Air America, the tottering monument to liberal hubris in the talk radio industry, may be about to change hands again, according to the Chicago Tribune. Its internal state of chaos is so great that employees, who had the cost of health insurance coverage deducted from their paychecks, were apparently never enrolled in a health insurance plan.

This must certainly be an oversight, rather than fraud. The devotion of liberals to health care coverage for all is so well—known that it is inconceivable that this could be deliberate. Incompetence, not criminality, must be at work.

Major hat—tip to Michael Nadler, who points out that while intent is critical to asessing criminality in a case like Air America's failure to pay for health insurance, if Air America also neglected to pay the I.R.S. the withholding taxes it deducted from employees' paychecks, as they did with health insurance, they would be "toast."

Having lost its two most important affiliate stations, bounced paychecks, laid off staff, closed advertising sales offices, and fired its two top officers, not to mention putting out an embarrassingly tedious and sophomoric programming product, the company may now return to the hands of its two original founders, Democrat donors Sheldon and Anita Drobny.

As a privately—held company, the public may never learn the details of the ownership odyssey which saw at least two changes in majority control after the Drobnys unloaded their controlling block of shares. According to the Tribune's source, the Drobnys have an outside investor's money to work with in their negotiations to re—assume control.

Strangely enough, the left—leaning press outlets like the New York Times, which devoted enormous attention to Air America when it was a pending venture, are curiously uninterested in the troubles being experienced in the actual operation of the business. Usually, liberal journalists take delight in business scandals. Imagine the headlines if an Enron or Halliburton pocketed employees' health insurance deductions without actually covering them with health insurance!

Posted by Thomas  05 14 04