Getting Going on Investigating City Hall Michael Mansur, The Kansas City Star

Attitude and personality First, get a personality. Be human, be nice and be fun to be around on the beat. Get rid of the attitude. Don’t be shrill, sassy, strident. Remember the guiding principle: It’s the taxpayer’s money, not their money. Over years, even good public officials start to believe they know best.

Corruption or incompetence? Many reporters say, “I know officials in my City Hall aren’t corrupt. Where can I find stories?” So they don’t look, sometimes even if they suspect incompetence. But set this as your focus: HOW ARE THEY SPENDING OUR MONEY? Then incompetence becomes an A1 story.

Key Question: How much does that cost? You notice in a meeting, all the public officials have new Blackberrys. How much does that cost? You happen to follow home an unmarked city car. You know it is because it has a city license plate. How much does that cost? You talk to a city water official who tells you that the city doesn’t meter many city facilities that receive city water for free. How much does that cost? You see a city work crew out at 7 p.m. laying an asphalt patch. Looks like overtime. How much does that cost? You go by Municipal Court at 3 p.m. and no one is there. How much does that cost?

The answers: Cell phones in City Hall (before Blackberrys) were out of control, with city officials, including council members, racking up bills up to $2,000 per month. There was some abuse of phones but a bigger problem was incompetence. Cell phone plans were rewarded based on the city officials’ rank. As a result, some hard-working city officials out in the field were on $19.99 monthly plans. They tallied high fees because they often exceeded their “free” minutes.

Take-home vehicles At least an extra half-million-dollars a year, as many city officials only used their city vehicle for commuting. Daily logs showed they simply traveled back and forth to work. It was another perk of position. In addition, high-ranking city police were using unmarked cars almost exclusively for commuting.

Wasted water Water leaked out of the city’s aged pipes and distribution systems at a rate two to four times (depending on neighborhood) the acceptable rate. That meant 12 billion gallons of treated water lost each year. That’s $13 million of water wasted, even if you take away the acceptable loss rate.

City overtime City workers were piling up overtime, $20 million a year, excluding police. When we checked the amount of regular pay and overtime each city employee received, we found one public works supervisor _ who oversaw a street patching crew _ making $111,000 a year. More than $70,000 of that _ nearly double his regular pay _ was OT.

Missing judges KC municipal judges, when we checked their parking records to see how long they were in the courthouse, averaged about 25 hours a week on the job. They took every Friday afternoon off. They heard few cases past their 1:30 docket. Some were even routinely late for their first dockets at 9 a.m.

How to nail the story What laws or rules set the standards? How are those tracked? On forms? In data bases? What do officials in charge cite as their authority? Who monitors whether they comply? Essential docs: payroll data, including overtime; conflict of interest forms, financial disclosures, property records, tax records (are your council member paying them?), business license database, property code violations and building permits, city budget, management letter and vendors list. Think about a discrete set of records to tell a story. Cell phone spending records. Parking records for the judges. Overtime/payroll records for police or fire fighters. Be prepared to layer records, along with the information obtained from sources, to build the evidence for a story. Learn to use database software and spreadsheets to analyze data. When you hear, “We never looked at that before?” you’ll know you’ve got a hit.

Surviving and staying sane You investigate, you must be a hard egg. Maybe, but you keep sources and their respect by not surprising, going over info with them in detail before publication, reading back quotes. Always be willing to explain yourself. So don’t do anything you’re ashamed to disclose later. Read fiction. Talk to your kids. Have lots of friends who aren’t journalists.