On February 2, 1991, The Arizona Republic ran a front-page story under the banner headline LEGISLATORS UNDER INVESTIGATION IN POLITICAL-CORRUPTION 'STING.' It was the first news of what has become the biggest political corruption case in Arizona history, a sixteen-month, million-dollar undercover investigation that resulted in the indictment of eight lawmakers and eleven others. On the surface, it was a solid piece of investigative journalism. But there was a problem: the sting was still in place when the Republic's story hit the stands. Joe Stedino, the colorful ex-gangster turned undercover agent who fronted the sting, had not only scheduled meetings with potential targets for the coming week; he had planned to visit his undercover office the morning the Republic exposed the operation.

"My reaction now is the same as it was when I opened the paper at 1:05 that morning," Stedino says. "The Arizona Republic has done the unthinkable. It blew open an ongoing police undercover operation without so much as warning the operatives in the field their cover would be destroyed in the morning paper. I couldn't believe it then. I can't believe it now. Isn't a newspaper ethically and morally obligated to hold a story until the undercover operation plays out? How could it just print it?"

Stedino had reason to be upset. Aside from the political bribes, the so-called AzScam investigation included three murder conspiracies and a child pornography investigation. Tipped off by the paper, any one of the more dangerous conspirators could have decided to eliminate the man whose testimony could put them in prison.

The Republic counters that it did, in fact, make efforts to warn Maricopa county attorney Rick Romley and Phoenix executive assistant police chief Bennie Click that it was about to uncover the sting. "It's my understanding that the police and county attorney were told that we were going with the story," says the paper's managing editor, John Oppedahl. For their part, Romley and Click -- each of whom was called separately by the Republic -- had the impression that the newspaper's reporters were merely fishing for information and that the vague references to going with some unspecified story were just a bluff. Romley adds that the Republic in general, and AzScam reporter Randy Collier in particular, "are always threatening to go with some story or another."

In any event, neither Romley nor Click bothered to mention the calls to the AzScam operatives in the field.

Why did the Republic expose the operation?

Oppedahl says the paper originally intended to hold the story until the indictments were announced, a date their sources led those working on the story to believe would be February 4. However, he adds, by February 1, rumors of the sting were so pervasive that the editors decided to go with their story to prevent another news organization from scooping them. "From the information we were receiving," Oppedahl says, "the leaks were so extensive that the issue of exposing a police undercover operation was no longer a consideration."

Maricopa county attorney Romley sees thing very differently. "I specifically asked the Republic not to run any story until the undercover operation was completed," he says. "We wanted to go on. We had another guy coming in to meet Tony Vincent [the name assumed by undercover agent Stedino] that week."

The Republic's sources regarding the grand jury indictments turned out to be accurate -- except for one major detail. The indictments were to be sealed until the operation was over, a period that could have been days, weeks, even months.

Stedino, a charismatic ex-con who was receiving an on-the-spot education about both journalism and law enforcement, poses an interesting question. "When the reporters first started snooping around, I don't understand why the police and county attorney didn't summon the Republic's editor, explain what was going on, compliment the reporter for his skill and diligence, then order the newspaper to back off until the operation was officially ended. Reporters have no immunity to commit crimes, and intefering with an ongoing police investigation is a serious crime. The cops and prosecutors had it in their power to ground the newspaper's activities."

Romley and Click say that while Stedino is right in theory, such a step was never a consideration. Both men felt that any attempt to shut down the newspaper's investigation would have been ignored and, further, that the newspaper would only have used a meeting with the attorney and the police to confirm its story.

A second controversy has arisen over the actions of the Republic's reporters in the final days before the story appeared. At that point, Representative Bobby Raymond and political consultant Richard DeGraw were deeply enmeshed in the sting. (They were eventually indicted.) Their conversations with Stedino and a lobbyist working with the police were being recorded. Police transcripts of these conversations reveal that Raymond and DeGraw stated that they had spoken with reporter Collier late in the afternoon on the day before the story ran and that they were assured no such story existed. Later that day, as the early editions were being loaded into the trucks, Raymond and DeGraw said, Collier suddenly changed his tune.

"I talked to Randy Collier at 4:30 P.M. today," DeGraw told Stedino on a taped line just after 10:30 P.M. on February 1. "And he told me there was no story. Then, I'd heard from two or three different places that there was supposed to be a story. . . . So I called Randy at home. 'Is there gonna be a story?' 'Yes, tomorrow morning.' . . . said, 'Can you tell me what happened between 4:30 P.M. and now?' He said, 'No. I work for The Arizona Republic and they tell me what to do.'"

At the same time, Representative Raymond, speaking on another taped line, was relating some more disturbing news. "I just got a call from [Representative Debbie] McCune," he told lobbyist Richard Scheffel, "who got a call from Randy Collier. And Randy Collier says, 'Do you know this guy [Vincent]? . . . You'll be interested to know that tomorrow morning there is going to be a story I'm breaking that this guy, Tony Vincent, has been conducting a double sting operation. That he is employed by the Phoenix Police Department.'"

If the transcripts are accurate, then an Arizona Republic reporter deliberately chose to mislead some state representatives about a pending story, while at the same time giving advance notice to at least one other lawmaker about a police sting.

In addition, the transcripts indicate that Arizona Speaker of the House Jane Hull, along with ex-lawmaker Joe Lane, had been warned about the Republic's story the previous day -- a full two days before the story was published. In those instances, the identity of the Republic reporter, editor, or staff member who leaked the critical information was not revealed.

Collier's initial reaction to questions about this was to say that he is not obligated to tell anybody anything regarding stories in progress. Pressed further, he admitted to having spoken to political consultant DeGraw that afternoon, but said his conversation took place before the story had been scheduled to run. He flatly denied having told DeGraw "I work for The Arizona Republic and they tell me what to do." He also denied having spoken to either Representative Raymond or Representative McCune on the afternoon of February 1.

Representative McCune, who was not indicated in the AzScam case, says that Collier did call, adding that she was indeed warned of the sting and that the transcripts are accurate. "I don't have any idea why I was called and told about it," she says.

Representative Raymond did not respond to requests for a clarification.

Collier declined to say how far along he was with the story at the time of his conversations with the lawmakers and others. Managing editor Oppedahl was more forthcoming. The story about the sting had been in the works for months, he says, and was "virtually completed" at least a week prior to publication. Oppedahl adds, emphatically, that so far as he knows no Republic editor instructed Collier to lie about the story's existence if questioned. Similarly, he says that the Republic did not instruct any of its reporters to give advance notice to anyone that the character known as Tony Vincent was fronting a police sting.

The ethical questions surrounding the paper's coverage did not stop the Republic from nominating Collier and his AzScam reporting partner, Charles Kelly, for various awards. Last May, the Arizona Press Club presented them its top prize for print journalists -- the Virg Hill Award. While the reporters' portfolio consisted of several stories, their AzScam expose and follow-up pieces were considered the centerpiece of the package.

As might be expected, agent Joe Stedino has little admiration for scoopdriven stories and the wiles of reporters. "Whatever the journalistic intrigue," he says, "one thing is certain: my alter ego, Tony Vincent, was murdered by the morning newspaper. And that ain't right."

cjr  |  archive  |  resources  |  contact  |  search  |  subscribe