November 6, 2007

Biographies of our reporters
Backgrounds of our investigative reporters

Government and Politics

Norberto Santana Jr. is an investigative reporter focusing on the nexis between money and politics. In addition to monitoring the financing of election campaigns, Santana specializes in public accountability journalism by focusing on how taxpayer dollars are spent as well as the relationships that influence Orange County’s congressional and state delegations, local elected officials and public agencies. Since arriving at the Register in 2004, Santana has exposed flaws in county spending of federal AIDS funds, examined the ongoing impact of the county’s 1994 bankruptcy, delved into the county’s rising pension deficit, chronicled the battle between firefighters and Sheriff’s Deputies over public safety taxes and followed Great Park board members throughout Europe and New York while they searched for park designers. Before coming to Orange County, Santana covered government issues at the San Diego Union Tribune, the San Bernardino County Sun, the Virgin Islands Daily News and Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. Before his stints as a government reporter, he also worked with National Endowment for Democracy programs across Latin America as an elections specialist. In 2002, he was recognized by the California Newspaper Publishers Association with a public service award for an investigative series that revealed mishandling of donations at the Red Cross chapter in San Diego. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Santana holds a bachelors in Political Science from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University. On weekends, he’s usually tinkering with his 1947 Willys Jeep or using it to explore California’s mountains and deserts. He can be reached at 714-796-2221 or nsantana@ocregister.com

Consumer Issues

John Gittelsohn covers consumer issues and corporate chieftains for The Register's Marketplace section. He came to the Register in 1995 and has since covered education, Asian communities and state government, including two years at The Register's Sacramento bureau. John has won awards from the Education Writers Association, the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors and California State University's Center for California Studies. Before coming to the Register, he worked as a reporter in Indonesia, South Korea, Florida and Washington, DC. He has a BA from Stanford and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He can be reached at (714) 796-7969 or jgittelsohn@ocregister.com

Data Analysis

Natalya Shulyakovskaya is an investigative reporter and the director for computer-assisted reporting. She specializes in data analysis and use of technology to build systems of proof for investigative stories. She has worked on projects focusing on the rise of alcohol-related boating deaths, exposing Caltrans’ slow pace to fix dangerous roads, phantom classes at community colleges, shoddy investigations into workplace deaths and abuses in child care. Her stories have prompted audits, legislation and policy reforms and have won national and local journalism awards. Shulyakovskaya started reporting in her native Russia in 1988, where she covered the breakup of the Soviet Union. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1996 and worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before joining The Register. She returned to Russia in 1998 where she investigated issues ranging from corruption to timber smuggling and mercury dumping. Shulyakovskaya rejoined the Register in 2000. In her spare time, she climbs mountains. She can be reached at (714) 796-7024 or natalyas@ocregister.com

Local government

Tony Saavedra is an investigative reporter specializing in city and county government. He was the lead reporter in the creation of the first-ever Orange County Police Report Card in 2005. The investigation revealed that people in cities patrolled by the sheriff's department waited longer for help and had less police officers than other cities. Saavedra co-wrote stories in 2004 that revealed how a Huntington Beach councilwoman secretly used a straw buyer to get in on a scam involving condo conversions. The councilwoman resigned and was later convicted. Saavedra also exposed abuse at a chain of group homes for the developmentally disabled that led to the closure of a half dozen facilities. His investigation into state parolee work programs found that dangerous ex-offenders had been given jobs as child-care workers, scout leaders and security guards. His work has been honored by the California Newspaper Publishers' Association, Associated Press Sports Editors, the Center for California Studies and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Saavedra graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a BA in journalism. He can be reachedat (714) 796-6930 or tsaavedra@ocregister.com

Sports

Scott M. Reid is a sports enterprise/investigative reporter. He was the lead writer on a Register series detailing how community colleges profit from phantom classes where high school athletes get college credit for nothing more than regular after-school sports programs. The stories in December 2002 led to an immediate statewide audit, legislation outlawing the practice and the state recovering more than $25-million in improperly allocated funding. The series won first place for best investigative reporting in the 2003 Associated Press Sports Editors national competition and was an IRE award finalist. In 2003 he led a team of three reporters that exposed problems in U.S. drug testing programs for Olympic sports. The stories sparked an investigation by the International Olympic Committee and won second place in the APSE contest.The series was also an IRE award finalist. In January 2002 he revealed widespread federal Title IX violations by community colleges statewide prompting new legislation in California. He has won five APSE Top 10 awards for investigative reporting in the past six years. His Olympic coverage in 2000 won three APSE Top 10 awards, the most by a writer in the 250,000 and over circulation division. Prior to joining the Register in 1996, Reid worked at the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Dallas Times Herald.
He can be reached at (714) 932-1809 or sreid@ocregister.com

Business

Ron Campbell is an investigative reporter specializing in business, white-collar crime and charities. He recently exposed how a network of charities raised millions through telemarketing while spending almost nothing on good works. An earlier investigation of the Santa Ana school construction program led to the dismissal of the district's top contractor and sweeping changes in the program. He also has reported extensively on campaign finance, the trade in human body parts and failures in the state's school testing program. He has been a reporter for 30 years, the last 19 at the Register. He has won the Gerald Loeb Award for business and financial reporting and been honored by Investigative Reporters & Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Education Writers Association. He can be reached at (714) 796-5030 or rcampbell@ocregister.com

Social issues and religion

Jenifer B. McKim is an investigative reporter covering social issues, focusing on children, families, aging and religion. McKim headed a team of reporters that exposed the dangers of lead in Mexican candy, a 2005 Pulitzer finalist in the public service category. She was part of a group of writers in a 2002 series that detailed the dangers in Orange County child care centers, which prompted a series of government reforms. And she detailed how local workers make Disney children's toys out of their homes for below minimum wage, leading to a $1 million settlement for workers. McKim has been a newspaper reporter since 1989, also working at The San Juan Star in Puerto Rico and The Boston Globe. Her awards include first-place honors from the California Chicano News Media Association, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors and the Associated Press News Executive Council. She received her BA from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and speaks fluent Spanish and French. She can be reached at 714-796-2295 or jmckim@ocregister.com.

Team Leader/Watchdog Journalism

Chris Knap oversees investigations. A member of The Register's Investigations Team since 2001, he has 25 years of experience covering health care, business, legal issues and government. He also has substantial experience in computer-assisted reporting. In 2003, Knap revealed the secret history of a controversial neurosurgeon who had been accused of malpractice more than 33 times. The doctor was removed by his hospital and accused of incompetence by the California Board of Medicine. Previously, he exposed a pattern of lease fraud by two Southern California Toyota dealers who targeted Asian and Hispanic immigrants. In 2001, the dealers agreed to surrender their state license and pay $2 million in penalties and restitution to consumers. Knap has won more than two dozen reporting and writing awards including prizes from the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the Society of Business Editors and Writers. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism in 2004. Knap also teaches journalism at California State University, Long Beach. He can be reached at (714) 796-2240 or cknap@ocregister.com