That Imus does in fact run this ranch and that it is not a life of luxury to do so. He could have investigated the kinds of work Imus actually does at the ranch. But he apparently had little interest in reporting that side of the story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/business/media/25imus.html?ex=1269406800&en=3954d779d478f78a&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Radio Host Criticizes Report on Charity
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
on Imus, the combative radio talk-show host who relishes skewering his enemies, used his program yesterday to take on The Wall Street Journal.
On his four-and-a-half-hour show, Mr. Imus criticized an article in The Journal yesterday that raised questions about financial controls and the personal use of a charity ranch he established in New Mexico for critically ill children. He called the author of the article, Robert Frank, a "dishonest reporter."
The New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, had questioned some of the Imus family's personal use of the 4,000-acre ranch, which cares for about 100 children who come in groups of 10 to visit during the summer and participate in ranch life.
But late yesterday, Mr. Spitzer's office notified the charity that it had closed the inquiry without any findings of impropriety.
The Imuses spend a week at Thanksgiving and up to three weeks around the Christmas holidays at the ranch when the children are not there. Mr. Imus said that he and his family also flew out when there was work to be done, like training a new chef.
The Journal wrote that the law required that the Imuses reimburse the ranch for visits.
In the article, the Imuses countered that they had not reimbursed the charity because they were not aware of the rules and that they spent their time at the ranch working.
On his talk show, Mr. Imus called its author, Mr. Frank, a "punk," saying that he had lied and had refused to come to the ranch and that he had only interviewed him the day before the article ran.
In a statement yesterday, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, Paul Steiger, said that the article was accurate and fair and that Mr. Frank had had many detailed discussions with Mr. Imus's representatives during the two months he worked on the article. In addition, Mr. Steiger said, Mr. Frank spoke twice with Mr. Imus at length the day before the article was published.
"It was reported and written by one of our most experienced and capable reporters," Mr. Steiger said.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said that two developments had triggered the examination: the charity had requested an extension to file tax data, which typically prompts an inquiry, and the office received an anonymous letter saying it ought to check into Mr. Imus's use of the ranch.
The notification that the attorney general office's had ended its inquiry came after a morning in which Mr. Imus spent much of his show criticizing the article.
Mr. Imus called the article "a vicious hatchet job" and added, "Anyone who had been to my office in New York knows that there is not a day that goes by that I'm not on the phone with the ranch."
"Why should I pay here when I run the place?" said Mr. Imus, referring to the ranch, where yesterday's show was broadcast.
"I'd get David Boies to go to the Supreme Court before I'd give a penny to stay here," he said. "Are they nuts?" Mr. Boies is a prominent litigator who represented Al Gore before the Supreme Court in the presidential election dispute in 2000.
Mr. Imus said the family worked while at the ranch. He said if the charity hired a manager to do those jobs, it would cost $100,000.
He also argued that he had no need to abuse his visiting rights because he already has a $30 million home in Connecticut as well as a penthouse apartment on Central Park West in Manhattan.
Mr. Imus has donated $1 million to the charity, which has raised about $20 million.