Air America Funds being diverted from Poverty Group?

[Miss Modular]

I've been hearing lately how Air America's start-up funds were diverted from a group called The Gloria Wise Foundation. This is the only news report I've been able to find that doesn't come a right wing news site.

If this is the case, this is a shame. Could this be why they don't talk about poverty issues more?

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/...p-283184c.html

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
Key kids, senior programs saved
BY BOB KAPPSTATTER
DAILY NEWS BRONX BUREAU CHIEF
Tuesday, July 26th, 2005

A Bronx congressman yesterday praised the smooth takeover of dozens of programs serving thousands of youngsters and seniors across the borough after the city yanked funding from two sponsoring agencies that have come under a cloud.
The nonprofit Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and its affiliate Pathways for Youth found their city contracts, running into the millions of dollars, abruptly ended last month by the city Department of Investigation.

The city quickly brought in outside agencies on one-year contracts to run the programs, including the Jewish Association for Seniors for Aged and the Police Athletic League, with in-place workers kept on the job pending individual evaluations.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, who has secured more than $500,000 in federal funding for Gloria Wise programs in the the past few years, said he and his staff "have spent countless hours" working with the city, the Co-op City community where a number of the programs are based, other Bronx elected officials and the new contractors.

He praised the city for what he called "an apparently seamless transfer of contracts" that have kept all the programs up and running without interruption for an estimated 20,000 or so youngsters, handicapped individuals and seniors.

"What is paramount is that they are maintaining the programs," he said. "This is a work in progress."

Crowley (D-Bronx, Queens) said he was "totally shocked - shocked is an understatement" when news of the loss of funding first broke.

He said he and other elected officials are still in the dark over the exact nature of the probe.

In its initial announcement, the DOI said it was probing allegations that program officials "approved significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various city agencies."

According to published reports, the allegations involve Charles Rosen, the founder of Gloria Wise who has stepped down as executive director, investing city contract funds in Air America Radio, the liberal talk radio network.

Evan Cohen, Air America's former chairman, had served as Gloria Wise's director of development.

[Ant10708]

Those damn conservatives always fucking over the poor to line their own pockets. Oh wait.

[mburbank]

What, the fifteen minute commercial segments interspersed with five minute programming segments isn't paying their bills?

[Miss Modular]

Here is the official statement from Air America Radio:

http://www.airamericaradio.com/press/gloriawise

Statement from Air America Radio
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.

Here's another link that explains how this story came about. Choice quote:

Let’s recap. What do we have so far? All allegations that the allegedly pilfered Gloria Wise money went to Air America Radio are based on one, and only one, source: Michael Horowitz in the prestigious, if ephemeral, Bronx News. And Horowitz got his information from “informed sources” of undetermined origin.

And, folks, that’s it. Brian Maloney picked up Horowitz, and Hewitt and Michelle Malkin picked up Maloney, and by means of much huffing and puffing and overheated rhetoric (Malkin: “Will Air America’s self-proclaimed champions of the poor and downtrodden–Franken? Garafolo? Springer?–touch this story with a ten-foot pole?”) the righties manage to create much smoke without any visible fire. The rightie bloggers link to each other’s allegations as “proof”; they link to anything they can find that mentions Air America in a negative light as “proof”; but in fact nothing has been made public that supports Malkin’s claim …