Free Republic

Saturday, October 1, at 6 pm at Bates College Chapel in Lewiston Maine, Al Franken speaks. Barf Alert! As I am going to be there anyway, are there any questions that my fellow freepers would like to have posed Al Franken? This should be fun!

David Lombino's much-anticipated New York Sun piece on former Air America Exec/Clinton Administration official David Goodfriend has now been published, with interesting insights. Continuing a pattern where current and former network officials look to protect their interests against potential criminal and civil liabilities, it's the ultimate in corporate CYA. When it comes to fallout over the apparent transfer of $875,000 in taxpayer funds from an inner-city community center to the liberal radio network, nobody seems to want to take responsibility. Goodfriend here is quick to pin the blame on everyone around him, particularly former college friend Evan Montvel-Cohen.

If you believe Air America, Al Franken, and their clueless defenders, the liberal radio network's now-notorious financial problems with the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club were solely the fault and purview of its previous ownership--and in particular, former AAR chairman Evan Cohen (the man Franken singled out as a "crook" on his radio show). In one of its first statements on the matter in late July, Air America attempted to distance itself from "the allegations of mismanagement and corruption at Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club" and spoke of the charity's dealings with Cohen as if they were...

As expected, the mainstream media somewhat ignored our "gotcha", where Al Franken was essentially caught lying about his knowledge of Air America's Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club scandal. That's where $875,000 in taxpayer funds were apparenetly diverted to the liberal radio network's coffers. Today, a Washington Times editorial takes Franken to task over his recent antics. Franken claimed on his show he'd only heard about the scandal in early August, but Michelle Malkin and I produced a document which proved he knew about the whole mess at least as far back as November, 2004.

Al Franken, explain this one Published September 11, 2005 Al Franken appears to be caught in a fib -- a "lying lie," he might call it -- about Air America's loans-from-children scandal.     To his employers' credit, Air America is seeking to put the scandal behind it: On Thursday, the network wired the remaining $825,000 it "borrowed" from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx to the club's lawyers. Air America's parent company, Piquant LLC, had initially denied responsibility for the total of $875,000 in questionable transfers, claiming a previous owner was liable. But the negative publicity from...

The plug's finally been pulled at Air America affiliate WHJJ-AM, where enormous ratings losses have nearly killed a once-successful Providence conservative talk station. While at least two tiny stations have already dropped Air America, this is significant because the Rhode Island talker has been one of the network's largest outlets. According to the Providence Journal, Jerry Springer's show is the first to be yanked and will be followed by Al Franken's imminent cancellation:

Other than fetching coffee for Janeane Garofalo, what do think is Air America's most miserable employment position? Our pick: vice-president of finance. Imagine having to send out the now-infamous email explaining why direct-deposits wouldn't be available on time? Or being forced to make excuses for the company's many screw-ups? You're surely on the receiving end of a lot of misplaced abuse. Recall this Radio Equalizer piece from August 8th:

How would you defend liberal talk host Al Franken's lies if your company's future was at stake? After weeks of ignoring our Air America Radio scandal coverage, they're increasingly reactive to news developments. While the company refuses to respond to Michelle Malkin and myself directly, they're talking to others who publish follow-ups and news summaries. Their key tactic: outright issue deflection. Not only that, but there are serious questions today about Air America's new public relations push on the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club repayment issue, where $875,000 in taxpayer funds were apparently diverted to the liberal talk radio...

Part One: http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003384.htm Part Two: http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2005/08/inside-air-america-investigation.html My investigative blog partner, Brian Maloney, watched the surreal appearance of Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny on C-SPAN this weekend. Drobny was on the network to plug his 2004 book, "Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation's Airwaves." Click here for Brian's exclusive transcript/analysis of Drobny's remarks and the second half of our Sheldon Drobny files. Our thanks to the caller from Dallas who broke the silence about the Air American financial scandals on the program. Drobny was visibly uncomfortable. As he should be. Drobny, a deep-pocketed, self-described venture...

--- A confused Denver Post columnist thinks Air America has just celebrated its first anniversary. No, that's Denver's KKZN, the network's been broadcasting about six months longer. Dick Kreck's column then goes on to happily dismiss our research on Air America's scandal, it's not clear if he bothered

August 22, 2005 -- AIR America, the much-hyped liberal media ven ture that was supposed to revolutionize talk radio, is "solvent and apparently stable": So claim the gullible cheerleaders at The New York Times, who made that unsubstantiated assertion in a recent glowing profile of Air America host Janeane Garofalo. But behind the fawning headlines and celebrity kiss-ups is a tale of astounding financial and legal chaos. The city Department of Investigation and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer continue to conduct separate probes into a dubious loan scheme involving Air America and the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club....

On May 20, 2005, comedian Lizz Winstead filed suit in New York, detailing a laundry list of allegations against Air America Radio parent Piquant LLC. Accusing the company of failing to pay wages, promotional fees, accrued holiday compensation and severance, Winstead is seeking $290,716, plus interest. You can download her entire complaint here. Does the company's behavior toward her help to demonstrate a pattern of ethics and integrity lapses in its overall business dealings?

By Michelle Malkin · August 18, 2005 02:48 PM Part II is up at The Radio Equalizer. Brian Maloney and I take a close look at the financial plans of Sheldon and Anita Drobny, the deep-pocketed, far left Illinois Democrat couple who dreamed up Air America and have been involved in its many strange and dubious business reorganizations. The key questions that curious radio industry veterans, financial observers, skeptical investors, and business reporters should be asking Air America: What is Nova M? And why now?

On July 21, 2005, a standing room-only crowd of Democrats filled a Highland Park, Illinois, public library conference room to hear two local businesspeople talk about their company and its future plans. The attraction? These weren't your everyday corporate suits: it featured Sheldon and Anita Drobny, who last year put Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo on their upstart liberal Air America talk radio network. Hearing about their "success" was surely appealing. To Democrat activists, these were bona fide celebrities. Sheldon, a Venture Capitalist, CPA and former IRS agent, spoke first, according to the 10th District Democrats Newsletter:

Is Air America host Randi Rhodes having a hard time containing her frustration with the network? After the Radio Equalizer's piece featuring a Rhodes memo demanding a private jet to accommodate her Texas travel needs, a number of people pointed out her increasing on-air irritation with the company. I've been wondering just how long Air America's hosts could keep up the facade of peace and harmony. At what point do the floodgates open? Reaction was swift to the release of Rhodes's memo, where conservatives such as Captain Ed blasted their lack of concern over $875,000 in diverted taxpayer funds, which...

Why have so few on the left been willing to admit Air America Radio might be an ideological liability? So far, the Radio Equalizer has been wrong in predicting New York Times and AP scandal coverage would force liberals to try new ways to defend the network. Instead, it's still about insults and claims of a made-up story. Air America's own strategy is now about diversionary tactics, with Cindy Sheehan's rabid supporters in Crawford and one of the network's hosts providing needed cover. If enough people can be convinced AAR's programming is responsible for the activity around the Bush family...

Some of the best questions yet on Air America's scandal, where $875,000 in taxpayer-funded community center grants instead went to the liberal radio network, appear in today's paper. To which New York publication might the Radio Equalizer be referring? Actually, none of them: it's all in today's Arizona Republic, 3000 miles away from the crime scene. In a blunt, knock-'em-dead op-ed column by Doug MacEachern, we see what was once a given in New York City journalism, tough talk:

Brian Maloney, who broke the Air America scandal in the blogosphere over a week ago while the Exempt Media still mostly ignores it, now hears whispers from inside the netlet that employees worry about the company missing its payroll obligations. A delay in posting direct-deposit pay for their final July paychecks apparently has Air America employees buzzing, although anonymously: It's bad enough the company is generating fresh bad publicity almost daily, over the diverted $875,000 in taxpayer funds intended for a Bronx-based community service organization. Now, to make matters worse, an internal memo obtained by the Radio Equalizer indicates Air...

Looks like the New York Times can be more accurate, when pressed. Today's edition corrects one of two errors in Friday's story discovered by Michelle Malkin, the Radio Equalizer and several other bloggers:

Less than a day after the New York Times botched its Air America scandal coverage with an inaccurate Al Franken quote, along comes the AP, to do it correctly. Wow, there's a way to kick your weekend off on the right foot! Apparently, AP felt the need to wait until almost 17 days since the Radio Equalizer's first piece, but hey, better late than never. Also, releasing the story on a Friday evening, going into a summer weekend does not exactly ensure a lot of coverage.