- Did Al Franken's liberal radio network Air America divert
city money for the elderly and inner-city children to itself? That's the
question people should be asking this week after the revelation that the
New York Department of Investigation is looking into whether hundreds of
thousands of dollars were illegally transferred from a Bronx community
center to Air America. Only a community paper and a few Internet bloggers
seem interested in what could be an egregious case of illegal funneling
of tax dollars to a private, partisan organization.
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- In late June, city officials designated the Gloria Wise
Boys and Girls Club, a nonprofit organization that runs mentoring programs
for children and day care for Alzheimer's patients, a "non-responsible
city contractor." Investigators found "significant inappropriate
transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City
agencies." The city subsequently suspended the club's contracts, which
run well into the millions.
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- It turns out, according to sources quoted anonymously
by the Bronx News, that the mishandled money went to Air America. One source
claims that $480,000 was wrongly transferred. The city investigation is
concentrating on Charles Rosen, the club's president for 15 years, and
Evan Cohen, the development director, who is a former chairman of Air America.
Mr. Cohen resigned from Air America in May after the network's leasing
plans in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere fell through.
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- No one has claimed that Messrs. Cohen or Rosen sought
to profit personally from any transfers. The money was said to have been
a "loan" from the community center to Air America, which Air
America would repay with interest at some point in the future. But why
the public till should be tapped to rescue a foundering news outlet was
a question no one seemed to consider. Maybe Air America officers thought
spending public funds on their network was a truly compelling public interest.
It isn't, of course, and if the allegations are true, they reveal a misuse
of tax dollars to support a partisan organization.
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- Air America's parent corporation Piquant LLC issued an
"explanation" yesterday but did not deny the allegations. It
instead tried to pin them on Air America's previous owners, on whose watch
the transfer is said to have occured. That won't wash.
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- Most of the mainstream newspapers have ignored this story.
We only found out about it through the reporting of Brian Maloney, who
pieced a story together on his blog "The Radio Equalizer" which
was picked up by syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin. The New York Daily
News buried an item at the end of a column of news briefs. There was nothing
in the New York Times, which has heaped flattering coverage on the flailing
network.
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- Air America is struggling to find listeners, leaders
and reliable funding. But should it take money from children and the ailing
elderly? Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, ever the defenders of the "little
guy," should explain this one.
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- http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050728-081354-1414r.htm
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