Two important lawsuits in the public interest give me a good opportunity to talk about our newsrooms and strategic litigation:
As part of two investigative series earlier this year, The Colorado Independent (TCI) sued Colorado State University to get records pertaining to their controversial chancellor search, and won. TCI also sued the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission to get all their records of every ethical determination they’ve done, and won. The Circuit Court ruling was just handed down with the additional good news that the state is paying our attorneys’ fees—about $30,000.
Both suits are victories for open government and accountability. They also are part of a test we conducted to see whether we could add litigation to our reporters’ investigative tool-kit in the long-standing tradition of news organizations watchdogging public institutions. So far the tests are all coming back positive.
This finding coincides with the sad fact that the downsizing of newspapers has not only killed off reporters, it’s also killed off this kind of public interest litigation. Coincidentally, earlier this month, at the same time we won the Ethics Commission suit, The New York Times ran an item about diminishing newsroom litigation and the social consequences of that trend.
I welcome your feedback on strategic litigation and the breaking stories below.
Best,
David Bennahum
National security reporter Spencer Ackerman took the dubious world of war-contracting head on, breaking two major stories. First, Ackerman reported on how Blackwater (now known as Xe) was up for a potential security contract in Afghanistan with the State Department. The contract would be the same as the one the company had been working under in Iraq when its employees opened fire on civilians, killing 17 Iraqis. The State Department declined to respond to Ackerman’s questions before the story ran. After Ackerman appeared on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show to talk about his story and the recently released photos of ArmorGroup contractors engaged in bizarre and abusive practices, he was inundated with additional information from a variety of sources. Ackerman followed his story with a second contracting scoop, revealing that ArmorGroup was hired to replace a company fired when its subcontractors did not speak English well enough to take orders from officials at the embassy in Kabul. According to two senior officials, ArmorGroup quickly had the same problem with its own low-paid subcontractors. Ackerman showed the company had been under scrutiny until 2007.
Ackerman went on to break additional allegations from former employees, including charges of defrauding the State Department when bidding on the contract; providing workers with insufficient equipment; and allegations that some employees solicited prostitutes and perhaps even ran their own prostitution services. Ackerman’s work was some of TWI’s top content, cited and linked widely.
Conservative-movement reporter David Weigel picked apart the genesis of the burgeoning movement to oust “green jobs czar” Van Jones, tracing the attacks of Fox TV’s Glenn Beck back to a widely read—and widely discredited—fringe right-wing conspiracy site, WorldNetDaily. Weigel explained how rumors start on the site, and then get spread into the wider conservative media, giving them legitimacy. WorldNetDaily was the originator of the “birther” movement. Weigel also uncovered how the site boasts 6 million unique visitors per month, an unrivaled position on the conservative media spectrum. With that comes an e-mail list of 335,000—which the RNC has bought. Weigel’s story helped readers understand how an off-the-wall smear starts and then gains traction.
While most of the coverage following the resignation of Van Jones focused on Glenn Beck’s crusade, David Weigel dug deeper and reported on the original attacks by climate change skeptics that put Jones on Beck’s radar screen. Weigel called attention to the obscure concept of “watermelon environmentalism” —green on the outside, red on the inside—that has long been used to try to taint environmentalism by describing it as a cover for communism. Before Jones, this attack had never taken hold. Since Jones’ downfall, the climate change deniers may now have a roadmap for bringing down more green activists in positions of power. Weigel’s piece was linked by publications across the political spectrum, including The Atlantic and National Review.
Ernest Luning covered U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s fiery speech before a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute, where the Minnesota Republican railed against the dangers of health care reform. “This cannot pass,” she said. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing.” Luning’s report, which also ran on The Minnesota Independent and was relayed by The Washington Independent, quickly dominated the news cycle, with sites such as The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo, and cable news shows picking up on Bachmann’s “slit our wrists” statements. Ed Schultz of MSNBC devoted his entire “Psycho Talk” segment to her remarks. One Minnesota newspaper, the West Central Tribune, editorialized that Bachmann’s comment in Colorado “shows how extreme extremists on the issue have become.”
Joseph Boven took note of conservative KHOW radio show host Peter Boyles’ new effort to promote the “birther” movement in the Denver area by teaming up with a Wheat Ridge billboard owner to put up “Where is the birth certificate?” signs before 300,000 daily commuters along I-70. Boyles said that he is not attacking President Obama, just discussing the role of a birth certificate in the constitutional eligibility for president. Said Boyles: “It’ll rock ‘n’ roll when this happens… Maybe other radio talk show hosts will do the same and see what their audiences do.”
Fact-checking Denver right-wing radio host Peter Boyles’ claims that Democratic health care reform would fund abortions and provide coverage for illegal immigrants. Boven found Boyles using such Orwellian euphemisms as “pregnancy reversals” and “undocumented visitors” to mask the true intent of the legislation. Boven noted that those phrases are nowhere to be found in the proposed bill, adding, “Boyles was either making that up. . . [or] was led astray by an unreliable source, just as he was leading his own listeners astray.”
Katie Redding reported that federal legislation to clean the contaminated Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, sponsored by Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, appears to have been killed in a partisan fight on Capitol Hill. The battle began when Lamborn led a charge against an earlier bill to create a national heritage area in Arizona’s Santa Cruz Valley, championed by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. Lamborn spoke vehemently against the measure, arguing that it threatened private property rights and would allow drug cartels to “run rampant” among Border Patrol agents “hamstrung by draconian rules.” Democrats responded by derailing Lamborn’s Leadville bill, saying they took issue with the procedure by which the bill came up for a vote. The bill may be brought back up in the coming weeks.
Iowa Republicans are assessing their failed efforts to capture a Democratic State House seat during a special election. As Jason Hancock reported, Democrats comfortably held onto the seat in southeastern Iowa and continue to hold Republicans at bay at the state capitol, controlling both chambers. National conservative organizations spent heavily to make a statement—the National Association for Marriage spent upwards of $86,000 on an ad buy—and came up short, running into the Democrats’ 100,000-plus voter registration advantage in the state.
Although there was little drama when the state created a task force to decide which of Iowa’s four mental health facilities should be closed to consolidate services now that the panel is up and running, local communities that would be affected by a closure are paying attention. As Lynda Waddington reported, the task force has a tough mission—analyzing the services offered at the different locations, figuring out what resources are available to sustain them, and finding a way to offer the same level of service, all with reduced funding.
Jason Hancock continued to watch moves by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, as the battle over health care reform heated up. Grassley has been fighting back against his critics who questioned his commitment to reach a compromise on a health care bill. But at the same time, Hancock noted, Grassley continued to push the false rumor that the White House’s reform efforts would force the aged and infirm to go before so-called “death panels,” a scenario he raised most recently at a South Florida fundraiser.
As economic stresses mount on the nation’s rural sector, Lynda Waddington reported that many states are turning to Iowa for advice on how to effectively provide mental health care services to underserved rural populations. According to Iowa-based AgriWellness, at least 28 states have been looking to Iowa’s experience with Sowing the Seeds of Hope, a mental health care hotline supported by AgriWellness and the Iowa State University Extension. The big question is about funding: Although Congress has authorized the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, it has not yet found funding for it.
After shocking photos of private security guards at the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, were released to the public—and as Spencer Ackierman pursued the story for TWI (see above)—Eartha Jane Melzer looked into the growing concerns about private security at Michigan’s nuclear power plants. The private security firm at the American embassy, ArmorGroup, is a subsidiary of Wackenhut, which protects Michigan’s Palisades Power Plant near South Haven. In recent years, congressional lawmakers have raised serious questions about whether Wackenhut should be protecting nuclear facilities.
As part of budget-tightening efforts, Michigan Republicans have put forth a cost-cutting proposal that would privatize the state’s juvenile justice system. But as Minehaha Forman reported, a good chunk of the troubled system is already privatized, and the true cost savings in the GOP plan comes only if the most seriously troubled juveniles, who are too dangerous for private corrections services, are factored out. Juvenile justice advocates are urging that Republicans do thorough research before putting forth further plans.
A recent decision by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who ruled that Lansing’s city attorney did nothing unlawful when he disclosed the HIV status of an arrested man earlier this summer, took some by surprise, Todd A. Heywood reported. Republican Cox’s decision raised concerns about the protection of such sensitive information. Democratic State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, who is eyeing a run for attorney general next year, said the “scary” opinion clearly violates the “legislative intent” of state laws, specifically a stringent regulation that makes it a misdemeanor to disclose a person’s HIV status —positive or negative —except under very narrow conditions.
Eartha Jane Melzer also monitored congressional hearings where U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr. testified in favor of the reconsideration of a provision known as “cramdown,” by which bankruptcy judges can take decisive action to set new mortgage terms and sidestep lenders.The Democrat said that voluntary loan modification programs were not saving people from losing their homes to foreclosure, and the problem is acute in the Detroit area where 195 Wayne County homes are entering foreclosure each month. The cramdown legislation may come up for consideration later this year.
Chris Steller won more than 18,000 readers with his post on recent remarks by U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (DFL-Minn.) about Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). At a meeting last week with union leaders in Duluth, an official asked Oberstar if he’d heard about Bachmann’s comments—first reported by The Colorado Independent’s Ernest Luning—that her supporters should “make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers” in fighting health care reform. “I don’t think God’s talking to her anymore,” Oberstar said in response. “I think she’s hearing other voices.”
Video of Sen. Al Franken’s health care forum at the Minnesota State Fair became a social networking hit, with thousands clicking through to watch Democrat Franken, confronted by reform opponents, engaging in civil and substantive discussion of the issues. He told a Tea Partier that he would vote using his “independent judgment” and not according to polls or party directives.
Andy Birkey broke the news that the city of Elk River, under pressure from the religious-right legal group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), removed an ordinance that banned religious groups from holding worship services in the city’s library. The council voted on August 17 to remove the restriction, the latest step in an effort by city leadership to bring the “Kingdom of God” to Elk River. The mayor, pastors, and local business leaders continue to hold weekly worship services so “every person in the greater Elk River area [may] be prayed for by name.”
The Independent team provided comprehensive, insightful, multimedia coverage of President Obama’s recent visit to Target Center to promote health care reform. Paul Demko reported from the scene of Obama’s speech, where he “fired up the faithful” in the name of reform, while photojournalist Kathy Easthagen captured events inside and outside the venue, including the appearances of local and national officials. Demko also profiled an effort by a local “birther” to discredit the president and fact-checked some of her claims.
Trip Jennings broke the news that key documents in the criminal case against former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron are missing. While investigating the $6.3 million contract that is central to money-laundering allegations against Vigil Giron, Jennings found that the secretary of state’s office has no record of who bid on the contract. It is not clear if the agency under Vigil-Giron’s successor, Mary Herrera, ever had the documents and, if it did, what happened to them. Jennings continues to investigate.
Marjorie Childress took top traffic with her report that the state’s nascent medical marijuana program has been driven to a near halt because the lone nonprofit licensed to dispense the marijuana is out of its supply. According to patients who use the service, the Santa Fe Institute for Natural Medicine has run out of its product and won’t have more available until October. The shortfall, which has patients considering obtaining the drug on the black market, raises important questions about the state’s ability to meet demand and serve the needs of the nonprofit’s patients.
In her followup coverage, she spoke to national drug-policy reform advocates who said the state’s program will need to be revisited if patients can’t be guaranteed access to the medicine. The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) told Childress the law should be revised to allow the state to produce and distribute the marijuana itself or at least allow caregivers to grow it for patients. “The intent of the law isn’t for [patients] to have to rely on the black market,” DPA’s chief attorney said.
Trip Jennings’ coverage of issues surrounding Gov. Bill Richardson’s houseboat accident on Elephant Butte Lake has been driving traffic ever since a police report detailed the Labor Day weekend crash in which a boat carrying Richardson and his entourage collided with two other boats. Jennings called one of the victims in the crash and learned that Richardson’s party left within three minutes after docking and that Chief of Staff Brian Condit, who had been driving the boat, didn’t wait to speak to authorities at the scene. Jennings later cornered Richardson at the New Mexico State Fair and asked about the incident; Richardson replied that he and his party stayed 30 minutes at the scene. But the eyewitness Jennings interviewed stood firm on his version of their events—and the two officers who responded to the accident said that they did not see the governor or Condit when they arrived on the scene 20 minutes after the crash. Jennings’ coverage has delivered thousands of visitors to the site from TalkingPointsMemo, Wonkette, and Stateline, among many other sites.
GOOD NEWS:
Boulder gym receives one of 12 first-round new energy stimulus grants
A new climbing gym in Boulder that receives 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources received one of 12 grants awarded in the first round of a stimulus program that provides cash instead of earned tax credits to renewable energy projects.
State, businesses work to foster green-sector growth
Michigan is spending about $6 million aimed at not only retraining workers for green jobs but also playing matchmaker between companies that need certain skills and the retrained workers who have them.