Reported by Brian Maloney and Michelle Malkin:
On July 27, our blogs first reported on a shady loan scheme between Air America Radio and the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club (which is now under investigation by both NYC's Department of Investigation and NYS Attorney General Eliot Spitzer). National mainstream media outlets have failed to give the deal--and Air America's continued money-flow crisis--the scrutiny they deserve.
Air America has yet to formally offer to pay back the loan in full, and knowledgeable sources tell us the liberal radio network is contemplating how to stem the lingering bad publicity. Anticipating further negative press, the company is apparently poised to "settle" the matter very soon.
Along with the network's current management and shell-game-playing owners, Al Franken has gotten a pass, even from some conservative commentators who have claimed that it's unfair to blame the liberal radio network's financial and legal entanglements on its on-air talent.
Those claims are wrong.
According to a November 2004 settlement agreement between former Air American head honchos Evan Cohen and Rex Sorensen and Air America's current owners and investors at Piquant LLC, Al Franken was smack dab in the middle of negotiations over the debts owed by the liberal radio network--including the Gloria Wise loan.
Malkin and Maloney also provide some handy images of a court document, signed by Franken, which explicitly lists the Gloria Wise "loans" in its exhibit items.
On August 2, I wrote:
The $800,000 scandal involving Air America seems to be gaining momentum by the day, and I agree with the WizBangers that it certainly seems like a good time to come up with a catchy name.
So far, "Air Deadbeat," "Air Enron," "Air Scamerica," and "Con Air America" have come up. If you think of a better one, leave a comment. My vote goes for "Frankengate," inspired by the Left's continual scandal-mongering and their clumsy attempts at making individual conservatives into scapegoats even if those individuals were never involved in any wrong-doing. Besides, I think Al Franken deserves it, since he has been slinging rhetorical mud at his ideological opponents for a long time now. David Lombino of the New York Sun reported today that Al Franken (who, if you didn't know, is Air America's masthead personality) didn't learn about the financial hanky-panky until last week. But come on - what self-respecting conspiracy hound believes such an excuse?
'Nuff said.
Comments