The Air Enron Scandal

09 Aug, 2005 by John Hawkins

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You’ve heard about the Big Air America scandal, haven’t you? If not, I’ll let the inimitable Mark Steyn explain it to you:

“Speaking of shivering coatless girls in Bush’s America, spare a thought for the underprivileged urchins of the Bronx. The Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, a nonprofit social-services organization in New York, receives millions of dollars in government funds to give disadvantaged youth in poor neighborhoods a leg up the ladder of life. But mysteriously much of the money wound up being diverted to the coffers of Air America, the liberal talk-radio network whose ratings are yet another example of “deferred success.” The needs of disadvantaged Al Franken and his pals apparently outweigh those of Bronx welfare recipients. Perhaps Janeane Garofalo is the coatless girl John Edwards was talking about all those months. Air America looks like the broadcast version of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, whereby money earmarked to save starving moppets somehow winds up in the bank accounts of bloated self-described do-gooders with political connections.”

The lefty spin in the blogosphere has generally been “These are all trumped up charges by the right,” but there is obviously a lot of meat to this story as the Radio Equalizer explains:

“Could the New York City Department Of Investigation have been more clear? It demanded Air America immediately repay $875,000, to be placed in an escrow account the DOI could access for later distribution.

Air America’s response to the letter? It transferred a mere $50,000 into an account controlled by its own lawyer.

Maybe Air America thought it should repay Air America?

That’s one of the major revelations contained in today’s New York Post.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has now opened an investigation into the transfers of taxpayer-funded grants from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club to Air America.”

It’s a delicious story, isn’t it? Rich liberals looting money meant for poor children so they can fund their big capitalistic business venture?

Yet, the reaction of the liberal mainstream media to this huge story has been almost total silence.

Why won’t they cover this story?

Because Air America is supposed to be the political counter to conservative talk radio and the liberal press doesn’t want to hurt “their team,” especially when Al Franken & Company are limping along with terrible ratings and questionable finances as it is.

Moreover, covering this story is more than a little humiliating for much of the MSM because not only did they shower Air America with kudos and publicity when they went on the air, right wing bloggers like Michelle Malkin & The Radio Equalizer have thoroughly beaten the MSM to the story.

In any case, this scandal still has legs. I mean, has anyone even asked Al Franken if he feels any remorse about perhaps having his salary paid in part by money stolen from poor kids?