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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:31:06 PM EDT
This guy tries to explain the "whitewatergate" deal that airamericaradio.com made to borrow
from a childrens charity\alzheimers gov funded organization, repayment with interest was expected  radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2005/07/federal-funds-diverted-to-air-america.html here is the one published article that I could find....... Youth funds diverted to liberal radio station by Michael Horowitz July 5, 2005 Bronx News www.gothamgazette.com/community/12/news/1733 The Bronx News has learned, through informed sources, that the diversion of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in Co-op City to the liberal Air America Radio is at the center of the city’s probe of corruption at the local club. The money, which was reportedly paid to Air America as a loan, was supposed to be paid back with interest, two unidentified informed sources told the News. One source added that Air America officials, led by an official of the Gloria Wise Club, agreed to help the local club by publicizing its activities. To date, no indictments have been handed down in the New York City Department of Investigation’s ongoing probe of the Gloria Wise Club’s reported transfer of funds to Air America. Most of the Gloria Wise Club’s programs are for the Co-op City community, but the club also runs after-school programs in the Baychester/Edenwald and Soundview areas. At the center of the investigation, in addition to Charles Rosen, the charismatic leader of the local club for the last 15 years, is Evan Cohen, who resigned, under fire, as chairman of Air America Radio shortly after its start as an alternative to conservative talk radio. Cohen, at the time the alleged transfers of funds from the Gloria Wise Club to Air America took place, was also the director of Development for the local boys’ and girls’ club, the News has learned. One source told the News that $480,000 in funds from the Gloria Wise Club is involved in the city’s investigation of illegal transfer of funds from the local club. A second unidentified source stressed that Rosen never sought to profit personally from the reported loan that the Gloria Wise Club gave to Air America. The source emphasized that Rosen’s sole motive, even if it was a bit naïve, was to benefit the Gloria Wise Club with the interest that Air America would pay for its loan from the local club. The city’s DOI is pursuing the probe because the Gloria Wise Club depends heavily on city funding for its operations. These funds are subject to extensive audits, as are funds received through the state and federal governments. The Co-op City-based club, which Rosen has built into an empire in the Co-op City community, reportedly has 19 contracts and at least one grant with the city, worth a total of $9.7 million. Over the last year, Rep. Joseph Crowley has secured two major federal grants for the Gloria Wise Club, one for a day-care program for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers and the other for the community’s NORC program for senior citizens. The grant for the program for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers was for $250,000, while the grant for the NORC program was for $99,410. In 2003, Crowley secured a $218,500 grant for a mentoring program that the Gloria Wise Club runs. Cohen, who is reportedly at the center of the Gloria Wise probe, is a Guam-based investors who was reportedly a key principal in the start-up of Air America, which has been billed as the liberals’ answer to conservative talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Shaun Hannity, Bob Grant, Michael Savage, and G. Gordon Liddy. |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:33:27 PM EDT
[#1]
They had to do it...it was for the children...er...um...wait...
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:43:36 PM EDT
[#2]
Hopefully this kind of corruption will result in long prison sentences.
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:46:17 PM EDT
[#3]
AirAmerica dropped out of the Sirius satellite lineup as well. Anyone know why? I bet they are dying a slow death. Cohen really screwed them at the beginning and they will never recover. For fu** sake, they have Jerry Springer as one of their main personalities.
bd |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:48:01 PM EDT
[#4]
They were dead from day one, what are you talking about? |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:53:27 PM EDT
[#5]
Yeah, umm, they're still on the air. Off air=death. I get what you are saying, just reiterating that they will hang on as long as possible. The HBO special really told the whole story of how they were screwed to begin with--no funding, no ad sales. I used to listen before the election to guage the shrillness and get a heads up on the latest conspiracy theories. The only advertising they ever really had was anti-bush sloganeers and t-shirt hucksters. That shit won't pay the bills for all of the tissue Garofalo needs with all of her on air meltdowns. bd |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 9:59:58 PM EDT
[#6]
I wonder how many other .gov funded charities they "borrowed" money from.......... |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 10:00:24 PM EDT
[#7]
HBO special? I missed it, damn, what was it about? Just AA?
Btw, I've never listened. I just know they've been in a hole since the beginning, and that's obvious to anyone, even liberals. |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 10:09:30 PM EDT
[#8]
Yeah, it's called "Left of the Dial" check here: www.hbo.com/docs/programs/leftofthedial/synopsis.html It was supposed to be a documentary showing the great kick off, but really showed the inane personalities, petty bickering and wholesale fraud committed by Evan Cohen, one of the founders. He left very early and took his money and promises with him--damn the cause. bd |
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Posted: 7/26/2005 10:22:01 PM EDT
[#9]
The best part about Left of the Dial is the day after Bush won the election. Just watching the pain in their faces. haha
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Posted: 7/26/2005 10:26:30 PM EDT
[#10]
Shit, I missed it! They never rerun their damn documentaries either.
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Posted: 7/29/2005 12:30:04 AM EDT
[#11]
The Washington Times is pointing out that this is a non-story in the leftist liberal media........
Robin Hood and Air America TODAY'S EDITORIAL July 29, 2005 www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050728-081354-1414r.htm Did Al Franken's liberal radio network Air America divert city money for the elderly and inner-city children to itself? That's the question people should be asking this week after the revelation that the New York Department of Investigation is looking into whether hundreds of thousands of dollars were illegally transferred from a Bronx community center to Air America. Only a community paper and a few Internet bloggers seem interested in what could be an egregious case of illegal funneling of tax dollars to a private, partisan organization. In late June, city officials designated the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, a nonprofit organization that runs mentoring programs for children and day care for Alzheimer's patients, a "non-responsible city contractor." Investigators found "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies." The city subsequently suspended the club's contracts, which run well into the millions. It turns out, according to sources quoted anonymously by the Bronx News, that the mishandled money went to Air America. One source claims that $480,000 was wrongly transferred. The city investigation is concentrating on Charles Rosen, the club's president for 15 years, and Evan Cohen, the development director, who is a former chairman of Air America. Mr. Cohen resigned from Air America in May after the network's leasing plans in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere fell through. No one has claimed that Messrs. Cohen or Rosen sought to profit personally from any transfers. The money was said to have been a "loan" from the community center to Air America, which Air America would repay with interest at some point in the future. But why the public till should be tapped to rescue a foundering news outlet was a question no one seemed to consider. Maybe Air America officers thought spending public funds on their network was a truly compelling public interest. It isn't, of course, and if the allegations are true, they reveal a misuse of tax dollars to support a partisan organization. Air America's parent corporation Piquant LLC issued an "explanation" yesterday but did not deny the allegations. It instead tried to pin them on Air America's previous owners, on whose watch the transfer is said to have occured. That won't wash. Most of the mainstream newspapers have ignored this story. We only found out about it through the reporting of Brian Maloney, who pieced a story together on his blog "The Radio Equalizer" which was picked up by syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin. The New York Daily News buried an item at the end of a column of news briefs. There was nothing in the New York Times, which has heaped flattering coverage on the flailing network. Air America is struggling to find listeners, leaders and reliable funding. But should it take money from children and the ailing elderly? Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, ever the defenders of the "little guy," should explain this one. |
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Posted: 7/29/2005 1:35:38 AM EDT
[#12]
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Posted: 7/29/2005 5:06:56 PM EDT
[#13]
airamericaradio.com made a statement on their webpage..........
Statement from Air America Radio www.airamericaradio.com/press/gloriawise Statement: If the allegations of mismanagement and corruption at Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club are true, it is absolutely disgraceful. As reported in the Wall Street Journal and the HBO Documentary, Left of the Dial‚ the company that the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club officials gave money to, Progress Media, has been defunct since May 2004. That company was run at the time by Evan Cohen who has not had any involvement in Air America Radio since May 2004. The current owners of Air America Radio have no obligation to Progress Media‚s business activities. We are very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people, which is why we agreed months ago to fully compensate the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club as a result of this transaction. We at Air America Radio strongly believe in the mission of Boys and Girls Clubs to provide a safe and nurturing place for young people to learn and grow. As a result, we recently allowed the same club, Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, to use our name in a fundraising effort for a summer camp for children in their community. The funding for Camp Air America was raised and collected entirely by the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, and Air America promoted the camp on air and urged support for it. A link on our web site sent those interested in contributing to the camp to the Gloria Wise web site. Regrettably, the camp did not survive the closure of the Gloria Wise organization. We have offered any individuals who contributed to the camp as a result of Air America's promotion the option of a refund paid for by Air America Radio and the Club offered the alternative option of having their donation redirected to Kip's Bay Boys and Girls Club. |
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Posted: 7/29/2005 5:21:30 PM EDT
[#14]
 Air America = fucking losers |
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Posted: 7/29/2005 5:25:57 PM EDT
[#15]
i think any publicity is good publicity for them.
most people have forgotten Air America existed. |
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Posted: 7/29/2005 5:37:14 PM EDT
[#16]
A brilliant example of "do as I say, and not do as I do."
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Posted: 7/29/2005 6:05:38 PM EDT
[#17]
So we actually have proof of them stealing from ill children and old people?
Burn the fuckers. |
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Posted: 7/29/2005 6:18:39 PM EDT
[#18]
Pissin' away charity funds to keep alive a fiscally unprofitable endeavor is just plain criminal.
It's just wronger than two boys fuckin'! |
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Posted: 8/2/2005 1:45:40 AM EDT
[#19]
Its getting better\worse depending on how you look at it
(the amount of money in question has almost doubled) Funds of a Bronx Youth Group Allegedly Lent to Air America BY DAVID LOMBINO - Special to the Sun August 1, 2005 www.nysun.com/article/17846 The top executive at a Bronx youth organization said yesterday that the former director of Air America Radio received more than $800,000 in loans for himself and the radio network from the nonprofit organization while serving as its development director. Some of the transfers, according to the president of the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club organization's executive committee, Jeannette Graves, occurred when the development director, Evan Montvel Cohen, who for a time served simultaneously as the liberal radio network's director, appealed to the organization for two loans worth $35,000. Another member of the executive committee said Mr. Cohen told the executive director of the organization that he needed the money to pay for chemotherapy for himself and other medical expenses for his ill father. Ms. Graves said that Mr. Cohen also received another $213,000 loan for Air America in a check that was approved without her authorization and stamped with an imprint of her signature, and that the club wired more than $400,000 to him without her knowledge. Mr. Cohen, who no longer is employed by either Air America or Gloria Wise, and who has not been charged with a crime, could not be reached for comment. Air America Radio, launched with some fanfare on March 31, 2004, is carried on dozens of stations. It probably is best known for its program host Al Franken, the liberal comedian, writer, and political gadfly. Some of the allegations about Mr. Cohen and Air America have appeared in published reports in the past several weeks, including articles in the New York Post, the Daily News, and the Washington Times, as well as postings on Michelle Malkin's blog and the Radio Equalizer, but Ms. Graves provided The New York Sun with much more extensive details of the allegations. In June, the city's Department of Investigation announced the suspension of city grants and contracts with Gloria Wise, worth millions of dollars, because of allegations, among others, that its officials had approved "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various city agencies." The current parent corporation of Air America is Piquant LLC, with offices on Park Avenue. On May 24, 2004, Piquant acquired Air America from Progress Media. Piquant said in a statement last week that Progress was the entity to which the Gloria Wise loans went, and that it has been defunct since May 2004. Piquant said Mr. Cohen has not had any affiliation with the radio network since that point. "The current owners of Air America Radio have no obligation to Progress Media's business activities," the statement read. "We are very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people, which is why we agreed months ago to fully compensate the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club as a result of this transaction." Ms. Graves said Air America has agreed in writing to pay back the full amount of more than $800,000 in installments over the next two years. It is unclear whether the funds allegedly obtained from Gloria Wise were ultimately received or spent by Air America. Ms. Graves said Gloria Wise is fully cooperating with the Department of Investigation. She said that thanks to contracts and funds secured from other entities, it is "business as usual" for all of the organization's social programs, which serve 20,000 children, elderly residents, and people with disabilities in the Co-op City section of the Bronx. In 2003, Gloria Wise reported receiving more than $3.7 million in government grants and more than half a million dollars in government contracts. It reported spending a total of more than $4.5 million that year. A spokeswoman for the Department of Investigations, Emily Gest, said the organization does not comment on continuing investigations. Mr. Cohen, 39, was co-founder of Progress Media Inc. He left Air America in May 2004 - at which time he remained in the employ of the Boys & Girls Club. In 2003, he was paid more than $74,000 as Gloria Wise's development director, according to the organization's filings with the Internal Revenue Service. In telephone interviews yesterday, several members of the executive committee of Gloria Wise remembered the shock they felt learning last month about the scandal. One member of the executive committee, Anna Capell, 80, said she feared answering the phone or attending a scheduled meeting of the committee as a result of anxiety that she would be investigated or sued. "I'm still rocking from the experience," Ms. Capell said. Initially, members of the executive committee viewed Mr. Cohen fondly because he had thrown a tremendously successful fund-raising affair for Gloria Wise in Manhattan last year. They recalled being impressed by the wealthy clientele and the large sums of money he raised, according to Ms. Graves. Because of that confidence in Mr. Cohen, she said, the executive committee approved two loans to Air America, one for $80,000 and another for $87,000. Ms. Capell said she had met Mr. Cohen several times. "He was very suave, a very wonderful young man. He left a very favorable impression," she said in a telephone interview. After the initial two loans, Ms. Graves said that just before the launch of Air America her organization lent the network another $213,000, authorized with a rubber stamp of her signature on a document she said she never saw. More recently, Ms. Graves said, Gloria Wise made a wire transfer of at least $400,000 to Air America without her knowledge. In addition, according to Ms. Graves, the longtime executive director of Gloria Wise, Charles Rosen, later told the board he had lent an additional $35,000 of the organization's funds to Mr. Cohen for medical expenses. According to Ms. Capell, the board member, Mr. Cohen told Mr. Rosen he needed $25,000 to pay for chemotherapy. Mr. Cohen told associates that he recovered from brain cancer, according to Ms. Capell. Later, Mr. Cohen asked for $10,000 - which he was lent - be cause his father, a businessman in Asia, was "gravely ill," Ms. Capell said. Ms. Graves said that she knew of the personal loans to Mr. Cohen, but that she thought they were taken from Mr. Rosen's personal discretionary budget, "not the agency's." Mr. Rosen could not be reached for comment. Gloria Wise received personal checks in various amounts from Mr. Cohen to pay back some of the loans, but Ms. Graves said the checks did not clear. The executive committee dismissed him when members learned of some of his actions, according to another member of the executive committee, John Rose. While she spoke critically of Mr. Cohen, Ms. Graves said she thought Mr. Rosen performed exceptionally well as the organization's executive director. According to Ms. Graves, Mr. Rosen, 62, helped the organization's annual budget grow from $175,000 into the millions. He recently resigned. According to IRS filings Mr. Rosen earned nearly $148,000 in 2003 from the Gloria Wise organization for working approximately 23 hours a week as executive director. Previously, Mr. Rosen worked as a typographer for the New York Post and was active in union politics, leading a rent strike in Co-op City in the early 1970s. |
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Posted: 8/2/2005 3:06:58 AM EDT
[#20]
That's all that really needs to be said right there.
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Posted: 8/2/2005 8:57:02 PM EDT
[#21]
Not bad for a part time job
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Posted: 8/2/2005 10:05:02 PM EDT
[#22]
The story continues........
No laughing matter TODAY'S EDITORIAL August 3, 2005 www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20050802-092823-7702r.htm For a change, Al Franken sounded serious and didn't want a fistfight. He didn't seem to know much about Air America Radio's loan scandal speaking to the New York Sun Monday, and said he had just learned the details last week. In sum, he sounded a lot like the politicians he plays "gotcha" with. Maybe Mr. Franken's ambitions for Norm Coleman's seat in the Senate are sobering him up a bit. He didn't know whether former Air America director and nonprofit executive Evan Cohen had transferred inner-city childrens' money to Air America, nor whether the money had been used for Air America's operations. Mr. Franken did know this: Air America had known about the problem before New York's Department of Investigation began studying it. But a city spokesman says Air America "neglected to tell anyone at DOI or in the city about it." Add another unanswered question to Air America's tally. Up to this point, Mr. Franken gets a pass: He is the talent, not the management. But now that he is apprised, Mr. Franken should get to the bottom of the scandal. Here's what is known thus far. On Friday, Air America confirmed that last year it did in fact take money from a city-funded nonprofit that runs progams in the Bronx for children and Alzheimer's sufferers, and that it plans to pay the money back. It also revealed that it refuses to accept responsibility: First it blamed the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, the nonprofit, calling the club's alleged behavior "absolutely disgraceful"; then it blamed Progress Media, a now-defunct Air America parent company, and said it had no obligation to pay the money back. But Air America announced it would pay the money back because it is "very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people." It's also clear that Air America was the primary beneficiary of whatever "absolutely disgraceful" corruption occurred. As Jeannette Graves, president of Gloria Wise's executive committee, explained to the New York Sun this week, Mr. Cohen received more than $800,000 for himself and for Air America. She and her colleagues approved two $35,000 "loans" to Mr. Cohen plus another $167,000 for Air America because "he had thrown a tremendously successful fund-raising affair for Gloria Wise in Manhattan last year." He was "a very wonderful young man" who "left a very favorable impression." The rest of the transfers apparently happened without Mrs. Graves' knowledge: Someone approved a $213,000 loan with Mrs. Graves' name rubber-stamped on it plus a whopping $400,000 wire transfer. Mr. Franken should get to the bottom of this scandal. He didn't create it, but he's part of it, and he will be implicated if he does not help find the wrongdoers and compensate the victims. Besides, things get a lot tougher in the Senate, a place where fistfights and jokes won't cut it. |
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