Investigative panel at Women Action and Media conference was a big success

This weekend, I appeared on an investigative journalism panel at the Women Action and Media conference. My fellow panelists were Aura Bogado of Pacifica Radio, and Maggie Mulvihill of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. Esther Kaplan of the Nation Investigative Fund was our moderator.

My talk was about using the public record to get the dirt on practically anyone. I walked the participants through a story I wrote about Dr. Eric Keroack, a crusading anti-choice physician who was chosen by George W. Bush to oversee America's largest family planning program.

In the article, I revealed that Keroack had admitted to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine that he couldn't prove that he'd done the continuing medical education credits necessary to keep his license.

I explained that I didn't need any special access or pull to get these documents. I was able to find what other reporters had missed because I understood how the medical board's record-keeping system worked and what documents were available on request.

I also talked about how to use the IRS 990 tax return of a non-profit organization to find the names of directors, salaries, assets, and other juicy details. You can look up these IRS 990s at the website GuideStar.org. (Free registration required.)

The WAM conference is organized by the Center for New Words and the MIT women's studies department.

Comments

[Fitz]

So what happened to Dr. Eric Keroack appointment? Were you successful or did one slip "through the net"??

I must say, I don’t think i have kept up in my "continuing education" for the bar ( a notorious ineffective time wasting laughing stock good only for keeping coffers full)

Do I need fear you Lindsay? If I ever get appointed dog catcher? Or Supreme Court Justice?

Should I also start paying my Haitian maids social security?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Keroack resigned abruptly after less than five months in office after the Massachusetts Medicaid office bega investigating him for misconduct. He was accused of writing prescriptions in the name of a daughter who had medical insurance so that she could give the medicine to her mother, who didn't--I'm not sure whether the investigation is complete.

Yes, you should start paying your domestic employees' Social Security. Otherwise you're stealing from your maid and the taxpayers. The pope would back me up on that.

If you aren't doing what you need to do to keep up your law license, and you're racking up complaints with the local bar association, I would caution you against applying for any vetted legal appointment.

[Fitz]

Agreed on the social security. It also helps prevent immigrant abuse. Allot of domestic help and other industries use naive and exploited illegal’s whose "supervisor" keeps a substantial cut.

There haven’t been any complaints to my local bar association (another notoriously abused “check” were allegations don’t have to be substantiated) It’s a good thing to keep an eye on when I do expert testimony work I am often asked If I have been sued or received complaints.

As for “continuing legal education” – almost everyone is behind. The system is rather informal. You can subscribe to a journal and have that count in a crunch. A lot of the seminars are a waste of time and use that as there hook. Of coarse these seminaries are always given at a Hotel with golf course in vacation spot local.

[twitter.com/FLO_A]

@Fitz, you could also begin to get involved in the efforts to get paperwork for your maid. How long has she (or maybe, he?) been in the US? Better yet, you could let her/him know about the Domestic Worker Union, www.domesticworkersunited.org/