October 2012 - Franklin Center

OCTober 2012 FranklinCenterHQ.org
Weird !
Weird in Wisconsin.
see page 3
Meet one of our
Nebraska Watchdogs
page 5
Why Have So Many Cities and
Towns Given Away So Much Money
to Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s?
Scott Reeder, Contributing editor
What’s Happening
in the States
Updates from all around
page 8
BOSSIER CITY, LA – When Bill Winkler
opened his small archery shop, he was prepared
to compete against businesses large and
small – but not against a government-financed
competitor.
“I can’t fix
Washington D.C.”
But today I can have an impact on
my county and my city.
page 10
“The day Bass Pro opened here in Bossier,
the number of arrows I sold dropped off by 50
percent,” says Winkler.
A Bass Pro Shop opened in Bossier City in
2005 after city officials promised to give the
Quick Reference
Here’s a list of websites
for Franklin Center reporters
and affiliates
page 11
and more
stores. The stores are billed as job generators
by both companies when they are fishing for
development dollars. But the firms’ economic
benefits are minimal and costs to taxpayers are
great.
An exhaustive investigation conducted by
the Franklin Center for Government and Public
Integrity found that the two competing firms
together have received or are promised more
than $2.2 billion from American taxpayers over
the past 15 years.
“Retail is not economic development. People
retailer $38 million to pay for the construction of
don’t suddenly have more money to spend on
the 106,000-square-foot store in this Red River
hip waders because a new Bass Pro or Cabela’s
community.
comes to town,” says Greg Leroy, executive
Such deals are commonplace.
Both Bass Pro Shops and its archrival,
Cabela’s, sell hunting and fishing gear in
cathedral-like stores featuring taxidermied
wildlife, gigantic fresh-water aquarium exhibits
and elaborate outdoor reproductions within the
director of Good Jobs First, a non-partisan
economic development watchdog group based in
Washington, D.C. “All that happens is that money
spent at local mom and pop retailers shifts
to these big box retailers. When government
gives these big box stores tax dollars, they are
continued on next page
Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops from Page 1
effectively picking who the winners and losers are
going to be.”
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story,
counters Larry Whitely, a spokesman for Bass
Pro Shops, a privately held company based in
Both firms have a history of targeting rural or
smaller suburban communities and negotiating deals
that involve extensive borrowing on the part of the
municipality to build a store.
In fact, Bass Pro Shops often pays comparably
Springfield, Missouri. Whitley argues the stores
little toward the construction of its own stores.
should be viewed as an amenity being added to a
While this sometimes is the case with Cabela’s, its
community -- much like one might view a park or a
development schemes tend to involve elaborate
library.
“These aren’t just stores – they are natural history
museums,” he says. “Every store is designed to
reflect the unique natural environment of the area
in which it is located.” He adds that often a Bass
Pro store is an anchor development that attracts
additional retailers.
Then again, the amount of tax dollars that have
been poured into these two companies would be
enough to purchase every man, woman and child in
the United States their own fishing pole.
Typically, these stores are financed through
familiar economic development schemes like
tax increment financing districts. Basically, a city
borrows money by selling bonds on Wall Street and
then pays off the debt with the increase in property
or sales taxes generated in that TIF district.
The Franklin Center filed hundreds of state open
agreements that include massive outlays for public
spectacles in the midst of the retail setting.
Town Gets the Goat
For example, state and local taxpayers borrowed
$60 million to build a Cabela’s store and its
supporting infrastructure in Buda, Texas. For that
amount, every household in the 7,600-person
community could have purchased a new 2012 Lexus
CT Hybrid.
The Buda City Council even agreed to take
the town’s name off its water tower and replace it
with the word “Cabela’s.” But government largess
didn’t end there. The Texas Parks and Wildlife
Commission provided Guadalupe bass, the official
state fish, for the store’s massive aquarium at no
charge to the retailer.
agreement an economic development corporation
established by Buda owns about 20 percent of the
development authorities and state governments
185,000-square-foot store and one-third of the land
seeking copies of development agreements both
on which it stands. Which means that a 30-foot
firms have entered into.
artificial mountain, with taxidermied mountain goats
state audits, bond issues, development studies and
local news accounts the Franklin Center found:
• Cabela’s has received $551 million in local and
state assistance during the past 15 years.
• Bass Pro Shops received $1.3 billion in local and
state assistance during the same period.
• The federal government helped ensure liquidity
for Cabela’s’ credit card division by providing
$400 million in financing for the purchase of the
company’s securitized debt.
2 | Franklin Center News OCTOBER 2012
lake – with a
waterfall – was
paid for with
part of the
$70.6 million
in taxpayer
subsidies
provided for
a Bass Pro
In one of the more bizarre aspects of its
records requests with cities, counties, economic
After analyzing the development agreements,
“An 18-acre
and other wildlife, a 60,000-gallon, fresh-water
aquarium and an exhibit of life-size African game
animals all fall under the public ownership umbrella.
Reportedly, Cabela’s will save $4 million in
property taxes over the next 20 years because those
non-revenue generating areas of the Buda store are
publicly owned. This, of course, deprives the city of
potential revenue and gives the store an advantage
development in
Independence,
Missouri.”
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This type of public ownership of store amenities
is a standard part of many of the development
continued on page 6
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FranklinCenterHQ
The Franklin Center launched Wisconsin Reporter
in December 2010, never dreaming how important it would be
to have an objective source of fact-based information on the
ground. In the past 20 months, our Wisconsin team – bureau
chief Matt Kittle, investigative reporter Kirsten Adshead, staff
reporter Ryan Ekvall, and commentary writer Kevin Binversie
– have covered protests, petitions, debates, and election
days, establishing themselves as a trusted voice in Wisconsin
politics. For the last week before the recall, three of Franklin’s
top reporters – Yaël Ossowski of Florida Watchdog, Dustin
Hurst of Montana Watchdog, and Eric Boehm of Pennsylvania
Franklin Center
The Rest
of the Story
t
Top 10 Weirdes
Moments from
the Wisconsin Recall
Independent, as well as multimedia editor Ben Yount – joined
the Wisconsin team.
After a tremendous effort from grassroots activists across
the Badger State, Gov. Scott Walker survived the recall
election – the first governor in American history to do so.
Shortly after the recall, the liberal group Media Matters for
America wrote that Wisconsin Reporter “has reached a level
of influence that is hard to match” – a statement that they
intended to denigrate our efforts. Actually, we’re proud to
have played our part by providing Wisconsinites the news
and information that they needed to make their choice.
Wisconsin Reporter’s work began with union protests that
shook the state capital two winters ago. We polled the state
to find that ordinary Wisconsinites actually supported the
collective bargaining reforms at issue – and broke the news
that protestors did more than $8 million in damage to the
M.D. Kittle,
Before pushing this one to the
Wisconsin Reporter
Badger State history books, let’s
Contrary to the hit-and-run
coverage of national news
networks, Wisconsin’s historic
recall election did not begin
when the polls opened at 7 a.m.
Tuesday and end at around 8:40
p.m. with a stunningly fast and
decisive victory by Republican
Gov. Scott Walker.
Viewers from California to
Connecticut can be forgiven for
school teachers who called in sick to attend the protests. We
just kind of popped up and
covered legislative recalls and judicial elections throughout
the last year, calling attention to risks for voter fraud and
pushing for a substantive discussion on the issues.
In the run-up to the June recall of Gov. Walker, Wisconsin
Reporter explored the untold story of how of his landmark
Act 10 reforms were succeeding. We uncovered a document
released by Walker’s opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom
Barrett, during his last run for governor in 2010, in which he’d
advocated for cuts in state worker pay even more dramatic
than those for which he demagogued Gov. Walker. Our
thinking that the recall campaign
then went away in a day. That’s
certainly how much of national
media – particularly television –
covered it.
networks began calling the race,
many switched to alternate
programming. They packed
up their big news trucks and
reporters pointed out that, contrary to the narrative the media
out-of-state funding and volunteers, courtesy of teachers’
dodge.
unions from as far away as Alaska.
Wisconsin Reporter held other media outlets’ feet to the
fire, pushing back against the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s
ham-handed attempts to tie Gov. Walker to an unrelated
state investigation. Our reporters’ work appeared in media
outlets across Wisconsin and across the country, driving
an honest conversation about the issues at stake. The past
and boom mics, and got out of
covered this slog for more than
15 months know differently.
From allegations of choking
and slapping among Wisconsin’s
Supreme Court to pajama recall
campaigns, it’s been one
information, voters will consistently choose freedom and
Wisconsin politics.
shown that, when they have access to real, fact-based
fiscal responsibility.
might make Hunter S. Thompson
salivate.
Most of the moments come
from liberals behaving badly – or
at least oddly. But weirdness in
affiliation.
There’s more but here’s
Wisconsin Reporter’s top 10.
10. Beer guy. Who could
forget the story of Capitol
protester and beverage
tosser Miles Kristan, charged
dumping a beer on state Rep.
Robin Vos’ head. Kristan, as the
police report notes, screamed
out some nasty invectives at the
Burlington Republican, drenched
him with some Wisconsin holy
water, and fled. Pleading no
contest to the charges, Kristan
Those in the media who have
two years of protests and politicking in Wisconsin have
season—the kind of stuff that
with disorderly conduct after
Not long after the major
their cameras, blinding lights
wanted to push, Badger State Democrats relied heavily on
moments of the frenzied recall
Wisconsin politics knew no party
historic Capitol building. Franklin’s affiliates at MacIver News
Service caught doctors writing fake excuse notes for public
reflect on some of the weirder
wild and unforgettable time in
was ordered to pay court costs
and Vos’ dry cleaning bill.
9. Sick notes. Scores of
teachers protesting Act 10, the
Walker bill – now law – that curbs
collective bargaining for most
public employees, got a helping
hand to skip work from doctors
continued on next page
Franklin Center NEWS OCTOBER 2012 | 3
WISCONSIN RECALL from Page 3
who distributed sick notes at the capitol. It
the election, Waukesha County clerk Kathy
has said he will not press charges. He
worked out as well as Juan Epstein’s “note
Nickolaus announced that thousands of
from Epstein’s mother” on the 1970s sitcom
votes hadn’t been counted. Kloppenburg
probably isn›t much in the mood for a hug
Welcome Back Kotter. Many of the teachers
had celebrated a 204-vote lead over the
got a kind of professional detention out of
incumbent conservative, but Nickolaus
the deal, and the doctors picked up a few
then announced that 14,000 votes from the
demerits of their own.
city of Brookfield had not been included.
8. Fleeing 14. In the heat of battle over
Act 10 in February 2011, 14 Democratic
state senators took what they believed to
be a courageous stand: They fled. To an
undisclosed location. In Illinois. Supporters
called them heroes. National news media
certainly painted that picture. Conservatives
saw them as cowards, derelict in their
duty. The fleeing 14’s plan to stall a vote
on the budget bill ultimately failed; the
Republican-controlled Senate did some
legal maneuvering and went on to vote
without them.
7. Choke hold. It’s what people expect
in their Supreme Court, really — allegations
of choke holds, assaults, and name-calling
from the august body. Liberal Justice Ann
Walsh Bradley in June 2011 accused
conservative Justice David Prosser of
putting her in a choke hold, while Prosser
denied the charges and his defenders
said the judge was simply trying to defend
himself against Bradley, who rushed
toward him with raised fists. A special
prosecutor threw out all charges, saying
there wasn’t sufficient evidence. There
were more than a few barbs on both sides
about a cage match between the scuffling
justices to settle the matter. The alleged
incidents flowed out of Wisconsin’s bitterly
divided political environment. Prosser, not
long before, had survived a hotly contested
Supreme Court race, and helped the
conservative majority on the court uphold
Walker’s collective-bargaining changes.
6. To err is Kathy. The April 2011
The votes gave Prosser the win, brought
immediate demands for an investigation
and spurred a prolonged recount. An
independent investigator later ruled there
was no malicious intent, that it was “human
error.” But Nickolaus was asked to sit out
overseeing the recent recall elections.
5. Pants on fire. Graeme Zielinski
has never been accused of letting the
facts get in the way of a good story,
and he was called out again during the
recall campaign by political fact checker,
PolitiFact. Zielinski, spokesman for the
Democratic Party of Wisconsin, as is his
wont, spread all kinds of nastiness through
numerous tweets, accusing Walker’s
campaign of footing the bill for the defense
of a man accused of child enticement.
The man, Brian Pierick, is peripherally
connected to a two-year investigation
into former Walker aides. The Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, Zielinski’s former
employer, ruled the spokesman’s rants as
“Pants on Fire,” as far from the truth as they
could be.
4. Barrett-slapped. Maybe for Milwaukee
3. “Democracy is dead” guy. In an era of
political hyperbole, the “Democracy is dead”
guy takes the top prize. The Barrett campaign
worker, perhaps understandably distraught
over the Democrat’s defeat, went off the
reservation with his rant about Wisconsin’s
election. If the people you see here behind
me can’t get it done tonight, it’s done.
Democracy’s dead,” he told CNN. Cheer up,
Mr. Cranky Pants. Some 2.4 million people
voted in the election, representing 58 percent
turnout. That’s a record for a gubernatorial
election. I’d say democracy is alive and well in
the Badger State.
2. Stewart’s Wisconsin. In his own
inimitable way, Jon Stewart and his “Daily
Show” cut through the crud of recall
analysis. The night after the recall, he
took to the air to point out the absurdity of
Democrats and unions spending 18 months
and millions of dollars on the recall, only to
see Walker pull down a higher percentage
of the vote than in 2010 when he first won
the governor’s chair. He also mocked
MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz and Lawrence
O’Donnell as they struggled with denial over
the results of the recall.
1. “Hit the Road, Scott.” In a moment
Mayor Tom Barrett losing in Tuesday’s
that simultaneously desecrated the
recall election to the same opponent who
memory of the legendary Ray Charles
beat him in November 2010 by nearly the
and assaulted music at large, Rep. Gwen
same percentage was a slap in the face.
Moore (D-Milwaukee), rolled out her “Hit
But one of his supporters took that feeling
a little too far. Not pleased that Barrett
conceded defeat within minutes after the
Associated Press called the race for Walker,
the woman slapped the mayor. It shouldn’t
have come as a surprise. She told Barrett
Supreme Court race pitting Prosser against
she wanted to slap him on the face. He said
liberal JoAnne Kloppenburg ended in
he›d rather have a hug. When he bent down
confusion and anger when, two days after
to do so, she clocked him. The candidate
4 | Franklin Center News OCTOBER 2012
these days, though.
the Road, Scott” to a frightened audience of
Democrats. F C
This article originally appeared
at WisconsinReporter.com.
Franklin Center
Reporter
Spotlight
Deena
Winter
Nebraska Watchdog
Deena Winter is the State Capitol Bureau Chief for Nebraska Watchdog, where she is
covering the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate race while also investigating state and
local issues.
She has been a journalist for more than two decades, most recently spending six years as
a City Hall Reporter with the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star.
She first entered journalism during college, covering
be a good reporter. She helped me land my first summer
college hockey and football games for the Associated
internship at the daily newspaper, and I’ve been in the
Press – even though she knew nothing about the sport.
business since then, 1989.
After college, she reported for the weekly Northwood
2. What are you reading right now? What’s
(North Dakota) Gleaner, and then for the Bismarck
your favorite book of all time, and why? Tribune, covering just about every beat they had over
the years, from state government to “cops and courts”
to a bureau post. She also served as the Denver Post’s
Colorado Springs correspondent.
Deena launched her own news blog, Winterized, and
ran for the Lincoln, Nebraska City Council before
joining Nebraska Watchdog in the fall of 2011.
She has won numerous journalism awards during her
career, including four first-place finishes with North
Dakota Newspaper Association and an honorable
I mostly read news, but just finished a book about U.S.
Sen. candidate Bob Kerrey called Waltzing Matilda. My
favorite book of all time is Grapes of Wrath. 3. What’s the most important or
interesting story you’ve worked on for
Nebraska Watchdog? I think the most important is our coverage of the U.S.
Senate race, because control of the Senate comes down
to just a few races nationwide, and this is one of them. mention in the National Newspaper Association’s Better
4. If you could interview anyone, living or
Newspaper Contest for a series about North Dakota’s
dead, who would it be? juvenile justice system.
Jesus, of course.
1. Why did you become a journalist? 5. Any advice for citizen journalists?
One high school English teacher told me I could write,
Go to every public meeting you can and look for the
so I went into mass communications in college. My
news. Get to know the elected officials as people. Do
college work-study was working in the public relations
what is right. Be good to people, but do your job. My
department of my college. My boss was a former
best sources know that if I have to do a story on them
journalist, and she saw something in me that told her I’d
screwing up, I’ll do it. F C
Franklin Center NEWS OCTOBER 2012 | 5
Cabela’s and BAss Pro Shops from Page 2
for the Minneapolis Federal Reserve
Bank, compares small-town efforts to
agreements Cabela’s enters into in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Savannah,
communities ranging from Hamburg,
Georgia; Lawrenceville, Georgia; and
Pennsylvania, to Mitchell, South Dakota.
Concord, North Carolina, to travel to North
The retailer’s stuffed animal displays and
Charleston to shop at the proposed store.
aquariums are labeled as “museums” and
its showrooms for used firearms are now
called “gun libraries” as a sort of legal
fig leaf to justify public ownership of the
retailer’s amenities.
“It’s almost like they are out to take
advantage of the rubes,” says Michael
Hicks, an economist at Ball State
University in Muncie, Indiana. “Often these
small town city councils aren’t the most
sophisticated in analyzing an economic
development proposal.”
Convincing politicians that the store
will be a tourist mecca is a critical part of
Cabela’s’ and Bass Pro’s spiel, says Stacy
Mitchell, author of Big Box Swindle.
“When they go to these city councils
they want to convince them that people
will travel hundreds of miles just to shop
at that store. They want them to believe
it’s not just a store, it’s a tourist attraction,”
says Mitchell. “But just look at a map –
these stores are everywhere. Why would
you travel to one of these stores, if there is
one in your hometown?”
Such was the argument former South
Carolina Governor Mark Sanford made
first to the state legislature and then to
the voters in 2006. Sanford engaged in
a battle with his state’s legislature over
whether to provide incentives for Cabela’s
“It was completely unrealistic given the
number of existing stores that are out
there,” Sanford says.
In 2006, Sanford vetoed legislation
passed by the South Carolina legislature
attract these retailers to that of major
cities building stadiums and arenas for
professional sports teams. Often it is done
as a matter of civic pride or for bragging
rights rather than as a matter of sound
economic policy, he says.
In fact, Ball State economist Hicks
studied the economic impact of seven
Cabela’s stores that opened between 1998
that gave Cabela’s a 50-percent break on
sales and income taxes. But the legislature
overrode Sanford’s veto. At that point,
Sanford led a grassroots campaign against
the Cabela’s subsidies.
“We don’t think it makes sense for the
any number of family-owned and smaller
businesses that have been paying taxes
in South Carolina for a long time to now
be called on to subsidize a loss in their
sales,” Sanford wrote in a letter to dozens
of outdoor sporting goods stores. “I would
appreciate you making your voice heard if
you think this proposal should not stand.”
Sanford also sent letters with a similar
and 2003 and found that despite millions
of dollars in economic development
incentives given to the retailer, there had
message to the Cabela’s CEO. Eventually,
been no net gain in jobs detected in the
the retailer backed away from building in
communities one year after the stores
South Carolina.
opened.
Under the Gun
So why are politicians so willing to
subsidize Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops?
The appeal appears to be cultural and
political as well as economic.
“This is a God-fearing, gun-loving part
“It’s not like folks suddenly have more
money to spend on hip waders once
a Cabela’s opens up. What generally
happens is that instead of buying those
hip waders from an independent business,
they go to big box store,” says Leroy of
Good Jobs First.
Both Cabela’s and Bass Pro have
to build a store in North Charleston.
of the country,” Sanford says. “People
Cabela’s officials made claims of the store
here feel passionately about the Second
become extraordinarily adept at getting
becoming a major tourist draw that defied
Amendment. The message I have is that
taxpayers to pay not only for the bricks
credulity, he says.
we have an even more important tradition
and mortar of their stores but some
in this country called free enterprise. We
esoteric related attractions:
In order to believe Cabela’s claims, one
has to accept that people would bypass
similar Bass Pro stores in places like
6 | Franklin Center News OCTOBER 2012
need to fight to preserve it.”
Art Rolnick, former chief economist
An 18-acre lake – with a waterfall – was
paid for with part of the $70.6 million in
taxpayer subsidies provided for a Bass pro
When sales fell below the projected levels,
development in Independence, Missouri.
there wasn’t enough money to pay off the
An indoors cypress swamp will be
created in Memphis as part of the $215
bonds.
Paul Woodall is a Birmingham, Alabama,
million taxpayers are contributing toward
lawyer who specializes in economic
the renovation of the Pyramid Arena into a
development and who was hired by
Bass Pro Shop. This includes money the
city plans to spend to provide supporting
infrastructure for the building.
A boardwalk, a town square and street
improvements were part of the $150 million
in tax dollars used for a development in
Branson, Missouri, where a Bass Pro is the
anchor tenant.
Stuffed animals have been purchased
with millions of dollars in public funds
to adorn numerous Cabela’s stores in
the city of Leeds, Alabama, to redraft a
says Cabela’s has not ruled out accepting
development agreement was drafted
more local subsidies – if a good deal were
because the bonds were backed by the full
faith and credit of the city.
Bass Pro is more covetous of municipal
subsidies than other retailers, Woodall says.
“These stores come into rural and
suburban communities that don’t have a lot
going for them and convince them that they
Castor says the construction of one of its
“destination retail” stores can cause people
to change their shopping habits by getting
them to cross a city line or even a state
border.
He notes that Cabela’s’ store in
for its development in Olathe, Kansas.
In Independence, Missouri, the city even
guaranteed the bonds and Bass Pro
defaulted anyway, leaving the city to shell
out $3.5 million to cover a payment last
year on the project.
In both of those communities, the
strategy, which has reaped it hundreds
left vulnerable by the way the original
Cabela’s Chief Financial Officer Ralph
them. Bass Pro defaulted on its bonds
Cabela’s has begun to rethink its
small towns across the nation. Castor
Bass Pro, they want it all,” he says.
risks to the communities that enter into
people go there to shop,” he says.
project. The city of Leeds, he says, was
share sales tax revenues. But in the case of
These development deals are not without
really tough gun laws but Reno is nearby so
of millions of dollars in incentives from
who enter development agreements want to
Buda, Texas, to Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
“I think part of it is that California has
development agreement for a Bass Pro
can put them on the map. Many retailers
communities ranging from Lehi, Utah, to
radius of Reno, Castor says.
Wheeling, West Virginia, attracts customers
from Pennsylvania and Ohio. But the city of
Wheeling abuts the Ohio border and is only
11 miles from the Pennsylvania state line.
Castor concedes that it is a matter of
presented to them by a community. But the
company’s leadership has reconsidered the
wisdom of accepting incentives.
“We have come to the conclusion that
the places that are most likely to offer
incentives are the places we are least likely
to want to build,” Castor says. “People
want to come to your stores for excellent
customer service and quality merchandise.
The taxidermy displays may attract them
the first couple times but they will keep
coming back for the other.”
This exclusive investigation from the
Franklin Center originally appeared at
TheAtlantic.com. F C
Scott Reeder serves as Journalist in
Residence for the Illinois Policy Institute. Scott
has covered state and local government for
more than 25 years, most recently as national
managing editor for the Franklin Center
for Government and Public Integrity, and
debate whether municipal or state retail
previously, bureau chief for our award-winning
subsidies benefit the U.S. economy as a
Illinois bureau. He received his bachelor’s
whole.
in journalism from Iowa State University and
Cabela’s’ own data indicates the
holds a master’s degree in public affairs
customer base of its stores primarily is
reporting from the University of Illinois at
people living in the communities where
Springfield. He and his wife, Joan, reside near
the stores are located. The firm’s Reno
Springfield and have three daughters: Grace,
store is its most successful at being a
Anna and Caitlin
bond payments were tied to sales taxes
true destination retailer. Two-thirds of that
generated by the Bass Pro Shop stores.
store’s customers come from a two-hour
Franklin Center NEWS OCTOBER 2012 | 7
Highlights from the States
Republican National
Convention
Pennsylvania Independent covered
additional $75,000 from the city of New
a major protest from minority groups
Haven. Thanks to our affiliated reporter’s
We partnered with The Heritage
angry with President Obama over this
work, state funding for the project now
Foundation and the Leadership Institute
dissimilarity between his words and
seems unlikely.
to host the Future of Journalism
actions.
Symposium during the convention.
Meanwhile, Dustin Hurst from Montana
“Transforming the Media Landscape: The
Crisis and Opportunity in Journalism”
drew an audience of 65 on the first
day of the convention to discuss the
decline of journalism with Franklin’s
reported that the League of Conservation
Voters has spent more than $1 million
to prop up U.S. Senator Jon Tester
(D-MT) in his re-election bid – despite
Tester’s support for the Keystone XL
Florida
We’re making serious inroads on the
Sunshine State with our new capacity
for Spanish-language reporting.
Marianela Toledo is now a weekly guest
commentator on Actualidad 1020AM
and Radio Paz 830AM, and provided
leadership and editorial team and hear
pipeline, which the League staunchly
how we’re working to fill that gap. We
opposes. Kevin Palmer from Watchdog
daily reports while from the Republican
also streamed live coverage each day
Wire interviewed anti-war activists
National Convention. Several of
from the convention’s Radio Row at
from Code Pink and other groups
her stories on immigration have been
WatchdogWire.org, Franklin’s new hub
about their displeasure with President
picked up by Spanish TV stations in the
for citizen journalism.
Obama, including one who told him,
Miami area, including CNN Espanol.
““Right now, I almost wish McCain had
won.” Everywhere the Franklin team
Illinois
turned in Charlotte, they found rumbles
Our investigation into the Illinois lottery
We sent a team of six to the Democratic
of dissatisfaction, splintering interest
found that Northstar Lottery Group, the
National Convention in Charlotte,
groups, a party far weaker than the
private company awarded a five-year,
North Carolina and came out of it with
legacy media chooses to report.
$300 million contract to manage the
Democratic National
Convention
stories that couldn’t be found anywhere
else. Marianela Toledo, who reports in
Spanish for Florida Watchdog, pointed
Connecticut
state lottery, secretly funneled hundreds
of thousands of dollars to Gov. Pat
Raising Hale broke the news that
Quinn’s 2010 re-election campaign. The
out the contradictions at the heart
Connecticut taxpayers were on the hook
governor’s nine-member panel had only a
of President Obama’s immigration
for $300,000 to renovate and refurbish
few days to read and evaluate thousands
policy. The Department of Homeland
the New Haven People’s Center, a local
of pages of proposal documents from
Security has deported more than1.4
headquarters for the Communist Party
contract bidders – and one member
million undocumented immigrants
of the United States. Moreover, despite
of the panel was named in Northstar’s
since January 2009, more than under
the state’s huge planned investment, the
proposal as their potential new director
any other president in U.S. history,
Department of Social Services claimed
of lottery sales. The panel awarded
despite the President’s declared support
in response to our affiliated reporter’s
the contract to Northstar Lottery Group
for undocumented immigrants that
FOIA request that they had no record of
just weeks before Election Day. Even
has him poised to walk away with an
the project. The state has also allocated
members of the governor’s own party
overwhelming majority of the Hispanic
$25,000 from a federal block grant, and
in the state legislature have called for
vote in November. Eric Boehm from
the city of New Haven is considering an
hearings into this possible ethics breach.
8 | Franklin Center News OCTOBER 2012
Kansas
Federal law mandates a long process
out student aid – the more help from
One story from Kansas Watchdog
to purge ineligible voters from the rolls,
the government, the more expensive a
outlined how disaster payments, even
which officials argue protects people
college education gets, as thirty years of
during so-called good years, are offered
from being arbitrarily deleted. However,
so often that they’ve become the sixth
election watchdogs worry that lists of
largest cash crop in Kansas. Another
inactive voters can be used to commit
story in the series details how real estate
voter fraud. Omaha radio station 1110
developers in Kansas might qualify
KFAB picked up the story, bringing
for emergency drought assistance
Deena Winter, our State Capitol Bureau
because a quirk in Kansas law allows
Chief on their air to discuss it, and
some to count the grass they cut and
Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale
they dug into a program to place four
bale on undeveloped shopping malls or
was forced to respond the next day in
year-olds in kindergarten that has had
subdivisions as a farm crop, allowing
defense of the status quo.
little oversight, indeterminate goals and
them to skirt property taxes. One irate
Wisconsin
With recall fever finally over, Wisconsin
Reporter this summer turned their focus
to education reform. Most recently,
inconclusive results – but that costs
state senator told Kansas Watchdog
Virginia
he thinks these developers are ripping
Virginia Watchdog exposed the stark
off average taxpayers and promised to
truth that the state simply can’t afford
introduce legislation next year to stop it. the Medicare expansion mandated by
Nebraska
data demonstrate.
President Obama’s signature health
insurance reform law – a mandate that
Badger State taxpayers more than $200
million annually. They were virtually
alone among Wisconsin media in
covering a legislative study showing that
choice school students outperformed
their public school counterparts in
Seven sparsely populated Nebraska
will add at least $2.2 billion annually to
counties have more registered voters
the state’s liabilities beginning in 2014.
than people older than 18, a Nebraska
Our Virginia-based reporters also linked
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to task for
Watchdog analysis of U.S. Census and
ballooning college costs in Virginia to
covering the story but burying statistics
voter registration data found in August.
the federal government’s habit of doling
about the success of choice schools. FC
most areas. The bureau also took the
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Franklin Center NEWS OCTOBER 2012 | 9
An Interview with Jerry Couey
Self-Made Citizen Watchdog From Florida
Moriah N. Costa, Citizen Outreach Intern
Summer 2012
“Today I can’t fix Washington, D.C., but today I can have an
impact on my county and my city,” a local Florida blogger tells
Watchdog Wire.
Jerry Couey is a resident of Santa Rosa County, Florida and a
citizen journalist who runs the online forum Santa Rosa Speaks.
In July, he spoke at the Franklin Center’s Citizen Watchdog
training in Boca Raton about filing public records requests, a
skill he taught himself.
It all started back in 2003, Couey said, when he suspected a
A complaint he filed with the state’s attorney resulted in a ruling
that the agency was subject to both the public records and the
open meeting laws. His work also prompted changes in email
and social networking policies in two Florida counties prohibiting
the use of private email and social networking sites for official
public business.
“Couey figured, since his
taxpayer money supported the
agency, he should have a right
to see how they spent it.”
government agency in his county was misusing funds. He went
to the agency, asked for a copy of its annual budget, and was
One of the keys to being successful, Couey said, is to get
told to go to the county administrator’s office. He went back, this
connected with your state think tanks. In Florida, organizations
time with a signed letter invoking his right to public information.
like the James Madison Institute have great resources for citizen
Couey figured, since his taxpayer money supported the
agency, he should have a right to see how they spent it. But he
was told “you can’t have it.”
“The government telling me I couldn’t see how they spend my
journalists. “I encourage citizens to read the Sunshine law [in
their state],” he said. Sunshine laws are state guidelines for filing
public records requests, and they are different in every state.
The best way to be a citizen journalist, Couey said, is to
money was the catalyst,” Couey said. He began to get involved
specialize in one topic. Find something you are interested
in local politics and decided to learn more about public records
in. It takes a lot of time to do research and file public records
requests. He even painted a six foot sign that read “no new
requests. It became his passion, he said. “I just really enjoy
taxes” and displayed it several times at a busy intersection near
doing it [citizen journalism].” The time Couey has invested has
Santa Rosa. “You can get a lot of exposure that way,” he said.
been worth it, he said, because he really is starting to have an
Since that first public records request, Couey has had a
substantial impact on his community, shedding light on local
issues that were previously kept dark in the Sunshine State.
What helps, he said, is having a community of like-minded
people around you. It took Couey a few years before he
made an impact, and it was difficult at first. “You can’t do it by
yourself,” he said.
Among his successes, Couey fought to ensure that the local
economic development agency, complied with Sunshine laws.
10 | Franklin Center News OCTOBER 2012
impact on his community.
You can reach follow Jerry’s work at www.SantaRosaSpeaks
.com. Additional resources for citizen journalists, including
more information about Sunshine laws and filing public records
requests, are available at www.WatchdogWire.com. FC
Alabama
alabamarighttoknow.org
Arizona
goldwaterinstitute.org
Arkansas
thearkansasproject.com
California
calwatchdog.com
Colorado
i2i.org
coloradowatchdog.org
Connecticut
raisinghale.com
Florida
Maryland
ohiowatchdog.org
Massachusetts
capitolbeatok.com
oklahoma.watchdog.org
pioneerinstitute.org
Michigan
Minnesota
oceanstatecurrent.com
mnstatenews.com
freedomfoundationofminnesota.com
Missouri
missouri.watchdog.org
monewshorizon.org
Montana
Hawaii
nebraska.watchdog.org
Idaho
nevadanewsbureau.com
npri.org
Illinois
illinoiswatchdog.org
Iowa
iowawatchdog.org
Kansas
kansasreporter.com
Louisiana
thepelicanpost.org
Maine
themainewire.com
Pennsylvania
paindependent.com
capitolvanguard.org
floridawatchdog.org
idahoreporter.com
Oklahoma
michigancapitolconfidential.com
mackinac.org
montanawatchdog.org
hawaiireporter.com
Ohio
marylandreporter.com
mdpolicy.org
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
newhampshire.watchdog.org
New Jersey
newjersey.watchdog.org
New Mexico
newmexico.watchdog.org
North Carolina
Rhode Island
South Carolina
thenerve.org
Tennessee
tnreport.com
tennessee.watchdog.org
Texas
texaswatchdog.org
Utah
sutherlandinstitute.org
Virginia
watchdogvirginia.org
Washington
theolympiareport.com
West Virginia
westvirginia.watchdog.org
Wisconsin
wisconsinreporter.com
maciverinstitute.com
carolinajournal.com
nccivitas.org
North Dakota
sayanythingblog.com
Franklin Center NEWS OCTOBER 2012 | 11
we're on a mission from ben
E
stablished in early 2009, the Franklin Center for Government
With transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility as our
and Public Integrity supports an in-house team of state-
watchwords, the Franklin Center identifies, trains, and supports
based reporters and acts as a capacity-building service
investigative journalists working to detect and expose corruption
provider for organizations that sponsor investigative
and incompetence in government at the state and local levels.
journalists. Working against a growing tide of mediocrity and bias in
Our competitive advantage lies in our local focus; commitment
the media, the Franklin Center is committed to breaking the monopoly
to using highly trained and professional journalists; strategic
of information in the states. We believe that a free flow of information
approach to using and distributing resources; and focus on
is essential to maintaining our free republic.
tangible results.
Find out more at FranklinCenterHQ.org/about