Model and Strategy
The California Accountability Desk is CalMatters' ambitious plan to build an investigative unit to cover the vast, $285 billion government that runs the world’s fifth largest economy with minimal oversight or citizen engagement.
Until we started the first phase of our CalMatters Accountability Desk in 2021 with a reporter, editor and data-visualization expert, there were no full-time investigative reporters assigned to California’s government and few media investigations of state programs. We had proven our ability to do this work — and do it well — with occasional projects that grew out of our beat reporting and our first accountability product.
But true accountability means someone’s actually watching all the time. So we’re building out the California Accountability Desk and the dedicated team pursuing projects and products like these while also tracking and analyzing the data that can uncover problems we don’t see in our routine beat reporting. On our fully staffed Accountability Desk, an investigative editor will lead a team of expert journalists with specialized skills in exploring data, government programs and court records and working with whistleblower sources. The desk also provides capacity for our Statehouse team and our beat reporters — topic experts who often get the best tips — to take the time and resources to dig deeply into crucial stories.
A key component of this effort is Glass House, which uses new technologies to make data and information about every legislator easily accessible to the people they represent. Here Californians can learn about their lawmakers and monitor their behavior. For each lawmaker we share key biographical information, how they lean politically based, how special-interest groups rate them and how to contact them. As it grows, we’ll add many more valuable features including data that links legislators, money, lobbyists and votes to illustrate the relationship trees that form around various topics and bills, gifts, junkets, financial disclosures, absenteeism, campaign violations and more.
Impact
The Accountability Desk will change California. Regular investigations will show whistleblowers, politicians and special interests that the watchdog that has been missing for many years is back. With Glass House, every lawmaker will know there is a credible source of information about what they do, the good and the bad. Without transparency, the price for siding with a special interest over the public interest is not high. And there is little awareness or credit for those who break with a special interest for the public good. We’re making it easy for all to see the difference.
We’re proud of the impactful projects that we've produced in the past year. Now the Accountability Desk will create the infrastructure and reporting capacity to relentlessly pursue more stories like:
- Farmworkers and COVID-19: We uncovered six virus outbreaks that sickened more than 350 agricultural workers and explored the lack of state oversight, muddled county reporting requirements, and the model policies followed in Oregon. That work played a role in new legislation, agency and legislative hearings in Sacramento, and new rules for guestworker protection in Santa Barbara County.
- Evictions during the pandemic: At a time when moratoriums were supposed to keep people in their homes, we compiled a massive database of more than 2,000 evictions across all 58 counties. We also launched a series (in English and Spanish) that follows a half dozen of the more than 2 million Californians who are behind on rent and subject to eviction when temporary moratoriums run out. Our coverage fueled high- level policy change, including legislation in Sacramento, along with individual impacts for people we profiled: Landlords withdrew eviction orders, local officials helped them, donations poured in, and national media picked up their stories.
- Our Waiting for Justice series revealed that more than 40,000 people held in California jails without being convicted or sentenced. We found myriad reasons for the long delays: Defense attorneys seek extra time to prepare, prosecutors pursue stiff sentences that lead to extra hearings, and judges struggle to manage their crowded calendars.
Leadership
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Dave Lesher
Editor and Founder