Adelphia Was Nation's Fifth Largest Cable Company
Former Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan's statements about how the Bush Administration managed the press to influence the start of the Iraq War lends a great deal of credibility to the Rigas family's claims that they were the victims of Bush's media blitz against them to prove that Bush was doing something about corporate corruption.
The famous perp walk, after the Rigases had offered to turn themselves in, done in front of all the media news cameras, and the government publicity campaign to convict the Rigases, guaranteed that John and Tim Rigas didn't have a chance in court.
Outside financial experts, and their companies, paid millions of dollars in fines as a result of the Adelphia episode. These were the experts that the Rigases relied on to make sure that this company, that John started from scratch in the tiny Boro of Coudersport, PA, was doing everything according to hoyle as Adelphia grew to be the 5th largest cable company in the United States.
Even when testimony of one of the main men, involved with finance in Adelphia, in another proceeding, was in direct conflict with testimony he offered in the Rigas case, the Rigases appeals were denied. The government had decided to make the case against this small town entrepreneur stick like glue. They were an easy target.
The unprecedented media blitz of the bigtime media, manipulated by the Bush Administration, all but guaranteed that the government would get a conviction. The average juror wouldn't have a clue about the finance doings of a corporation the size of Adelphia. Axe murderers have been accorded a fairer trial in this country than John and Tim Rigas.
There is nowhere in this country that the government's media blitz did not reach. There is nowhere that a trial could be held that the jury pool was not contaminated by the media manipulation of the Bush Administration. Every story written by the mainstream media, since the Adelphia story broke, has been tagged with the government's allegations of Rigas’ misconduct.
The truth behind the story is that John Rigas started a business from nothing and worked hard and grew it to a multimillion dollar corporation. In the process, he became well to do. That is a crime in itself for many who weren't so fortunate.
What you didn't see the mainstream media report was how sleepy little Coudersport, a farm town in remote Potter County, was transformed into a booming location with many new jobs and new houses built on the mountains and in town. How many existing businesses were thriving, and new business ventures were started.
Residents for miles around Coudersport, for the first time in their lives, were able to find jobs with decent pay and benefits, thanks to the Rigases. Coudersport got a McDonalds, and a Sheetz that was open 24 hours a day, and a Subway. You hear people complain about what has happened since the demise of Adelphia here, but, working conditions here were pretty bad before Adelphia. John was determined to keep control of the corporation, so he could keep the company in Coudersport, his home town.
No one knows the extent of how many times John Rigas came to the aid of his employees or townspeople. John could have written the book on giving back. The championship golf course he was building would have put Potter County on the map with a great tourist attraction. The cell phone operation that was nearly ready to go online, would have offered nearly complete coverage in Potter County and most of western Pennsylvania with unlimited talk time.
Adelphia could have survived as a stand alone company, showing a profit for the first time, just before being liquidated to Time Warner and Comcast who dumped the Coudersport operation like a hot potato. Schlyer and Cooper were given millions and their job was to liquidate the company.
But Judge Leonard Sand can't believe the audacity of the Rigases who refuse to admit that they are the scoundrels that the Bush Administration has painted them. John Rigas still has the audacity to believe the American justice system will set him free because he didn't do anything wrong.
Solomon's words has been provided with a copy of James Rigas's statement of testimony before Judge Leonard Sand in the recent re-sentencing hearing. It is lengthy, but very informative, giving voice to Rigas’ side of the story which has never been published in a concise form without the government's propaganda. Click here to read this document on another page.
