Behind the byline: Four questions for Garrett Hazelwood

Since joining Floodlight in March, what’s been a highlight?

The biggest highlight has been that I get to spend all day every day working on investigations. Prior to Floodlight, I always wore a lot of hats: editing, fact-checking, daily reporting, writing newsletters. But at Floodlight, it’s all investigations all the time, so I’m entirely focused on the work I love best. It’s work that challenges me, has me excited to get to my desk in the morning, and makes me feel like I’m serving the public here in Louisiana. 

And part of the reason it’s such a pleasure is that I get to do it alongside a team of incredibly talented people, from whom I’m constantly learning and being deeply impressed by. 

What is it about investigations, compared to other types of reporting, that gives you such a sense of purpose?

I’m the kind of person who’s always dying to know what’s around the next corner. A friend of mine refers to it as hearing the “call of the void.” If I’m going camping and notice an unmarked Forest Service road, I’m compelled to drive down it — just to see what’s at the end. I love scrutinizing the satellite view on Google Maps to find out-of-the-way green spaces around New Orleans where I might be able to walk my dog. I think a big part of it is just my disposition: I love discovering things that other people don’t know about. 

But I also have a strong conviction that people in positions of power need to be accountable to the public. And that’s only possible when the public is able to know what elected officials and people in boardrooms are doing, and how their actions affect us. Investigations can give a window onto information that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden, and that makes the type of reporting we do a potent tool for positive change. 

What’s something you uncovered in an investigation that still sticks with you?

A few years ago, I did a story about these things called Judicial Expense Funds. They are slush funds that judges in Louisiana control and can use for basically anything they deem necessary for the proper functioning of their court. Judges use them to cover their monthly gas bills for commuting to work, to lease cars, pay their hotel bills and meal expenses when they travel for conferences, and buy things like iPads and Apple Watches. I even found one judge who used his fund to install a security system at his home. 

Just on its face, the existence of these funds and the fact that the judges control them directly is troubling. But the source of the money is the real root of the problem. Much of the money in these accounts comes from fines and fees that the judges issue to the people who appear before them in court. When they set bail, a percentage of the bail amount goes into the fund. When they convict people of crimes, there is a conviction fee that goes into the fund. So, Louisiana’s judges have incentives to set high bonds and maximize the number of convictions they secure. 

Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that these Judicial Expense Funds create an unconstitutional conflict of interest. The judges know that what they are doing is unconstitutional, and yet they keep doing it. The state Legislature knows it is unconstitutional too, and yet lawmakers refuse to change the system. 

That one has really stuck with me. 

If you weren’t a reporter, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

I actually have a very specific answer to this one! (And I’ve even done some cursory research on YouTube that leads me to believe it might be possible.)

I’d open a shop where we take old vehicles and swap out their gas-burning engines for electric ones. That way when the engines go out on these older vehicles, they have a chance at a second life rather than getting scrapped. 

I have a whole imaginary business plan for it: I’d start with my own truck, to learn how it’s done. Then I’d expand to do it for friends and acquaintances, learning along the way, until I eventually worked out a prototype engine kit that any decent mechanic could use to convert almost any vehicle, and eventually people all over the world would have a quick and affordable option for electrifying their cars.