WHO RUNS KPFA UNDER THE RADAR? A REVIEW OF BRIAN'S E-MAIL TELLS ALL!

Here is the controversial Brian Edward-Tiekert e-mail. I have replaced each person's e-mail address with the position they now hold at the station so you can see the reach of this group's control at KPFA and some history about them some of them to help you see how they implement their anti-democratic practices. To put this in a medical context, Brian's e-mail is diagnostic, like an X-Ray or MRI, and their practice on the LSB and at the station equals their clinical symptoms which both support a diagnosis of anti-democratic patronage and cronyism disease.

THE CURE: Vote in a Local Station Board that will practice transparency, democratic process and accountability. Peoplesradio 1-7 and others that are NOT CL.
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From:"Brian Edwards-Tiekert" (Staff LSB, LSB Treasurer, this candid e-mail tells you all you need to know about Brian's intentions for KPFA governance)

To:"Lemlem Tekle" (Interim General Manager, former Development Director when this was written, a management position),

"Bonnie Simmons" (Staff LSB, CL elected LSB Chair, who basically follows Brian E-T's directions during the LSB meetings),

Lisa Rothman (No longer with the station, former Staff LSB and Executive Producer of the Morning Show, One of the leaders in the fight against moving Democracy Now! to prime time, 7-8 a.m., she wanted to keep her show in prime time, it was only going to be moved up one hour. Lisa refused to recuse herself for the vote on the time change despite her direct conflict as Executive Producer of the Morning Show, another example of CL democracy and ethics in action.)

CC:"Sasha Lilley"(interim Program Director, given the position by secret group mate Lemlem Rijio, Sasha was the one who wrote up Miguel Molina for telling people to "Be there", referring to a peace march and she issued an edict telling staff that they can't encourage people to attend first amendment events like peace marches.

"Lemlem Tekle" (IGM), mawu_mama37(?),

"Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia"( Public Affairs/Arts Director, helped produce Candidate cart production for this election that just happened to have Sherry Gendelman first out of 21 candidates, what are the odds that this was random? 21-1, but there is no patronage and cronyism at KPFA, or is there? Think about the advantage of being first of 21 versus being buried at the end of the list, if you don't understand it goggle the "theory of primacy")

Rain Geesler"(Co-Director of Apprenticeship Program),

"Sherry Gendelman"( Listener LSB, in the same fashion that Joe Lieberman is a democrat, name only, former client of Dan Siegel and his close ally in Pacifica, she lobbied for Dan's paid jobs at KPFA and Pacifica and in a true quid pro quo fashion she praised his quid pro quo illegal and unprincipled attack on Peoplesradio)

"Gary Niederhoff" (Director of Subscriptions)

Subject:Re: budget

Date:Thu, 1 Sep 2005 20:58:28 -0700

I'm up for coffee Saturday—Lisa and I can still meet Tuesday afternoon. Also, we need a general strategy session. How about Tuesday night?

Issues include:

How should we be handling the expiration of the union contract—is a strike in order, or is it a really terrible idea? (notice Brian questions this)

What's the best way to deal with these layoffs?

Coming up with, and presenting, an alternative budget.

Getting the Roy issue to the national board.

Propping up staff morale. (Shows total disrespect for staff not in their group.)

Strategic retreat on the LSB—"how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?" Alternatively, should we be recalling LSB members/"dismantling the LSB?" ("" added.)

Dealing with the grievances underway.

Building community support—formation of a labor-community coalition. (This is the idea for the formation of CL, without giving the new recruits the true history, it has been the coming together of the labor bureaucrats and the KPFA "dismantlers", the joint purpose is to maintain the status quo for each group in power.)

Brian Edwards-Tiekert
Staff Representative, Local Station Board
KPFA 94.1FM
1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley CA 94704
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The e-mail above was found at the station in September 2005. It has been acknowledged as real by the author. I have contacted in person or by e-mail everyone but one on that strategy group to ask them if they were just recipients of an e-mail that discussed “dismantling the LSB” or were they active participants. None of them have denied active involvement.

This e-mail was sent shortly after the LSB voted down a motion to fire the GM for sexual harassment. It was voted down 15-5. Four of the five votes for it were in this e-mail group, Brian, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Lisa Rothman. There was NO evidence of sexual harassment to support firing him after two separate investigations. Dan Siegel was hired to do one of the investigations, see if you can guess who promoted him for the job?

It was an attempt to fire an African-American GM who wouldn't toe their line. He had decided to make the Democracy Now! time change. This group and their allies had controlled the GM hire Committee that chose him to be GM. Their pushing for this unjust firing caused them to lose the majority on the LSB, thus their need for a "strategic retreat". This e-mail gives one a view of what these folks talk about when they think no one is listening, their true feelings! Sort of like a Pentagon Paper.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert was invited to a Peoplesradio Forum on October 22, 2005 to discuss this e-mail. He was allowed more than ample time to speak in defense of the e-mail. I was criticized for giving him too much time and I felt it was only fair to give him plenty of time. He did not say during that entire discussion that they didn't meet after that e-mail was sent. Brian apologized for calling us the enemy. He did not apologize for discussing "dismantling the LSB" or "how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?"

Peoplesradio has never/would never even entertain the idea of "dismantling the LSB" as a strategic retreat or for any purpose. We all fought to have a democratic listener representative governance. Check out Maria Gilardin's article "Why Did the Staff not Prevent the 10-Year Corporate Raid?" at http://www.Peoplesradio.net to see the history of the entrenched staff's self-serving practice.

It should be noted that Brian qualified the suggestion of striking ( "is it really a terrible idea") and didn't question the idea "how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?"

The other thing to notice about their agenda is that it includes confidential union issues: strikes and grievances. The composition of the group includes Management (LemLem Rijio, then Development Director now IGM), paid staff-union members, unpaid staff and non-staff. In my years as a union member I never met with management or non-union members to decide if we should strike or how to deal with grievances. These are Bargaining Unit only discussions. So what kind of group is this that is running KPFA under the radar?

A group that wants the Program Council to be advisory only after years of democratic decision making, wants NO unpaid staff organization and wants to "dismantle the LSB" and "make our enemies own the problems that are to come?" A group that wants to eliminate all democratic centers of decision making at the station so the power will be all theirs! A group that has constantly fought against transparency and accountability.

Is this the kind of group you want running your Pacifica station? If not, then vote for Peoplesradio.net and other candidates, but NOT Concerned Listener Candidates. We can and must practice, with KPFA governance, what we preach on the air for other governing bodies: Democratic process, transparency and accountability. All we need is your participation. Please vote. Thank you.

Richard Phelps, PeoplesRadio Candidate for Re-election to the LSB