are going to hit many walls in your pursuits – but if you have the passion and determination you will find the answers, sometimes.
Get the Facts: Put together a library of key documents that will give you a foundation for research you’ll need to do on the government entities that you cover. Collect copies of the past several years’ budgets. Get a basic payroll report with all employees’ names, salaries, job titles, departments and hire dates. Get lists of the overtime payments made to each employee and each department for the past couple years. Get copies of all key officials’ resumes. How do you obtain these materials? Easy, ask the city or school board’s custodian of records for them. In some cases, especially regarding the payroll info, you may be asked to submit OPRA requests. But that’s just a speed bump.
OPRA & FOIA What’s OPRA? New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act provides the public (and reporters) a process for obtaining public documents, including everything from the expense report the mayor submitted while attending a conference in New Orleans to the email the school superintendent sent to principals about the district’s policy on holiday decorations. For federal records, it’s the Freedom of Information Act, which provides similar access to documents from the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal departments and agencies.
Interview the Elected & Government Officials in the Know: Sometimes you won’t find the information you need from a government record. The next best thing is to go talk to the elected officials, government employees, or other stakeholders involved.
Before interviewing anyone, get prepared: 1. Know who you are talking to: What is their role? What is their agency’s role? Knowing a person’s background and specific job responsibilities in advance will make sure you ask the right questions when you get your 5 minutes. Get a copy of their resume or bio in advance. (This may also can be obtained from OPRA). 2. Prepare a list of Questions: Knowing what questions you want to ask will make sure you don’t miss anything important and will help you stay focused. 3. Know the Facts: Before going into the interview have any documentation in front, you may want to reference it in case there is a questionable answer or you want to pinpoint an answer.
7