There is definitely a Minneapolis angle to what happened at Air America Minnesota - and gives some insight into Air America owner, Janet Robert's hiring methods.
When I interviewed Nick last week about his time at Air America, he mentioned that Janet Robert "fired" Cubby his producer (who was a volunteer). Nick had asked to be included in the hiring of a new producer - but Janet ignored him. Instead she brought in Darin Brota to produce Nick's shows. Nick told me that when he wanted to book RT Rybak on his show, that he heard through "back channels" grief about why does he have a McLaughlin political operative on his campaign. Nick hit the roof. Soon after that Brota went to work full time on the McLaughlin campaign. I met Darin tonight at the McLaughlin-Rybak debate. I asked Darin about this story - and Darin said he did not unofficially advise Peter before he was hired - but he did volunteer at Peter's table during the May 9th DFL convention. He was hired after he left Air America. I asked Darin if he'd had any radio production experience - and he said none - except for when he worked for Janet Robert at Air America. I talked with Jer Hanson, RT's communications director - and Jer told me was NOT the back channel to Nick. Nick told me he couldn't remember who the RT back channel was. Darin also told me about how he had wanted to have a guest come in to talk about Stem cell research. Wendy Wilde told him he could not do this - because Janet Robert didn't want the topic discussed because it was too divisive - and was a social issue that wasn't the type of issue that could be addressed at Air America Minnesota. Darin does not recall seeing the infamous Air America memo. Darin knew Janet Robert because he used to work for Bill Luther's various campaigns. Darin Brota is a good guy - and Peter McLaughlin made a smart hire when he hired him. Darin's had experience with Teresa Daly's congressional campaign - and with Bill Luther's campaign before that. But for Janet Robert to hire him for a radio producer job is just goofy - wouldn't she want to hire someone who had actually done production before? The other posts I had done on this topic were about a major Minneapolis event - Twin Cities Gay Pride - and how Janet Robert didn't want a major sponsor of Air America Minnesota on the show - because it was on a divisive topic or whatever. Well that sounds like trying to keep gays in the closet to me - and if Janet is able to take gay money (and she has no problems doing that), she should be able to avoid having a cow when a representative from her sponsor is on the air. Now I'm wondering if Janet Robert would keep people who support teaching evolution in the schools off the air because evolution violates Catholic doctrine (according to some recent statement by the Church - post John Paul II - who said evolution doesn't conflict with catholic faith). ************************************* >From Checks and Balances: On 8/24/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Eva Young, We have it on reliable source that the person who has cause Democrats pains in recent months with Minnesota Democrats Exposed is.... Find out at http://www.checksandbalances.com Minnesota Democrats Exposed (Exposed) If you google the name Jerome Plagge you will find information on his activity in the blogsphere for Senate District 63 (Richfield). There is also a link a story from his blog about living a red life in a blue district on something called blogshares.com. As one delves a little deeper you see that in blogshares.com Minnesota Democrats Exposed is one of the most traded blog shares. So recent information that has come our way is the Jerome Plagge is the person behind Minnesota Democrats Exposed. It will be interesting to see if now the anonymous source behind MDE either confires or denies this idea. We encourage the folks at MDE to contact us and tell it how it is. EY: MDE recently exposed the Minneapolis City DFL Chair for producing a DFL fundraising document on city equipment. This was picked up by the Strib. MDE also posted an erronious account of RT Rybak getting booed at a Humphrey Institute event about Online democracy. The blog is at: http://www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com http://www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com/2005/08/sources-used-by-mde.html#comments Eva Eva Young Near North Minneapolis Blogs: http://lloydletta.blogspot.com http://www.outletradio.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
