Susannah Breslin

Susannah Breslin has a Forbes column "Pink Slipped".

The column is a good read, well written, and the viewpoint is usually one of objective observer.

There are always a few choice nuggets in her columns.

In her recent column about women at a tech conference she ran into someone named Nate St. Pierre who runs a charity named "Love Drops", after attending panels of people focused on getting associated with major brands.

"I think for the most part women shouldn’t go to technology conferences, but maybe they should because there is always that one fleeting moment amidst all the bullshit when you realize maybe there is more to this world than getting sponsored by a soda."

How Accurate is Politifact

Here is the story:
Janice Hahn gets double slammed on her ‘gang intervention’ debacle

Here is Politifact:
Video accuses Janice Hahn of hiring gang members

The money quote from Politifact:
"The issue, though, is whether Hahn hired these gang-intervention specialists with taxpayer money and even helped get some of them out of jail."

P. J. Steve (a gang member) on video said that Janice Hahn got him out on his own recognizance (OR). An angry city attorney said "I was told Hahn's office called and said PJ Steve worked for her, and because he was a gang intervention worker they asked for an O.R. release. And it was granted."

I would have to say (given the preponderance of evidence) that "helped get them out of jail" is probably true.

Let's look at the "hired these gang-intervention specialists with taxpayer money" part of the question. The Fox report didn't actually claim that the gangsters were getting tax payer funds - they just raised the question.

• Fox gave an example of a gangster named "Weasel" who apparently sucked up 1 million in city funds. However it wasn't clear to me what if any relationship he had to Janice Hahn. This is however a dumb use of city funds.
  

• Fox gave numerous examples of Hahn related gangsters who claimed to be "Gang Int" (Gang Interventionists) and claimed to be paid by agencies such as Unity One.

• Unity One receives funding from Toberman Settlement House which primarily a non-profit charity but probably receives government funding for its social work.

• The funding of Amer-i-can (a James Brown charity) which apparently hired some gangsters is uncertain.

Bottom line: Janice Hahn's ties to gangsters are closer than she generally acknowledges but there isn't a smoking gun on the government funding issue. Since Fox never claimed that she paid them with public funds this is kind of a red herring (or a straw man) .

So, Politifact took a accusation and a straw man, put them together and said it was false.

The truth is kind of in the middle. She clearly helped at least one gangster get out on OR. Fox never claimed she was paying gangsters with government money and while it's possible, there isn't sufficient proof at this point to say that they are being paid with public funds.

It would be nice to see an audit of LA's books to see where some of the money went but that is above my pay grade.

I would give Politifact a grade of C.