Hand in the cookie jar

It will be funny to see how quickly this story disappears from the mainstream media, especially here in Portland, but for a day or two at least, you can find it if you know where to look:

The Strand, the iconic New York City bookstore, agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million in a civil settlement for accepting a Covid government loan that was off-limits because the store is owned by the wife of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.

The Strand applied for the $932,350 loan in February 2021 from the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the Small Business Administration, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said Tuesday.

Store owner Nancy Bass Wyden certified on the loan application that “the spouse of a Member of Congress does not directly or indirectly hold a controlling interest in the applicant,” Pirro’s office said.

“Ms. Wyden’s certification was knowingly and materially false and Strand was not eligible for the second draw loan it received,” the office said....

Now, I have zero use for Jeanine Pirro, a harpy from the Trump Department of Justice. And as regular readers here know, I find Bass Wyden's stock market maneuvering to be embarrassing and unethical. But this latest story is a pretty bad scandal, way worse than all her Nvidia plays. It's in Lori Chavez-DeRemer territory.

Interesting to me is the fact that Mrs. Wyden's "mistake" was caught by a whistleblower, who will now get a nice reward for exposing the illegal use of federal funds.

The civil settlement resolved claims brought under a so-called qui tam lawsuit, which allows private whistleblowers to sue on behalf of the U.S. government and receive a portion of any recovery.

The qui tam action in this case was filed by a corporate entity, Blockquote Inc., in U.S. District Court in Washington. Blockquote, whose owners were not disclosed by Pirro’s office, will receive a total share of about $148,256 in connection with the settlement.

The docket for Blockquote’s lawsuit is sealed from public view.

As I say, the Wydens doubtlessly want this to be a one-and-done, lost in the election news. And I'm sure they'll get their way as far as the Portland media is concerned. No one is treated with softer kid gloves by our local journalists than Saint Wyden. Not since Saint Hatfield have so many free passes been issued.

But the story might have legs in New York City, which is, after all, where Senator Wyden resides with his wife and children. If it matters to Oregonians, it's often in the New York Post.