I'm a U.S. Marine veteran and an independent journalist.
My reporting holds government agencies accountable. That work has cost me my vehicles, my housing, and over a year of my life on a charge I was later fully vindicated on.
Who I Am
My name is Don Matthews — legally Matthew Oliver Reardon. I served in the United States Marine Corps. Today I'm an independent investigative journalist, First Amendment auditor, and civil rights litigant. I founded We The People News to document government misconduct with the same rigor I'd want applied to my own case — records, recordings, and case numbers, not just accusations.
Right now, I'm also homeless. That's not a separate story from my work. It's a direct result of it.
Why I'm Asking
Every fact above is documented — court records, FOIA productions, and published reporting. My story is about more than me. It's about freedom of the press, constitutional rights, and government accountability.
This Is Work
What I do is work. FOIA requests, court filings, records analysis, published investigative reporting — it's real, it's documented, and it's how I hold government accountable when no one else will. It is simply under-compensated, and right now it runs almost entirely on contributions from people who believe the reporting matters.
Your contribution isn't charity for someone who chose not to work. It's support for independent investigative journalism that keeps reporting alive.