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Minnesota Independent Covers Up Its Relationship with Sleazy Media Matters for America


Note: This item was corrected a few days later. The two organizations used to share office space but do not appear to do so now.

* * * * *

It appears I have outworn my welcome at the Minnesota Independent website. This kind of thing often happens in the blogosphere when lies are exposed. No matter. I waste far too much time on the Internet, anyway.

So, that left-wing site is no longer accepting my comments. I suspect it has something to do with an argument I was having with the contributors to the site over the relationship of the Center for Independent Media to Media Matters for America. (Minnesota Independent article and comments section)

I wrote earlier that the two organizations are joined at the hip. As an example of the closeness of the two entities, I pointed out that they share office space. They said I was wrong and mocked my research skills.

I just right now tried using different browsers to post a long, detailed response. The Minnesota Independent’s website would not accept this new comment regardless of how many pieces I broke it up into.

I would rather post the response over there but since I can’t, I’ll post it here. Here it is:

* * * * *

Now to this question about whether Media Matters for America and the Center for Independent Media share office space.

I did rely on the DiscoverTheNetworks.org entry when I wrote the above comment. For the reasons cited below, it looks like I made a good decision.

Let’s get into the details: It is claimed that the address of Media Matters is 1625 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC and that the address of the Center for Independent Media is 1825 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC.

However, in addition to a pile of evidence that the two organizations share office space, there certainly is a lot of overlap between Media Matters and CIM. It goes on and on and on.

CIM’s current help wanted page at idealist.org shows CIM’s address as 1625 Massachusetts Ave. NW. How can that be? That’s supposed to be the address of Media Matters. Check it out here. And don’t bother pulling a Carol Browner: I already made a screen grab.

Jeff Fecke writes (quoting someone else): “To clarify, the Center for Independent Media is not receiving funding from Media Matters. The only financial arrangement they have is to rent office space.” This same statement is repeated at the Wikipedia entry on the Minnesota Monitor which is now called the Minnesota Independent.

This document, which purports to be a CIM document, indicates CIM is located at 1625 Massachusetts Ave., 3rd Floor, Washington DC 200036. This seems to be a longer version of the same document.

I just did a “Locate a Business (Nationwide)” search on Nexis for 1825 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC. Interestingly, Nexis returned hits for both Media Matters and CIM at the Connecticut Ave. address.

Here are some of the hits:

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1825 CONNECTICUT AVE NW STE 625
WASHINGTON, DC 20009-5733
D.C. COUNTY
Contact Name: BENNAHUM, DAVID

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW FL 3RD
WASHINGTON, DC 20036-2212
D.C. COUNTY
Contact Name: BENNAHUM, DAVID

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW FL 3RD
WASHINGTON, DC 20036-2212
D.C. COUNTY
FEIN: 33-1137541

In the search results for 1825 Connecticut Ave., this address, namely 2040 S St. NW, Washington, DC, kept coming up.

I did a Nexis search for 2040 S St. NW. Here are the first three hits:

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 2040 S ST NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20009-1110
D.C. COUNTY
Contact Name: BENNAHUM, DAVID

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1825 CONNECTICUT AVE NW STE 625
WASHINGTON, DC 20009-5733
D.C. COUNTY
Contact Name: BENNAHUM, DAVID
 
Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW FL 3RD
WASHINGTON, DC 20036-2212
D.C. COUNTY
Contact Name: BENNAHUM, DAVID

Farther down the search results page, the Media Matters address on Massachusetts Ave. pops up yet again in a hit about CIM:

Business Information
Company Name: CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
Address: 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW FL 3RD
WASHINGTON, DC 20036-2212
D.C. COUNTY
FEIN: 33-1137541

Let’s compare the Tax Year 2007 IRS Form 990s (tax returns) for the two entities. Here is the 990 for Media Matters. Here is the 990 for CIM.

The tax returns of Media Matters and CIM were prepared by the same firm, Drolet & Associates. (see page 9 of both documents) Both list Bonner Group, Inc. under the heading Compensation of the Five Highest Paid Independent Contractors. (see page 10 of both documents)

All in all, that’s an awful lot of evidence and an awful lot of overlap.

Unlike Media Matters most of the time, I would gladly correct the record if I were convinced I had made a mistake, but I’m not convinced.

Unburden your conscience, Minnesota Independent. It’s time to come clean. Media Matters and the Center for Independent Media are joined at the hip. How can you deny it?

Tags:  Media Matters

Matthew Vadum

The author of Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers (WND Books, 2011), Vadum, former senior vice president at CRC, writes and speaks widely…
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