AJR has a piece on how the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has beefed up its
statehouse bureau, expanding it to nine staffers this year. The paper's new
managing editor, Hank Klibanoff, explains why: In my view, the decline
of investigative journalism is directly related to the reduction of coverage
of state government, because some of the juiciest stories come out of
statehouse coverage. Many of the conflict-of-interest stories that I conside
to be ripe for investigative reporting come out of covering the government.
Bingo.

Legislators & Resurrection in Dorothy Dixie

Salzer and Henry Unger described how, moments after lawmakers had
passed a bill weakening the legal protections against predatory lending
practices, two state reps "walked into a pack of jubilant bank and mortgage
lobbyists," from whom they "received handshakes, back slaps and even a hug
And another reporter, Ken Foskett, wrote a graphic description of life at an
Atlanta condominium complex where legislators and lobbyists mingle after
hours, drinking and noshing at the Alcohol Dealers Association's hospitality
suite. Life at the condos, one legislator said, is kind of like being in a dorm
with your classmates.
· The art of investment in exposing modern political bullies [AJR]