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Jewish World Review August 3, 2005 / 27 Tammuz, 5765 Air America and the race hustlers By Michelle Malkin
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Where are they? Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the supermen
of the civil rights establishment — able to leap tall buildings in a
single bound to get in front of a picket line. When victim politics calls,
the demagogic duo leap into patented action: March. Boycott. Shakedown. Repeat.
But the raging reverends are nowhere to be found as a scandal
involving the liberal radio network Air America and a Bronx, N.Y.-based
inner city charity for poor children brews. Why the silence?
It's all about the Benjamins, as they say.
First, a summary of the financial fiasco that the liberal
media won't touch: The New York City Department of Investigation has been
probing allegations that officials of the nonprofit Gloria Wise Boys &
Girls Club and one of its affiliates, Pathways for Youth, approved
"significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were
submitted to various city agencies." The charities receive large portions
of their budgets from local, state and federal government grants. At the
center of the controversy is Evan Montvel Cohen, the disgraced former
chairman of Air America, who was in charge of the liberal radio network at
the same time he was serving as Gloria Wise's director of development.
The New York Sun's David Lombino reported this week that Cohen
received more than $800,000 in loans for himself and Air America during his
tenure, according to Gloria Wise executive committee President Jeannette
Graves. Graves alleges that Cohen funneled $613,000 to himself and Air
America without her authorization or knowledge. Other loans were approved
by the Gloria Wise executive committee when Cohen claimed he needed money
to cover medical expenses for himself and his father. As a result of an
ongoing investigation, the city canceled its contracts with both Gloria
Wise and Pathways in June — causing a near-shutdown of services to poor
minority kids, Alzheimer's patients, and other underprivileged clients
until other nonprofit agencies were brought in to take over the old management.
Air America's ever-evolving statements about the controversy
have raised more questions than they've answered. After radio industry
blogger Brian Maloney (radioequalizer.blogspot.com) called attention to the
probe last week, the liberal radio network initially shrugged off corporate
responsibility by asserting that its current management, Piquant LLC, "had
no involvement whatsoever" with the funds and was "not being investigated."
A follow-up statement then revealed that Air America "agreed months ago to
fully compensate" Gloria Wise for the loan (despite having "no involvement"
with it). Yesterday, Air America host Al Franken acknowledged that Piquant
had conducted an internal probe of the matter before the city got involved
— and, according to the city, failed to tell authorities about it.
If a conservative radio network had been entangled in a scam
to steal from black children to line the pockets of wealthy white con
artists, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would already be staging hunger
strikes in protest. But both have hefty political and financial stakes in
Air America's success — and the big mouths aren't about to badmouth their
friends.
The co-founder of Inner City Broadcasting is New York media
mogul Percy Sutton, best known as Malcolm X's lawyer and former Manhattan
borough council president. Sutton helped bail Sharpton out after Sharpton
was ordered to pay former Dutchess County prosecutor Steven Pagones over
the Tawana Brawley race hoax. Sutton also raised and donated money for
Sharpton's 2004 presidential bid. Sharpton still broadcasts a Sunday radio
show on WLIB. Sutton and Jackson are longtime friends and partners. Sutton
served as Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign finance chairman. Jackson
has lobbied on Sutton's behalf. Sutton sits on Jackson's Citizenship
Education Fund. As original investors, Jackson and his wife reportedly hold
more than 23,000 shares in Inner City Broadcasting.
Now you know why there will be no boycotts at Air America
headquarters over the possible bilking of poor Bronx children. Race
hustlers care about only one color: green.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Michelle Malkin is the author of, most recently, "In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
© 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
