.-Mexico Border • Coll, Steve Overseas (Pantheon) Ghost Wars: The Secret History D (Warner) of the CIA, Afghanistan and bin • D’Antonio, Michael • Elsner, Alan Laden From the Soviet Invasion to The State Boys Rebellion • Doherty, Brian Gates of Injustice?: The Crisis of September 10, 2001 (Simon & Schuster) This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a America’s Prisons (Penguin Press) New American Underground (Prentice Hall) • Danner, Mark (Little, Brown) • Collins, Scott Torture and Truth: America, Abu • Engel, Richard Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of Ghraib and the War on Terror • Dolin, Eric Jay A Fist in the Hornet’s Nest: On the How Fox News Beat CNN (New York Review Books) Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Ground in Baghdad Before, During (Portfolio) Contentious, Incredibly Expensive and After the War • Date, S.V. But Eventually Triumphant History (Hyperion) • Constable, Pam Quiet Passion: A Biography of Sena- of Boston Harbor Fragments of Grace: My Search for tor Bob Graham (University of Massachusetts Press) Meaning in the Strife of South Asia (Tarcher/Penguin) (Brassey’s)

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2003, when the defense secretary expanded the highly secret special access program [an anti-terrorism opera- LEGAL CORNER tion, explained earlier by Hersh, approved by Bush, and bypassing Congress and the courts] into the prisons of Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligence community, damaged the effec- Solid journalism still best tiveness of elite combat units, and hurt the prospects of the United States in the war on terror.” Although the book, rushed into print before the protection from libel suits November election, lacks endnotes, Hersh provides first-rate sourcing throughout the text. He relies more heavily on anonymous sources than he (or I) would when covering terrorism like. But the reasons Hersh granted anonymity are ASHLEY GAUTHIER usually obvious, and the statements from unnamed sources are regularly backed by references to official reports in the public domain and leaked documents, eporting on terrorism has become a top prior- appellate decision supports an important premise of plus corroborating statements from women and men R ity for many news organizations, but a story the Jewell ruling. Whether GRF actually had ties in a position to discern the truth. addressing that subject in connection with particular to terrorists was irrelevant: “GRF was in fact the Other reasons for confidence in Hersh’s accuracy individuals, charities or businesses can lead to a subject of a federal investigation for links to terror- include the verisimilitude of his previous reporting libel suit. Recent and past case law describe certain ism… . Whether the government was justified in its about Vietnam War atrocities by American troops, problematic issues and portray available protections. investigation or correct in its ultimate conclusion is chemical/biological warfare, nuclear weaponry and For example, news about an organization already irrelevant to a suit against news media defendants overall U.S. foreign policy; the fact-checking process embroiled in controversy may limit the likelihood for accurately reporting on the government’s probe.” at The New Yorker, probably the most thorough in all of a successful claim, while references to a specific of journalism; Remnick’s editing skills; the vetting of individual not previously in the public eye can raise Identifying specific individuals the reporting by lawyers; and the author’s admirable, heightened concerns. Libel claims also surface when In another case involving terrorist ties, the media unusual devotion to correcting his writings when per- the validity of information obtained from official prevailed because the broadcaster did not identify any suasive new information is available. sources subsequently comes under attack for lack of particular individual. After the Murrah federal build- prior scrutiny or other alleged defects. ing was bombed, KFOR-Oklahoma City broadcast an investigative report regarding alleged Middle Eastern Government accusations ties to the bombing. The report referred to “John Doe Some courts seem willing to protect reporting on No. 2,” an unidentified Iraqi whom witnesses claimed alleged terrorism when the focus of the story is on to see with Timothy McVeigh. After the broadcast, government accusations. Richard Jewell, an Atlanta Hussain Al-Hussaini claimed that KFOR labeled him security guard, filed multiple lawsuits against news as John Doe No. 2, and he sued the station and its organizations that wrote about his alleged involve- reporters for libel. In Hussain v. Palmer Commu- ment in the 1996 Olympics bombing. One of the nications Inc. the court ruled in the station’s favor. cases, Jewell v. NYP Holdings, addressed many The court found that “he did not suffer injury to his issues, but one of the crucial rulings was that truthful reputation, as he could point to no one who thought reporting of a government investigation constituted he was Doe, as referred to in KFOR’s news reports.” “truthfulness” for the purpose of the articles. The The court also affirmed summary judgment against statement to be proven true or false for libel purposes a false-light claim, finding “the district court accu- was not the underlying claim (i.e., whether Jewell was rately determined that KFOR’s news reports were not in fact the bomber), as long as the paper was merely substantially false nor highly offensive, as they were reporting on the accusation by the government (that news reports about an unidentifiable person.” ‘Vaccine A’ he was suspected of being the bomber). But as shown Reading investigative journalist Gary by a pending libel action in the District of Columbia, Private versus public figure Matsumoto’s account of U.S. military person- OAO Alfa-Bank v. Center for Public Integrity, ques- In Hussain, the court also noted that he was nel severely incapacitated or killed because, he tions raised about the authenticity of official reports a “private” person under libel law. While public says, they received vaccinations meant to protect may fuel protracted litigation. officials and public figures have a heavy burden of them from anthrax poisoning is akin to absorbing proving “actual malice,” private figures need only hammer blows to the head over and over for hours. Substantial truth show negligence in most jurisdictions. Thus, if he In relentless – and sometimes repetitive – fashion, In Global Relief Foundation Inc. v. The New York had been identifiable, he would have had a lesser Matsumoto presents evidence in “Vaccine A: The Times Co., a federal appeals court affirmed a lower burden, as the negligence standard often favors the Covert Government Experiment That’s Killing Our court holding that “all of the reports were either true plaintiff. Soldiers and Why GIs Are Only the First Victims” or substantially true recitations of the government’s The question of whether a plaintiff should be (Basic Books) that military commanders, physi- suspicions about and actions against” Global Relief deemed a public or private figure is, however, as one cians and federal government drug regulators and Foundation, Inc., an Islamic charity. The Dec. 1, 2004, CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 × pharmaceutical companies have lied to Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force troops. Ashley Gauthier is associate general counsel of U.S. News & World Report. She also teaches media law in The lies continue today, Matsumoto says, the journalism departments at American University in Washington, D.C., and George Mason University in CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 × Fairfax, Va.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 on Postabsorptive Squalene and Retinyl Palmitate.” the right to refuse vaccinations, but also the right to despite severe illnesses and deaths he and civilian The key word is “squalene.” More on it soon. litigate when illness or death results. medical researchers he has interviewed attribute to Matsumoto cannot state with 100 percent cer- The military’s justification for the anthrax an ingredient in the vaccine that causes the body’s tainty that any of the individual cases he investigated vaccinations starting around 1990 and continuing autoimmune system to go haywire. so impressively are linked to anthrax vaccinations through today seemed straightforward: Iraqi dicta- Among the handful of heroes within the hun- required of military servicemen and servicewomen. tor Saddam Hussein possessed biological weapons, dreds of villains in the book are Dr. Robert Garry The circumstantial evidence, however, is massive. including deadly anthrax, that he might use. The and Dr. Russell Wilson of Tulane University Health Experienced journalists, and lawyers, know that cosmic irony as phrased by Matsumoto “is that after Science Center. Instead of ignoring complaints of circumstantial evidence can be as good as direct years of United Nations inspections and now a war Gulf War veterans or feeding them lies, the New evidence if its quality is high and enough of it that has put Saddam Hussein behind bars, no samples Orleans medical researchers bucked the government exists. of Iraqi dried anthrax have been discovered.” and the military establishment, Matsumoto says, to Readers with faith in the goodness of the U.S. Matsumoto covered the 1990 Gulf War for NBC determine why and how the anthrax vaccine maimed military will resist the hypothesis that commanders News from Saudi Arabia. About a year later, he heard and killed rather than protected. force vaccinations on troops when evidence exists reports of “a strange malady affecting returning Matsumoto is a layperson whose experience that disabling injuries and deaths result. Histori- veterans. The symptoms were often vague, many has come largely at the news operations of NBC cally, however, that faith is unjustified. Matsumoto subjective, but remarkably consistent – aching and Fox. Understanding highly technical medical provides irrefutable information from wars before joints and muscles, rashes, fatigue, weight loss, literature is not easy for him, nor will it be easy for the 1990 drive against Iraq that military personnel weight gain, hair loss, sore gums, diarrhea, nausea, most readers. Matsumoto is masterful at explaining have served as unwitting guinea pigs in medical swelling of hands and feet, short-term memory loss complicated terms and concepts. Still, there is only experiments. Those unwitting guinea pigs cannot and headaches.” so much he can do to clarify the science behind sue the U.S. government for negligence; military Knowing that such symptoms could stem from studies with titles such as “Effect of Stanol Ester servicemen and servicewomen not only surrender numerous causes, Matsumoto paid little attention INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

F • Foer, Franklin • Gerhart, Ann • Goodnough, Abby • Faison, Seth How Soccer Explains the World: The Perfect Wife: The Life and Ms. Moffett’s First Year: Becoming a South of the Clouds: Exploring the An Unlikely Theory of Globaliza- Choices of Laura Bush Teacher in America Hidden Realms of China tion (Simon & Schuster) (PublicAffairs) (St. Martin’s) (HarperCollins) • Germond, Jack • Goodwin, Joy • Farah, Douglas • Foskett, Ken Fat Man Fed Up: How American The Second Mark: Courage, Corrup- Blood From Stones: The Secret Judging Thomas: The Life and Politics Went Bad tion and the Battle for Olympic Gold Financial Network of Terror Times of Clarence Thomas (Random House) (Simon & Schuster) (Broadway Books) (Morrow) • Gertz, Bill • Goozner, Merrill • Featherstone, Liza • France, David Treachery: How America’s Friends The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Selling Women Short: The Land- Our Fathers: The Secret Life of and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Behind the Cost of New Drugs mark Battle for Workers’ Rights at the Catholic Church in an Age of Enemies (University of California Press) Wal-Mart Scandal (Crown Forum) (Basic Books) (Broadway) • Gould, Terry • Gibson, John Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gang- • Feldman, Bruce • Frank, Thomas Hating America ster Steven Wong ‘Cane Mutiny: How the Miami Hur- What’s the Matter With Kansas?: (Regan Books) (Thunder’s Mouth) ricanes Overturned the Football How Conservatives Won the Heart Establishment of America • Gladwell, Malcolm • Gunther, Marc (New American Library) (Metropolitan) Blink: Thin-Slicing, Snap Judg- Faith and Fortune: The Quiet ments and the Power of Thinking Revolution That Is Transforming • Fitzgerald, Randall • French, Howard W. Without Thinking Corporate America Mugged by the State: Outrageous A Continent for the Taking: The (Little, Brown) (Crown Business) Government Assaults on Ordinary Tragedy and Hope of Africa People and Their Property (Knopf) • Glain, Stephen H (Regnery) Mullahs, Merchants and Militants: • Harris, David • Fuller, Alexandra The Economic Collapse of the The Crisis: The President, the • Flanders, Laura Scribbling the Cat: Travels With an Arab World Prophet and the Shah—1979 and Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical African Soldier (St. Martin’s) the Coming of Militant Islam Species (Penguin Press) (Little, Brown) (Verso) • Gonnerman, Jennifer G Life on the Outside: The Prison • Hartocollis, Anemona • Flynn, Ramsey • Gelbspan, Ross Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett Seven Days of Possibilities: One Cry From the Deep: The Subma- Boiling Point: How Politicians, (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Teacher, 24 Kids and the Music That rine Disaster That Riveted the Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Changed Their Lives Forever World and Put the Russian Gov- Activists Have Fueled the Climate • Goodman, Amy (PublicAffairs) ernment to the Ultimate Test Crisis, and What We Can Do to The Exception to the Rulers: (HarperCollins) Avert Disaster Exposing Oily Politicians, War • Hayes, Stephen F. (Basic Books) Profiteers and the Media That The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Love Them Collaboration With Saddam (Hyperion) Hussein Has Endangered America (HarperCollins)

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until 1997, when he heard an explanation from military sources regarding what had become known as FOI REPORT Gulf War Syndrome. The explanation, involving an alleged inadvertent release of an Iraqi nerve agent during a U.S. bombing, struck Matsumoto as so ludicrous that he sensed a cover-up. So he began an Environmental hazards: investigation that lasted six years, resulting first in a Vanity Fair magazine expose, then this book. Realizing that U.S. military doctors decided What you don’t know against treating veterans with Gulf War Syndrome, Matsumoto delved into the civilian medical research world, where he found a few fearless experts, espe- just might hurt you cially in private practice at a Memphis clinic and at JOSEPH A. DAVIS Tulane University, devoted to uncovering the truth so sick people could be treated and additional deaths prevented. t was after midnight on Dec. 3, 1984, when at safer voluntarily, even if government couldn’t or “By developing an assay – a test to determine I least 40 metric tons of deadly methyl isocyanate wouldn’t. By most accounts, the theory worked. whether an individual has antibodies to a particular began spewing from a runaway reaction in a tank at Many of the bigger companies made great safety substance in his or her blood – scientists from Tulane the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. improvements over the next decade or more, University Medical School established what they say People woke to screams, gasps, burning lungs, although much more was left to do. is a marker for Gulf War Syndrome,” Matsumoto burning eyes, not knowing what was happening But within a few years, it also became clear that reports. “This marker identifies whether a GI has to them. chemical and related industries were lobbying hard been injected with a substance called squalene. The company had not told them of the chemical to obstruct, limit and delay the public right to know Those who had a so-called Gulf War illness consis- hazards at the plant. Had not told the slum-dwell- of chemical hazards. Although Congress attached tently tested positive for antibodies to squalene in ers squatting near the fenceline that they were in a second right-to-know law to the 1990 Clean Air their blood; healthy Gulf War veterans do not have harm’s way. Had not told city residents of how the Act, it took much of the decade for EPA to put it into these antibodies.” gas clung to terrain instead of effect, and by August 1999, The Tulane researchers knew that the anthrax dissipating. No warning siren an industry-dominated Con- vaccine approved by federal government drug regu- NEW POLLUTION BOOK woke them, although the leak “Covering Pollution: An Investi- gress had begun repealing lators and the military contained no squalene – an oil had been going on for hours. parts of it. gative Reporter’s Guide” is the intended to stimulate the immune system to respond As thousands of injured Over the past six years more quickly than normal. Matsumoto marshals cir- streamed into local hospitals, latest IRE beat book and details – roughly since the 1998 cumstantial evidence to suggest that military doctors, doctors had no idea what was how to monitor environmental West African embassy bomb- realizing the licensed vaccine would not kick in fast causing the problem or how hazards in your community. It ings – there has been a broad enough to protect U.S. troops from an Iraqi release to treat it. The dead piled up was produced in cooperation rollback in the public’s right of anthrax, decided to experiment with squalene so fast they had to be buried with the Society of Environ- to know about a wide range despite its known lethalness. Matsumoto concedes quickly, but probably at least mental Journalists. For details, of environmental hazards the military doctors probably harbored good inten- 2,500 died within the first few and “critical infrastructure.” visit www.ire.org/store/books/ tions, so could have defended their actions “as a days. Eventual fatalities have Even the Toxic Release hard judgment call.” But their outright denial of been estimated at 15,000 or pollution.html or call 573-882-3364. Inventory, a keystone of the using an experimental vaccine containing squalene more. Hundreds of thousands 1986 right-to-know law and in the face of seemingly overwhelming evidence to of men, women, and children were left with blind- a basic tool for environmental reporters over the the contrary – some of that evidence coming from ness, breathing problems, and other injuries. years, is being whittled down by the EPA under reluctant government agencies and pharmaceutical Those people were killed by lack of information pressure from Western mining interests. [TRI companies – struck Matsumoto as so heartless that – as much as by any other cause. data can be ordered through IRE at www.ire.org/ he shows them no sympathy. databaselibrary/databases/toxic.] In the end, Matsumoto knows he cannot provide Power through knowledge Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog arm, the Gen- satisfactory answers to every question: “The great As Congress considered during 1985-86 how to eral Accountability Office, reported in 2003 that mystery in this story, a mystery that I cannot com- keep a Bhopal from happening in the United States, it there are 123 chemical facilities in American cities pletely solve, is why the scientists developing these became clear that direct federal regulation of chemi- where a worst-case accident could expose more vaccines are covering up their mistake and continu- cal plant safety was politically impossible amid the than a million people to toxic gases. Yet a 1999 ing to advocate the use of a new vaccine that will anti-regulatory zeal of the Reagan administration. law essentially prohibited the EPA from giving this have such devastating consequences on their own What evolved was a 1986 compromise known as information to the American public. Proponents said people. There is some evidence that the corrupting EPCRA, the first of a series of measures legally it would provide a “roadmap for terrorists.” influence of money has played a role in this… Let establishing a public right to know about chemical Twenty years after Bhopal, federal officials everyone be especially vigilant over companies hazards. have yet to impose safety requirements on chemical making military vaccines that are intended for sale The idea of the Emergency Planning and Com- plants. Today, three years after 9/11, the feds have to the large and lucrative U.S. civilian market.” munity Right-to-Know Act was that informed public yet to require chemical plants to fence off dangerous pressure might force companies to make plants CONTINUED ON PAGE 41 × Steve Weinberg is senior contributing editor to The IRE Journal and a former executive director Joseph A. Davis is director of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Watchdog Project. He has written of IRE. about the environment, energy, and natural resources for 28 years.

12 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 13 BOOKSFEATURES FEATURES INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

• Kessler, Ronald • Levenson, Jacob • Marcus, James A Matter of Character: Inside the The Secret Epidemic: The Story of Amazonia: Five Years at the Epicen- White House of George W. Bush AIDS and Black America ter of the Dot.com Juggernaut (Sentinel/Penguin) (Pantheon) (New Press)

• Kessler, Ronald • Levitt, Leonard • Martin, Bradley K. The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Conviction: Solving the Moxley Under the Loving Care of the Campaign Against Terror Murder, a Reporter and a Detec- Fatherly Leader: North Korea and (St. Martin’s) tive’s Twenty-Year Search for Justice the Kim Dynasty (Regan Books) (St. Martin’s) • Kettlewell, Caroline Electric Dreams: How a Group of • Lewin, Todd • Marx, Jeffrey Forgotten High School Kids Built The Last Run: A True Story of Rescue Season of Life: A Football Star, a the Car of the Future and Redemption on the Alaska Seas Boy, a Journey to Manhood (Carroll & Graf) (HarperCollins) (Simon & Schuster)

• Kiley, David • Lippmann, Thomas W. • Mason, Christopher Driven: Inside BMW Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile The Art of the Steal: Inside the • Hays, Constance L. (Wiley) Partnership With Saudi Arabia Sotheby’s-Christie’s Auction House The Real Thing: Truth and Power at (Westview) Scandal the Coca-Cola Company • Kimmel, Daniel M. (Putnam) (Random House) The Fourth Network: How Fox • Long, Steven Broke the Rules and Reinvented Out of Control: The Clara Harris • Matsumoto, Gary • Heller, Peter Television Murder Case Vaccine A: The Covert Government Hell or High Water (Ivan R. Dee) (St. Martin’s) Experiment That’s Killing American (Rodale) Soldiers and Why GI’s Are Only the • Klucas, Gillian • Lowenstein, Roger First Victims • Henderson, Tom Leadville: The Struggle to Save an Origins of the Crash: The Great (Basic Books) Blood Justice American Town Bubble and Its Undoing (St. Martin’s) (Island/Shearwater) (Penguin Press) • McAllester, Matthew Blinded by the Sunlight: Emerging • Hersh, Seymour • Kolbert, Elizabeth • Lubrano, Alfred From the Prison of Saddam’s Iraq Chain of Command: The Road From The Prophet of Love and Other Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White- (HarperCollins) 9/11 to Abu Ghraib Tales of Power and Deceit Collar Dreams (HarperCollins) (Bloomsbury) (Wiley) • McGinniss, Joe The Big Horse • Hertzberg, Hendrik • Kriegel, Mark • Lynn, Cari (Simon & Schuster) Politics Namath: A Biography Leg the Spread: A Woman’s Adven- (Penguin Press) (Viking) tures Inside the Trillion-Dollar Boys • McKenna, Maryn Club of Commodities Trading Beating Back the Devil: On the • Hirsch, James S. • Kurtis, Bill (Broadway Books) Front Lines With the Disease Detec- Two Souls Indivisible: The Friend- The Death Penalty on Trial: Crisis in tives of the Epidemic Intelligence ship That Saved Two POWs in American Justice M Service Vietnam (PublicAffairs) • MacCambridge, Michael (Free Press) (Houghton Mifflin) America’s Game: The Epic Story of L How Pro Football Captured a Nation • Huffman, Alan • Lance, Peter (Random House) Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Cover Up: What the Government Is Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation Still Hiding About the War on Terror • Mahar, Maggie and Their Legacy in Liberia Today (Regan Books) Bull!: A History of the Boom, 1982- (Gotham Books) 1999 • Langewiesche, William (HarperBusiness) J The Outlaw Sea: A World of Free- • Johnson, Sheila dom, Chaos and Crime • Maharidge, Dale Blood Highway (North Point Press) Homeland (Pinnacle/Kensington) (Seven Stories Press) • Lapham, Lewis H. K Gag Rule: On the Suppression of • Mallaby, Sebastian • Kelley, Kitty Dissent and the Stifling of Democ- The World’s Banker: A Story of The Family: The Real Story of the racy Failed States, Financial Crises and Bush Dynasty (Penguin Press) the Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Doubleday) (Penguin Press) • Lappe, Anthony, and Stephen Marshall • Kelly, Caitlin True Lies • Mann, James Blown Away: American Women and (Plume) Rise of the Vulcans: The History of • McWilliams, Brian Guns Bush’s War Cabinet Spam Kings: The Real Story Behind (Pocket Books) • Leahy, Michael (Viking) the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing When Nothing Else Matters: Porn, Pills and Penis Enlargements • Kelly, Michael Michael Jordan’s Last Comeback • Manning, Richard (O’Reilly) Things Worth Fighting For: Col- (Simon & Schuster) Against the Grain: How Agriculture lected Writings Has Hijacked Civilization (Penguin Press) (North Point Press)

14 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 15 FEATURES FEATURESBOOKS INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004 • Medico, Kathryn, and Mollye Barrows • Olson, Steve • Prud’homme, Alex • Robbins, Alexandra A Perversion of Justice: A South- Count Down: Six Kids Vie for The Cell Game: Sam Waksal’s Fast Pledged: The Secret Life of Sorori- ern Tragedy of Murder, Lies and Glory at the World’s Toughest Money and False Promises, and ties Innocence Betrayed Math Competition the Fate of ImClone’s Cancer Drug (Hyperion) (Avon/HarperCollins) (Houghton Mifflin) (HarperBusiness) • Roberts, Diane • Miller, Joel • O’Malley, Suzanne • Pulley, Brett Dream State: Daughters of the Bad Trip: How the War Against Are You There Alone?: The The Billion Dollar Bet: Robert Confederacy, Dangling Chads, Drugs Is Destroying America Unspeakable Crimes of Andrea Johnson and the Inside Story of Banana Republicans, Swamp Law- (WND Books) Yates Black Entertainment Television yers and Other Florida Wildlife (Simon & Schuster) (Wiley) (Free Press) • Mills, Kay Changing Channels: The Civil • Orent, Wendy R • Roberts, Paul Rights Case That Transformed Plague: The Mysterious Past and • Randal, Jonathan The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Television Terrible Future of the World’s Osama: The Making of a Terrorist Perilous New World (University Press of Mississippi) Most Dangerous Disease (Knopf) (Houghton Mifflin) (Free Press) • Mindich, David T.Z. • Rauch, Jonathan • Roberts, Sam Tuned Out: Why Americans Under • Orth, Maureen Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Who We Are Now: The Changing 40 Don’t Follow the News The Importance of Being Famous: Gays, Good for Straights, and Good Face of America in the Twenty-First (Oxford University Press) Behind the Scenes of the Celeb- for America Century rity-Industrial Complex (Holt) (Times Books/Holt) • Mnookin, Seth (Holt) Hard News: The Scandals of The • Ravage, Barbara • Robinson, Eugene New York Times and Their Mean- P Burn Unit: Saving Lives After the Last Dance in Havana: The Final ing for American Media • Palast, Greg Flames Days of Fidel and the Start of the (Random House) The Joker’s Wild: Dubya’s Trick (Da Capo) New Cuban Revolution Deck (Free Press) • Moats, David (Seven Stories Press) • Reed, Cheryl L. Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Mar- Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of • Robinson, Linda riage • Paul, Annie Murphy Nuns Masters of Chaos: The Secret His- (Harcourt) Cult of Personality: How Personal- (Berkley) tory of the Special Forces ity Tests Are Leading Us to Mise- (PublicAffairs) • Moore, James ducate Our Children, Mismanage • Rees, Matt Bush’s War for Re-election: Iraq, Our Companies and Misunder- Cain’s Field: Faith, Fratricide and • Rock, Andrea the White House and the People stand Ourselves Fear in the Middle East The Mind at Night: The New Sci- (Wiley) (Free Press) (Free Press) ence of How We Dream and Why (Basic) • Munk, Nina • Peterson, Barbara S. • Reid, T.R. Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Blue Streak: Inside JetBlue, the The United States of Europe: The • Rosenberg, Howard Levin and the Unmaking of AOL Upstart That Rocked an Industry New Superpower and the End of Not So Prime Time: Chasing the Time Warner (Portfolio) American Supremacy Trivial on American Television (HarperBusiness) (Penguin Press) (Ivan R. Dee) • Phelps, W. William N Lethal Guardian • Ressa, Maria • Rosengren, John • Neiwert, David A. (Pinnacle/Kensington) Seeds of Terror Blades of Glory: The True Story of a Death on the Fourth of July: A (Free Press) Young Team Bred to Win Hate Crime, a Killing and a Trial in • Poe, Richard (Sourcebooks) Small-town America Hillary’s Secret War: The Clinton • Robb, David L. (Palgrave Macmillan) Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Operation Hollywood: How the • Rothgeb, Carol J. Journalists Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Hometown Killer • Nichols, John (WND Books) Movies (Pinnacle/Kensington) Dick: The Man Who Is President (Prometheus) (New Press) • Pollak, Richard • Rubenstein, Julian The Colombo Bay Ballad of the Whiskey Robber • Nobel, Philip (Simon & Schuster) (Little, Brown) Sixteen Acres: The Outrageous Struggle for the Future of Ground • Poole, Robert M. • Rule, Ann Zero Explorers House: National Geo- Green River, Running Red: The (Holt/Metropolitan) graphic and the World It Made Real Story of the Green River (Penguin Press) Killer, America’s Deadliest Serial O Murderer • Obmascik, Mark • Powers, John (Free Press) The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature Sore Winners: (And the Rest of Us) and Fowl Obsession in George Bush’s America S (Free Press) (Doubleday) • Sager, Mike Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: • Olney, Buster • Preston, Julia, and Samuel Dillon Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n Roll The Last Night of the Yankee Opening Mexico: The Making of a and Murder Dynasty: The Game, the Team, and Democracy (Thunder’s Mouth) the Cost of Greatness (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) (Ecco)

14 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 15 BOOKSFEATURES FEATURES INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

• St. John, Warren • Shelby, Ashley • Sokolove, Michael • Surowiecki, James Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: Red River Rising: The Anatomy The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the A Journey Into the Heart of Fan of a Flood and the Survival of an and the Boys of Crenshaw Many Are Smarter Than the Few Mania American City (Simon & Schuster) and How Collective Wisdom Shapes (Crown) (Borealis) Politics, Business, Economies, Soci- • Solomon, Burt eties and Nations • Scammell, Henry • Shipler, David K. The Washington Century: Three (Doubleday) Giantkillers: The Team and the Law The Working Poor: Invisible in Families and the Shaping of the That Help Whistleblowers Recover America Nation’s Capital • Suskind, Ron America’s Stolen Millions (Knopf) (Morrow) The Price of Loyalty: George W. (Atlantic Monthly Press) Bush, the White House and the • Shipnuck, Alan • Stewart, James B. Education of Paul O’Neill • Scarborough, Rowan The Battle of Augusta National: Disneywar: The Battle for the Magic (Simon & Schuster) Rumsfeld’s War: The Untold Story Hootie, Martha and the Masters of Kingdom of America’s Anti-Terrorism Com- the Universe (Simon & Schuster) T mander (Simon & Schuster) • Timmerman, Kenneth R. (Regnery) • Stohr, Greg The French Betrayal of America • Shorris, Earl A Black and White Case: How Affir- (Crown Forum) • Scarf, Maggie The Life and Times of Mexico mative Action Survived Its Greatest Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: The Body/ (Norton) Legal Challenge • Traub, James Mind Connection (Bloomberg) The Devil’s Playground: A Century (Random House) • Shreeve, James of Pleasure and Profit in Times The Genome War: How Craig • Stone, Robin D. Square • Scheer, Christopher, Robert Scheer Ventner Tried to Capture the Code No Secrets, No Lies: How Black (Random House) and Lakshmi Chaudhry of Life and Save the World Families Can Heal From Sexual The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us (Knopf) Abuse • Trento, Joseph J. About Iraq (Broadway) Prelude to Terror: The Rise of the (Seven Stories Press) • Silverstein, Ken Bush Dynasty, the Rogue CIA, and The Radioactive Boy Scout: The • Stossel, John the Compromising of American • Schell, Jonathan True Story of a Boy and His Back- Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Intelligence A Hole in the World yard Nuclear Reactor Hucksters, Cheats and Scam Artists (Carroll & Graf) (Nation Books/Thunder’s Mouth) (Random House) and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media U • Singer, Mark (HarperCollins) • Unger, Craig Somewhere in America: Under House of Bush, House of Saud: The the Radar With Chicken Warriors, • Stossel, Scott Secret Relationship Between the Left-Wing Patriots, Angry Nudists Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent World’s Two Most Powerful Dynas- and Others Shriver ties (Houghton Mifflin) (Smithsonian) (Scribner)

• Smith, John L. • Streitmatter, Rodger V Sharks in the Desert Sex Sells!: The Media’s Journey From • VanDevelder, Paul (Barricade) Repression to Obsession Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three (Westview) Tribes and the Trial That Forged a Nation • Stuever, Hank (Little, Brown) Offramp: Adventures and Heart- aches in the American Elsewhere • Von Hoffman, Nicholas (Holt) Hoax (Nation Books/Thunder’s Mouth) • Sullivan, Randall The Miracle Detective: An Investiga- W • Schneider, Andrew, and David tion of Holy Visions • Weiner, Jonathan McCumber (Atlantic Monthly) His Brother’s Keeper: A Story from An Air That Kills: How the Asbestos the Edge of Medicine Poisoning of Libby, Montana, • Sullivan, Robert (Ecco) Uncovered a National Scandal Rats: Observations on the History (Putnam) and Habitat of the City’s Most • Weiser, Benjamin Unwanted Inhabitants A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His • Schoenfeld, Gabriel (Bloomsbury) Covert Mission, and the Price He The Return of Anti-Semitism Paid to Save His Country (Encounter) • Sullivan, Stacy (PublicAffairs) Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in • Schroeder, Alan America: How a Brooklyn Roofer • Weiss, Philip Celebrity-in-Chief: How Show Busi- • Smucker, Philip Helped Lure the U.S. into the American Taboo: A Murder in the ness Took Over the White House Al Qaeda’s Great Escape: The Kosovo War Peace Corps (Westview) Military and the Media on Terror’s (St. Martin’s) (HarperCollins) Trail • Shah, Sonia (Brassey’s) Crude: The Story of Oil (Seven Stories Press)

16 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 17 FEATURES FEATURESBOOKS INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS OF 2004

• Whiting, Robert • Wohlforth, Charles • Wright, Evan The Meaning of Ichiro: The New The Whale and the Supercomputer: Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Wave From Japan and the Transfor- On the Northern Front of Climate Captain America and the New Face mation of Our National Pastime Change of American War (Warner) (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/North Point) (Putnam) • Weschler, Lawrence • Wolcott, James Y Vermeer in Bosnia: Cultural Com- Attack Poodles and Other Media • Yeomans, Matthew edies and Political Tragedies Mutants Oil: Anatomy of an Industry (Pantheon) (Miramax) (New Press) • Williams, Ian • Woodward, Bob Z Deserter: George Bush’s War on Plan of Attack • Zucchino, David Military Families, Veterans, and His (Simon & Schuster) Thunder Run: The Spartan Brigade Past and the Battle for Baghdad (Nation Books) • Wooten, Jim (Atlantic Monthly Press) We Are All the Same: A Story of a • Williams, Paul L. Boy’s Courage and a Mother’s Love Osama’s Revenge (Penguin Press) (Prometheus) �� by Investigative Reporters and Editors in cooperation with the Society of Environmental Journalists

Tap into resources you can use for local investigations into environmental pollution.

This guide seeks to be immediately useful to investigative journalists. Although it offers extensive resources for in-depth and time-intensive investigations, its main focus is to show you how you can get to the heart of an investigation quickly and without waiting months for Freedom of Information Act requests to be fulfilled.

Much of the information in this guide focuses on how to use Web-based, federal database searches to get the data you need to both find and drive environmental investigations, but you’ll also find numerous tips fromveteran reporters about how to handle other aspects of investigative environmental journalism, including interviews and writing. �� KEY FEATURES: By phone: Call 573-882-3364 with your VISA, MasterCard or American Express. • Find out where to start when reporting on pollution in your community. By mail: Send your check to • Understand the data used to monitor local water and air quality. IRE, 138 Neff Annex • Learn how to use the Toxics Release Inventory and track Missouri School of Journalism hazardous wastes. Columbia, MO 65211 • Read how top journalists deal with environmental advocacy groups By Web: Visit www.ire.org/store to order and take special care in their reporting and writing. online or download an order form. • Get up to speed quickly on using mapping to depict your �� Plus postage: Media rate – $4 for the first book, community’s environment. $2 for each additional book • Special appendices on navigating the EPA, following the money and tapping into state and federal environmental resources.

16 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 17 C O V E R S T O R Y

The police: They pledge to serve and protect.

But what happens when the public they serve

needs to be protected from them? Or when the

service they provide is more for themselves?

Then it’s time the public’s right to know also be

served through investigations casting light on

the darkest corners of police performance.

UNDERREPORTING DOUBLE DIPPING page 19 page 21

POLICE SHOOTINGS KENTUCKY VICE page 24 page 27

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 19 C O V E R S T O R Y

UNDERREPORTING Failure to report crimes helps agency lower crime rates, broaden power base

BY NOAH BIERMAN AND WANDA J. DEMARZO Herald Miami The West Candace THE MIAMI HERALD

or years, the Broward County sheriff had been absorbing smaller municipal F police departments to broaden his power base. His key selling point? His agency had some of the best crime statistics in the state. The sheriff would promise city commissioners cheaper and better police protection if the city would contract with the sheriff’s office. And he had the numerical proof. Even as 911 calls doubled in the past 17 years, the Broward Sheriff’s Office reported that the number of actual crimes committed in its territories decreased. In the city of North Lauderdale, the sheriff reported a decrease in crime of 48 percent the first year after the agency assumed command of the department. The numbers raised questions with critics and crime experts who wondered if they were simply too good to be true. Whistleblowers inside and outside the department started telling The Miami Herald and state prosecutors that some deputies were failing to report crimes, underreporting the severity of crimes or using false

confessions to clear cases. Sources said deputies were pressured by command staff Hagop “Jack” Tokatlian has had his shoe repair store broken into four times and had cash stolen. Each time, deputies labeled it to lower the crime rate, to make the department look good. vandalism. For months, Miami Herald reporters Wanda DeMarzo and Daniel de Vise had been looking into the concerns, and with each anecdote, a ing two years worth of crimes from five Broward catch-all for “police information call” that doesn’t larger pattern seemed to emerge. Ultimately, their County Sheriff’s districts already under investiga- figure into crime statistics. questions prompted Sheriff Ken Jenne to hold a tion for manipulating their numbers. Each entry had Almost every record in the database also press conference, timed to beat the first story into an address and several coded signals. included a short narrative of the incident written the paper, with the sheriff asserting the problems The coded signals stood for crimes reported to by the deputy, and in some cases, the name of the were isolated. 911. There was one code for the crime someone 911 caller. called into dispatch, and another for the crime writ- With some help from Jason Grotto, the inves- Crunching numbers ten down by the deputy. The codes also indicated tigative team’s computer-assisted reporting editor, Editor Casey Frank wanted us to keep digging, whether the deputy wrote a report. we crunched the heck out of the numbers. to find just how widespread the problems were and Once the dispatcher finds out it’s a robbery, he We converted them from WordPerfect into to explain why the numbers mattered. When de Vise or she tells officers there has been a “signal 41.” The Excel spreadsheets and searched them by type switched beats, reporter Noah Bierman joined the officer goes to the scene, finds out the details and and frequency of crimes and most-common search for answers. signals back number 41 if the deputy truly believes changes. Grotto used Access database software For us, the answer was found within a database a robbery has occurred. Or, the deputy reports a and SAS statistical software to create more com- full of codes. new number if the facts on scene do not support the plex spreadsheets that showed which deputies were The database had 12,000 records, represent- criteria of a robbery. Signal 14 is a popular code, a making the most changes and which signals were

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 19 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

a stolen television, taken We had to be careful in explaining that the from her front porch trends we observed were based on a limited, while she is moving. biased sample. We could not use the numbers to Police record the inci- claim the percentage of calls that were changed dent as “lost or missing in each district. property,” rather than a We could say, however, what types of calls were theft. They don’t make an most likely to be reclassified, based on the sample official report and in the we reviewed. That helped readers understand where books, it never happened the biggest problems were. We also had the benefit at all. of other stories we had written in which investiga- Wanda DeMarzo The Miami Herald Miami The DeMarzo Wanda In each case, the victim tors and whistleblowers acknowledged there was called police thinking they indeed a problem with underreporting crimes in were reporting thefts and these districts. other crimes, only to find We found that thefts were the most commonly out their crimes were reclassified 911 calls. When they were reclassified, either never recorded or they were most frequently changed to “police infor- reported as less serious. mation” calls. “Suspicious incident” and “police Some didn’t learn what service call” also were popular. happened to their cases until we contacted them. A waste of time Crunching the numbers was useful. But our Proving next step was the most labor intensive: finding the authenticity people. Not all entries had names. Some entries Alberta Mells, 72, recounts how her purse was stolen. A deputy downgraded the We encountered many also listed addresses. So we used Accurint and crime to a lost property case. challenges: obtaining the other subscriber databases to find phone numbers. database and then deci- We had help with Spanish-speaking victims from most commonly used by deputies. phering it; crunching numbers; verifying data; reporter Jeannette Rivera-Lyles. Eventually, we turned this database into living identifying trends; locating sources and then con- Finally, we got two dozen people on the record stories with photographs about frustrated people who vincing them to talk; writing a coherent narrative and a few who allowed us to take their pictures. The said they were crime victims. These were people to story; and, finally, getting it in the paper before the majority of people we found, regardless of whether whom readers could relate, victims of typical crimes sheriff called another press conference. they agreed to an interview, said the police had in like stolen bicycles or burglarized businesses. Obtaining documents from the sheriff’s office some way misreported the incident. For example, a woman calls police to report proved nearly impossible at times. We weren’t sure In at least two instances, police persuaded resi- what we were looking for and initially made our dents not to file written crime reports, even though public requests too broad. That allowed the sheriff’s one had identified a suspect. Deputies told them it �� office to stall, avoid and then demand thousands of was “a waste of time,” even though written reports dollars to release the requested records. are necessary to initiate investigations. �� The Herald would not receive any documents We planned to run the story on a Sunday. But until we paid the $30,000-plus, they told us at one the sheriff’s office had its own plan, crafted with point. the help of the written questions we had submitted �� After a court battle, and a narrowed public to its office earlier in the week. Officials announced �� records request, we received some of the docu- late on a Thursday that they would be having a press �� ments we needed that would eventually prove the conference the next day. �� authenticity of the database. But the database itself We ran our story on Friday, the morning the �� came from a confidential source. sheriff planned to address the media. �� Sources told us the database existed and we Investigations that led to suspensions and �� knew it was a public record under Florida statutes. possible indictments began before this story ran. �� But the sheriff’s office told us: a) it didn’t exist; b) It’s difficult to tell how much, if any, pressure this �� we were not asking for it correctly; and c) it would story added to produce results. But investigators �� cost $10,000 or more in research time. and whistleblowers have said this was one of the There were problems, however, in interpreting clearest explanations to the public as to why the �� the database once we got it. There were gaps – num- whole thing matters. �� bers out of sequence and entire months left out. Sheriff Jenne ultimately acknowledged prob- �� To verify accuracy, we requested sample incident lems cited in several stories, including the one �� reports from the department and cross-referenced described here. He has implemented a series of ORDER TODAY! the case numbers. We also had officially released long-term changes in the department to ensure the �� cumulative data reports we could use to confirm accuracy of the agency’s crime reporting. �� any trends we found. �� It turns out we had a sample of hundreds of 911 Wanda DeMarzo covers law enforcement issues in �� calls that were reported to dispatchers as assaults, Broward County for The Miami Herald. Noah Bier- �� burglaries and thefts that were later changed to a man covers local government and politics, focusing lesser offense by on-scene deputies. on the Miami-Dade mayor’s office.

20 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 21 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

DOUBLE DIPPING Records show hundreds of police officers paid for being in two places at same time

BY DONOVAN SLACK THE BOSTON GLOBE

oston may be on of the forefront of scientific innovation, but scientists here have yet to B clone a human being, much less a Boston police officer. And yet nearly 400 officers of the 2,035 sworn members of the department were paid to be in two places at once from 2001 to 2003. They got paid to do the impossible, it seems, with everyone from patrol officers to captains benefiting repeatedly. Some 150 officers collected pay for overlapping shifts on at least two occasions, with one even collecting double pay 23 times.

They signed time cards for shifts in separate in September, I laid out the breadth and depth of the officials launched dozens of internal affairs investi- locations at the same time, then submitted them to double dipping, police officials’ failure to address the gations. Commissioner Kathleen M. O’Toole hired unwitting payroll clerks. Those clerks then entered abuses they already knew existed, and the reluctance national auditing firm KPMG Peat Marwick to assess hours into an antiquated computer system, which spit of politicians to reform detail requirements in Mas- management practices in the department. She also out paychecks for officers regardless of whether they sachusetts, long known as the “third rail of politics” instituted weekly payroll audits to detect overlaps were being paid for overlapping hours. in the state because of the heavy influence of police and appointed a full-time captain to supervise offi- The overlapping shifts were “details,” off-duty unions on elections. cers working details. It’s unclear whether politicians work directing traffic at road construction sites or Since the stories were published, Boston police will ever eliminate detail requirements, which have providing security for private companies. Companies and government agencies paid the Police Department for the work, and the department paid the officers, Reporting on police minus a 10 percent administrative fee. Public records Officers and police administrators offered a vari- Police officers work for the public, though they often don’t want anything to be public. Persever- ety of explanations for the overlaps, from mistakes ance is key. Though an exemption exists for contents of personnel records, time cards and payroll by officers filling out their time cards to data-entry information are public. errors by the clerks. But even the police commissioner conceded that the large number of instances Computer payroll systems of double payment – 724 in a two-and-a-half year Police officers in many cities receive different types of income aside from their standard wages period – indicated widespread manipulation of the for regular shifts – pay for court appearances, sick, vacation and overtime income. As in Massa- system for extra pay. chusetts, some may receive pay for off-duty details. Check whether time cards for the different It seemed unfathomable when I began my inves- types of pay are recorded separately or on separate computer systems, as this leaves loopholes tigation in June 2003 that police would be so naive as for double dipping. Even though an officer receives only one paycheck, as is the case in Boston, to think double payments never would be detected. the different shifts the officer is being paid for may never be cross-checked. Especially in Boston, where The Globe had uncovered repeated abuses of the Police Department’s Police sources detail system by officers during the past decade. Go to bars or restaurants where officers hang out. Never call them at their stations or approach After each story, police officials promised to dis- them in the presence of other officers if you want them to open up, on or off the record. Many cipline offenders and close loopholes in the payroll veteran reporters already have reliable police sources, but for reporters who don’t normally cover system so it wouldn’t happen again. crime or fresh-on-the-job reporters like myself, you may have to start from scratch. But as I learned during my investigation, the Police Department never updated its computer Getting started payroll system to crosscheck hours paid. Few Often tips come from people under threat from the police department. Don’t discount what they officers were ever caught, much less disciplined for say because they have axes to grind or because there isn’t time. Check it out, no matter what. their actions. In a series of three stories published

20 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 21 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

padded police officers’ paychecks in the state for payroll data in an electronic database, showing the decades. hours and locations of all details worked by Boston CRIME BY THE BOOK police officers during the previous two-year period. As part of its beat book series, IRE Overlapping shifts I wasn’t sure whether I’d find any double dipping. offers “Understanding Crime Statistics: Hundreds of officers might still be double dip- There was no proof that the sergeant was paid to A Reporter’s Guide” by Kurt Silver. Add ping today had two women not been stabbed in a be in the nightclub as well as the construction site, perspective to your crime reporting brawl at a trendy downtown nightclub on June 12, but I had a hunch that even though this club owner by knowing what statistics exist, where 2003. Rather than helping break up the fight, one had an ax to grind, there must be something to his to find them and how to use them. police officer in the club, a sergeant, hightailed it contention. This book gives you the tools to write past the bouncers and out the front door. Turns out, Public affairs officials at the Police Department responsible crime statistics stories and he wasn’t supposed to be there. He was being paid first maintained that I hadn’t submitted my request avoid common problems. Order the book to direct traffic at a nearby construction site. correctly, then they said the information I wanted by visiting www.ire.org/store/books/ My crucial tip came the following week from wasn’t kept in an electronic database so they weren’t a nightclub industry source. The club owner had sure if they could fill my request. After that, they crime.html or calling 573-882-3364. been cited for not calling the police during the fight said the department would have to bring in outside and was in jeopardy of losing his liquor license. He programmers to program a database, which would needed – Microsoft Excel spreadsheets hold only was, therefore, willing to go on the record with what cost several thousand dollars. 60,000 records, I quickly found. Clearly, it was he said was common knowledge in the industry: At this point, in November, I called upon a New time to bring in the big guns, so I called Pulitzer Detail officers often double-timed and were paid for York Times’ in-house lawyer, David McCraw, to Prize-winning Globe reporter Matt Carroll, who working other details at the same time they were take over. is much more experienced with computer-assisted working in clubs. I thought the idea far-fetched, After about four weeks of negotiating with reporting than I. but I met anyway with the owner, who showed me McCraw, a police spokeswoman told me the data In Microsoft Access, he used the police officers’ security-camera footage of the sergeant in the club could be produced for $130. I wrote a check at identification numbers and dates to isolate records that night. the mayor’s Christmas party, and about a month of officers who worked two or more detail shifts in Once the Police Department confirmed that the later, I picked up the computer disks, holding one day. He imported those into Excel spreadsheets sergeant was supposed to be working a detail else- some 300,000-odd records in plain text format. I and used an “if” statement to find overlaps. where, I submitted a request under Massachusetts let them sit on my desk for a while, not sure how It took a few runs through to get the final list of open-records laws, asking for two years worth of to manipulate so much information to find what I officers who had been double-paid and the compa- ��

The best in the business will gather for panels, workshops and special presentations about covering public safety, courts, national security, the military, business, education, local government and much more. Visit www.ire.org/training/denver05 for more information and updates. �� Hyatt Regency Denver Downtown, 1750 Welton St., Denver, CO 80202 �� Please call 800-223-1234 by Friday, May 6, to get the discounted room rate of $119 plus tax. When making your reservation please ask for the Investigative Reporters and Editors room block. If making your reservation online, please visit http:// denverregency.hyatt.com/groupbooking/invr If you have hotel or general conference questions, please contact Ev Ruch-Graham, sr. conference coordinator, [email protected] or 573-882-8969. If you have registration questions, please contact John Green, membership coordinator, [email protected] or 573-882-2772. ��

22 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 23 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

nies that had paid for them. Because I had only asked shifts that indicated the officers had written the turn it in,” Patrolman Joseph F. Scannell said. for locations of detail shifts and not the names of the incorrect dates or hours on time cards, and in the A symphony spokeswoman denied the claim. companies that paid for them, I spent many hours two other cases, police determined there were data After the first and second stories were published sifting and figuring out which companies matched entry errors in the computerized payroll system. and no politicians had called for reform of detail up with the overlapping shifts. The payroll supervisor, who has been with the requirements at construction sites in light of the department for nearly 15 years, explained how double-payment scheme, I began contacting politi- Questions from the data officers’ various types of income – from court cians and discovered that although nearly everyone By the time I had the final list, which did not time, details, overtime and regular shifts – were believed the laws should be changed to allow the include the club sergeant’s name but did include not cross-checked for overlaps. He also disclosed hiring of civilian flagmen, no one wanted to go 396 others, six months had passed since the records on the record saying so, and none planned to take had been produced. I then decided to request addi- action. I then discovered in The Globe archives that tional records so the story contained more current It’s pay along to go along, every politician who had attempted to change the data. This time, the department produced the to get along..~ detail system in Massachusetts – from relaxing poli- records at no cost and in a matter of days. I was cies at the state level that mandated police officers able to use Microsoft Excel and the formula Car- be hired for detail work to rescinding laws at the roll had worked out to come up with an additional that the department’s computerized payroll system city level that required them – had been met with list of overlaps. had not been updated as promised after revelations angry union protests and had dropped the matter Now, I had a lot of questions to answer: How did of abuses in the past. like a hot potato. That became the third story. they do it? Why didn’t the department catch them? That gave me material for the second story, a The greatest challenge of this investigation was Was there someone in command complicit in the recounting of past abuses uncovered by The Globe perseverance. Throughout the reporting and writ- scheme? Why didn’t companies report the officers and what happened to stall the computer updating. ing, I produced more than 200 daily stories, and at not showing up? I began with some anonymous City Hall did not approve the measure, though it nearly every roadblock, whether self inflicted or police sources I had used on other stories. One now planned to do so. erected by officials, I contemplated giving up. But, officer who was familiar with the double-timing the investigation was what made many of the “here- routine told me officers sometimes arrived at a Stories lead to stories today-gone-tomorrow” daily stories more bearable. detail job, signed in with the company, then made Before the stories were published, I gave the 20 I always knew I had a long-term project on the back some excuse to be away for a few hours, went to officers named in the stories a chance to respond, burner that could serve the public in a lasting way, another job and signed in there. I used this informa- calling them at their stations and at their homes. and that’s the reason I became a journalist. tion as background material in my interviews with Many declined to comment, but some gave reasons the utility companies and others that hired detail for their overlapping shifts. The officer paid 23 Donovan Slack is a general assignment reporter for officers who were paid to work other places at the times for overlaps, many of them shifts for the The Boston Globe. She joined the newspaper after same times. Most of the companies contacted said Boston Symphony, blamed the symphony. graduating in 2003 as valedictorian of the Medill officers check in with supervisors at a work site at “Sometimes they fill out the card and we just School of Journalism at Northwestern University. the beginning or end of a shift, but few had constant supervision of the officers. “We try our best to monitor what happens at our �� construction sites, but our main focus is on the job itself,” said John Vincenzo, a spokesman for Veri- zon, which was billed for 82 shifts during which the officers also were paid to be somewhere else. �� A nightclub industry representative filled in the IRE and SPJ, with funding from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of gaps, explaining why some companies didn’t turn Professional Journalists, the Chicago Tribune Foundation and the Ethics and Excellence in officers for showing up late or leaving in the in Journalism Foundation, have joined forces to offer a series of workshops focused on middle of shifts, allowing them to work elsewhere doing investigative reporting while covering a beat. at the same times. The workshops, specifically for journalists at small- to medium-sized news organizations “[The companies] are blacklisted if they do,” and those in bureaus of larger organizations, will emphasize the use of FOI laws and said Alan Eisner, president of the Massachusetts address juggling a beat while producing investigative and enterprise pieces. Hospitality Association, which represents bars and restaurants. “It’s pay along to go along, to “You’ll learn enough in the first 15 minutes to keep you busy for a month.” get along.” Kevin McGrath, The Wichita Eagle Finally, there was the Police Department, which Workshop is scheduled for: had changed commissioners since I began report- Feb. 5, 2005 – Orlando, Fla. ing the story. O’Toole, the new commissioner, was Feb. 19-20, 2005 – Sacramento, Calif. extremely cooperative, giving me unfettered access April 2-3, 2005 – Charleston, S.C. to the detail payroll supervisor, the head of internal April 9-10, 2005 – Chapel Hill, N.C. affairs, and expediting response to another records April 9-10, 2005 – Ashland, Ore. request, this time for copies of actual time cards For more information, visit signed by officers in a random sample of 16 cases www.ire.org/training/betterwatchdog of overlapping shifts. Of those cases, the department referred seven To request a workshop for your area, contact Training for internal affairs investigations. In another seven Director David Donald at [email protected]. cases, police found documentation of other, unpaid

22 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 23 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

query gave us a list of officers involved in multiple shootings. We ended up profiling one narcotics officer who had been involved in six separate incidents – including one case in which he and another officer were accused of engineering a cover-up in a pending civil suit. We also used the fifth anniversary of a contro- versial shooting of a mentally ill woman to examine reforms the Houston Police Department had imple-

Carlos Antonio Rios Houston Chronicle Houston Rios Antonio Carlos mented to better deal with people in mental crisis. While officers had been trained, reporters Roma Khanna and Steve McVicker found, the people with training were not called to many mental health emergencies. Cop shoot database Those first stories gave us a base of research from which we could tackle something bigger: An all-out analysis of five years of shootings from more than a dozen different departments in Harris County. Miguel Aleman, with the League of United Latin American Citizens, marches in downtown Houston. The group was To build our “cop shoot database,” we started protesting the killings of Hispanic teens by the Houston Police Deptment. with the DA’s index, which included officers’ names, names of those shot (the index called them “opponents;” we used “civilians”), dates and results of the prosecution (almost always a “no bill” by a grand jury.) From there, we added what we had on- POLICE SHOOTINGS hand: police press releases (in some cases available Creation of database reveals patterns in searchable format on a Web site) and our own archives. This gave us the basics of all shooting in the use of deadly force by officers cases. To flesh it all out, we filed a series of public disclosure act requests. The key documents were: • autopsy reports and accompanying investigators’ BY LISE OLSEN AND ROMA KHANNA reports from the medical examiner’s office; HOUSTON CHRONICLE • internal investigation reports and completed investigative files, which we did not obtain from he calls started coming in after an unarmed teenager died on Halloween 2003 in Houston, all agencies, though all provided interviews with key investigators and supervisors; T shot in his mother’s SUV by a moonlighting cop who had been vigorously protecting a • claims and civil suits filed by those who had been movie theater parking lot. shot, or their families; • incident reports and court cases filed in connection The calls came from citizens. And they came from other police officers. Virtually everyone with the shootings; • personnel records, including any disciplinary said: This should not have happened. action or commendations related to shooting Then, it happened again. An officer shot and killed another unarmed Hispanic teen – in the incidents; • court records – we checked to see if all of those head at point blank range. Now there were two kids dead in just three weeks. who survived being shot were later charged with assaulting an officer or with any crime in connec- We, as reporters at the Houston Chronicle, were First, we asked officers their opinions about tion with the incidents. flooded with questions with no easy answers: Were training and alternative weapons. Several senior Collectively, these took months to get. And in local police trigger-happy? Were they undertrained? trainers told us, on the record, that even the pro- the process, the county attorney dragged his feet Why weren’t alternative weapons like Tasers and grams offered by the area’s largest department and eventually adopted a new and more time-con- pepper spray being used or at least being made were inadequate. A couple of national experts on suming review before releasing autopsy reports on available? Were officers on extra jobs playing by police shootings, criminal justice professors David shooting cases. different rules? Were a few bad-apple officers being Klinger of the University of Missouri-St. Louis Yet, each document gave us key pieces of protected by the internal review system and by the and Sam Walker of the University of Nebraska at what eventually became a three-part series on district attorney? Omaha, provided valuable insights. police shootings. Our investigation, which eventually would con- We filed our first open records request and At first, we recorded only basic facts in our sume six months, began with a couple of quick-hit analyzed the county district attorney’s office log database. The fields included time and location of stories. of police shootings. Doing a simple “group by” the shooting, race, age, sex of all parties, any indica-

24 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 25 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y RED FLAGS Potential red flags to look for in police shootings: 1. Foot chases and car chases. 2. Shootings by off-duty officers working security. 3. Shootings at occupied cars. 4. Shootings during drug arrests. 5. Mentally ill, disabled or teenaged

civilians shot. Chronicle Houston Rios Antonio Carlos 6. Those shot who were not charged and had no criminal record. 7. Shootings in the back or side. 8. Unarmed people injured or killed.

tion that the “opponent” was mentally ill, the reason for the officer’s initial arrival/pursuit (including whether it was a planned narcotics sting), and whether the officer was assaulted or worse. We also included a summary field and a notes field, which became a grab bag for anything odd. For Family members examine the bullet-riddled vehicle in which Karl Koch was fatally shot at close range by a deputy those who had been killed, we added the number after the Harris County Sheriff’s Department targeted him as dangerous during a high-speed chase. Koch had only of wounds, whether someone was confirmed shot in one prior misdemeanor arrest. the back, other injuries, time and place of death and level of intoxication. Eventually, a good part of this added cases in which officers had shot at people All of these categories were based on our review data went on the Internet in enhanced searchable riding inside cars, cases in which officers were of summaries and on scenarios and practices that form at www.chron.com/shootings. disciplined (which was rare) or in which officers sociologists and police experts already had flagged had provided conflicting accounts, foot chases and as potentially problematic. Potentially problematic shootings that took place while officers were off- Our rough index gave us a list of shootings that After going through all the fatalities, which we duty working extra jobs. had from one to six of these factors. It worked sort had more information about because of the autopsy Finally, by running all of the “opponents” of like a restaurant rating system. Interestingly, the reports and because of better initial coverage of the through criminal databases, we identified those cases with the most stars tended to be the cases that cases, we spotted obvious red flags. who had never been charged with criminal activ- we already had pulled as being among the most Our first red flags included: mentally ill, ity in connection with the shooting or who had questionable. For example, in one case, a disabled disabled or teenaged opponents or those with no been acquitted of charges. While the group was criminal record at all; people shot in the back; and small, their shootings proved to be among the most CHECK OUT UPLINK cases in which those shot were unarmed. Later, we problematic. There are several police performance stories in the January-February issue of Uplink, the newsletter of the National Institute for Com- puter-Assisted Reporting (www.ire.org/store/ periodicals.html). Among them: • Heather Ratcliffe and Trisha Howard of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch show how they analyzed data using spreadsheets to compare police department performance in their area. Some departments measured up poorly.

Christobal Perez Houston Chronicle Houston Perez Christobal • Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times explains how he took data about unsolved homicides and turned it into telling maps using geographic information system software. • Ian Demsky and Christian Bottorff at The Ten- nessean demonstrate how they used database and GIS analysis to show how often Nashville police had violated their own pursuit rules.

Tattered police tape marks the area where Jose Vargas Jr. was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.

24 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 25 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

teenager with no criminal record and no weapon and e-mailed summaries of our main findings for findings, we ran extended vignettes that described was shot dead in his pickup truck by an off-duty individual departments to the three largest police shootings from each category, including a naked officer at a skating rink. That one got six stars and agencies in the county and to two smaller ones. All man shot in his own living room and a mentally became the lead of our second-day story. five agreed to meet with us to discuss the facts and ill man shot repeatedly – and in the back – while This list gave us what we called our “gray area issues raised by the patterns in the shootings. having a crisis. shootings” – cases that we wanted to look at harder. Ultimately, we did three stories. The first The third story showed, as observers predicted, All of the shootings would be represented in our focused on more than 20 shootings by sheriff’s that officers rarely were disciplined for the actual story in statistical form. But our focus was trying deputies of people riding in cars, including three shootings. to figure out what had happened in cases where the involving high-speed chases. In one case, depu- One unexpected and noteworthy finding, which reasons behind the shootings were less clear-cut. ties had sought and received authorization to end a we were able to identify because we asked for com- We weren’t as interested in investigating “slam- chase with fatal force. The deputy pulled his cruiser plete disciplinary records on the officers, is that dunk” shootings in which the officers had a clear alongside the truck of a crawfish salesman named they also were not disciplined for violating other reason to fire. So, we weeded out cases for our Karl Koch. The deputy fatally shot him at point- departmental policies in the course of the shooting investigation in which the so-called “opponent” blank range after Koch, high on cocaine, had sped investigation. For example, officers for many agen- was clearly armed or where he or she was actively through a neighborhood and a couple of parking cies drew stiff penalties for dishonesty in the course threatening the officer with a knife or gun. We also lots, though he had injured no one. of their jobs. But officer shooters were almost never weeded out those in which violent crimes were in We did that story first, because the sheriff’s disciplined when internal affairs’ investigations progress when officers responded. department acknowledged that shooting at cars was revealed that there were significant discrepancies Our goal was to isolate the cases in which offi- against training and, after meeting with us, said they in their accounts of the shootings, including their cers had a choice. Then, we planned to analyze the intended to act quickly to update their policies and position at the time and whether they called for factors that seemed to contribute to the shooting or discipline deputies who continued to do it. backup before a shooting. killing of a citizen. The second story looked at how and why The story generated a huge reaction – much of What our analysis gave us was a list of 100 of the unarmed got shot. The sections in that story it the “you hate cops and we hope that you’re the those kinds of cases over five years. The major- included: summaries of the shootings of the next crime victim” variety. ity involved unarmed opponents, so ultimately mentally ill; shootings by off-duty officers who But it also brought an immediate policy change we decided to focus on patterns in more than 60 had often fired at folks fleeing from the scene of at the sheriff’s department and added valuable shootings of the unarmed. These patterns became property crimes; and shootings during narcotics information to the local debate about the need for the basis of our stories. sting operations. alternative weapons, like pepper spray and Tasers, Though many drug bust shootings were clearly plus the value of increasing use-of-force training Extended vignettes justified, some had resulted in the shooting deaths for officers. Our next step was giving all of our findings of unarmed people, including bystanders unin- to the local police brass to take apart. We faxed volved in the deals. Two narcotics-related shoot- Lise Olsen is a special projects reporter at the ings were the subject of the only two successful Houston Chronicle. Roma Khanna covers criminal Tipsheets from the recent federal civil suits. To put a face on our justice issues for the paper. RESOURCE CENTER Check out the IRE Resource Center (www.ire.org/resourcecenter) for a • No. 1700: “Getting beyond the ‘Blue Wall of Science,’” by Craig Whitlock variety of reporting tipsheets written by journalists who have covered and David S. Fallis, The Washington Post. This tipsheet, which is based on police conduct. Here is a selection of what is available: a story investigation, presents steps to follow when investigating cop • No. 1196: “Policing the police,” by Clea Benson, Mark Fazlollah, Michael shootings and the use of deadly force by the police. (2002) Matza, and Craig McCoy, The Philadelphia Inquirer. This tipsheet pro- • No. 1868: “Covering law and order: it’s a lifestyle,” by John Solomon, The vides information for reporters interested in researching the police. In Associated Press. Solomon makes the case for immersion in the criminal particular, it provides resources that focus on how police handle rape justice beat. In the tipsheet, he stresses common sense, research and cases. (2000) hard work to get the difficult stories. (2003) • No. 1356: “Some basics to becoming a thorough crime reporter,” by Tom • No. 1926: “Deals with cops may be more than you bargained for,” by Spaulding, The Indianapolis Star. In this tipsheet, Spaulding argues that Charles Tobin, Holland and Knight LLP. This tipsheet offers advice from crime stories should be treated in the same way as epidemic stories. He media attorneys on how to get access to police scenes and activities, stresses reporters include three classes of information about stories: including drug raids. Tobin details the legal implications of working with perspective, identified risk factors, and consequences and costs. In addi- police departments and explains ways to avoid certain pitfalls. (2003) tion, he gives a set of guidelines for crime reporting, story ideas and • No. 2158: “Keeping the beat: First day at the cop shop,” by Cheryl W. helpful resources. (2001) Thompson, The Washington Post. This tipsheet offers ideas for reporters • No. 1357: “Courts/cops records,” by Dianna Hunt, the Fort Worth Star- who are new to the police beat. It includes suggestions for working on Telegram. This tipsheet details the courts and cops records to help you larger stories while keeping up with the daily beat. (2004) track important stories. Records discussed include: offense/incidents • No. 2257: “The crime beat: The data and statistics of injustice,” by David reports, police calls, arrest reports, search warrants, arrest warrants, sex A. Milliron, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This tipsheet highlights the offender registration and many others. (2001) data kept by the criminal justice system, how it is used by law enforce- • No. 1701: “Covering cops,” by Steve Mills, the Chicago Tribune. This ment and how to get it. It provides tips on creating your own database tipsheet offers eight tips for covering the police and where to look for and includes copies of uniform crime reports. (2004) information and story ideas. (2002)

26 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 27 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y KENTUCKY VICE Before some arrests, officers get naked, have sexual contact with spa prostitutes

BY JASON RILEY THE (LOUISVILLE, KY.) COURIER-JOURNAL Michael Clevenger The Courier-Journal The Clevenger Michael

hen another reporter and I asked Louisville’s police chief last summer why some under- W cover officers were getting undressed and engaging in sexual contact with prostitutes before arrests, he had a simple answer. They weren’t. Police Chief Robert White had no idea that for at least a decade, vice officers had been disrobing and having sexual contact – including unprotected oral sex – with female workers in massage parlors and escort services. And that they had been doing so with the approval of their supervisors and, until recently, local prosecutors. Months before, as local government officials mounted a serious crackdown on adult bookstores and strip clubs, the newspaper had decided to take a look at prostitution in the area. I had been given a tip that while such close scrutiny was being given to bookstores and topless Louisville police conducted investigations at area spas by sometimes disrobing and having sexual dancers, the city’s oldest profession was hitting its peak and being largely ignored. contact with prostitutes working there.

As the courthouse reporter, I started combing arrest citation from a terminal in the courthouse and Louisville for a few months and then moved on to through hundreds of arrest citations from the past then typed the information from each report into a another state, in what police described as an orga- few years, intending to do a weekend piece. spreadsheet. nized circuit. In nearly all of the reports, police officers wrote The database, which took about a month to com- Working with photographer Michael Clevenger, virtually the same synopsis that prompted the arrest: plete, contained two dozen fields, including the names Adams and I went to each massage parlor in Louisville “Subject agreed to perform sex act on undercover of the alleged prostitutes and their customers, as well – at least twice. police officer for a fee.” as their home address, where they were arrested and We faced a number of challenges. Most of the Under Kentucky law, to make a prostitution arrest, the outcome of the court case. workers were Asian, so there was a language barrier. police need nothing more than a verbal agreement to We noticed several trends from the database: The newspaper’s top editors had decided that we could engage in sex for money. among them, that prostitutes with AIDS were not pose as customers. So, non-sex massages were But out of 800 arrest reports I and senior special repeatedly arrested and released; that a majority of out. And from the first moment, we had to identify projects reporter Jim Adams would ultimately look the prostitution court cases were dismissed, espe- ourselves as reporters. That made getting past the front at from 2001 to 2003, four made it seem as if police cially those charging men with soliciting sex; and door a disheartening task. Even when we did get inside had had sexual contact with the women before arrest- often cases were dismissed because police weren’t and find someone we could communicate with, most ing them. showing up for court. of the women were hesitant to talk. Seeking to verify this was happening, I asked an However, we did have some luck. Using arrest undercover vice officer about one of the reports. He Sting operations slips, FlatRateInfo searches and armed with a large denied that sexual contact occurred, but asked to see After meeting with my editor Mike Trautmann, map of the city, Adams and I found some spa owners the file. When I showed him one – with his signature metro editor Jean Porter and assistant managing editor and workers willing to talk. on it – his demeanor quickly soured. He said the report John Mura, Adams and I decided to focus on a largely We found and interviewed one former worker who was written incorrectly and left quickly, with a copy unnoticed segment of prostitution in Louisville: mas- claimed men paid her nearly $80,000 in four months’ of the document. sage parlors. time while she worked at two local massage parlors. His reaction piqued my interest. The local government had failed to regulate the She said she split the money with the owners. A LexisNexis search turned up stories from other parlors, or “spas,” and in the past 10 years they had We talked to a massage parlor customer who was communities in which such conduct by police was not grown from only a couple to more than two dozen in a sex-addiction treatment program. He said he paid only ridiculed and criticized but also led to the dis- locations across the city. up to $150 several times a day for sexual intercourse missal of many court cases and a change in policy. Police told us the parlors were nothing more than in area massage parlors. He eventually sold his car to We had very little information at that point, so fronts for prostitution and were raking in huge dollars pay his credit card bill. Adams and I concentrated on creating a database of selling sex. Most of the employees, police said, were And we found a few owners who claimed that prostitution arrests in Louisville from the past three Asian women who often lived at the spa, sleeping police officers were having sex with the women, seiz- years. With the aid of a court clerk, we printed each on mattresses on the floor. They often worked in ing money from the parlors and then arresting them.

26 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 27 C O V E R S T O R Y C O V E R S T O R Y

Early on, Adams and I made numerous requests someone, such as a defense attorney, requests them tures and arrest records. Within seconds, the question using the Kentucky Open Records Act to find out what – which is rare. Under Kentucky law, they become of whether police had sexual contact with women the city was doing and had done, if anything, regarding available as open records when a case is closed. charged with prostitution was answered. massage parlors. One of our requests asked to look Police were hesitant, but allowed us access to the In several reports, undercover officers described at internal police reports describing sting operations reports and asked that we look at them late at night, taking their clothes off, showering with the women inside the parlors. when a vice unit lieutenant could sit with us. Police and, often after a massage, negotiating a deal for These investigative letters were usually read only also redacted the names of undercover officers from sex and then engaging, however briefly, in sexual by police supervisors and are not made public unless the reports. contact. While two officers sat with us, Adams and I looked Some officers wrote in graphic detail how they Stories from the through 10 years worth of internal police reports, pic- were masturbated, or that the masseuse began to RESOURCE CENTER To read more stories by journalists who have covered police corruption and • Story No. 18828: “Mentuck,” by Diana Swain and Morris Karp, CBC News misconduct, visit the IRE Resource Center (www.ire.org/resourcecenter). Here (Winnipeg, Manitoba). The CBC reports on illegal techniques used by is a selection of stories available at the Resource Center: police to elicit confessions. After spending a year and a half in jail on a • Story No. 17112: “Fatal Flaws: The District’s homicide crisis,” by Cheryl W. murder charge that was thrown out for lack of evidence, George Men- Thompson, Ira Chinoy and Barbara Vobejda, The Washington Post. The inves- tuck became the focus of a police sting to get him to confess to the tigation reveals that homicides in the District of Columbia have decreased, same crime. Posing as a gang, the police set up Mentuck with a house as have the number of arrests in connection with those homicides. But and had him run small errands for them. Once again a judge threw out reporters discover that the units’ files are missing critical documents and the charge, saying that Mentuck had no choice but to confess under unsolved cases are going ignored. (2000) the circumstances the police engineered. (2001) • Story No. 17165: “Blue line, red ink,” by Jerry Markon and Al Baker, Newsday • Story No. 20706: “Working overtime in Parma,” by Timothy Heider, (Long Island, N.Y.). Although Nassau County is the fourth richest county in Joseph Wagner and Bob Paynter, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. This the United States, it has a $200 million deficit and long-term debt close to investigation takes place in Parma, Ohio, and finds that “dozens of Parma $3 billion. Reporters set out to determine the role of the police department police officers have shirked their duties and bent the rules in pursuit in the spending frenzy, finding that police spending increased 64 percent of more money, aggravating the city’s budget crisis.” What’s more, “the in the last 10 years, twice as fast as county spending overall. The police department commanders say they are powerless to stop them.” Using are among the highest-paid in the nation, with salaries from $90,000 to open records requests to obtain data on payroll sheets, duty records, $132,000 annually. (2000) personnel files and union requests, reporters uncover that crooked cops • Story No. 18522: “Miami cops,” by Dan Christensen, the (Miami) Daily Business in Parma are gaming the taxpayers. (2003) Review. This two-year investigation into police criminality reveals “a deadly • Story No. 20726: “Scandal in Detroit Police Department,” by The Detroit scandal at the Miami Police Department.” The stories document “flaws and News. This investigation reveals widespread scandals involving the bias in the local system used to investigate police shootings.” In a federal Detroit Police Department, including poor procedures that violated investigation of officers involved in gunning down an elderly woman during the basic rights of the arrested and federal grand jury indictments a drug raid, Christensen reports that Miami officers were accused of “con- against officers for criminal activity. (2003) spiracy, lying and fabricating evidence to cover up misconduct.” (2001) • Story No. 20783: “Public payroll series,” by The Bakersfield Californian. • Story No. 18617: “Atlantic City special police detail not so special for taxpay- Reporters use open public records to investigate government issues, ers,” by Michael Diamond, The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.). This investigation finding government employees are making twice the state average uncovers a police program that allows officers to moonlight as security and that firefighters are taking advantage of overtime commitments. guards. A newspaper review of payroll records reveal that officers often (2003) called in sick and then worked as security guards for more than eight hours, • Story No. 20885: “Dallas police department,” by Holly Becka, Tanya thereby collecting sick pay and compensation for working security. (2001) Eiserer, Howard Swindle, and Pam Maples, The Dallas Morning News. • Story No. 18773: (two series) “False confessions,” by David S. Fallis, Craig This series investigated the quality of officers being recruited by the Whitlock and April Witt, The Washington Post. This investigation exposes Dallas Police Department. The reporters found that the police chief police misconduct in Prince George’s County by revealing coercive inter- was allowing multiple chances for the recruits to complete training rogative tactics used by officers. Reporters found officers deprived sus- – something uncommon in large police departments. (2003) pects of sleep, interrogated them for days and did not allow them to talk • Story No. 21239: “Double dipping cops,” by Brian Maass, Carisa Scott and to lawyers. “Blue wall of silence” analyzes a decade-long pattern of police Bob Pearce, KCNC-Denver. A police source tipped off KCNC that police shootings. Rreporters reveal that District of Columbia officers “killed more officials in charge of murder and rape investigations were doing another people than any other major city or county police force from 1990 to 2000.” job to make a quick buck. These Denver cops were leaving work in the Many of the victims were unarmed and innocent, but officers often were middle of the day to direct traffic outside a private school. (2003) not disciplined. (2001) • Story No. 21303: “Metro police breaking own rules in pursuits,” by • Story No. 18785: “A question of justice: A look inside Cincinnati’s police Christian Bottorff and Ian Demsky, The (Nashville) Tennessean. This inves- division,” by The Cincinnati Enquirer. Based on the analysis of a database of tigation discovered that out of 229 police pursuits in 2003, 67 percent about 5,500 use-of-force records, this investigation looks at police shoot- violated some police pursuit policy, 37 percent involved damage and ings and bad behavior by officers. An examination of hundreds of citizens’ 10 percent involved injury. In once instance, the suspect involved in complaints over a period of three years reveals that police officers have the pursuit hit another car and was killed after the police observed him been routinely exonerated for misconduct. (2001) taking part in a drug transaction. (2004)

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perform oral sex on them. In one of the first reports I looked at, an officer described having unprotected oral sex performed on him by two women during one trip to a massage parlor. As we left the police building, Adams told me one of the reports he viewed described an officer having sexual intercourse, although seemingly only briefly, with a woman before arresting her. But we had copies of nothing.

Police would not allow us to make our own copies. Courier-Journal The Clevenger Michael They told us to mark what we wanted and they would copy it when they had time. And even what we had seen left open many serious questions: How long had the sexual contact taken place? Was it standard procedure in Louisville? Was it normal in other departments across the country? And why were some officers openly admitting to engaging in sexual contact with prostitutes while others wrote that they made an arrest as soon as they While there have been several prostitution arrests at the Eurospa since 1999, most charges were amended to got the necessary verbal deal for sex? disorderly conduct and one was dismissed. In about half of the police reports documenting arrests inside massage parlors that The Courier-Jour- And in some of the cases where officers described But County Attorney Irv Maze said he didn’t nal reviewed, officers did not mention having sexual the most explicit or prolonged sexual contact, the know about that until police came and talked with contact with masseuses. They negotiated a deal for court cases were dismissed and expunged, with all him and other prosecutors about it in 2002. sex, exchanged money and made an arrest. records being erased. “Everyone kind of had this ashen look on their As we waited for the copies, which were given to face,” Maze said remembering one of the meetings. us in batches every few weeks, Adams and I talked to a ‘Not a pretty world’ “I walk in, I hear about three minutes of the conversa- few Louisville attorneys who represented some of the When we met with prosecutors, the lead attorney tion … and I said that practice is coming to an end. spas and the women who were arrested inside them. handling prostitution cases acknowledged that in At least at our end.” Three of the lawyers claimed their clients told past years some lawyers for the county attorney’s So, the county attorney’s office changed its advice them police were having sex with the women – to office thought sexual contact was necessary for a in July 2002, saying that an offer or agreement of completion – and then arresting them, and that they strong case. sex for money is sufficient evidence, and that sexual had done so for years. The attorneys seemed surprised we did not know this. One attorney had a client who worked at a strip �� club. He said she had filed a complaint with the Police Department saying an officer had arrested her after �� he had sex with her at the club. But she eventually dropped her allegation after her charge of prostitution �� was amended to disorderly conduct. The case was then sealed, which is unusual for a misdemeanor. �� To their credit, police officials provided us with copies of all of their internal reports and then met with us for three lengthy interviews. When Adams �� and I asked police officials why officers were touch- �� ing women and being fondled by prostitutes, their �� answer surprised us. �� They were told to do so. �� While the practice is forbidden in many police �� departments across the country, it was encouraged �� in Jefferson County until two years ago, because �� prosecutors and police believed that a “substantial �� step,” beyond the mere offer or agreement to have �� sex for money, was necessary evidence in a prostitu- �� tion case. �� If this substantial step was making the cases �� stronger, it was not apparent in the outcome of the �� cases. Only a fraction of massage parlor cases ended �� in prostitution convictions. Most women arrested in �� these cases pleaded guilty to the amended charge of �� disorderly conduct or saw their cases dismissed.

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contact was no longer permitted. FACULTY POSITIONS (It wasn’t until our third interview with police and Dozens of indictments were expected in weeks second with prosecutors that both sides brought out following. One attorney representing massage parlors School of Journalism a letter that prosecutors had sent to police in 2002 and owners compared the raids to a “nuclear blast for University of Missouri-Columbia detailing new policies. This reinforced a few lessons: something that would take a lot less power.” Always try to do key interviews face to face and go Magazine Writing Professor back, if you have the time, and do subsequent inter- Jason Riley is The Courier-Journal’s Jefferson The Missouri School of Journalism views. Each one brings more information.) County courts reporter. He was a finalist, with four invites applications and nominations We talked to several criminal justice experts, all of other reporters, for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Public for a tenured or tenure-track position whom said sexual contact is unnecessary and tarnishes Service for “Justice Delayed, Justice Denied,” an in its nationally acclaimed magazine the image of police. investigative piece on Kentucky’s court system. sequence. The position will be filled by And both Chief White, on the job for someone with the potential to be a more than a year, and Maze stressed in KEY DATA AVAILABLE productive researcher. The successful interviews that any sexual contact with a The IRE and NICAR Database Library can provide copies of candidate will teach magazine writing, prostitute is unnecessary, could irreparably key police-related databases. harm a case and damages the reputation of working with publications and engage Every year, police agencies report statistics to the FBI in professional and/or research activity. the Police Department. under the Uniform Crime Reports system. And every year, PhD or ABD required. “We in law enforcement have a higher standard than to act like that,” Maze said. the Database Library obtains and processes the files into Meredith Endowed Chair “Otherwise, we’re no better than the situation ready-to-use data for journalists. Those include: in Service Journalism we’re trying to get.” But the newspaper found that while • A file called Return A, a base table that includes crime The Missouri School of Journalism sexual contact occurred less frequently totals for each of the “index” crimes by agency, usually by invites applications and nominations for after the change in legal advice in 2002, it a tenure-track or professional-practice month. Crimes are broken down into several categories, had not stopped. position in its nationally acclaimed including reports deemed “unfounded,” actual offenses, Lt. Col. Philip Turner, who oversees magazine sequence. The position will offenses cleared by arrest, and clearances of cases involv- be filled by someone with significant criminal investigations, including vice ing juveniles. investigations, for the metro police, told us professional and/or research • The Supplement to Return A database provides greater that while department policy forbids inter- experience in the magazine field who detail on property crimes and includes the dollar values of can teach classes in magazine course or oral sex, it permits sexual contact for investigative purposes. the crimes. Specific types of crimes are given, along with publishing, writing and/or editing, and amounts stolen and recovered. work with publications. Master's degree “We find it most distasteful as to what • Age, Sex and Race files provide the demographics of required. Advanced degree or these detectives are having to go through,” extended experience preferred. Turner said, adding, “it’s not a pretty world” people arrested for all major crimes, by agency. It includes that vice detectives enter in investigations. male and female totals for a variety of different crimes. Race Review of complete applications will Louisville police officials told us it was is given for both juveniles and adults. The crimes are more begin Feb. 1, 2005, and continue until difficult to make arrests inside massage specific than the Supplement to Return A, and include drug the positions are filled. Send letters of parlors without getting naked and, at least offenses, gambling, DUIs, runaways and others. application for Magazine Writing in some situations, allowing the women to • The Supplemental Homicide Report provides more briefly fondle them. Professor or Meredith Endowed Chair detailed information on homicides, including demo- After the project ran, we received in Service Journalism, vitae and a list graphic information about the victim, the offender, and of three references to Anne Colmery, numerous letters and e-mails from people the weapon used. Information in the database includes Missouri School of Journalism, 120 angry both with police and the newspaper, Neff Hall, Columbia, MO 65211 or e- which was running ads for massage parlors age, sex and race information for the offenders and vic- mail application materials to in its sports section. Shortly afterward, The tims, broken down by each homicide. It also provides [email protected] (preferred). Courier-Journal stopped carrying massage the relationship between offenders and victims, and the parlor advertisements where there have been circumstances of the crime. The University of Missouri-Columbia is prostitution convictions. • Arson data provide detailed information on arsons, committed to cultural diversity and As The IRE Journal was going to press, including summary totals by agency. Information includes expects candidates to share in this state and federal authorities began raiding offenses where structures are uninhabited and estimated commitment. MU is an equal dozens of massage parlors and the homes of value of property damage. opportunity/ADA institution and their owners and operators, seizing comput- • The Police database provides information about assaults encourages applications from women ers, records and cash. Authorities also froze and murders of police officers. It includes information and minority candidates. the assets of many of the businesses, owners and employees. Included in the raids were a such as the sex of uniformed and civilian personnel, and The University complies with the local grocery store and karaoke bars police the number of injured and killed officers.While reporting Americans with Disabilities Act. If you believe are linked to the parlors. The raids, is voluntary, this is the closest to complete data covering have a disability and need which included about three dozen search the entire United States for crime statistics. accommodations in the job application warrants, were the culmination of a lengthy Details on these databases can be found at process, contact MU ADA coordinator investigation of criminal syndication and the www.nicar.org/data/fbi/ or by calling the Database Library by phone at 573-884-7278 (V/TTY). massage parlor industry in Louisville, and at 573-884-7711. most likely other cities and states.

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Color-coding the country with red and blue states isn’t the only quirky thing about U.S. elections. Voters vote twice. Some felons can vote when they leave prison, some can’t. Nonprofit groups funnel money into campaigns or lead their own campaigns. While it may not be exactly what the Founding Fathers envisioned, the investigations into election rights and abuses are exactly what they had in mind when they penned the First Amendment.

In calendar year 2004 alone, 527 committees raised more than $350 million. To put that amount in context, that is roughly CAMPAIGN FINANCE the amount raised in the previous three years 527s come of age, wield clout as never before combined. The jump in fund raising was driven by in effort to influence latest presidential election roughly 30 committees that all shared a focus on the presidential election. Together, these groups BY ARON PILHOFER were responsible for close to half the total amount THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY of money raised during the election. Topping the list was “America Coming Together,” the 527 formed by a group of Demo- ection 527 committees have been a part of Jump in fund raising cratic Party loyalists and former Clinton Adminis- American politics for at least the last three Over the four years these groups have been tration officials to work on voter registration and Selection cycles. required to disclose their financial activities, the turnout. ACT raised more than $60 million, and was Election 2004, however, was something totally Center for Public Integrity has identified more different. It was the first presidential election in than 600 that meet the definition of a 527. About a Understanding which 527 committees played a role – perhaps a third of those were active at some point during the CAMPAIGN FINANCE decisive one – in determining the outcome. 2003-04 election cycle. As part of its beat book series, IRE offers Not only did these often-shadowy political And although the cycle saw fewer 527s than “Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter’s Guide groups shatter previous records for fund raising, in the past, the sheer amount of money they raised to Campaign Finance” by Michael A. Weber, but they entered the popular political lexicon was staggering. Aron Pilhofer and Derek Willis. The book as never before. Even the most casual observer Through mid-October (the most recent figures gives an overview of campaign finance at the of politics has heard of 527s such as the Swift available as of this writing) these groups had Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org or America already brought in more than $450 million – far federal and state levels and acts as a guide Coming Together. exceeding the 2002 cycle. When the final tally to navigate the language and practices of And despite efforts to rein them in, it is all but is in, it is likely 527s were responsible for over campaign finance. Order the book by visiting certain these committees will remain a fixture of a half-billion dollars of political spending in the www.ire.org/store/books/campaign.html or our political system for some time to come. last election. calling 573-882-3364.

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just one of a dozen “super” 527s that raised more changed the trajectory of the entire election. KEY DATA AVAILABLE than $10 million for the cycle. The IRE and NICAR Database Library can pro- ACT was formed just two years ago, but has Overt involvement vide copies of key election-related databases. already surpassed the American Federation of State, Although 527s injected themselves into federal The Federal Election Commission’s database County and Municipal Employees to take the top elections in the past – including the 2000 presiden- consists of campaign contribution informa- spot among 527s in money raised. tial race – there has been nothing approaching this tion on all candidates seeking federal office and At least five other presidential 527s raised scale of organization and activity before. on all federal political action committees. The more than $10 million, including the Democratic There’s little mystery about why this is. In 2002, database contains four tables, which include groups Media Fund ($52 million), MoveOn.org the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law information about candidates and committees ($12 million) and the New Democratic Network went into effect. It instituted a ban on so-called soft as well as individual contributor information ($10 million). Two Republican 527s also broke money, the millions in unlimited, virtually unregu- and campaign contributions by PACs. the $10 million mark: Progress for America Voter lated contributions from unions, corporations and Fund ($38 million) and Swift Boat Veterans for individuals that used to flow to the two national Those include: Truth ($12 million). party committees. • Candidates: This data contains information By comparison, two 527 committees raised Between them, the Republican and Democratic about all candidates, including the parties more than $10 million in 2002. national committees raised about a billion dollars they represent, the states, their addresses Beyond the dollars and cents, it was the behav- in soft money between 1998 and 2002. Once that and districts. ior of these committees that has many in the reform source of funds was shut down, much of it flowed • Committee: The committee table contains community concerned. Although 527s by definition into 527 committees. Many of the top contributors information about the committee, includ- are supposed to be engaged in nonfederal politi- to 527s were longtime donors of soft money. ing the treasurer’s name and address. Fields cal activities, these 30 or so groups were clearly The Federal Election Commission did place include party and interest. targeting their messages and activities at the race some new restrictions on 527s starting with the for the White House. 2006 cycle. The rules say if the majority of a • Contributors: This data contains informa- The Democratic groups ACT and the Media committee’s activities are designed to influence a tion about the contributors, including their Fund, for example, spent more than $100 million federal election, it is by definition a federal com- names, occupations, cities and the amounts combined on voter registration activities and get- mittee and, therefore, must abide by federal rules and dates contributed. out-the-vote advertising targeting several battle- and limitations. • Political action: This data contains informa- ground states critical to the Democrats. There are, however, any number of ways to get tion about the political action committees On the other side of the ledger, Progress for around these limitations and it remains to be seen that have contributed. Fields include donor America Voter Fund spent its money on ads in how effective the new rules are. It is likely the Fed- ID, amendment, report, and information many of those same states either criticizing U.S. eral Election Commission or even the courts may about the contribution type. Sen. John Kerry or promoting the policies of take up the issue in the future. Several lawmakers, Details on these datasets can be found at President Bush. including Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold, www.ire.org/datalibrary/databases/feccc/ or by But it was probably the Swift Boat Veterans who were the primary authors of the recent cam- who made the biggest splash. Their relatively paign finance reform law, have already moved to calling the Database Library at 573-884-7711. small expenditure on ads – initially just $500,000 introduce legislation to further rein in 527s. – that criticized Kerry’s military record generated It is worth noting that even if these reform These groups, which are responsible for about many more times that amount in publicity for the measures are successful, 527s will not go away. half the money raised in 2003-04, will be with us group. All of these efforts are directed at the 30 or so regardless of what happens in Congress, the courts The accusations made by group members committees that are overtly involving themselves in or at the FEC. became a major news story at a time when Kerry federal elections. The remaining 527s are engaged was starting to pull away from Bush in the polls. in more generic political activities, or focus on state Aron Pilhofer is database editor at the Center Some political observers say the group’s attacks or local elections. for Public Integrity and former director of IRE’s Campaign Finance Information Center. 527s explained By now, you would be hard pressed to find a journalist who has not heard in the same sense as a charity, a business league or an educational group, even about 527 committees. However, there is still a great deal of misunderstand- though many of them are overtly political and partisan. ing about what these groups are, and how they are allowed to operate. What’s left are the 527s – groups that receive tax-exempt status under Even the term “527 committee” is misleading, since, technically speaking, Section 527, but which operate in such a way as to avoid regulation by state, all political committees – from the Democratic National Committee to local and federal elections authorities. local dog catchers to 527s themselves – receive tax-exempt status under Getting the drop on these groups can be difficult. They file their disclosure Section 527 of the tax code, from which the name comes. forms with the IRS and not with the FEC. However, because of the way the In fact, the amorphous, adaptable nature of 527s can make it sometimes law has been interpreted and misinterpreted, there are literally thousands easier to describe what these groups are not rather than what they are. of state, local and even some federal committees that have filed erroneously By definition, any committee that is already required to file regular reports with the IRS. with a state or federal elections authority is exempt from the 527 regula- The center has been vetting these committees, and has been data- tion. That includes all federal, state and local candidate committees, party basing the financial disclosure forms filed by the true 527s dating back organizations and political action committees. to 2000. They are searchable a number of ways at the center’s Web site Section 527 committees also are not a 501c-type nonprofit organization (www.publicintegrity.org/527).

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question can depend on who is asking and how the question is posed. “It could be cultural, or they don’t see them- FELONS selves in any one category,” said Claudette Bennett, Attempts to purge criminals from rolls chief of the racial statistics branch for the U.S. Census Bureau. lead to odd racial disparity in Florida Blacks from Cuba might report their race as black on one form and Hispanic on another. His- BY CHRIS DAVIS AND MATTHEW DOIG panics also may think of themselves as one race, SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE but appear to bureaucrats recording demographic information to be another.

uring the 2000 presidential election, Florida’s panics would make up less than 1 percent of the Dueling databases election officials botched an attempt to purge felon list. Initially, the story didn’t seem to get much reac- felonsD from the state’s voter rolls. Thousands of The lack of Hispanics seemed significant con- tion. The Secretary of State conceded that Hispan- people who had never committed a crime, but had sidering the politics of the state. South Florida’s ics could have been disproportionately left off the the same name or birthday as a convicted felon, powerful Cuban-American voting block has tradi- list because their race is more difficult to classify. were erroneously placed on the felon list. Because tionally been a staunch supporter of the Republican But Secretary of State Hood said she had no plans state law forbids felons from voting, the mistake Party. A number of the state’s Republican politi- to investigate how the list ended up so flawed. meant that even the innocent people on the list were cians, including Gov. Jeb Bush, have benefited There was no reason, Hood said, to delay the use denied the right to vote. from the strong support of the Cuban-American of the list to determine what had happened. So when state officials rolled out the 2004 community. That changed when New York Times reporter version of Florida’s felon database, news organi- We wondered whether Florida’s Hispanics were Ford Fessenden saw our story and decided to follow zations around the country lined up to get a copy less likely to register to vote or were under-rep- up on it. Fessenden reported that the state’s data- and analyze the results. But resented in the state’s prison base of convicted felons doesn’t include Hispanic Secretary of State Glenda Hood, The Florida population. To test some of our as a race category. Instead, Hispanics recorded citing privacy concerns, went to felons purge list theories, we cobbled together in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement court to fight the release of the statistics from the state Depart- database are listed as white. list. A judge later ruled that the TOTAL 47,763 ment of Corrections, Division That flaw guaranteed most Hispanics would list had to be made available to RACE of Elections and the U.S. be left off the voter purge list because their race the public. White 24,197 Census Bureau. wouldn’t match from the felon database to the It took one day for the press Black 22,084 It turned out that Hispanics voter database. to find that the mistakes had been Hispanic 61 make up about 11 percent of The next day, the state announced it was scrap- repeated. Other 1,421 the state’s voting-age popula- ping the list because of the missing Hispanics. First, The Miami Herald PARTY AFFILIATION tion, 11 percent of the prison Florida has spent millions on three separate reported that more than 2,000 Democrat 28,025 population and 11 percent of attempts to purge felons from its voter rolls. The of the 48,000 felons had been Republican 9,521 registered voters. When we ran latest failed attempt cost more than $2 million. granted clemency, a process that the same numbers for whites It also cost Florida election officials credibility Other 10,217 restores the right to vote. Other and African-Americans, the among many state residents who have been suspi- papers, including the Sarasota results were similar to what cious of the state’s voting process since the 2000 Herald-Tribune, interviewed local ex-felons who was found on the felon list. That obviously wasn’t election. had been given clemency, had voted for years and the case for Hispanics, so we began to suspect there were surprised to learn they might be prevented was a serious flaw with the state’s list. from voting. We decided to do one more test to make sure State officials quelled the controversy by insist- Hispanics weren’t hidden on the list under another ing their list was only a “potential” purge list. race category, including one with a few thousand They said that once county election supervisors people who were classified as “other.” We pulled a identified those who had been granted clemency, list of traditional Hispanic surnames off the Inter- they would be removed from the list and still be net and got help from a Hispanic colleague in the allowed to vote. newsroom to sample the purge list. We used a random sample of 200 names off Focus on the list the purge list and determined that 3 percent of the Once the list went public, everyone’s attention names might be Hispanic – still far less than we was focused on who should not have been added to would expect to see. the purge list. But there was something else about During our reporting, it became clear that His- the list that didn’t seem right to us. panics were a difficult group to classify by race. The felon list included a race category that The problem comes for Hispanics who may have identified roughly 24,000 people classified as reported their race one way to the elections office white and 22,000 as black. Only 61 were consid- and another way to the police. ered Hispanic. U.S. Census experts told us that Hispanics In a state with a Hispanic population that have a more difficult time fitting themselves into Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is among those politicians who approached 20 percent, it seemed odd that His- a neat racial category. How they answer the race have benefited from strong Hispannic support.

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The missing Hispanic felons renewed concerns Tipsheets from the that came up after the voter purge in 2000 when thousands of people were wrongly identified as RESOURCE CENTER To get fresh ideas for covering the elec- felons because of problems in the way the state • No. 2053: “Six degrees of separation: carried out its matching process. The vast majority tion aftermath, ongoing campaign finance Tools for social network analysis in the of voters on that list and on the proposed list this questions and voting problems, check out newsroom,” by Sarah Cohen, The Wash- year were Democrats. Black voters made up nearly these tipsheets in the IRE Resource Center ington Post. This tipsheet discusses social half the list this year. (www.ire.org/resourcecenter). network analysis as used in the newsroom If there is a lesson we learned from our experi- A selection from the library is below: and how to use it to analyze campaign ence on this story, it’s to not ignore the basics. It contributions, gang members and ter- • No. 2210: “Covering Elections and Campaign didn’t take any brilliant algorithms or complex data rorists. Social network analysis can help Finance,” by Derek Willis, Center for Public merges to discover this story. show connections between people or We used the simplest tool offered by Excel and Integrity. This tipsheet gives information on companies where connections might not Access. We counted. “527 committees” and some story sugges- seem obvious. (2004) We used the same types of tools we use to check tions. It also includes a brochure from the the accuracy of our own database projects: sorting Center of Public Integrity. (2004) • No. 1913: “Money and politics tipsheet,” columns to look for odd entries and counting up • No. 2163: “Cash Correlation,” by Jonathan by Tom Hamburger, The Wall Street Journal. how many widgets are in different columns to make Salant, Bloomberg News. Salant briefly Hamburger provides a comprehensive list sure there aren’t blatant errors. of sources for campaign finance informa- In this case, counting the race column uncov- describes five Web sites that offer detailed tion. With this tipsheet you can learn to ered major errors in a database that could have kept information related to different aspects of track contributions to candidates and nearly 50,000 people from voting. campaign finances. The Web sites help to Finding the error was the easy part. We spent answer: how to match campaign contribu- their parties, chronicle the activities of the next month digging through thousands of tions to votes won, how to track patterns of lobbyists and find out who is buying ads documents in search of exactly where the state local companies making contributions and and in which market. (2003) went wrong. how fund-raisers expand their bases. (2004) • No. 1918: “Finding stories in local cam- In contracts and e-mails between state election • No. 2079: “State Data: Making it Work for paign finance data,” by Dave Gulliver, officials and private businesses that negotiated with The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot. Gulliver runs the state to create the felon purge list, we discov- You,” by Kevin Corcoran, The Indianapolis ered that former election chief Clay Roberts had Star. This guide provides a list of useful Web reporters through various stages of writing given the order that ultimately kept Hispanics off sites from where you can find information a campaign finance story, from building a the list. He made a last-minute decision to require on databases for state and local government campaign finance database to analyz- an exact race match between the state’s list of (taxes, finances, salaries, etc.). This tipsheet ing the data to find stories. The tipsheet felons and its list of registered voters. has examples on how to analyze databases includes Web sites to use for research. Documents also showed Accenture, the private (campaign finance, property taxes, etc.) by (2003) company that helped the state create the 2004 list, making spreadsheets. It also provides tips on cautioned Roberts and his staff against making such • No. 1917: “Checking for illegal campaign how to get started on making spreadsheets activity,” by Dee Hall, Wisconsin State Jour- a crucial change at the last minute. as well as obtaining data. (2004) We also interviewed the state’s data experts who nal. Hall gives tips on looking for illegal helped create the felon purge list and found they • No. 2018: “Downloading and analyzing activities in campaigns. Many of them are knew all along that race classification problems campaign finance data,” by Wendell Cochran, useful for people new to the beat and some could lead to fewer Hispanics on the purge list. American University. This tipsheet looks at for experienced hands as well. (2003) We talked to employees of ChoicePoint, the four major sites that provide Federal Elec- • No. 1919: “Resource guide to state and private company that created the purge list before tion Commission data for downloading. They local campaign finance data,” by Mike the 2000 election. The company told us it had include the Federal Election Commission, Weber. This tipsheet directs reporters warned state election officials that using race to Politicalmoneyline.com and the American through the use of newly available data- match felons and registered voters would cause University Campaign Finance Site. (2004) problems for the same reason it caused problems bases that contain data about state and in the current list. • No. 2026: “Tracking 527 Committees,” by local campaign financing. The tipsheet lists At least one data expert with the division of Derek Willis, Center for Public Integrity. This several Web sites, including some dealing elections told us that he forgot to pass on his con- tipsheet covers everything a reporter could with individual cities that are useful when cerns about using race in the matching process to need to know about how to cover 527 com- writing about this topic. (2003) his supervisors. mittees. Willis explains what 527s are and Ultimately, Hood launched an investigation into how to file to obtain the files. (2004) • No. 1498: “Electronic Disclosure of State the creation of the list to determine where things Campaign Finance & Lobbying Data,” by • No. 2048: “Campaign finance resources,” by went wrong. Her inspector general is conducting Bob Biersack, Federal Election Commis- Ken McCall, Dayton Daily News. This tipsheet the review, which has yet to be completed. sion. This tipsheet provides state Web provides a list of sources for information sites where reporters can find campaign about campaign finance. The sources are split Chris Davis and Matthew Doig make up the finance data. (2002) investigative projects team at the Sarasota into two camps: nonprofit sources (including Herald-Tribune. government) and for-profit sources. (2004)

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had fallen out. It turned out that his change was due to a typo – no small problem in these datasets. He had REGISTRATION updated his New York registration in March 2004. The data entry person misread his date of birth as Snowbirds’ double voting demonstrates 1910, instead of 1920. That no longer matched the vulnerability of voting’s honor system date of birth on his Florida registration. Of course, an exact match only works if all the BY RUSS BUETTNER information is entered correctly in both places. I (NEW YORK) DAILY NEWS had fiddled with less restrictive matches, including soundex, but they produced too much garbage. Still, mixed with the garbage were likely solid dd to chads, sloppy purges and voting dead subway conductors, have homes in both Florida hits that I let go. Some fairly unique names that people one more vulnerability in the nation’s and New York. Thousands more move between the were just a letter off, but listing the same birth Aelection systems – the ease with which one person two states every year. date, showed up as voting in both states in the 2000 can be counted twice. presidential election. Registering and voting in more than one state Dual registrations I spent several days looking for other expla- is the perfect crime. Election officials don’t check I was confident I had a substantial story about nations of what I was seeing. I was especially whether new registrants are already registered in people registered in two states, which I estimated concerned about common names. It seemed con- another state. And once someone is registered, there to be about 46,000 people. But I wasn’t sure I had ceivable there could be two John Smiths born on is no mechanism to prevent, or even detect, whether any examples of double voting because I still didn’t the same day. that person votes twice in a national election. have history data on city voters. What I did have Academics and government analysts have writ- I recently discovered thousands of people left a door open to check for isolated examples. ten papers on name matching. Nothing in the ones registered to vote in both Florida and New York The 2003 city data showed the year last voted. I I read gave me cause for confidence or concern. City. Hundreds of them had voted in both states queried my new table of dual registrations for cases But a Census Bureau database I stumbled upon for the same election. The first step toward that in which the year last voted in the city matched a offered some comfort. It includes 88,799 surnames finding came when – while pursuing another story year that person had also voted in Florida. I printed and their estimated frequencies within the country. – I stumbled upon Florida’s newly created statewide out a couple of dozen names and Florida voting For example, Smith remains the most common last voter registration database. I already had similar histories and headed for the Manhattan office of name, with 1 percent of the population sharing that data for New York City. the city Board of Elections. name. It seemed like a match made in heaven. Thou- Possibly the first or second name I typed into the The bureau estimates that 90 percent of the sands of New Yorkers, from Donald Trump to public terminal – when compared to my printout of population has one of the names on the list. Of his Florida votes – matched 2002 dates exactly. So my 46,000 hits, there were 7,223 last names, with did the dates from 2000, 1998, 1996, all the way perfect matches in both states that didn’t appear on back to 1988. This man had been counted twice the Census list – names like Huerkamp, Vacalopou- �� seven times. He voted via absentee ballot in one los, Hjardemaal, Mangiafridda, Rabindranauth, and �� state and visited the polls in the other. Tovar-Riezgo. I called some of the double voters. Some said Moreover, the distribution of common names they had double voted, but said it was an accident within the 46,000 was roughly the same as within �� caused by confusion during their annual winter the larger population. In the nation as a whole, 25 �� migration. Some �� thought they were CHECK OUT UPLINK �� entitled. Some hung There were several voting and campaign-related stories in 2004 issues �� up on me. of Uplink, the newsletter of the National Institute for Computer-Assisted �� When I told that Reporting (www.ire.org/store/periodicals.html). Among them: �� first man what I • “Getting a handle on federal campaign cash,” by Aron Pilhofer, the Center �� was looking into, he for Public Integrity. Pilhofer gives great advice on reading campaign �� said, “That’s illegal.” finance data. He discusses the rising popularity of 527s, which don’t file �� When I told him that �� he had done it, he with either federal or state election regulatory agencies. Instead, they file �� said, “I have to go with the IRS. (May-June 2004) �� now.” • “Using CAR to cover the vote,” by Megan Clarke, IRE and NICAR. Clarke �� When the updated highlights several election stories that used computer-assisted report- �� NYC data arrived, ing to cover voter registration polls, election winners by precinct, voter ORDER TODAY! I ran a program to turnout, and debunking myths about the political preferences of voters �� check for new hits and of a certain age and demographic. (May-June 2004) �� tag the 2003 hits that • “Mapping candidate support,” by Ron Campbell, The Orange County �� were no longer active. �� Register. Campbell tells how he used Federal Election Commission cam- The 46,000 number �� paign contribution data and ArcView to show where the 2004 presidential barely budged. But �� campaigns were drawing support. (September-October 2004) our first man’s name

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percent of the population has one of the 200 most surnames in the country would leave 419 apparent common names, according to the Census Bureau. double voters. THE MECHANICS OF Among the 46,000, 26 percent had one of those 200 I addressed this by characterizing the double MATCHING VOTERS most common names. vote number as a range of 400 to 1,000. Those The Florida data arrived in 134 text files It seemed clear that this was a large-scale prob- common name matches aren’t necessarily bad – a registration file and a history file for lem that couldn’t be explained away by an over- hits, but I felt we needed to address the issue each of 67 counties. Unpacked, those representation of common names. I also asked for somehow. files totaled about seven gigabytes. a reality check from Aristotle Industries, which I would have preferred to use SQL maintains voter registration data from all 50 states. Huge vulnerability Server, simply because it handles large Based on similar work they had done, Aristotle’s Our story on August 21 initially failed to move Michael Callopy thought my number sounded well the city Board of Elections. During an open meeting files better than FoxPro or Access. My within reason. And it became clear nothing was in that week, board members, who are a collection of paper doesn’t actually own the soft- place to prevent it. party loyalists appointed by the local Democratic ware or a data server. But my generous and Republican leadership, said they didn’t care if colleague Bob Port has both at home The honor system New Yorkers also were registered elsewhere. and lets me use them via the Internet. Spokespersons for the Florida Secretary of State Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood asked Unfortunately, Bob was upgrading his and the New York State Board of Elections told me the FBI and the U.S. Election Assistance Commis- server when I began this endeavor. that their respective laws banned being registered sion for help investigating. She also established I didn’t have space on my hard drive in more than one place. The New York registration a data swap with the nonplussed city Board of to run a program that would leave all card states plainly that to register, “You must not Elections. claim the right to vote elsewhere.” The Florida card New York election officials shifted their posi- the text files in place, import them into says: “You must not claim the right to vote in any tions on the legality of registering in more than new tables, and modify and index the other state or county.” one spot. Their attorneys decided state law only tables. So, I wrote a program in FoxPro The efforts to prevent people from register- applies to people registered in two places within that imported each county registration ing in multiple states employ, however, at best a the state. They don’t believe they have jurisdiction table, deleting the underlying text files backdoor approach. If a new registrant writes the to enforce the law against people also registered in as it went. Rather than create a huge last address where he or she was registered on a other states. And they believe they must have a case statewide registration table, it created new registration, the new jurisdiction is supposed of double voting to prove intent. one with just the fields I would even- to notify the old one. Also, federal law requires I’ve been reporting on other double voters. tually join with the NYC data. The rest election supervisors to match their data against Some suspect a fraud was committed in their name, Postal Service change-of-address files and purge others could be clerical errors made possible by remained in separate county tables. A voters it shows have moved elsewhere. having persons on the rolls who have long since second program dumped the five field Election officials admitted they don’t even moved out of state. history files into a single statewide table, explore whether people are registered and voting I also received a call from a Library of Congress while deleting the text files as it went. in other states. A refrain I repeatedly heard began: researcher who had been asked to explore whether I only had 2003 data for New York “When people register to vote, they make certain what I did could be duplicated on a national level. City, and it didn’t include history data on affirmations …” The integrity of voter registration It’s probably not realistic, and that goes to the elections in which each registrant voted. rolls, and consequently, of the vote count, relies heart of the matter. Until there is a national voter I knew I would need updated data if this largely on the honor system. registration file with a unique identifier assigned worked out. But I wanted a hint of what The final computer step was to compare the to each of us, this huge vulnerability to error and voting histories in both states for those 46,000 abuse will remain intact. it might yield before I spent $350. matches. It yielded 1,049 apparent double votes, Before Florida and New York agreed to share I wrote another program to join the but I don’t think that number reliably captures the data, we received numerous requests from prosecu- Florida data with the 2003 New York phenomenon. There are two reasons, one of which tors and election supervisors for our list of matched City data, based on an exact match of suggests the number could be larger, and one that registrations and double voters. We politely sug- last name, date of birth, the first three could make it smaller. gested they do their own work. characters of the first name, gender, and, First, the history files I have are no longer So far, prosecutors in Florida are the only ones where supplied, middle initials. I went complete for any election because so many to investigate, and they have only gone after people back and hand-checked cases where the people’s records are purged or changed after each we named by way of example. One Florida prosecu- entire first name didn’t match exactly. election. For example, my history files for the tor expects to file charges within weeks. Another November 2000 election no longer have data on said he had decided to give our first man – counted Matching 10.7 million Florida voters one million votes cast in Florida and 300,000 in twice seven times – a pass because he’s “probably against 3.7 million New York City voters New York City. I’m not sure a complete statewide not as sharp as he once was.” yielded 46,000 people apparently file for Florida exists since the database was only “There definitely was a violation there,” said registered in both states. About 1,700 recently created. Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney in of those hits were people who listed Second, the common name phenomenon was Pinellas and Pasco counties. “But I think based their address in one state, where they more prevalent in the match of double voting. on his age and the circumstances this was the best were also registered to vote, as a mail- Among that group of 1,049, about 67 percent had way to handle it.” ing address for absentee ballots from one of the 200 most common surnames in the coun- the other state. I got approval to buy try, far greater than the 25 percent in the general Russ Buettner is a member of the investigations population. Eliminating the 100 most common team at the (New York) Daily News. updated city data.

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city attorney all launched investigations into how the center spent taxpayer money. Shelley returned $125,000 from his campaign POLITICS account to the state general fund, and placed the $80,000 in escrow pending the outcome of the elec- State grant for nonprofit community center tions officials’ review. The state controller’s office may have found way into campaign coffers demanded the return of the remaining grant money from the center, and through a later audit withdrew BY VANESSA HUA AND CHRISTIAN BERTHELSEN as much as $15 million in funding for community SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE projects that had been earmarked by legislators. It was a simple story, one that evolved not from database analysis or deep background political ut in the western edge of San Francisco sits a from contributing to political campaigns. sources, but from a frequently overlooked, yet dilapidated shack of a city-owned building, its In a series of stories published beginning in fruitful, method of gathering information: talking to Ofront door locked and its gate shut tight. August, the San Francisco Chronicle detailed people in the community, to sources who fall outside From the outside, you’d never know it housed a how the nonprofit group made payments from the of traditional institutions. This was a people-driven nonprofit group that has received nearly $700,000 grant money to three individuals and two compa- story – even when they were simply providing docu- in city and state funding over the past five years to nies – who then made closely timed donations to ments as evidence to further the reporting. And it got assist immigrants. Shelley’s successful 2002 campaign for California a key assist along the way from the rarest of sources: Thus began what turned into one of the biggest secretary of state. an official whose only agenda was to protect the campaign finance investigations in California in We also found the center received nearly public interest, and was willing to use the power of recent memory. As it turned out, $125,000 of the $200,000 from the city of San Francisco for minimal his office to get to the bottom of what happened. $500,000 in state grant money the center received services, and its founder put friends and associates appears to have wound up back in the political cam- on the nonprofit’s payroll. Thin documentation paign account of the politician who put it in the state And, we found an additional $80,000 in suspect The story got its start when Vanessa Hua was budget to begin with – Kevin Shelley, the former donations to Shelley’s campaign fund that appear to talking to a contact in San Francisco’s Chinese- majority leader of the California State Assembly, have originated from real estate transactions involv- American community in June. Why, this person who is now secretary of state. ing the director of the nonprofit group. asked, did this group get hundreds of thousands It is illegal to hide the true source of campaign In the days and weeks that followed, the FBI of dollars in public funding, when the center was contributions by channeling money through other and federal prosecutors, state attorney general and rarely open, provided few services and never built donors, and it is illegal to use taxpayer money for election regulators, the state Fair Political Prac- the new facility that it had received a state grant to political campaigns. Federal law also prohibits tices Commission, the state Department of Real construct? What’s more, the person said, there was charities with tax-exempt status, like the center, Estate, a state legislative audit committee and the a rumor that some of the money had flowed back to Shelley’s campaign fund. It was Shelley who, in 2000, when the state’s �� coffers were flush with cash from the booming �� economy, earmarked $500,000 for the San Francisco �� Neighbors’ Resource Center. Founded by Julie Lee – a Shelley political supporter, major political fund- �� raiser, and real estate agent – the center was supposed to serve Asian immigrants. �� After Hua found the grant’s line item in the 2000 budget, she called Christian Berthelsen, a reporter in �� the Chronicle’s statehouse bureau in Sacramento. Berthelsen filed a state Public Records Act �� request with the Departments of Parks and Recreation, asking for the file containing the grant �� application. He then called the state controller’s office to get a copy of the canceled check that went �� to the group. But the documents only raised more questions �� about the grant. The state is supposed to issue �� checks to nonprofits as reimbursement only after �� the organization submits an invoice for work already �� completed. Yet, the center received the full amount �� of its grant after submitting what was purported to �� be an “invoice” with little supporting documentation – including line-item expenses that were all rounded off to zero. Hua’s reporting in San Francisco showed that the center had not even applied for certain city construction permits for which it had supposedly �� paid.

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Armed with the check, the thin documentation which contained blueprints for the center. LESSONS LEARNED in the grant application – and the fact that there was Looking at real estate records, Hua found that In this investigation, we learned a number of no new building – Berthelsen raised questions about Lee and her family owned millions of dollars lessons: the grant with officials at the state controller’s office. worth of residential and commercial real estate in • Talk to nontraditional sources. Not everyone The officials agreed that the case seemed unusual, the Bay Area. She also began pulling lawsuits filed has a story to tell, but some do. The law of aver- and decided to conduct an audit – including sub- by and against Lee, mostly related to her real estate ages says the more people you talk to, the more poenaing the center’s bank records to see where the business. A picture of Lee began to emerge. worthwhile stories you’ll hear. money went. The next step was to begin contacting former Meanwhile, Hua looked at the center’s 990 employees of the center, finding their phone num- • Emphasize the public value. Sources may federal tax forms for 2000, 2001, and 2002 – all bers through voter registration records and online not want to assist reporters writing negative the years available – and found no record of the directories. The workers claimed the center was stories, but if you point out the public interest $500,000 grant, which raised suspicions that the legitimate. – rather than the prurient interest – of what center was possibly concealing its grant. By cross-checking names associated with the you’re doing, it often persuades them to She also began to compile a paper trail of the center with community sources and former allies cooperate. This especially helps when talking nonprofit organization. First, she contacted the city of Lee, Hua learned that some of the nonprofit’s to officials with subpoena power who have the controller’s office, which was helpful in determin- employees had connections with Lee. In one case, ability to advance your story beyond what is in ing which city agencies had given how much to the one employee was a former girlfriend of Lee’s son, the public record. nonprofit. and another woman on the payroll was a longtime • Gather all the public records you can find. Next, she filed records requests with the employee in her real estate and financial services You never know what names and dealings Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, office. the Department of Building Inspection, the Fire As the controllers’ audit advanced, state will become important in the course of the Department, and the Real Estate Division. In these officials grew more suspicious. They concluded investigation. Create a running timeline and files, she found board member lists, proposals, that the invoice submitted in support of the grant list of characters to keep track of information. board meeting minutes, invoices with the names application was nothing more than an estimate Sort people by the relationship they have to of employees, contracts, and other information that – if that – and began to question the state parks your main characters. Figure out who will be would prove useful later in the investigation. department’s oversight of the entire grant-letting friendly, neutral, and hostile sources – and process, which totaled $110 million in 2001. interview them in that order. More suspicious But the transaction records obtained from the • Real estate records can reveal personal relation- To keep track of all the information, Hua created bank delivered the biggest blow. ships between seemingly disparate parties. a timeline of important dates of the nonprofit and Though the checks to the center’s contractors bore kept a list of names of people and their relationship memos that the payments were for services such as to the nonprofit’s founder Lee. “project management” and “consultant fees,” a A check of the state’s campaign finance database She also turned up instances in the files for check of the payee’s names found that five of them – a useful public record tool, maintained by the office other potential places to look for paper, such as the were also donors to Shelley’s campaign. Further, of none other than Kevin Shelley – showed that the Mayor’s Office of Community Development – which the donations were in nearly identical amounts, and donors had never before donated to Shelley, or any awarded $30,000 to the nonprofit, under a different occurred within weeks – and in some cases, days – of state-level political campaign for that matter. name – and a file at the Department of Planning their receiving the money from the center. The donors declined comment. Lee dropped off a stack of blueprints at the Chronicle, with a note saying she was going out of town and was too busy to meet. Shelley left a voice mail with Berthelsen late Friday afternoon, before the story was to be published on Sunday, saying: “If this sequence of events is true, very frankly I’m disappointed and more than outraged.” Editors Pati Poblete, Chuck Finnie and Ken Conner helped shape the story, and Jennifer Thelen wrote a headline that got every reader’s attention:

Kine Kepka San Francisco Chronicle Francisco San Kepka Kine “Secretary of State Shelley received dubious donations.” A design team composed of Frank Mina, John Blanchard and Nan Bisher assembled an eye-catch- ing visual package – a picture of Shelley, a stack of cash and a timeline showing the close correlation between payments from the center and donations to the campaign fund. From that, dozens of other stories poured forth, with help from reporters Todd Wallack, Bill Wallace, Lance Williams, Mark Martin and Greg Lucas, and editors Steve Proctor, Jim Brewer and Paul Feist. The reports included details on Lee’s real estate deals, federal voter funds funding contracts for those close The San Francisco Neighbors’ Resource Center was supposed to serve Asian immigrants, but sits closed despite to the campaign and the shoddy oversight of state large government grants. disbursements.

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Through it all, one question has endured: Did in heavy contact with Lee during a time when the donors said his client is prepared to testify that he he know? checks were coming in. was acting as an intermediary and following instruc- In Shelley’s defense, he has said he did not, and Shelley has acknowledged that Lee personally tions when he made the contribution. So far, Lee has nothing has emerged to prove otherwise. But there handed him at least some of the checks. And given maintained her silence. have been some alarming revelations. For one thing, the size of the checks – $10,000, $20,000, $25,000, Shelley played the biggest fund-raising role on his $50,000 – it is hard to imagine they didn’t get his Vanessa Hua covers race and ethnicity, with a focus own campaign team, and sources have said he was attention. on Asian-American issues. Christian Berthelsen is a At the time of this writing, the federal grand jury statehouse reporter focusing on campaign finance Stories from the hearings are about to begin. A lawyer for one of the and the lobbying industry. RESOURCE CENTER The 2004 presidential election may be decided, but questions on campaign finance disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and finance and voting continue to puzzle many. Here are some relevant stories analyses done by the Center for Responsive Politics to build a database on from the IRE Resource Center (www.ire.org/resourcecenter) to help with the freshman House members. (2003) your political investigation. • Story No. 19453: “State Secrets: An investigation of political party money • Story No. 21357: “The Bush money machine: Fundraising rewards,” by in the states,” by the Center for Public Integrity. This investigation looked at Thomas B. Edsall, Sarah Cohen and James V. Grimaldi, The Washington Post. the campaign finance records of the Democratic and Republican state party This investigative series reveals the campaign fund-raising practices of committees. In total for the 2000 election cycle, the committees raised $570 President George W. Bush’s top contributors, some of whom found ways million, and nearly half of that money (46 percent) came in the form of “soft to bypass contribution limits to donate large sums toward his re-elec- money” transfers from national party organizations. (2002) tion campaign. Some contributors to his 2000 campaign now hold White • Story No: 17438: “Influence market: Industries that backed Bush are now House positions. (2004) seeking return on investment,” by Tom Hamburger, Laurie McGinley and • Story No. 21342: “Dead Lake residents cast 2003 ballots,” by Brendan David S. Cloud, The Wall Street Journal. In the 2000 presidential election, O’Shaughnessy, The Times (Munster, Ind.). This monthlong investigation donors contributed $314 million to the Bush campaign and the Republi- used a cross-referencing database to check voting records and Social can National Committee, with more than 80 percent of the contributions Security death records. The reporter uncovered thousands of deceased coming from corporations or their employees. This investigation looks at registered voters, with about 50,000 names that should be purged from the relationship between large industries and Washington politics, with the county database. (2004) many industries lobbying for policies and concessions as an “investment • Story No. 21301: “Making elections fair to minorities,” by Scott Fallon return.” (2001) and Benjamin Lesser, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.). This investigation used • Story No. 18316: “The secrets of recruiting,” by Louis Jacobson, The National Census block data and voting records to reveal racially polarized voting in Journal. Jacobson reports on the strategies and tactics political parties use the Teaneck, N.J., community, raising question about whether minorities to find congressional candidates. The article features 17 inside tips on what receive fair representation in government. (2004) a political party should and should not do in capturing a congressional • Story No. 21033: “Voter Fraud,” by Steve Patterson, Post-Tribune (Gary, seat. (2001) Ind.). This investigation discovered numerous mishaps in the voting • Story No. 18798: “The investors,” The Wall Street Journal staff. In this series, registration process, with deceased still registered and vacant lots and reporters name the top 10 industries contributing money to President abandoned houses listed as voters’ addresses. The story also describes George W. Bush’s 2000 election campaign, with airlines scoring first, followed how county officials, including the police chief and a state representative, by oil and gas, banks and the credit card industry. The articles examine “the cast illegal votes. (2003) influence of money and political connections on policy decisions during the • Story No. 20976: “Some donors get new posts,” by Nancy Cook Lauer, Tal- first year of the Bush administration,” finding that “industries that backed lahassee Democrat. The investigation found that contributors to Gov. Jeb Bush are now seeking return on their investment.” (2001) Bush’s campaign and the Republican Party of Florida were far more likely • Story No. 18807: “Atlanta city government corruption,” by Richard Whitt to get plum appointments to the state’s powerful boards and commis- and Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mayor Bill Campbell and his sions during the Bush tenure than those who contributed to the Florida closest associates had been committing bribery, fraud and racketeering, this Democratic Party. (2003) yearlong investigation found. Reporters found links between city contracts • Story No. 20765: “Windfalls of war: U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghani- and political contributions, efforts to collect outside money and accepting stan,” by the Center for Public Integrity staff. In the past two years, more illegal campaign contributions. As a result of this investigation, Campbell than 70 American companies and individuals received up to $8 billion in later received a federal indictment. (2001) contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan. This report looks at the com- • Story No. 17033: “Election Day became a nightmare,” by The Wall Street Jour- panies in detail, naming their campaign contributions and government nal staff. A five-part series on America’s voting system reveals: the loopholes ties. For instance, since 1990, the top 10 contractors have contributed in the voting system such as lack of resources; limited polling hours; how $11 million to national political parties, candidates and political action the process deters minorities; counting problems; technological problems; committees. (2003) and the role “brokers” play. (2000) • Story No. 20633: “Freshmen fund raising,” by Jonathan D. Salant, The Asso- • Story No. 17134: “Unions pull out stops for election,” by Jeff Archer, Educa- ciated Press. A computer-assisted analysis of political action committee tion Week. This investigation, published in three stories, highlights teachers’ contributions to U.S. House of Representatives freshmen found that the unions involvement in the 2000 presidential campaign. Archer describes first-year lawmakers received more money from special interests while how the National Education Association and the American Federation of in office than during their election campaigns. Salant used campaign Teachers are giving large soft-money contributions. (2000)

40 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 41 FEATURES FEATURES

FOI Report ��

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 tankers are commonly found at municipal drink- These unique seminars, taught tanks, lock their gates, screen their employees, or ing water and sewage treatment utilities. It was by IRE and NICAR’s experts, train take even the most basic security measures. Why? also one of the earliest chemical weapons used in journalists to acquire electronic Industry has lobbied against it. World War I. information, use spreadsheets In November 1999, a front-page series in The and databases to analyze the Hiding the dangers Washington Post exposed a pattern of lax safety information and to translate that While government and industry say they want in chlorine handling at the Blue Plains sewage information into high-impact to protect the public against terrorism, they have treatment plant a few miles south of the U.S. flunked the sincerity test. They have left the public Capitol. A leak or spill from Blue Plains could have stories. In addition, IRE and unprotected while they have protected themselves. endangered not merely the hundreds of thousands NICAR provide follow-up help These environmental hazards (and they are not of citizens within that radius, but also members when participants return to their just chemical plants) amount to pre-positioned of Congress. news organizations. weapons of mass destruction in U.S. cities and By March 2000, it emerged that Washington counties. So far, the bulk of officials’ response has authorities knew about the safety problems but �� been to prevent the public from knowing about it. had been denying and hiding them — and had Columbia, Mo. On this front, the U.S. public is little safer today now come up with a complete plan for switching than on 9/11. to a safer disinfectant. Within two months after • March 20-25 Right now, the Department of Homeland Secu- September 11, 2001, the timetable for carrying • May 15-20 rity is considering whether to take the diamond- out that plan had been accelerated and the switch • Aug. 7-12 shaped hazard placards off of railroad tank cars was complete. Since then, a major fraction of the containing chlorine and other deadly gases – but industry nationwide has begun to switch. �� tightening basic security and safety rules. Such Are there chlorine tankers in your community? Columbia, Mo. cars sit at railroad sidings across the United States The public’s (and news media’s) right to know the – unguarded. Since chlorine is a disinfectant, the answer is shrinking daily. Tailored to the needs of newsroom managers. • April 8-10 Member news �� CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 feature, investigative reporting and writing Tempe, Ariz. of Journalism for “Education on the Brink: news from the National Television Academy’s Aimed at strengthening the Separate and Unequal.”  Kate Garsombke San Francisco/Northern California chapter. skills of reporters who want to has joined The Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald. She Mark Skertic has changed jobs at the Chicago move beyond basic CAR. was a reporter with the Stevens Point (Wis.) Tribune where he now covers the aviation • Feb 18-20 Journal.  Susan Goldsmith has joined The industry. He previously reported on banks, �� Oregonian as an investigative reporter. For insurance and local financial exchanges. ��  the past eight years, she worked as a reporter Nancy Stancill, an IRE board member, Columbia, Mo. with the New Times Los Angeles and the San has moved from assistant features editor to Uncover news stories by Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay Express.  Kath- government editor at The Charlotte Observer. mapping data with geographic leen Johnston, an investigative producer,  Greg Turchetta has moved to KIRO-Seattle information system software. • Aug. 19-21 has moved to CNN from WTHR-Indianapolis. from WBBH-Fort Myers, Fla.  Derek Willis has  Bill Kurtis, host of A&E’s “Cold Case Files” joined The Washington Post. He was a writer and and “American Justice,” has released a new data specialist at the Center for Public Integrity. book, “The Death of Penalty on Trial: Crisis in PASSINGS American Justice.” The book looks into two Damon Chappie, an investigative reporter for recently overturned death penalty cases Roll Call whose hard-hitting stories unveiled that almost took the lives of two wrongly corruption and ethical blunders in Congress, convicted men.  Eric Lipton has moved died Nov. 5, of congestive heart failure. Despite from main offices of The New York Times to the his blindness caused by an infection he con- For more information: Washington bureau.  Jacqueline McLean of tracted in Mexico in 1997, he persevered as �� KGMB-Honolulu won Emmys for serious news a strong force in investigative journalism. ��

40 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 41 FEATURES FEATURES

Legal

�� CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 ably conclude that the omission of the exculpatory �� court noted, “much like trying to nail a jellyfish to language and the addition of the sentence implying the wall.” While Hussain Al-Hussaini was a private “intrigue” may constitute actual malice. �� person, the court in Atlanta Journal-Constitution v. Sharon v. Time Inc similarly involved a public Jewell ruled that Richard Jewell was a public figure figure: Ariel Sharon. The court ruled that a jury �� because he gave several media interviews during the might find actual malice in statements that a period after the bombing but before the allegations “secret” report – that the magazine did not have a that he was the bomber. The court noted that “[t]hose copy of – implicated Sharon in a massacre. Under �� who, by reason of the notoriety of their achievements those circumstances, the court suggested that or the vigor and success with which they seek the reasons existed for the reporter to have doubted �� public’s attention, are properly classified as public rumors about the purported report’s contents. �� figures.” So who might be a public or private figure in Cases to watch terror cases? Some courts have held that being One case to watch to see how courts deal with accused of criminal activity is insufficient on its reporters attempting to “out” terrorists is Mar-Jac March 20 - 24, 2005 own to be a public figure. But other courts have Poultry Inc. v. Katz, filed in federal court in Geor- at MIT found that being at the center of a controversy can gia. Rita Katz, an independent terrorist investiga- elevate a person to “limited-purpose public figure” tor, anonymously wrote a book entitled “Terrorist �� status. The outcome will depend on the facts of Hunter.” She also appeared anonymously on CBS’s the case and the law of the jurisdiction. But it is “60 Minutes” and identified Mar-Jac Poultry as a worth noting that a person who has not spoken source of funding for Osama bin Laden, Hamas, Investigating out, sought media coverage, or drawn attention and Islamic Jihad. Mar-Jac states, however, that • When good science does bad things to himself, could be considered a private figure. it is a legal poultry business and not a “cover • Scientifi c fraud for money laundering.” The case is still in early Not a total shield • Malfeasance in research by stages of litigation, but it has the potential to In the 1970s, the media investigated allegations address some issues relevant to protections that industry, government & academia of organized crime ties with the type of zeal now may be afforded to investigative reporters looking • Outraged citizensʼ complaints accorded to possible terrorist activity. In some cases, into terrorist ties. individuals with alleged mafia ties were deemed Journalists also should monitor cases in other How to public figures because they “engaged in a course countries. Many nations have less press-friendly of conduct that was bound to invite attention and libel laws than those in the United States, and • Cultivate reluctant sources comment.” Reputed mobster Louis Rosanova, for accused terrorists have taken note. For example, • Follow paper trails example, lost his case because he was a public figure Abu Bakar Bashir sued Time magazine for libel • Mine databases and couldn’t prove “actual malice,” which requires in Jakarta, Indonesia. Bashir is accused of leading • Use FOIA proof that the defendant knew the statement was Jemaah Islamiyah, which allegedly carried out the false or had serious doubts of the statement’s truth. Bali nightclub bombing in 2002. An Indonesian The reporter relied on multiple sources and had no court dismissed Bashir’s suit in November of 2004, Apply by January 15 reason to doubt the allegations that Rosanova was but only because Bashir sued Time’s Hong Kong for ffellowshipsellowships covering a “mobster.” office instead of its New York headquarters. “The travel, hotel & most meals. Even the actual malice standard, however, is not defendants are not the parties responsible for the a guarantee against an adverse ruling. In Schiavone report. The responsibility lies in the hands of Time Construction Co. v. Time Inc., the court found that Inc. in New York which should have been included http://web.mit.edu/knight-science a jury could reasonably conclude that actual malice in this case,” the court ruled. [email protected] • 617-253-3442 existed because the magazine distorted a confidential FBI memorandum. The article stated, “The personal The best defense �� files of FBI Director William Webster … reveal that Investigative reporting can never be entirely the name of Schiavone appeared several times in risk-free. Some terror-related libel cases may be Knight the [FBI’s] reports on the 1975 disappearance of brought to silence criticism, for nuisance value, or former Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa. That detail for political reasons having nothing to do with the �� would surely have intrigued both the Senate com- truth and accuracy of the story. With that in mind, Fellowships �� MIT mittee that approved [Labor Secretary Raymond] journalists can benefit from knowledge of prior fact Donovan’s nomination in February 1981, and the patterns and legal standards that will be applied. As & special prosecutor this year.” always – and especially given the subject matter The memorandum actually stated that the – attention to detail, thorough analysis, clear writing Schiavone name appeared in FBI reports about the and thoughtful editing will help prevent unpleasant Hoffa execution case, “but that none of these [refer- surprises. Attorney review can help identify prob- ences] suggested any criminality or organized crime lems, but solid journalism should continue to provide associations.” The court found a jury could reason- the best defense.

42 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 43 FEATURES FEATURES

Borderworld IRE SERVICES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND EDITORS, INC. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting within the field of journal- Olsen, Houston Chronicle; and Ninfa Deander, ism. IRE was formed in 1975 with the intent of creating a networking tool and a forum in El Mañana. Topics included the environment, crime, storytell- which journalists from across the country could raise questions and exchange ideas. IRE ing techniques, Internet tools, reporter safety, and provides educational services to reporters, editors and others interested in investigative obstacles and opportunities for border journalism. reporting and works to maintain high professional standards. More remains to be done. IRE plans to increase the number of border inves- Programs and Services: tigations in its archives, and also add more about IRE RESOURCE CENTER – A rich reserve of print and broadcast stories, tipsheets and guides to help Mexico and other Latin American countries. you start and complete the best work of your career. This unique library is the starting point of any As part of a new initiative, IRE is increasing the piece you’re working on. You can search through abstracts of more than 20,000 investigative reporting number of tipsheets available in Spanish, which is stories through our Web site. critical for reporters on the U.S. side as well as in Contact: Beth Kopine, [email protected], 573-882-3364 Mexico. IRE intends to increase its membership DATABASE LIBRARY – Administered by IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. along the border and there are several dozen more thanks to those who joined in Nuevo Laredo. The library has copies of many government databases, and makes them available to news organizations These are all things that IRE wants to improve as at or below actual cost. Analysis services are available on these databases, as is help in deciphering part of its initiative in this area. records you obtain yourself. And this year’s Encuentro en la frontera – the Contact: Jeff Porter, [email protected], 573-882-1982 third such event IRE helped sponsor – is a step toward CAMPAIGN FINANCE INFORMATION CENTER – Administered by IRE and the National Institute for making that change. Please contact IRE if you would Computer-Assisted Reporting. It’s dedicated to helping journalists uncover the campaign money like to be part of that effort or send in your stories or trail. State campaign finance data is collected from across the nation, cleaned and made available to tipsheets if you have things to share. journalists. A search engine allows reporters to track political cash flow across several states in federal and state races. From the IRE offices Contact: Brant Houston, [email protected], 573-882-2042 ON-THE-ROAD TRAINING – As a top promoter of journalism education, IRE offers loads of train- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 ing opportunities throughout the year. Possibilities range from national conferences and regional to deny access to public records while allowing com- workshops to weeklong boot camps and on-site newsroom training. Costs are on a sliding scale and mercial marketers to plunder personal files. fellowships are available to many of the events. Further, the press has undercut its credibility by Contact: David Donald, [email protected], 573-882-2042 relying on anonymous sources for daily reporting so that the importance of sources is devalued. Publications Thankfully, as we move into 2005 there are signs THE IRE JOURNAL – Published six times a year. Contains journalist profiles, how-to stories, reviews, our profession has awakened and is fighting back. investigative ideas and backgrounding tips. The Journal also provides members with the latest news Outlandish secrecy, denial of public records, on upcoming events and training opportunities from IRE and NICAR. arrogance officials and manipulation of the press are Contact: Len Bruzzese, [email protected], 573-882-2042 finally fair game for reporters. On the freedom of information front, many news UPLINK – Newsletter by IRE and NICAR on computer-assisted reporting. Published six times a year. organizations have conducted audits on the lack of Often, Uplink stories are written after reporters have had particular success using data to investigate open records law compliance by government. The stories. The columns include valuable information on advanced database techniques as well as success American Society of Newspaper Editors and a coali- stories written by newly trained CAR reporters. tion of journalism organizations will hold a national Contact: David Herzog, [email protected], 573-884-7711 sunshine day in the spring. REPORTER.ORG – A collection of Web-based resources for journalists, journalism educators and others. The Sun sued the governor over his directive. Court challenges to secrecy and denials appear to Discounted Web hosting and services such as mailing list management and site development are be increasing. provided to other nonprofit journalism organizations. IRE will play a greater role in all these efforts by Contact: Brant Houston, [email protected], 573-882-2042 signing letters, doing surveys to measure the problems we face, filing appropriate legal briefs and speaking For information on: out on key issues. But we also can take strong action ADVERTISING – Pia Christensen, [email protected], 573-884-2175 this year as an organization by rededicating ourselves MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS – John Green, [email protected], 573-882-2772 to doing what we do best: practicing investigative CONFERENCES AND BOOT CAMPS – Ev Ruch-Graham, [email protected], 573-882-8969 journalism at its highest level every day, without LISTSERVS – Amy Johnston, [email protected], 573-884-1444 fear or hesitation, and revealing unnecessary and dangerous secrets while challenging the powerful Mailing Address: who abuse their power and the trust our society has IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia, MO 65211 placed in them.

42 THE IRE JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 43 ��

Seth Cook gets a goodbye kiss from his friend, nine-year-old Michaela McAvoy of England, on the last night of the Sunshine Foundation's annual progeria reunion.

Reporter How one boy’s battle for life Carol Smith captured Seattle’s heart.

Photographer Dan DeLong

At eleven years of age, Seth Cook is wise beyond They talked to classmates who learned from his years. Due to a rare illness called progeria, Seth and to doctors who are seeking a cure he is aging rapidly and facing death at an early for the disease. This special 20-page section also age. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer felt the story revealed the touching story of a non-profit of this local boy was important to the community organization, the Sunshine Foundation, which at large. brings together progeria victims from around the world once a year. The coverage gained Over the course of a year spent with Seth and his a new dimension on the P-I Web site, where family, reporter Carol Smith and photographer visitors could get to know Seth better through Dan DeLong developed “A Time to Live,” which video and audio presentations. It’s worth a shows the Cooks’ courage as they face the visit to seattlepi.com/specials/seth to hear Seth tragic progression of progeria. The journalists let tell his story in his own words. readers get an inside look at what life is like for a young boy with an old man’s health problems. Readers responded to “A Time to Live” in record numbers. The P-I received hundreds of messages that reflected the positive impact of the special section. By bringing important local stories to the community, Hearst Newspapers deliver excellence every day. FEATURES ��

�� Presented by Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting ��

NOTICE: You will be listed on the IRE Web site as an attendee. If you don't want to be listed, please e-mail John Green at [email protected]

�� To register, please complete this form. Visit our Web site regularly at www.ire.org or call 573-882-2042 for the latest details. Please write carefully! This information will be used to make your nametag. Name: ______To attend this conference, you must be a current IRE member through April 1, Employer/Affiliation/School: ______2005. Memberships are nonrefundable. MEMBERSHIP Address:______I am a current member of IRE through April 1, 2005. ______$50 I need to join/renew my U.S. or international Professional Academic City, State: ______Zip: ______–______Associate or Retiree membership. ____$25 I need to join/renew my student E-mail (required):______membership.

Home Phone: ______Office Phone (required):______REGISTRATION ____$150 I would like to register for To register, mail this form and a check to IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, the conference as a Professional Columbia, MO 65211. To register by credit card, you must have a VISA, MasterCard or Ameri- Academic Associate or Retiree. can Express. You may fax your credit card registration to 573-882-5431 or register online at ____$100 I would like to register for the www.ire.org/training/hollywood05. conference as a student. LATE FEE Cancellations need to be sent via e-mail to [email protected]. There is a $50 processing fee for all ____$ 25 For registrations postmarked cancellations until March 16, 2005. Refunds will not be given for cancellations after March 16. or faxed after March 1.

SPECIAL NEEDS: Card Number:______Expiration Date:______ Do you require special assistance? Card Holder Name:______Specify ______

Card Holder Signature:______TOTAL $______

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 3