Midterm

1.) In order to tell a compelling story about the trials and tribulations on Mr. Al Zimmerman I would first try to find out as much background information on him as possible. I would start by trying to find out if he had any history of criminal activity in his past by running a background check through http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/CriminalHistory/. This step would help determine if this is a problem with someone who just made some bad choices later in life or if there is a larger problem at hand involving a lack of proper investigation into the individuals applying for government based jobs. After receiving any and all information on Mr. Zimmerman I would then make it a priority to talk to anyone that had a hand in hiring him without doing the proper background checks. It turns out he had charges filed against him in the past for writing bad checks and driving under the influence. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office website site http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/ was tremendously helpful in finding a ton of information on the exploits of all citizens including Zimmerman. In addition to the above steps I would try to find out his past, including where he was formerly employed and attempt to talk to some of the people that know him personally to see if they had any idea that he was capable of this type of behavior. I would look to have several questions answered and they are listed below: How did Zimmerman’s previous history of charges get overlooked in the interview process? What types of measures are going to be taken to insure that this kind of activity does not happen again in the future? Those two questions in particular I would be asking Mr. Bob Butterworth himself, chief of the Florida's Department of Children and Families. In addition to asking questions about Zimmerman I would also look to know what exactly goes into making sure an employee with the DCF is properly monitored and using funds for what they are supposed to be used for. This problem is larger than just an outlaw employee doing something illegal it is a black eye to the entire Florida government and should be viewed as such by Butterworth and all parties involved.

In addition to looking at this situation from a state government standpoint I also would look at it from a local citizen’s standpoint. While thinking along those lines I then used www.zillow.com to locate where this individual lives so that all the people that live in that surrounding area would know what kind of person lives among them. Throughout my search I found that there were many interviews done with people that claimed to have known Zimmerman very well and were shocked that he would be involved in these types of acts. So maybe the real story here is that you really never know people as well as you think you do. Along that line of thinking I would also try to do some research on his childhood and try to see if anything throughout his life would lead one to believe that he would commit this type of crime. To assist in this quest I would request a copy of the search warrant from the local police to see if anything they found would be helpful.

Lastly due to the fact this case is relating to sexual crimes we would not be able to obtain any information about the victims and that goes two fold because this case also includes minors. This would be yet another angle I would focus on and try to use this type of story to show both children and parents alike that in order to really know a person you have to take the time and do the research. This might sound like a very untrusting way to look at the world but anytime you are dealing with someone who is involved in shaping your life it is worth the time and effort to make sure you can trust them. My thought process in looking into all these different angles is to find an angle that has not been covered yet and I think by trying to pull all of these different public records and facts about Zimmerman it would give me a leg up in doing so. I found many different stories about this case but almost every single one of them was exactly the same and in some cases used the same quotes from the same people. If I were to do a story on something that is well documented I would want it to make an impact on the reader not just give them mind numbing stats that they can get anywhere.


2.) The Florida Sunshine Law is best known for allowing us, the Florida citizen, to obtain any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business. This is much different than much of the country as most state governments do not allow their citizens to have access to public records. Chapter one-hundred nineteen, the public records law, was passed in nineteen hundred and nine and allows for us to have the access to these public records. When it comes to the Sunshine Law there are a few things that are very important to remember. First anyone and everyone can get a public record, and secondly that person does not have to either give a name or a reason for the request. That being said there are many ways that state agencies sometimes try to get away with not giving someone the items they are requesting. From time to time they will ask for money to compensate them for their time, which is allowed but it must be the lowest paid employee’s salary that is paid. Other times they will say the item is not available or try to say they do not have access to it at the moment. That being said it can also go the other way and they can give you an unbelievable volume of records so large that no one could read all the information that is provided. This law also covers things like E-mails, faxes, computer documents and even discussions between public officials about government related business. We are tremendously lucky to live in a state that has this law, being a reporter is much easier in this state than the majority of the country.

Another key component to having an open government, in the state of Florida, is the commitment shown by Governor Charlie Crist. In June of two-thousand seven Crist issued executive order zero seven dash one-hundred and seven otherwise known as the Commission on Open Government Reform. The entire intent of the order was to ensure that all governments, both state and local, conform to Chapter one-hundred nineteen. It consists of nine members that will review, evaluate, and make recommendations in regards to Florida’s public records law. This committee would look at everything from whether fees should be charged or not in certain cases all that way to how records should be retained and distributed upon request. One of the major issues raised by the public was the publics right to obtain public records and how difficult some places make it to obtain these documents. This is one of the main reasons the governor enacted this plan, after hearing countless stories about how people attempted and failed to get the public records they needed and deserved, he felt he had to do something to make a change. Another major obstacle to obtaining public records is the cost associated with getting the records. During the third set of hearings several reporters stated that the cost is outrageous and more than that they are usually incompatible. The complaint stated that the different agencies rarely work together and never can help a citizen coordinate what they need when another department is involved. In fact by reading the various counts they were given it sounded like in most of the cases people were being intentionally difficult. Then the issue of cost comes up and in some cases the cost actually went up to hundred of thousands of dollars which is outrageous and just plain against the spirit of the law. The reporters claim that as technology increases it should be easier to obtain public records as less paper is used and it is stored much more easily than in the past. In their minds it is clear this all comes back to the government as a whole not feeling this is all that important and therefore not putting the proper time and effort into solving these issues. Another major and unacceptable issue also came up, and that was that some agencies are just flat out denying to provide the requested public record. In many of these cases they did not even give a reason but just would not provide it and other times stated it was due to proprietary information of the company that built the database. All this causes even a bigger problem than just having to pay for the information or wait a long time for it. More times than not these situation lead to a court case which ends up costing the requesting party loads of money not to mention could cause them to lose the timeliness of story. Yet another complaint that was provided was that many public records are only provided in a limited format. This also does not conform to the public records law as the public has the right to receive anything that is talked about when it comes to their local government. All this being said this entire discussion between the different media outlets and the Commission was not entirely about what is wrong but in some cases how what is wrong could be corrected. One person talked about how in other states when he was denied a public record he requested they are required to get permission from the attorney generals open records division. Another reporter, Matt Doig, Investigative Reporter, for the Herald-Tribune gave three simple requests that can help resolve some of the states issues with little effort or cost to the government. First they should just enforce the law that already exists by states just because an outside company is used to store information it does not mean it cannot be had. Secondly, the public should not have to pay for an outside company to pull the public records they are entitled to, they should be retrieved by someone making much less than a programmer for a private company. Lastly he stated that all databases should be built in a way they can be easily copied almost like coping a Word document from a computer to a CD. These suggestions and other just like it are the entire reason Governor Crist created this Commission. Through these sessions they are slowly but surely finding all the cracks and with each meeting also coming up with different ways to help resolve some of these problems. They are not going to be able to solve all of these issues overnight but they are on the right track and that is a step in the right direction.


3.) When State Senator Victor Crist announces his candidacy for Congress I would look into many aspects of his decision and his supports as well. While not trying to find dirt or anything of that nature my primary job would be to inform the voting public all I can about this new candidate. My first action would be to find where his money is coming from and I would do that through the website http://cqmoneyline.com/pml/home.do. The most important thing to remember when talking about or researching a politician is to follow the money. Money for an election can come from a variety of places and where they come from is sometimes just as important as how much. That being said after identifying who is providing this money I would of course look at the various relationships that he has and see if there is any unique things that jump off the page which could cause some concern. One example would be if a large group of people where providing money from the same company, in that case I would look at each one of their voting histories to see if this make sense or not. In order to find this information I would use the website http://www.opensecrets.org to see if anything is unusual or needs to be looked into a little deeper. For instance if of this large group of people only a handful of them have never voted before but now they were giving hundreds of dollars to a candidate that would be somewhat unusual. This would not necessarily be an issue for the candidate but it could certainly be an issue for the contributing party. Next I would go to the website http://election.dos.state.fl.us/index.shtml and make sure he is now a qualified candidate and all his papers are in order to run for Congress. After all these checks and balances have been completed I would get in contact with some of his major backers and try to find out why they believe in him so much and are willing to put so much of their hard earned money into his campaign. This will be helpful on two counts; on one hand if there is anything fishy going on it will help me determine what is happening. Secondly if everything is on the up and up I will truly get a better understanding as to why this person has such a loyal backing and will better be able to inform my readers as to the qualifications of the candidate. Our job as reporters again is not to find good things to report or bad things to report, it is to find everything to report and it is then up to us to decide what the public cannot get access to and give it to them. Another very interesting web site I found was http://www.followthemoney.org and it helps provide all the dollars by state and includes any kind of election you choose. This site also points out the different companies and how as they get bigger they start to contribute more and more. All told I would try to use all the resources at my disposal and try to make sure the public gets all the information they deserve about this individual.