Rich Girard Didn’t Refute 2014 Article Accusing Him of Sexual Harassment
Reprint of 2014 Article “Did Rich Girard Blackmail Will Infantine to Stay on the Air?”— OPINION
MANCHESTER, NH — Joe Kelly Levasseur fed me two stories in 2014, one about Rich Girard allegedly sexually harassing a woman employee of his, and one about Will Infantine allegedly committing adultery. At the time of the publication of the story on the Yahoo! Contributor Network, neither individual contested the validity of the following story.
Multiple sources confirmed both stories. Years later, I was to talk to Mr. Infantine and came to understand that what had allegedly transpired had been misconstrued by Joe Levasseur. (I wrote about his in the recent article, Is Joe Kelly Levasseur the Biggest Leaker of Confidential Info in Manchester, New Hampshire?)
After I published the article, a friend of the woman who claimed Mr. Girard sexually harassed her approached me and asked me to not pursue the story, as the alleged victim was afraid of Girard. I dropped the matter, but was troubled by it, particularly after then School Board Member Rich Girard badgered and attempted to publicly shame an 18 year-old high school girl.
In 2019, I sent a message to Mr. Girard informing him I was going to forward information that he allegedly harassed an employee (which I believe did occur) to the Board of School Committee. Mr. Girard, who was then an at-large member of the School Board, never responded.
— BEGIN 2014 ARTICLE —
Did Rich Girard Blackmail Will Infantine to Stay on the Air?
Right-Wing Radio Talk Show Host Allegedly Threatened Boss with Revelation of Adultery
Jon C. Hopwood, Yahoo Contributor Network
Jul 13, 2014
Manchester, N.H. — Conservative radio talk show host Rich Girard, currently embroiled in a sexting scandal that threatens to terminate his career on the Christian network that broadcasts his Girard at Large program, allegedly threatened station boss Will Infantine in the past with the revelation of his boss’s adultery to keep his job and gain additional perks.
Multiple sources have told us that Infantine, the part-owner of New Hampshire Family Radio (NHFR) station WLMW 90.7 FM, had planned to terminate Girard after ending his connection with NHFR and starting a new, more powerful station. WLMW’s signal is very weak, and does not even cover all of Manchester. Sources say that Infantine plans to build a new antenna located in Manchester to support a more powerful station in order to further his state-wide political ambitions.
Rich Girard apparently was not part of those plans. Originally.
According to sources, Infantine was tired of Girard due to the talk show host’s erratic behavior. Not only is the gadfly Girard an albatross in the political arena, he carries with him heavy duty psychological baggage, too. What goes around comes around, and the emotionally erratic Girard has been spewing his evil over the airwaves for years. His time for a karmic comeuppance is at hand, and long overdue.
Girard has a history that includes sexual harassment and shaking down advertisers and potential advertisers for kickbacks. Girard reportedly was accused of sexual harassment by a female employee at Primerica Financial Services, where he serves as regional vice president. He also allegedly extorted kickbacks, such as personal services for his home, from people who appeared on his show, some of whom were inveigled to take out advertising on the station.
Sources tell us one person who has appeared on Girard at Large subsequently performed $1,300 worth of work at the Girard home. Girard refused to pay him, considering that it was part of a quid pro quo deal they had for allowing the man on his radio show. He did eventually pay up when the man hired a lawyer.
Birds of a Feather
Why does Rich Girard plan to be on the air tomorrow, Monday, July 14th, despite the revelations that he sexted a female fan, a vulnerable young woman whom he continually badgered for sex via Facebook’s private messaging function? Sources tell us that Girard feels secure as he and his boss, Will Infantine — the man who writes the checks at the radio station — are birds of a feather and Girard has the goods on The Main Man who pays his salary.
Despite his own public persona as dedicated family man, an image Rich Girard also tries to project, Will Infantine, like Girard, is in fact is a rogue who exploits women. Sources tell us that the married Infantine carried on an affair with the fiancée of his best friend. He then served as best man at their wedding!
The contempt for women that Infantine, a state representative, showed while opposing the equal pay bill reportedly extends to his own wife, sources tell us. Infantine has used derogatory language similar to that he used against working women to describe his own wife in private.
In public, Infantine ran down women by claiming that they lack “motivation” and “drive”. The word he uses in private, sources tell us, is “lazy”.
Other sources told us that Infantine, the former chair of the Queen City GOP, recently offended a politician of the other party with his sexist ways. He reportedly told the politician that if his wife was single, “He’d hit that thing,” as if that was some kind of compliment.
The politician of the other party was not amused.
Yes, both Girard and Infantine have “problems” with women. But only one of the men owns the station.
Trump Card
In the past, Girard managed to avoid the axe as he played the trump card of his knowledge of Infantine’s wayward ways. Rather than being fired for his own predatory behavior — both sexual and financial — Girard’s playing the trump card of Infantine’s adultery enabled the man derided as “Stinky” to not only secure his job, but to obtain perks from his boss, such as extra staff.
Girard recently was boasting that he was going to get an extra hour of airtime, though that failed to materialize. Apparently, there is only so much Infantine is willing to cede to Stinky to keep his mouth shut.
Questions about the relationship of these two men abound: will Will Infantine get his plans for a new, more grandiose radio station off the ground? Will Rich Girard follow him from the current makeshift studio over a flower shop in the Goffstown neighborhood of Pinardville to new digs in Manchester?
The sexting scandal might give Infantine the means to finally rid of himself of this personal and professional annoyance. We will all be better off for it.
Published by Jon C. Hopwood
Jon C. Hopwood is a freelance journalist and editor. He has written extensively on current events, history, politics and the cinema.
