NB: Unions Made Direct Payments To Libtalker Ed Schultz

NAILED

A Bad Week: Big Eddie's Funny Money, Low Ratings





*** UPDATED WITH NEW RATINGS BELOW ***


For Ed Schultz, it should have been a week to celebrate. After all, his longtime desire to become a cable pundit had finally been realized, with a 6pm slot on far-left outlet MSNBC.

Unfortunately, the syndicated radio libtalker may have succeeded only in calling a bit too much attention to himself. With a higher profile comes added scrutiny, even if the mainstream media is asleep at the switch.

Initial viewership figures haven't provided reason to cheer, at least not yet. Debuting on Monday to an average audience of 247,000 in the 25-54 demographic and 725,000 overall, by Wednesday that figure had dropped to 119,000 and 406,000, respectively.

Though MSNBC's ratings are down across the board, there appears to be little buzz about the addition of Schultz. In an attempt to fix the situation, NBC suits plugged Schultz into Keith Olbermann's slot Thursday, hoping the one-day airing would salvage the new program.

During yesterday's radio program, Schultz himself had this to say:

SCHULTZ (43:40): Appreciate all your emails and your support. The, ah, early numbers that have come in for ratings have not been bad, I might say. I wouldn't say we knocked it out of the park, but we're, we're getting there, we're getting there.

Over the past several weeks, your Radio Equalizer has examined Big Ed's background, including his volatile temper and direct ties to Democratic Party funding, which made even fellow libtalker Randi Rhodes uncomfortable.

Today, however, the ultimate smoking gun has been discovered by Jeff Poor at NewsBusters, citing research performed by J Justin Wilson at the Center For Union Facts:

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, was even Schultz's first guest. On his second show on April 7, Schultz's opening "OpEd" segment was firmly for the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check. And, on his third show on April 8, he invited Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of the pro-union, pro-card check American Rights at Work organization.

However, there's one detail Schultz hasn't revealed to his audience - a potential conflict of interest. As recently as 2008, Schultz received more than $20,000 from three separate AFL-CIO affiliated labor unions.

According to documents posted on the U.S. Department of Labor Web site, Schultz received $22,304 for his services - a fact picked up by J. Justin Wilson, managing director, Center for Union Facts. Those include:


* Steelworkers - "Publicity/Advertising" - $10,000

* Air Traffic Controllers - "Broadcasting Services" - $7,304

* Plumbers Local 189 - "Event" - $5,000

In his piece, Poor includes images of the union filings and documents how Schultz subsequently pushed for specific elements of their political agenda, including the highly controversial Employee Free Choice Act.


To those in both politics and broadcasting, the only real surprise is that it took this long to catch Schultz in the act. There have long been questions about his funding sources and real motivations.

In particular, some have wondered how he was able to afford an expensive personal cable studio setup in his Fargo home, which was remotely operated by a Boston-based firm. With a bit more digging, one can only wonder what else might be found.


UPDATE: in new ratings just released, Schultz continued to pull in tiny numbers, even when inserted into Olbermann's slot, where his ratings were about half of normal. At 6pm, he generated just 132,000 (25-54) and 498,000 overall.


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