Bernie Ward Begs To Be Rehired, Still Faces Child Porn Charges

REHIRE ME!

Indicted Former KGO Host Ward Makes Public Appeal





*** See Your Radio Equalizer On The O'Reilly Factor ***


Using the San Francisco Chronicle to get his message to KGO listeners, Bernie Ward is begging to be rehired at his former station.

Ward, 56, is using the kind of excuse that his liberal apologists would never tolerate from conservative talkers: that his crimes are in the past and therefore should be forgotten. Indicted on several counts of both possessing and distributing child pornography, Ward may indeed face prison time, whether San Francisco's disturbed liberal establishment likes it or not.

But that hasn't stopped him from pushing to get his job back, as today's Chronicle reports:

Ward, a former Catholic priest, was yanked from the airwaves soon after his indictment in December by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on two counts of child pornography using the Internet. His contract with KGO was terminated at the end of the year.

"I'm still hoping they're going to rehire me," said Ward, 56, who has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges. "I just keep hoping people will see that this is about something that happened three years ago and that I had a reason for doing it. I showed some very bad judgment, but I'm hoping that common sense will prevail."

Ward hosted two shows for KGO, including a Sunday morning show called "God Talk." He also served as an investigative reporter who worked on a 10-part series that explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct by the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.

He insists that the federal charges stem from a few days in 2004 when he looked at and exchanged pornographic images with other adults as part of research for a book on hypocrisy.

His business attorney, Jeannette Boudreau, said there has been an outpouring of public support in favor of Ward's return, including endorsements from some of KGO's advertisers, but others have lobbied against his return.

Boudreau said today that she has been in talks with KGO general manager Mickey Luckoff.

And as we reported last week, Luckoff is leaning strongly toward rehiring Ward:

(Via KGO-7's Dan Noyes) Ward and Luckoff will meet after the next court appearance January 24th, and he may be back on the air soon very soon. Luckoff tells me would hire him back, even before a possible trial wraps up: “We really value Bernie. He’s a very capable on-air talent.”

Meanwhile, Bernie has been busy posting strange Internet notes filled with references to his children. Is that supposed to make us sympathetic?

Interestingly, another former radio personality has just been sentenced to four years in prison for possession of child porn. Did Pennsylvania's John Duffy forget to use the "I was writing a book" excuse?

Radio anchor gets prison in child pornography case

By Bill Vidonic, Times Staff

A former news anchor for Pittsburgh’s ESPN Radio affiliate was sentenced Tuesday to little more than four years in federal prison for child pornography

John Duffy, of 24 Lorraine Drive in Carnegie, pleaded guilty last year to a single count of possessing child pornography.

For his plea, Duffy was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, followed by five years’ supervised release.

According to court documents, Duffy was indicted by a federal grand jury in May after state police said they found sexually explicit images and videos of children on his computer. Duffy was charged in July, and he pleaded guilty in October.

In court documents urging a lighter sentence, Duffy’s attorney wrote that he had struggled with physical problems his entire life and is unable to get around without the use of crutches or a wheelchair.

Duffy, according to court records, will be required to report as a Megan’s Law sex offender, meaning he will have to register his address with local authorities for 10 years once he is released from custody.

You won't see the left rallying behind Duffy because he was a sports anchor, rather than a MoveOn.org- style extremist. Remember, these are the same "progressives" who still ridicule Rush Limbaugh over his prescription drug addiction, even though he took responsibility and got help. And that wasn't even comparable to the distribution of child porn.

In Ward's case, his crazed supporters are apparently not at all bothered by the idea of sending child porn across the Internet, as long as it serves their extreme ideological positions.

And San Francisco liberals wonder why so many Americans think their "progressive" movement is a joke.


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