By By Liz Essley Whyte
Center for Public Integrity
Big money was a boon to groups fighting for and against ballot measures across the states on Election Day. In 21 of the top 25 most expensive state ballot measure races in terms of television ad spending, groups that won the war on the airwaves also won at the ballot box. But surprising upsets also showed that in the wild world of direct democracy, money isn’t everything.
By Frank Alvarado
BrowardBulldog.org
Miami Republican Carlos Curbelo’s congressional campaign was forced to resubmit its most recent quarterly finance report after failing to disclose $50,000 in contributions from 21 political action committees. This story was updated Saturday afternoon to account for numerous errors contained in Curbelo campaign reports.
By Justin Elliott and Jesse Eisinger;Laura Sullivan
ProPublica and NPR
In 2012, two massive storms pounded the United States, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, hungry or without power for days and weeks. Americans sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Red Cross, confident their money would ease the suffering. They believed the charity was up to the job. They were wrong.
By Owen Mcnamee and Douglas Brawley
Special to BrowardBulldog.org
Twenty years ago eighteen members of a Broward Grand Jury issued a
scathing report that concluded the Broward County mental health system was underfinanced, fragmented and leaderless. They found the system was failing thousands of mentally ill and disabled persons and causing hundreds to wind up in jail or endure forced hospitalizations without needed treatment. Twenty years later, we are still failing this vulnerable population.
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Most Floridians know that before Rick Scott was governor he headed a hospital chain that paid $1.7 billion to resolve criminal and civil charges of healthcare fraud. Less known is the story of Scott’s involvement as an investor, director and paid consultant at another firm that settled civil claims of corporate spying and theft a month before Scott’s 2010 victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary propelled him towards the governor’s mansion.
By Francisco Alvarado
BrowardBulldog.org
When Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera was a state legislator in 2008 his campaign paid more than $20,000 to an electioneering firm run by his sister and her husband. The arrangement sparked a quiet public corruption probe. No criminal charges were filed, yet a prosecutor concluded that what happened “may not look good” to the public.
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