ABC Reporter Paid Thousands By Lobbying Firm To Write Hit Pieces On Targeted Politicians

That half of the country still sets get store by these jackals is our biggest obstacle…..

An ABC producer used her credentials to create fake hit pieces on local politicians in Florida while pocketing thousands from a political lobbying firm, a report said.

By: NY Post, September 22, 2022:

Freelance producer Kristen Hentschel — who mostly worked for “Good Morning America” — was paid at least $14,350 by Alabama-based political consulting firm Matrix LLC to sandbag the environmentally friendly politicians with bogus questions, according to a report released Wednesday by NPR and Floodlight, an “environmental news collaborative.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Hentschel claimed to be working for ABC while filming the hit piece. The company said she had not been assigned to the story.

“Kristen Hentschel was a freelance daily hire who never worked for ABC News on the political stories referenced in the NPR article,” the network said in a statement.

Hentschel, who has been fired from the network, primarily did freelance work for “Good Morning America,” the same show plagued by rumors of an affair between hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes.

According to the report, Hentschel began her political espionage on behalf of Matrix in 2016. She was hired by ABC News as a freelance news reporter a few weeks later.In July 2018, she asked then-candidate for Florida House of Representatives Toby Overdorf about the alleged discovery of 20 gopher tortoises, an endangered species, found dead at a nearby construction site. Hentschel showed him an ABC business card.

Overdorf, who was working at the site as an environmental engineer, told Hentschel he didn’t know what she was talking about and denied the discovery.

ADVERTISEMENT

The interview was posted to the website of the Alabama-based Center for Sustainability and Conservation, which listed Hentschel as its media contact. Matrix had paid the center at least $55,000 through a related business, according to the consulting firm’s ledgers.

A city investigation later found there were no dead tortoises at the site and none had ever been there.

Matrix LLC paid Hentschel at least $7,000 for the job, according to its internal ledgers. The firm later billed sugar conglomerate Florida Crystals and Florida Power & Light for her work. Both companies would have suffered from progressive policies Overdorf promised to bring to the Sunshine State.

Keep reading…..