How we got the story: Sources, digging were foundations of reports on Illinois tollway

In late 2017, the Daily Herald began a series of investigative stories that shined a light on questionable spending and cronyism at the Illinois tollway. Eventually, the series would lead to government hearings and replacement of the entire tollway board.

How did we get the story?

1. Sources

It started with people in the know about dubious conduct reaching out. That was crucial - because an outsider scrutinizing complicated construction or engineering contracts may never connect the dots and find patronage.

For example, I lucked out in December 2017 when someone called out of the blue and said the sister-in-law of the House Republican leader was working as an engineering manager although her background was in furniture sales.

No. 2. Freedom of Information Act requests

I sent multiple FOIA requests to the tollway and other state agencies seeking records. But that wasn't necessarily a slam dunk.

Sometimes officials refused to provide information or redacted important details. Then I had to appeal to the Illinois attorney general's public access counselor, who acts as a referee in such cases. Because I'm not a lawyer, it could be daunting to write a compelling argument insisting why I should get certain information.

In one case, tollway executives blacked out portions of meeting minutes from an important committee that makes recommendations on multimillion-dollar contracts. I appealed to the AG's office arguing this was public information. That move prompted the tollway to release full copies of the minutes.

No. 3. Reading and research

I spent hours reviewing lengthy contracts and digging into databases. To make sense of some information, I created Excel files to find patterns or anomololies. My low-tech spreadsheet involved a large sheet of paper speckled with Post-it notes.

No. 4. Making calls

If you're writing stories challenging agencies or officials, you have to tell them what you know and ask for their side of the story. I also spent hours on the phone talking to sources and government officials who were kind enough to explain bureaucratic procedures and point me in the right directions.

No. 5. Writing the story

Finally, once I had my facts, data and interviews - it was time to tell complicated, sometimes technical stories in a way that keep people's interest and explain how tollway contracts and hiring decisions affect their lives and pocketbooks.

Our reporting found that agency leaders had approved contracts for businesses with links to executives and hired politically connected people with suspect qualifications.

In July of 2018, the Illinois Senate called a hearing to question tollway leaders about the Herald's findings. In January 2019, the Illinois General Assembly ousted the tollway board, followed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointing a new slate of directors a month later.