The New York Times says its report about Sen. Marco Rubio and his wife's traffic violations did not came from an outside source, denying a Free Beacon allegation that the information was provided by American Bridge, a left-wing super PAC founded by Hillary Clinton loyalist David Brock. 
 
 The Free Beacon reported Friday "that each of the citations mentioned by the New York Times were pulled in person by American Bridge operatives on May 26, 2015," according to Miami-Dade County court records. The Times' report cited "a search of the Miami-Dade and Duval County court dockets," but did not state who conducted that search, and neither the authors of the article nor the researcher appear on the court dockets. 
 
 However, in an email to the On Media blog on Friday, Times Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan denied that the information came from an outside source. 
 
 "We came across this on our own," she wrote. "Steve Eder and Kitty Bennett noticed it on Tuesday while looking into something else -- it is almost all on line. Eder planned to do it for First Draft next week. On Wednesday, another reporter, Alan Rappeport, got wind that others were looking at the same thing. He mentioned it to Eder, so we decided to get it in now. We hired a document retrieval service in Florida and got copies of the paper records ourselves. They came back yesterday." 
 
 The use of opposition research would not be a departure from the norm. Political campaigns, super PACs and other political groups frequently supply news organizations with opposition research, which the news organizations then use to inform their own reporting, or simply publish. Very often, the source of the information asks that it not be cited as the source. 
 
 For several media organizations, oppo research is welcome from all sides, so long as it can be verified. To wit, The Times recently acknowledged accepting opposition research on Hillary Clinton from Peter Schweizer, the author of "Clinton Cash," a fact that complicates accusations of liberal bias against the paper. The Washington Post and Fox News also received advances on Schweizer's research. 
 
 Rappeport and Eder's article states that Rubio and his wife Jeanette have received a combined 17 traffic citations dating back to 1997 -- Marco four, Jeanette 13 -- and that on four separate occasions they agreed to attend remedial driving school after a violation. 
 
 The report also states that, following Rubio's election to the Senate, the couple hired a Miami-based lawyer and donor named Alex Hanna who was able to clear two of Marco Rubio's four citations and seven of Jeanette's last eight citations. 
 
 Michael Goldfarb, the founding chairman of the Free Beacon, declined to disclose the source of his publication's report on American Bridge and the Times. 
 
 UPDATE (4:32 p.m.): Ryan told the On Media blog that the Times used Westlaw Court Express to obtain the court documents. "The guy we dealt with is Todd Mack -- he is manager, sends out local stringers to retrieve documents," she said. Mack confirmed that via email: "We had one of our services in Miami go into the courthouse and retrieve the information," he said. 
 
 This post and its headline were updated following comment from the Times. ||||| BY: Follow @brentscher 
 
 
 
 The New York Times Friday report that Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and his wife Jeanette have been cited 17 times for traffic violations was written after the citations were pulled by liberal opposition research firm American Bridge, according to Miami-Dade County court records. 
 
 Records show that each of the citations mentioned by the New York Times were pulled in person by American Bridge operatives on May 26, 2015. 
 
 Take for example the time Rubio was pulled over in 1997. "Mr. Rubio’s troubles behind the wheel predate his days in politics," wrote the New York Times. "In 1997, when he was cited for careless driving by a Florida Highway Patrol officer, he was fined and took voluntary driving classes." 
 
 A look at the docket for that infraction on Miami-Dade County's website shows that American Bridge was in Miami to pull records on that case at 11:42 a.m. on May 26: 
 
 Neither of the reporters, Alan Rappeport and Steve Eder, appeared on the docket records for any of the traffic citations for Rubio and his wife. An additional researcher credited in the New York Times, Kitty Bennett, also does not appear on any of the court records. 
 
 The reporters, however, were praised by others in the newsroom for their "nice scoop." 
 
 Rubio and wife got 17 license violations and faced suspensions – nice @arappeport @steveeder scoop http://t.co/En7WxhingO via @NYTPolitics — Gerry Mullany (@gerrymullany) June 5, 2015 
 
 None of the reporters involved responded to Washington Free Beacon requests for comment by press time. 
 
 In a recent Times story that actually cited Democratic sources by name, Jeremy Peters reported that "A Hillary Clinton Match-Up With Marco Rubio Is a Scary Thought for Democrats." 
 
 So scary, indeed, that Democrats appear to be feeding opposition research to the Times. 
 
 Here is the full list of traffic violations recorded by Miami-Dade County for Rubio's wife, Jeanette Dousdebes: 
 
 The citations were all pulled by American Bridge: 
 
 Here is the full list of traffic violations for Rubio: 
 
 All of these citations were also pulled by American Bridge:
– The Rubios have lead feet, apparently: The New York Times reports that Marco and his wife, Jeanette, have racked up a total of 17 driving infractions since 1997. In fairness to the senator, Jeanette has most of them, 13. The tickets cover everything from reckless driving to speeding to blowing red lights and stops signs. Both have wound up reporting to driver-improvement classes. The Times reviewed Miami-Dade and Duval County court records for the story, which itself has become a political football. After it came out, the Washington Free Beacon accused the newspaper of being hand-fed the information from "liberal opposition research firm American Bridge," led by David Brock. But in an email to Politico, the Times denied any such thing. "We came across this on our own," wrote DC bureau chief Carolyn Ryan. "Steve Eder and Kitty Bennett noticed it on Tuesday while looking into something else—it is almost all on line. ... We hired a document retrieval service in Florida and got copies of the paper records ourselves."