Public Information vs. Government Fraud

Preston Trigg, a director of administration and special projects for Hillsborough County Tax Collector, and his speech made me realize how much I have to know in order to become a great journalist. Since Mr. Trigg is a former journalist, he was able to explain in orderly fashion how public records at his current work place will make my journalistic career easier and productive in the future.

According to Mr. Trigg journalist must be very strong adequate for the First Amendment, The Law of Transparency, and openness from the government. He emphasize that information needs to be out there and to back his words he quoted the founding father, Thomas Jefferson, “Biggest tread to people is government secrecy.”
Hillsborough County Tax Collector gives us access to one of the most important public records available to a journalist, which is property tax information. At this constitutional office we can also find business tax database and motor vehicle records. All of this information can be researched by name, address, and section of town at http://www.hillstax.org.

Preston Trigg put a great emphasis on how important is for a journalists to know what is known as public record according to the Florida Statute Sec 119.001 (11). He also explained who can get those records and what the rules are. As an experience media person Mr. Trigg shared some trick of trades for public records like putting in writing request of the public records, citing exemptions and nature of records the agency isn’t giving us, asking for the cost up front, inspecting records rather than spending money for copies, recording crimes of not releasing a record, giving reasonable timeframe, and always to be aware of the competition. For journalists is especially important to know that a written request of a record is a public record.

What every reporter should do? According to Mr. Trigg we should always look for the money, especially when government is involved. Second, always check for the truth. Third, don’t let them fool you around.

To conclude his presentation Mr. Trigg presented the most important records a reporter should ask for when he or she goes to the constitutional agency. I was surprised how far a journalist must go in order to reach the truth in a given story. The list includes budget, organizational chart, financial disclosure, five years of any gift disclosures made, one year of pay roll records for ten-highest paid officials in that agency, one year of bills for all credit cards held by reporting individual. To continue we have to include the top ten highest paid travel records, educational, and automobile expenses. Finally here it comes again the list of all written 119 requests made in the past year by the reporting individual.

In conclusion I would say that Mr. Trigg gave us the most thorough
information about public information within his agency compare to the once we’ve be visiting so far. He made it clear that the only way we can watch our government is by looking as far as we can in order to reach the truth.

Helpful web site for the public can be: http://www.zillow.com
OVER ALL- Follow the money!