- Oversight & Council Questions System
- Case videos
Oversight & Council Questions System
Case videos
These 17 published videos show how we find issues in public records, check figures and follow agency replies. Watch the work, then discuss what your district and office need. Each video includes its method; open it to see the original and its content.
Three capabilities
- Issue discovery
Finding questions worth asking in public records and public data.
- Number check
Re-adding published figures and lining them up by year and across counties to see whether the books add up.
- Petition routing
Working out which agency has authority over an issue and sending it there.
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EP17 · Long-form
Number check
Pingtung's Department of Labor and Youth Development: the youth budget nearly quadrupled while the labor budget fell by more than 20%. Labor comes first in its name
The department's budget for 2023 and for this year, the Ministry of Labor's inspection figures, and the selection record of a NT$430 million building project, set side by side.
Watch and see the method → -
EP25 · Long-form
Issue discovery
One company cleaned Pingtung County Hall for eleven years, with one bidder for four years: why I held this story
Track eleven years of cleaning procurement and include competition conditions and frontline cleaners’ wage protections in the questions.
Watch and see the method → -
EP24 · Long-form
Number check
Pingtung contracts over NT$100 million: awards within 1% of budget? Checking three figures one by one
Recalculate budget, award price and bidder count, then use the same method to compare counties and cities.
Watch and see the method → -
EP23 · Long-form
Petition routing
What does a local government look like when no one above it is watching? No Control Yuan members, no agency taking up prosecutors’ findings, county replies citing Article 173
Trace sixteen petitions and agency replies to locate where oversight stopped, then turn to public accounts and procurement checks.
Watch and see the method → -
EP06B · Shorts
Number check
2,018 community group grants from Pingtung County, and a report that is NT$22,760,000 off
2,872 grant line items added up row by row, then checked against the report's summary-page total and the previous version of the notice.
Watch and see the method → -
EP09 · Shorts
Number check
Nearly 60% of Pingtung County tenders drew a single bidder. Do you have to dream it up before you can bid?
958 award notices read one by one for the number of bidders, to work out how many tenders drew only one.
Watch and see the method → -
EP21 · Shorts
Issue discovery
A single bidder: does it always mean something is wrong? Three explanations, three kinds of traces
For single-bidder tenders, list three possible explanations and the traces each one leaves, then check cases one by one to decide which to investigate first.
Watch and see the method → -
EP08 · Shorts
Petition routing
NT$13,190,000 to repair a leased building, with only a year and a half left before it goes back? Pingtung's Artisan Town
The grant's stated purpose did not match how the building is used, so the issue went to the National Audit Office, which has the authority to act; it has replied that it will open a special investigation.
Watch and see the method → -
EP14 · Shorts
Issue discovery
The county's youth channel: 26 of its latest 30 videos have under 100 views
Public view counts set against the project funding in the award notice, to find a question worth asking.
Watch and see the method → -
EP18 · Shorts
Issue discovery
What if a county voucher scheme used the "three-shop system"? Could an event like this go ahead? (Part 2)
The structure of the three-shop system applied to a voucher event, producing a hypothetical question the responsible agency can be asked to answer.
Watch and see the method → -
EP18 · Shorts
Issue discovery
Why is Japanese pachinko legal? The three-shop system, one legal step at a time (Part 1)
Explain the three-shop system first, then carry the same structure into Part 2’s hypothetical county voucher scheme.
Watch and see the method → -
EP20 · Shorts
Number check
Seven panelists: how many votes do insiders need? A purely hypothetical calculation
A hypothetical seven-member committee shows how its roster, attendance and votes can change the selection structure.
Watch and see the method → -
EP15 · Shorts
Issue discovery
Applicants miss out on the entrepreneurship course while an instructor keeps winning contracts
Line up government training, park tenancy and tender records to question a park shop’s role in managing Artisan Town.
Watch and see the method → -
EP12 · Shorts
Issue discovery
Young people do not stay. Has the county followed up?
Use audit findings to examine demand, funding and departure reasons in a youth employment grant, turning retention into an answerable question.
Watch and see the method → -
EP11 · Shorts
Petition routing
Blacklisted by the county? A lawful records request meets the same barrier
Compare the legal basis of a records request with the agency’s reply, then ask why an information request was treated as a repeat petition.
Watch and see the method → -
EP10 · Shorts
Number check
Communications selection panels: nearly 60% insiders, only 3.4% academics
Compare selection panels from 55 communications-department contracts with the median across 18 county agencies.
Watch and see the method → -
EP19 · Shorts
Petition routing
Artisan Town’s seismic assessment: the county replies “Article 173, no action”
Follow the assessment, opening and later safety listing to pursue a seismic report that cost NT$900,000.
Watch and see the method →
Your district can produce questions like these.
Start with a 30-minute call about the issues you want to follow and your office's daily workload.