The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Hewitt Interviews Maloney on Air America scandal
Radio Blogger has a transcript up of Hugh Hewitt's educational interview of Brian Maloney, one of the Bloggers who broke the Air America story--and Brian is asking the same question I have been; namely where is big media on this?:
Brian Maloney over at Radio Equalizer gets points for breaking the Air America scandal into very shady financial dealings with public money earmarked for a youth center. In case you want the primer, Brian joined Hugh Hewitt at the start of his show today. Here's how it went:
HH: You know, I don't often talk about Air America, because they don't often matter. It's a pretty terrible set of radio hosts, and a pretty terrible set of radio programs, as you know, if you've listened. Occasionally, I'll play a little bit from it, just when they violate the rules of 101 Radio. But now, scandal has wrapped itself around Air America. Believe it or not, and I found it hard to believe when I began reading about it, it appears that the Air America treasury was enriched last year, by the tune of almost a half million dollars, with some sort of a diversion of funds from, believe it or not, a boys and girls club, and Alzheimer's patients hospice or care center. All over the story is blogger Brian Maloney. Brian Maloney joins me now on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Brian, it's good to have you.
BM: Oh, Hugh, thank you. It's great to be on the program with you, and this has been an amazing week in covering this, and really working this. But Hugh, I've got to say right off the bat, it is incredible how much effort, and how much pressure has to be applied to try to get the mainstream media to cover a story this significant, and still...you know, we're just starting to have a little bit of success. The Washington Times editorial today, talking about us, saying I've been working with Michelle Malkin on this. I initiated it, and she has been doing a lot of additional research on it as well. And we were both mentioned in this editorial today, and they were saying where is the New York Times on such a huge story. I mean, Air America taking money away from children, from seniors with Alzheimer's, from community programs in the Bronx. It is an amazing story, and the thing is, a lot of people, Hugh, still haven't heard about it yet. I mean...
HH: Well, that's what we're here to fix. You know, one thing I want to tell you...congratulations. The second blog segment on Inside Politics was entirely devoted to this today. I hope you saw that.
BM: Oh, yes I did. Thank you.
HH: Nice screen shot of the Radio Equalizer, which is Brian Maloney's blog, which you can read at Radioequalizer.blogspot.com. It's all linked at Hughhewitt.com as well. Brian, let's step back and ask what did Al Franken know, and when did he know it? But before we do it, give people sort of the basic outlines of what you have uncovered. You own this story. You broke it. Tell people how you found it, and what's shocking about it.
BM: Well, yeah, let's do that, since so many people haven't heard word one about this yet. Basically, what it boils down to is a year ago, Evan Cohen, who was running Air America at the time, was also on the board of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx. He went to this Charles Rosen, who was running the boys and girls club at the time. Both board members. Rosen is a well-known community figure in the Bronx, kind of a larger than life kind of character, who was overseeing this community center. So, eventually Cohen said to Rosen, hey, you know, I see you're getting a lot of grant money. Why don't you invest that grant money, before you need to spend it on any programs, in my brand new liberal talk radio network. And I'll pay the money back to you with interest. Okay, so that's what happened. And so Rosen kind of got sucked into this whole thing, and...you know, thinking oh, I'll make a profit, and I'll have more money for my community center. The problem is, we still don't know for sure whether a dime has been repaid. Air America issued a statement last night that was cryptic, and we're still not clear whether they've actually repaid any of the money, because the money is missing. Air America has been saying...I mean, we've really forced them to talk about this, because they weren't willing to talk about it at all. And the amazing thing here about this is, the story was originally broken in early July, by a community newspaper reporter in the Bronx, for a small neighborhood newspaper, who wrote this story. And it was completely ignored by the major New York City press. Then the New York Daily News mentioned it, kind of obliquely, and in passing, one sentence about it at the bottom of a small story. And that was what was stunning about it. I mean, here you have this bombshell, and it's buried at the bottom of a story.
HH: Now what did...I think you'll also want to let people know, the boys and girls center has closed.
BM: Well, that's it. All these programs have closed. They've been shut down. What happened was other non-profits have had to ride to the rescue in a pinch, to try to save these programs before it's too late. And most of them have been saved, but only because they...other community centers and groups from outlying areas stepped in and saved most of them. But I mean, that's...this is what I'm saying. Air America said last night, well, we agreed months ago to repay the money. But that's how they said it. We agreed to. They haven't said whether they've actually repaid the money. They haven't said how much. They haven't actually even said whether a dime was repaid. And they only said this in their second statement. Two days ago, they issued the first one, which was very vague and cryptic. Last night under pressure, they issued a second one. And we pick apart the inconsistencies in their statements on my site. There are a couple of others, too. There's another site that's linked on mine and Michelle's blogs, that go into the legal issues. I think it's called Macho Nachos, I believe it is. And that...they consulted with lawyers who picked apart these statements, and gave a legal opinion on it. Today, we don't know if a penny's been repaid. And I've asked them. I have outright asked Air America, okay? If you guys repaid the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Center, if you repaid...how come the money's missing? Why has the city of New York initiated an investigation? The Department of Investigation is actually, you know, undergoing this right now. Why? I mean, if the money was returned, who got it? Who'd you give it to? Where did it go from there? See, their story doesn't add up.
HH: No, and now how big is that...
BM: ...And someone would have received the money.
HH: How big is the budget of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Center?
BM: I haven't seen a figure that gives the whole budget. They have been the recipients of a number of grants at the city, state and federal levels, of which five hundred thousand would just be a chunk of their funding. It would not be all of their funding. But, that particular money was earmarked for specific programs. It was targeted toward after school programs for children, the Alzheimer's seniors programs, for those with Alzheimer's, that kind of thing for particular programs. It was a city grant. Now sometimes this money, the exact origin of it isn't entirely clear. There was some indication that its original origin was federal. And you know, they give it to the city, and then the city doles it out. You know what I mean?
HH: Sure.
BM: This kind of thing happens. So, we were trying to find out if it was a completely city taxpayer money, or if it was a state or federal component. Because the relevancy of that is, well do you get the FBI involved? You know, how many...you see what I'm saying?
HH: Sure.
BM: How many levels of investigation do you have? So far, it's the city of New York's Department of Investigations, the DOI, that's leading this effort. Now, Air America is trying to pass this off as well, it was the previous owner of Air America that was responsible. We bought its assets, which means we're off the hook, which is just absolutely incredible. Because their hosts are the ones railing about Enron, the ones railing about corporate America, and then they turn around and behave in probably the sleaziest way imaginable here, when it comes to their own money.
HH: And Brian Maloney, that money...it's $480,000, right?
BM: Right.
HH: That money got spent.
BM: Well, that's the amount we've been able to determine.
HH: Yeah. That money got spent on Air America operations, whether or not the ownership shell has changed. It went to pay hosts like Al Franken, Janeane Garafalo, if in fact she was employed. I haven't figured out if she's employed or does it for free yet. But somebody took that $480,000 dollars and walked away with it. And I would think that Al Franken...I mean, the guy's rich. I would think at least he'd repay the money, pending the tracing of what happened to it.
BM: Well, that's it. And that's why we want to know. I think the only thing that would really...and I think it would only partly put this to rest, would be if they showed us the cancelled the check for $480,000 plus interest, you know, made out to the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, and the date on it. But even then, the point I'm making is, hey. If you rob a bank, and then a month later you return the money with a note saying you're sorry, are you off the hook?
HH: No. Absolutely not.
BM: Do you still face prosecution? You betcha.
HH: So Brian, how are you going to follow up? We've got about a minute left, and I want to make sure everyone knows Radioequalizer.blogspot.com, for Brian Maloney's website.
BM: Well, what we're going to do is continue to apply pressure. But Hugh, I need your listeners to really get involved in this, to put pressure on the mainstream media outlets, to call them, to write them, to e-mail everybody, and make sure everybody's on this. Because the minute we let go, it's going to disappear. And that's really what the problem is. So any help that your listeners can provide in keeping this...ramping this up in the next week, would be helpful. I may go on one of the shows next week. We'll see how that goes, but we've got to get this out there even more. And your show helps a lot. I appreciate it very much.
HH: We will check back with you next week, Brian Maloney. The link to your website is at Hughhewitt.com. Keep up the interest. It is the Enron of the left-wing radio world, and Brian Maloney's all over it.
Brian Maloney over at Radio Equalizer gets points for breaking the Air America scandal into very shady financial dealings with public money earmarked for a youth center. In case you want the primer, Brian joined Hugh Hewitt at the start of his show today. Here's how it went:
HH: You know, I don't often talk about Air America, because they don't often matter. It's a pretty terrible set of radio hosts, and a pretty terrible set of radio programs, as you know, if you've listened. Occasionally, I'll play a little bit from it, just when they violate the rules of 101 Radio. But now, scandal has wrapped itself around Air America. Believe it or not, and I found it hard to believe when I began reading about it, it appears that the Air America treasury was enriched last year, by the tune of almost a half million dollars, with some sort of a diversion of funds from, believe it or not, a boys and girls club, and Alzheimer's patients hospice or care center. All over the story is blogger Brian Maloney. Brian Maloney joins me now on the Hugh Hewitt Show. Brian, it's good to have you.
BM: Oh, Hugh, thank you. It's great to be on the program with you, and this has been an amazing week in covering this, and really working this. But Hugh, I've got to say right off the bat, it is incredible how much effort, and how much pressure has to be applied to try to get the mainstream media to cover a story this significant, and still...you know, we're just starting to have a little bit of success. The Washington Times editorial today, talking about us, saying I've been working with Michelle Malkin on this. I initiated it, and she has been doing a lot of additional research on it as well. And we were both mentioned in this editorial today, and they were saying where is the New York Times on such a huge story. I mean, Air America taking money away from children, from seniors with Alzheimer's, from community programs in the Bronx. It is an amazing story, and the thing is, a lot of people, Hugh, still haven't heard about it yet. I mean...
HH: Well, that's what we're here to fix. You know, one thing I want to tell you...congratulations. The second blog segment on Inside Politics was entirely devoted to this today. I hope you saw that.
BM: Oh, yes I did. Thank you.
HH: Nice screen shot of the Radio Equalizer, which is Brian Maloney's blog, which you can read at Radioequalizer.blogspot.com. It's all linked at Hughhewitt.com as well. Brian, let's step back and ask what did Al Franken know, and when did he know it? But before we do it, give people sort of the basic outlines of what you have uncovered. You own this story. You broke it. Tell people how you found it, and what's shocking about it.
BM: Well, yeah, let's do that, since so many people haven't heard word one about this yet. Basically, what it boils down to is a year ago, Evan Cohen, who was running Air America at the time, was also on the board of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx. He went to this Charles Rosen, who was running the boys and girls club at the time. Both board members. Rosen is a well-known community figure in the Bronx, kind of a larger than life kind of character, who was overseeing this community center. So, eventually Cohen said to Rosen, hey, you know, I see you're getting a lot of grant money. Why don't you invest that grant money, before you need to spend it on any programs, in my brand new liberal talk radio network. And I'll pay the money back to you with interest. Okay, so that's what happened. And so Rosen kind of got sucked into this whole thing, and...you know, thinking oh, I'll make a profit, and I'll have more money for my community center. The problem is, we still don't know for sure whether a dime has been repaid. Air America issued a statement last night that was cryptic, and we're still not clear whether they've actually repaid any of the money, because the money is missing. Air America has been saying...I mean, we've really forced them to talk about this, because they weren't willing to talk about it at all. And the amazing thing here about this is, the story was originally broken in early July, by a community newspaper reporter in the Bronx, for a small neighborhood newspaper, who wrote this story. And it was completely ignored by the major New York City press. Then the New York Daily News mentioned it, kind of obliquely, and in passing, one sentence about it at the bottom of a small story. And that was what was stunning about it. I mean, here you have this bombshell, and it's buried at the bottom of a story.
HH: Now what did...I think you'll also want to let people know, the boys and girls center has closed.
BM: Well, that's it. All these programs have closed. They've been shut down. What happened was other non-profits have had to ride to the rescue in a pinch, to try to save these programs before it's too late. And most of them have been saved, but only because they...other community centers and groups from outlying areas stepped in and saved most of them. But I mean, that's...this is what I'm saying. Air America said last night, well, we agreed months ago to repay the money. But that's how they said it. We agreed to. They haven't said whether they've actually repaid the money. They haven't said how much. They haven't actually even said whether a dime was repaid. And they only said this in their second statement. Two days ago, they issued the first one, which was very vague and cryptic. Last night under pressure, they issued a second one. And we pick apart the inconsistencies in their statements on my site. There are a couple of others, too. There's another site that's linked on mine and Michelle's blogs, that go into the legal issues. I think it's called Macho Nachos, I believe it is. And that...they consulted with lawyers who picked apart these statements, and gave a legal opinion on it. Today, we don't know if a penny's been repaid. And I've asked them. I have outright asked Air America, okay? If you guys repaid the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Center, if you repaid...how come the money's missing? Why has the city of New York initiated an investigation? The Department of Investigation is actually, you know, undergoing this right now. Why? I mean, if the money was returned, who got it? Who'd you give it to? Where did it go from there? See, their story doesn't add up.
HH: No, and now how big is that...
BM: ...And someone would have received the money.
HH: How big is the budget of the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Center?
BM: I haven't seen a figure that gives the whole budget. They have been the recipients of a number of grants at the city, state and federal levels, of which five hundred thousand would just be a chunk of their funding. It would not be all of their funding. But, that particular money was earmarked for specific programs. It was targeted toward after school programs for children, the Alzheimer's seniors programs, for those with Alzheimer's, that kind of thing for particular programs. It was a city grant. Now sometimes this money, the exact origin of it isn't entirely clear. There was some indication that its original origin was federal. And you know, they give it to the city, and then the city doles it out. You know what I mean?
HH: Sure.
BM: This kind of thing happens. So, we were trying to find out if it was a completely city taxpayer money, or if it was a state or federal component. Because the relevancy of that is, well do you get the FBI involved? You know, how many...you see what I'm saying?
HH: Sure.
BM: How many levels of investigation do you have? So far, it's the city of New York's Department of Investigations, the DOI, that's leading this effort. Now, Air America is trying to pass this off as well, it was the previous owner of Air America that was responsible. We bought its assets, which means we're off the hook, which is just absolutely incredible. Because their hosts are the ones railing about Enron, the ones railing about corporate America, and then they turn around and behave in probably the sleaziest way imaginable here, when it comes to their own money.
HH: And Brian Maloney, that money...it's $480,000, right?
BM: Right.
HH: That money got spent.
BM: Well, that's the amount we've been able to determine.
HH: Yeah. That money got spent on Air America operations, whether or not the ownership shell has changed. It went to pay hosts like Al Franken, Janeane Garafalo, if in fact she was employed. I haven't figured out if she's employed or does it for free yet. But somebody took that $480,000 dollars and walked away with it. And I would think that Al Franken...I mean, the guy's rich. I would think at least he'd repay the money, pending the tracing of what happened to it.
BM: Well, that's it. And that's why we want to know. I think the only thing that would really...and I think it would only partly put this to rest, would be if they showed us the cancelled the check for $480,000 plus interest, you know, made out to the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, and the date on it. But even then, the point I'm making is, hey. If you rob a bank, and then a month later you return the money with a note saying you're sorry, are you off the hook?
HH: No. Absolutely not.
BM: Do you still face prosecution? You betcha.
HH: So Brian, how are you going to follow up? We've got about a minute left, and I want to make sure everyone knows Radioequalizer.blogspot.com, for Brian Maloney's website.
BM: Well, what we're going to do is continue to apply pressure. But Hugh, I need your listeners to really get involved in this, to put pressure on the mainstream media outlets, to call them, to write them, to e-mail everybody, and make sure everybody's on this. Because the minute we let go, it's going to disappear. And that's really what the problem is. So any help that your listeners can provide in keeping this...ramping this up in the next week, would be helpful. I may go on one of the shows next week. We'll see how that goes, but we've got to get this out there even more. And your show helps a lot. I appreciate it very much.
HH: We will check back with you next week, Brian Maloney. The link to your website is at Hughhewitt.com. Keep up the interest. It is the Enron of the left-wing radio world, and Brian Maloney's all over it.
