Midterm

1) There are a number of documents and interview sources that could be used in a case like this to write a quality story. I think there are two categories of information that I would search to find out information on Al Zimmerman. First, there are all of the people that are connected to Zimmerman in one way or another that I could interview to find out what type of person he is. These people range from co-workers, family members, neighbors, and so on. Second, there are the public records that I could use to find out information about Zimmerman such as his arrest record and where he lives.
I will first discuss who I would interview and why I would interview them. I would certainly interview people that Zimmerman worked with at the Department of Children and Families. I would try to find out from them if Zimmerman ever displayed any behavior that would have led them to believe that he could ever be arrested for something like child pornography. I would ask them what type of a guy Zimmerman was on a daily basis. Did he go about his daily business as if everything he was doing was right? Or did he appear to have a sense of guilt surrounding him? Even if they said he appeared to be as normal as everyone else in the office, I could paint the picture that Zimmerman was clearly perfectly okay with the crime he was committing.
Another group of people that could be interviewed for this story would be the people who lived near Zimmerman. Now obviously I would need to find out where Zimmerman lived first, but I will get to that later. I think some good stuff could be obtained from these interviews, especially if there were some families with young children that lived in the same neighborhood as Zimmerman. Maybe there is a family with kids that have been around Zimmerman in the past. Now I could get the parents’ reaction when they find out what type of a guy Zimmerman really is. I think it would also be beneficial to interview some of Zimmerman’s family members, and get their reaction of Zimmerman’s arrest. If they gave a “he’s never done anything wrong in his life” description of Zimmerman, I could simply continue to paint that “you can never trust anyone” picture,
As I mentioned earlier, I think it would be a must to find out where Zimmerman lives for this story. I would find this information out on www.zillow.com. I would need this information for a couple of reasons. First, I would do what I stated earlier and interview Zimmerman’s neighbors. Second, I would see if he lived close to an elementary school or maybe even a middle school. I think if Zimmerman had neighbors around him that had children and he lived 500 feet away from an elementary school, my story could pack even more punch. I think another must for me when gathering information for this story would be to get Zimmerman’s arrest records from the county sheriff’s department, which can be done at www.hcso.tampa.fl.us. This would give me an idea of whether or not he had any previous criminal activity. This could tell me a couple of things. First, it could tell me whether or not Zimmerman has displayed a pattern of criminal behavior. Secondly, if he has shown that pattern then I would be inclined to research his hiring and find out why he was given a job at the Department of Children and Families if he has a record. Even if I find out that Zimmerman has never done anything wrong in his life up until this arrest, it can still give my story more fire power. I can send the message that here is a guy who has never done anything wrong and all of his co-workers think he is a great guy, and the next thing you know he is being arrested for child pornography.
I think that what I have listed above are the key doors that would need to be opened to write this story. What I found out from those sources could open up more doors for even more information on Zimmerman.

2) People wanting to obtain public records or attend public meetings in Florida benefit greatly from the Florida Sunshine Law. Here in Florida we have one of the most open laws regarding public records that give us a great deal of access to documents. This is not the case in all 50 states, as they each have their own statutes that create guidelines for public record access. First I will talk about how the law is interpreted with regards to accessing public records. Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, states that all state, county, and municipal records shall be open for inspection and copying by any person. The part of that statute that holds a multitude of importance is the last two words: any person. This means that no matter who you are, what you do, or where you’re from, if you want a public record in the state of Florida you can get it. In fact, you do not even have to be a United States citizen, as the law simply states that any person could get a public record.
Now that we know who can get one, I’ll discuss what the law says about what exactly a public record is. The statute defines public records as “all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software, or other material, regardless of physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.” So basically anything that deals with public business or public officials is there for inspection by anybody here in Florida. There is obviously much more detail to it than that, but what we can get out of that definition is that there is a multitude of information that is there for us and not a whole lot keeping us away from it.
Although the law is extremely open and does leave these public records very accessible, there are often times some obstacles that you have to get around in order to get a public record. One easy way to avoid any headache is to inspect the record that you want on-site instead of making copies of it. Although there are prices set in the Sunshine Law pertaining to making copies, agencies often charge much more than those prices. One way to get yourself into trouble is if you request a record that the agency claims requires the “extensive use” of that agency to obtain. If they claim that it requires extensive use they can charge you a reasonable fee based on the actual costs incurred in copying the requested records. The other obstacle to obtaining a public record is the many exemptions there are to certain records. If you are denied a public record by an agency, that agency must give a reason for denial and cite the exemption for that particular record. If they fail to put that exemption in writing they are subject to sanctions.
This leads me to the discussion of who makes the decisions on issues regarding public meetings and public records. On June 19, 2007 Governor Charlie Crist issued Executive Order 07-107, which created the Commission on Open Government Reform. Crist created this nine-member commission within the Governor’s Office of Open Government to review, evaluate, and issue recommendations regarding Florida’s public records and public meetings laws. In other words, this commission reviews whether or not the public has right to access certain public records or public meetings. One key ingredient to the Florida Sunshine Law is that there is a presumption of openness. The reason that this is important is because this means that if a person is denied access to a certain public record, the agency has the burden of giving the reason and the exemption. It is not on the person requesting the record to show that there is no reason or exemption.
The Florida Sunshine Law has a very similar lack of restraints when it pertains to public meetings. The Open Meetings Law requires that all meetings of state agencies and local government boards or commissions be open to the public unless there is a specific statutory exemption. This law is very broad, as it applies to any meeting of two or more officials of any public agency, any private company doing business on behalf of a public agency, and any advisory board or committee with the power or authority to make recommendations to a public agency. The law also requires public officials to go through certain procedures whenever they hold a public meeting. One thing they must do is give the public a reasonable amount of notice as to inform them when a meeting is going to be held. Obviously along those same lines they must tell the public where the meeting is and what it will be about. Just as there is with public records, there is a presumption of openness for public meetings in Florida as well. What this means is that any meeting between two (or more) public officials of the same agency are presumed to be open unless there is a specific statutory exemption. This means that if two public officials of the same agency are eating lunch and discussing public business, their meeting is presumed subject to the Sunshine State Law.
Charlie Crist saw all of the issues that could come up between agencies and editors pertaining to the Sunshine State Law. After countless disputes he saw fit to do something about it, and he did. I think that Commission on Open Government Reform is beneficial to the public because it demands that these public agencies are held accountable when they deny someone access to a public record or a public meeting.

3) There is a multitude of information out there to write a solid story on Congressional candidate Victor Crist. Using public records alone I could find out where Crist stands on certain issues, who is providing money for his campaign, and how he has voted since he has been in office. As far as figuring out where the money is coming from to fuel his campaign I would visit the website www.moneyline.cq.com. On this website you can find out who has made contributions to certain campaigns and how much those contributions were. Another website you could benefit from as far as finding out about campaign contributions is the Florida board of elections website. On these sites you can search by a specific contributor if you feel like a certain company has a history in swaying a candidate on certain issues.
The next site I would visit would be www.opensecrets.org. This is where I would find out the voting history of Crist. I could also find out the voting history of the companies that are major contributors in his campaign. This site, as well as moneyline.cq.com, is also good for finding out about campaign funds.
After finding out about the money involved in the campaign and how Crist has voted on certain issues, I would then move on to finding out about Crist in a personal manner. Like I talked about with Zimmerman earlier, I would talk to co-workers about Crist. This time it would just be general questions to find out about his personality. I think an obvious thing that would be needed to check out would be Crist’ criminal record, if he has one. I think it would be beneficial to talk to some of the higher-ups of the companies that are contributing the most to Crist’ campaigns and find out why they are backing Crist. Maybe you can find out if that company has a hidden agenda with backing Crist, not that they just think he is the best candidate. You can at least get them to tell you why they feel so compelled by Crist as a candidate to contribute such a large amount of money to fuel his campaign.
Lastly, another site to check would be www.election.dos.state.fl.us. At this site you can make sure that Crist has completed all of the necessary steps needed to run for Congress. This step is really just a formality, but it would be terrible to have a chance to stumble on a mistake like this and miss out on it.
I believe that thorough research of these sites and interviews of the aforementioned individuals would be a solid foundation of information to write a story on. This information would enable me to find out where the money is coming from in Crist’ campaign. It would also tell me a little bit about Crist as a person to go along with a lot about how he has voted in the past.