Worst-named group has best stats on federal prosecutions

By Greg Reeves
Long ago, in the 1970s, there was a couple that got audited by the IRS. The couple asked the IRS what triggered the audit. The IRS said ha-ha. The couple sued, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court said ha-ha, IRS audit triggers are none of your business. But it also said that almost every other measure of IRS operation and of other federal agencies should be open public record.
The woman, Susan B. Long, went on to form one of the most valuable public resources for data about the workings of federal government agencies.
That resource, sadly, is called the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Is there a group or agency anywhere, in or out of government, with a more tongue-stumbling, indecipherable name?
Oh well. TRAC, at Syracuse University, bills itself as "Your source for comprehensive, independent and nonpartisan information about federal enforcement, staffing and spending."
That about covers it. We'll post later about TRAC's new findings about federal prosecutions 1986-2005.