Matt Waite, who helped build PolitiFact and win a Pulitzer prize in 2009, offered the use of this groundbreaking technology to his followers on Twitter yesterday: “If you’re interested in a partnership with @politifact like PolitiFact Texas, email (me).” This is a pretty cool example of how collaboration happens today, both in terms of how Waite went about publicizing the opportunity through social media, and how the company that employs him is making its technology available to other news organizations.

And make no mistake, this is a great opportunity for local news organizations. The St. Petersburg Times developed the PolitiFact website around Waite’s technology for the 2008 elections and created a robust, sophisticated web presence that rivaled anything the Washington – or Huffington – Post ended up producing. The Truth-O-Meter, in particular, has become part of the political pop culture landscape, thanks in part to its “Pants on fire” level. So the people behind PolitiFact decided that it shouldn’t be limited to just national figures; local public officials should face it, too.

Politifact Texas, the first local partnership, launched this week with the Austin American-Statesman on board. So I asked Bill Adair, Washington Bureau Chief of the St. Petersburg Times and editor of PolitiFact.com for some additional information. Below are his responses to my questions.

Are you looking for primarily newspaper partners, or would you consider TV stations and/or online-only news orgs?

We’d consider partnering with any news organization — newspapers, TV, radio, Web — that can devote the necessary resources to make it work.

What is the goal of partnering with other local organizations?

To spread PolitiFact to the state and local level. I think every elected official in the country should have to face the Truth-O-Meter.

Briefly, how does the partnership work?

The news organizations in the states provide staff that produces the content — Truth-O-Meter items — and we allow them to use our PolitiFact and Truth-O-Meter brands. We also provide Web hosting because we provide the publishing system.

From a public service standpoint, the wonderful thing about this arrangement is that all PolitiFact items from the national staff, the Texas staff and any other states will be in one place — PolitiFact.com. So PolitiFact can become a huge, valuable resource that holds all public officials in the country accountable for what they say.

If you’re interested in partnering with PolitiFact at your local news organization, contact Bill Adair at adair@sptimes.com.