Bronx Publisher Says Engel, Koppell Helped Secure Loan, But Denies Political Bias [UPDATED]

Andy Wolf (center) flanked by Bronx BP Ruben Diaz, Jr . (left) and Councilman Oliver Koppell (right)

Andy Wolf, the editor and publisher of the Riverdale Review, acknowledged in a phone interview this afternoon that Congressman Eliot Engel and Councilman Oliver Koppell helped him secure a loan that allowed him to buy the newspaper – but says that’s had no effect on the paper’s coverage of the local elected officials.

Wolf was responding to an article I posted this morning on a boycott of the Riverdale Review. The boycott’s organizers say that Koppell and Engel have gotten overly favorable coverage in the weekly northwest Bronx newspaper.

Wolf acknowledged that in the mid-1990’s – when he bought the Review – Engel made a phone call to a Elias Karmon, a local businessman, in an effort persuade Karmon to give Wolf a loan that would allow him to buy the paper. Wolf declined to say how much the loan was worth.

Wolf also acknowledged that Koppell, an attorney, did some pro-bono legal work on his behalf that helped complete the transaction.

But Wolf says those favors have never influenced his paper’s editorial coverage of the two Riverdale officials.

“They didn’t ask for anything [in exchange for the assistance], nor did they get anything for it,” Wolf said.

Wolf provided a copy of his 2009 editorial that endorsed Koppell’s Council re-election bid – but damned Koppell with faint praise – as proof of the lack of bias. That year, Koppell was running against Tony Perez Cassino, who has since emerged as one of the main antagonists fueling the boycott of the Riverdale Review.

The editorial says that while Wolf doesn’t really approve of Koppell’s performance, Cassino would be far worse.

“Oliver Koppell is a man of great integrity and huge intellectual capacity, yet has squandered these assets in so many ways. After so many years, his promise has yet to be fulfilled…

 The Oliver Koppell we’d like to see, the Oliver Koppell our community desperately needs to see, is the Oliver Koppell who is big enough to admit that he was wrong, change course, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the unanimous wishes of the parents of Riverdale. The failure to admit error and take advice is the fatal flaw that, in our opinion has, consistently, undermined Koppell’s career.

 In the final analysis, elections are choices, often poor choices. We aren’t sure that Riverdale can endure four more years of Oliver Koppell in the City Council. But we ARE sure that we can’t afford even one day of Anthony Perez Cassino.”

Wolf  charged that the boycott of his paper is really all about the political aspirations of the boycotters: its leader, Cliff Stanton, just registered a campaign committee to run for Koppell’s Council seat. And Wolf says the boycott is meant to silence the paper’s frequently negative coverage of Cassino and, by proxy, Stanton.

I reached out to Cassino and am still awaiting a call back.

UPDATE:

On his blog, Cassino gives his take.