PUBLIC SERVICE -- NEWSPAPER/WIRE SERVICE.

This article features the article from the Gannet New Jersey Newspapers which won the 2003 Sigma Delta Chi Award for public service in newspaper/wire service category. In September 2003, the Asbury Park Press published its first article exposing the weak ethics of New Jersey's elected officials. With the November election just six weeks away, the paper's readers demanded information. Gannet's investigation editor Paul D'Ambrosio said that Profiting from Public Service, the winning article, showed voters how state lawmakers have turned their public jobs into get-rich-quick schemes for themselves, their families and their political bosses. The series is a classic example of the adage, follow the money. For five months, staff from the Press and six other Gannet New Jersey newspapers did just that--finding a long trail of legal greed. Lawmakers were quiet about the state's weak ethics laws, knowing change would mean an end to their inflated pocketbooks. Gannet executive director and vice president for news William C. Hidlay commented that the entrenched political power bosses reacted fiercely to our investigation--even before one word was published. Reporters and newspapers were threatened with lawsuits simply for asking questions about particular financial dealings of elected officials. State lawmakers continue to reform legislative ethics.