7 Removed in LA, DC and NY by the Grace Aaron-Steve Brown led purge of Pacifica (Facebook)

It's always painful to lose your job and I don't have anything against Bernard White personally, but last I heard WBAI has spent the past four years losing its audience by 20% or more and losing such vast amounts of money that bailing it out threatened the whole 5-station network. In those conditions, program managers and general managers have to figure they might lose their jobs.

In DC, the nation's political capital, WPFW has an anemic audience, no political clout whatsoever, and an aging African-American audience for its jazz music programming. Again, the desire to make a change and go in a new direction seems logical enough.

Holding managers accountable for success and meeting goals shouldn't be called racism.

As a listener and supporter of WPFW for the last 8 years I am insulted by the anonymous comments regarding the anemia of WPFW's listeners. Under Ron's leadership the station has grown to include programming for young people and environmental programming and some astute political programming. There are more than several programs that I chose to listen to and I am not a jazz person. I also always support the station to the best of my ability.

I am shocked to learn that WPFW won't represent the community anymore. Just who are Aaron and Brown. What is the agenda and how did they get the power. Who are they actually representing? I am very upset to learn that Ron Pinchback has been so mistreated.

Is censorship at work here.

Things are seldom what they seem.

First of all, I know for a fact that WBAI did not lose 20% of its listeners. This is a lie commonly repeated by the majority faction of the LSB. Although you have not seen any of the evidence even you are repeating it as if it is a fact.

Be fore I would come to a conclusion and dismiss the obvious, I would have to have a few questions answered: What is happening throughout the communications industry? Is Pacifica uniquely affected in this economy? What are all of the factors that affect WBAI''s bottom line? Is there any indication that racism could be a possible factor in the decision making?

Check this out: http://www.justiceunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

Playing the race card has always been their main tool, instead of straight up political debate, in this case, on the financial failures of the past administrations at WBAI. Their allies on the LSBs and PNB were always the ones fighting against transparency.

The race card is a most destructive game to play in the struggle against racism. For example, in a recent attack flyer the JUC allies complain about the "Black" GM who was fired, the "black" Program Director who was fired and they conveniently forget to tell you that the new interim GM at WBAI is Black as are others involved in the change over to financial responsibility. Do you think they accidently forgot to mention it? They are so race conscious how could they? It is part of their power over truth politics that has almost destroyed Pacifica, as detailed below.
_______________________________________________________


Pacifica Financial Crisis: Who is Responsible?
by Richard Phelps, former KPFA LSB Chair
Thursday May 14th, 2009 11:30 AM

For several years a collusion on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) allowed WBAI to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with no oversight from the PNB. This put the entire Foundation at risk of bankruptcy. Who was part of the collusion and why did they do it? Read on to find out.
Recently WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions.

Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.

Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.

The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.

Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.

Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.

Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.

At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.

The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.

So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.

To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belong to all of us and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.

Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber and former AM & FM Radio Announcer

P.S. One note on Ron Pinchback. A couple of elections ago when the sign up period was over at WPFW they had very few candidates, WHY? Because the GM, Ron Pinchback, didn't put anything on the air to encourage people to become candidates. He has always done his best to undermine the democratic process, just like the previous GMs at WBAI and the current one at KPFA. If we want a healthy and progressive Pacifica we must not allow the colluders back into power.

Richard Phelps, I question anyone who uses the word "Always." Ron "always" undermines the democratic process? That sounds juvenile. Maybe you are right but I ALWAYS question that word. Well not really. But it is easy to say.

I guess I didn't notice what you are saying. Seems like every election gets air time. And there also seems to ALWAYS be a plethora of candidates. Maybe more in the future as you imply.

I challenge any of the ruling forces any day and at any time to an open debate. Amy Goodman or Juan Gonzalez can be the moderator. They would never agree because their positions are based on shadows, slander and false interpretations of dubious data.

Article 7 of the Pacifica Bylaws, Sections:

C. To prepare an annual written evaluation of the station's General Manager.

F. To prepare an annual written evaluation of the station's Program Director.

How many times during their several years in charge did the Bob Lederer and Vajra Kilgour led, JUC LSB majority follow the rules above at WBAI?

Bernard White, How many times were you given an annual LSB evaluation during their majority rule?

What about cancelling the Nation add a few years ago? The add that was bringing in lots of new members, but it was cancelled because too many of the new members were white! And there is so much more.

And then there were the 90 days of fund drive per year and still not making enough to pay for all the staff and contribute to Pacifica expenses. And nothing was done to change that until we got a new majority on the PNB that was Pacifica oriented and not run by the collusion as detailed in my article above.

If there is going to be a debate the moderator needs to be neutral, Amy and Juan have made statement that don't show neutrality. And why should I be suprised that you suggest them. Your history at WBAI doesn't suggest that you believe in a level playing field for discussion and debate.

I worked on air in radio for almost 6 years and if you lost money for more than 2-3 quarters you were gone. In most businesses or non-profits if you fail for several years then there needs to be new leadership. Most won't wait several years. And that is exactly what has happened and now it is time for new leadership.

Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB.

You raise some good points that are worthy of discussion. However they are not worthy of the tone in which you present them. It is very easy to come to a conclusion based on a cursory glance and being fed information by a faction of the WBAI LSB whose version of history you obviously support. It is more difficult to sit down and evaluate all of the contributing factors that contribute to a particular phenomenon.

I will address a few of your points because space and time don't allow for a full explanation.

Evaluation:
You are absolutely correct when you point out that there is to be annual written evaluations of the station's General Manager and Program Director. But, are also absolutely wrong when you intimate that I, in any way, am the reason that I did not get an evaluation in a timely fashion. Here sir is where you expose the faults in your analysis and your adoption of information that was fed to you by the majority ACE faction of the board. The have told you that I am a member or supporter of the Justice and Unity faction and you believe that I am in collusion with them to avoid and evaluation. Even though I feel that I am wasting my time answering you, hopefully for the benefit of others who may read this, nothing could be farther from the truth.

(An evaluation was in process when the ACE faction subverted the Management Evaluation Process in an illegal closed session meeting of the LSB.)

I have no fear of a fair evaluation. A fair evaluation would have to take into account all of the factors that impact on my job. It would have to take a look at the present status of media in general and non-commercial media in particular, the rapid increase in WBAI's expenses in the last five years, how well did I satisfy the requirements of Pacifica's mission, how did I manage to maintain a level of continuity having to work under 5 different General Managers in 6 years and finally, any obstacles that may have prevented me from fulfilling all of my responsibilities and finally were there any well financed campaigns to destabilize the station and demonize me. (http://www.justiceunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

When you have a very wealthy board member like Steve Brown who for years sent out thousands of emails just before our drives literally telling listeners not to support WBAI and using fabricated racially charged language it surprising that we didn't take more that 90 days to raise funds.


Finally, he way the LSB's are structured has institutionalized factionalism. Managers at the station are subjected to pressure from the factionalism to join a group and if they don't they are assigned one.


By the way you can get anyone who would be objective to moderate it doesn't matter to me.

By the way Mr. Phelps, that unauthorized Nation add that was placed by the very ambitious Steve Brown was not pulled by me. It might have been a good idea but surely you would have done the same thing if some member of your board decided on his or her own that they were going to place an unauthorized add in a newspaper or magazine making claims that were not approved by the LSB or the management. Wouldn't you do the thing?

Also, to say that it was cancelled because it was bringing in "white" supporters is downright silly. Aren't you playing "The Race Card?"

Watch it, your prjudice is showing.

By the way Mr. Phelps that unauthorized Nation add that was placed by the very ambitious WBAI LSB board member, Steve Brown, was not pulled by me. It might have been a good idea but surely you would have done the same thing if some member of your LSB decided on his or her own that they were going to place an unauthorized add in a newspaper or magazine making claims that were not approved by the board or the station's management. Wouldn't you have done the same thing?

Also, to say that it was canceled because it was bringing in "white" supporters is downright silly. Are you playing "The Race Card?"

Watch it, your prejudice is showing.

To see the three day notice go to the address below. It may take a minute or so to come up. It is a PDF document. If you don't have adobe reader you can get it free on line, just google Adobe Reader and you should find it.

http://pacificana.org/public/files/WBAI/Media/2009/3DayNotice.pdf

So let's get real, WBAI former GMs and PD were failing, for several years, and needed to be replaced with new management and a new approach to save the station and Pacifica.

The prolific author "Anonymous", who has written more documents than anyone else in the English language, has chosen to add her or his thoughts to this listserve. Welcome, oh famous one!

Anonymous wrote:

"I know for a fact that WBAI did not lose 20% of its listeners."

As my grandpa used to shout at my dad in the middle of one of their many mind-boggling arguments: "IT'S A KNOWN FACT!"

And that settled that.

Fortunately these days there are multiple ways to source any and every claim. I've done so, and Anonymous is right! WBAI did not lose 20% of it's listeners, no matter what the Arbitrons say (even reading the Arbs the old way).

In reality, WBAI lost more than 35 percent of its MEMBERS over the last 5 years (and that's a very conservative figure). It also gained some 8-10 percent new members to buffer the blow, to some degree (but not enough).

This is easy enough to confirm. The quick way (in a well-functioning organization where people actually know what they're doing) would be to go to the MEMSYS database and have it sort for all of those former members who have not renewed their memberships.

Another way is to ask the business manager. A third way is to examine the year-by-year figures of the total number of pledges paid for.

If we cannot agree on simple objective facts like this one, how can we devise strategies for fixing the problem?

Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board

Mr. Phelps I guess I was wrong about you. I thought we were going to have a rational discussion wherein you put forth an argument and I address the issues that you raise and then I posit an issue or issues and you in turn address them. So far you have avoided responding to my statements. Could it be that your body of information doesn’t have reasonable responses to my assertions. I’ve not ignored any of your queries but you have very clumsily avoided addressing mine.

I don’t believe that we should go forward with this conversation unless we follow the long established and accepted rules of civil discourse. I must insist that since I have attempted to answer your questions that you reciprocate with well thought out responses in addressing mine.

You seem to be willing to ignore the role that Mr. Brown has played in placing obstacles in the way of WBAI’s efforts to achieve its monetary goals. For many years, a week or two before our fund raising efforts, Mr. Brown would send out “thousands” emails to WBAI listeners suggesting and sometimes asking directly not to support the station. Even my landlord asked me about the veracity of an email he received from Mr. Brown. At one point Mr. Brown went as far as asking our listeners to send their contributions directly to him. These emails were replete with racially charged fabrications that were designed to dissuade listeners from giving their monetary support. (http://www.justiceunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

This is not an accusation that should be taken lightly. You must know that Mr. Brown is a multimillionaire who has made millions of dollars by convincing people to buy things that they really don’t need and that he knows are faulty or just don’t work. He’s very good at his craft. In fact, seven states attorneys-general have placed sanctions on Mr. Brown for misleading and bilking the public. (http://whoisstevebrown.info/)

I’m not avoiding the issue of the three-day notice Mr. Phelps. However, I would like you to address the issues that I have raised before we discuss the three day notice.

In anticipation of your swift response, I thank you for engaging in this discussion.

Hey, is that really you, Bernard? If so, good! I hope you'll stick around so that we can have a productive dialogue.

For now, just a few points I have time to raise. You wrote to Richard Phelps:

"But, [you] are also absolutely wrong when you intimate that I, in any way, am the reason that I did not get an evaluation in a timely fashion."

When you appointed Ayo Harrington as your assistant (with keys to your office), did you think it was appropriate that she then joined the Management Evaluation Committee?

And when she became Chair of that committee (by driving dozens of people away, but that's a different matter I suppose), why didn't you inform her that it was inappropriate for her to serve in that role?

And when she took all the "confidential" staff surveys, which were the property of the LSB (run by the Justice & Unity faction during those years), home with her and would not allow anyone else except JUC members to see them for almost a year, did you tell her that she shouldn't be doing that?

And, when the Premiums Director, Paul Ashby, was forced out (another Black person you got rid of, along with Robert Knight; by the way, I've saved your "lovely" thank you note to him that basically read "goodbye, get out, good riddance") and you had Robert Scott Adams appoint YOU to head the Premiums department, and when you in turn appointed Ayo Harrington as the person responsible (under your supervision) for mailing out premiums -- a job for which she was not competent but which came with access to WBAI's entire database and mailing lists -- did you think that maybe that wasn't the proper thing to do?

And when Ayo Harrington and you failed to mail out 6,000 premiums for over a year that had already been paid for, why didn't you just say "this is beyond me, I can't do it" and ask others who knew what they were doing for assistance?

Finally, will you agree to waive, in writing, confidentiality of your evaluation by the LSB and circumstances related to your job performance so that we can actually discuss many more of the details here, so that members and other readers might actually learn the depths of the problems at WBAI so that they could make up their minds for themselves, based on real information and not yours, or mine, or the JUC's opinion?

Please start with the last question first.

Thanks. And glad to see that you are feeling better. I mean that sincerely. Despite some profound disagreements we have, I bear you no ill will. I think you were an excellent radio host and I wish you'd have stuck with that instead of allowing yourself to be appointed Program Director by Valerie Van Isler (who also oversaw the move to Wall Street, against my own and Samori Marksman's opposition at the time).


Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board

Wait your turn buddy.

Wait your turn buddy.

I sent my subscription renewal directly to Grace Aaron BECAUSE you were fired. I stopped subscribing when you vindictively fired Gary Null (and lost 5,000 listener sponsors).

Your focus on the financial ("success and meeting goals") rather than the social, political, cultural aspects of Pacifica reveals your misalignment with the network. You should look into Clear Channel, perhaps.

Glad you are asking these questions. I am active with the Coalition to Take Back WBAI. I think a committee should be formed, with people from several stations, to make an investigation into these questions.

This is an excellent suggestion that is in an early stage of development. What we have found through preliminary discussions is that each station has its own particular story to tell regarding the recent actions of of the Grace Aaron/Steve Brown led PNB. Although the stories are different they all have the same results. It appears that, with the exception of KPFT in Houston, there is a definite purge going on throughout the network.

We will soon be sharing our experiences for people to come to their own conclusions about what is the apparent future envisioned by the Grace Aaron/Steve Brown led Pacifica National Board majority. Soon information will be available for all to see the trickery, false accusations, violations of established procedures and protocols as well as the thuggery they have used to achieve their goals.


Stay tuned

As I said before I believe our exchange provides a very valuable service to our listeners and supporters. I think that you are representative of a lot of folks who have a genuine love and concern for the network and I have a great appreciation for that. The kinds of statements that you make and the questions that you ask are excellent examples of the kind of confusion that has been infused into our listenership and nurtured by a particular faction of the local LSB's and the national Pacifica board. You reflect the propaganda that was used on the West coast.

I believe that your concerns are more genuine than somebody like a Mitch Cohen who has a long and dubious history with confusing organizational goals with his personal goals. I will eventually engage him in discussion but I did not want to soil the purity of our exchange with Mitch's madness and believe me it is total madness.

Hey Mr. Phelps...WHERE ARE YOU?

I am very busy with a full time job, many involvements and at present dealing with two close relatives and a dear friend all going thru Chemo therapy. So I will get back to you shortly, on my schedule not yours.

I appreciate your time and hope that every thing works out well for you and those you are caring for.

Thank you.

Mitch are you still monitoring the site?

Bernard, I don't think Mitchel wants to "do this" with one hand tied behind his back.

You know very well he has a LEGAL obligation not to reveal details of what was discussed in the Executive Session that concluded with a negative recommendation regarding your status as PD. That makes it very difficult to say what needs to be said about your performance or lack thereof, and entails a risk that some slip would provide your lawyers with material for a suit against Pacifica.

You can elect to release him from the obligation to keep those details confidential or you can continue making up your own self-serving version of why you are no longer PD.

The ethical choice is obvious, but I won't hold my breath waiting for you to do the right thing.

We have already waited too many years for you to do the right thing, which would have been to acknowledge that your talents and interests were not appropriate for job you were paid for, and to decide to put to good use your excellent talents and strong interest in representing WBAI as a broadcaster and as an ambassador to communities of current and potential WBAI listeners.

First Mitch comes on board and drops a salvo of incendiary devices and then you provide an excuse for him to avoid defending his indefensible positions. For Mitch to acknowledge that there was a vote taken in an illegal closed session of the LSB is a confession that the established evaluation process was violated. Everyone who knows the protocol knows that the violations occurred and I’m sure that you know the procedures were violated. My lawyer already has enough evidence to proceed on a multitude of levels.

It is no mystery as to why I was removed from the PD position. I was removed for the same reason that: Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle, and Ron Pincback, WPFW Station Manager were all removed within the last few moths after the ACE group became the majority on the national board. Is it just a coincidence that all of those terminated or removed from their positions are either Black or Latino men? The real issue is that there is a racist, political purge going on throughout the Pacifica network and you, the ACE and the so-called Independents on our Local Station Board are the facilitators at the WBAI end of this purge.

It is a silly game that you folks are playing. If I agree to your inane request it gives the impression that anything you say after that about me has some modicum of truth. Then I am expected to defend myself against your charges and then you make more charges and then I make charges and we never get to discuss the real issues. Your attempt to goad me into the narrow parameters of your discussion format is a feeble attempt to avoid a much larger truth. My protest is not merely about me nor is it merely about WBAI. I am firmly against the racial and political transformation of the network by a cabal of individuals who are perverting the Pacifica Mission and leaving an increasing roster of colored bodies in their path. Each of these casualties has an array of fabricated, unsubstantiated charges directed at them. Are we all guilty? Are we all incompetent?

The next casualty on your list will undoubtedly be Lem Lem, General Manager at KPFA in Berkeley. Her termination will break the mold. Lem Lem is a woman of color.

Am I right? Time will surely tell.

You folks seem to get a perverted sense of pleasure out of ganging up on people and I’m not having it. As far as you are concerned, you can wait your turn too.

Mitch can speak for himself.

Takeback Pacifica Coalition

FACT SHEET

1. Did you know that a racial and political purge is taking place across the Pacifica network?

2. Did you know that since the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron faction took control of the network, Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle and WBAI Program Director Bernard White, and Ron Pincback, WPFW Station Manager were all fired? Of the seven people who were terminated all were either Black or Latino.

3. Did you know that members of the Pacifica National Board and the local WBAI board illegally terminated Program Director Bernard White and Station Manager Anthony Riddle without due process?

4. Did you know that a multimillionaire WBAI LSB board member named Steve Brown has been actively sabotaging WBAI’s past fund drives by sending out thousands of racially charged emails with fabricated scenarios designed to undermine listener confidence. (http://whoisstevebrown.info/)

5. Did you know that Mr. Brown went as far asking listeners to send their contributions to his home address? (http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

6. Did you know that Cynthia McKinney applied for the position of Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and that the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of Pacifica denied her the opportunity to be considered for the position by telling her that she was not qualified? This action was taken without notifying the Pacifica Personnel Committee that McKinney had applied.

7. Did you know that there is an illegally imposed gag rule at WBAI that doesn’t allow open discussions of what is going on with administrators of color throughout the network as well as WBAI?

The purge that is going on in Pacifica is not only designed to remove people of color from decision making positions it is also to going to transform the political nature of Pacifica. The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of the Pacifica governance structure is going to eliminate the community character of its five radio stations. Their intention is to structure the stations so that they will have a greater appeal to a richer whiter audience.
For additional information: (http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or (http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

But let's start on one, anyway.

Bernard asserts: "...there was a vote taken in an illegal closed session of the LSB..."

Please tell us, Bernard, just what exactly made it "illegal"?

Please cite the relevant section of the bylaws or of the California Corporation Code.

I know you cannot. This is just your cop-out. You are evading the challenge to give your permission for Mitchel to reveal the details of the proceedings of that closed session.

If you do give permission and he does reveal them, we will see quickly enough whether your "ethnic cleansing" explanation for your removal has any validity.

But "quickly" is not your game plan. You want to maintain the uncertainty and avoid exposure of the bankruptcy of your racist propaganda long enough for your protectors to be voted back into office.

The next casualty on your list will undoubtedly be Lem Lem, General Manager at KPFA in Berkeley. Her termination will break the mold. Lem Lem is a woman of color.

yeah! she is also a bozo.

Bernard White asks me to respond to his letter, and inquires as to whether I am still monitoring this website. He also wrote to Richard Phelps:

"I will eventually engage him [Mitchel Cohen] in discussion but I did not want to soil the purity of our exchange with Mitch's madness and believe me it is total madness."

And that's that.

My answer is, yes, I am reading the messages on this website but Bernard has not responded to the questions I posed. So until he does, I have nothing further to add.

I am under orders from Pacifica's attorneys not to reveal anything pertaining to management evaluations, not even the process, unless those involved waive confidentiality, which Bernard explicitly refuses to do. (See his statement, above.) So members of the Board cannot engage in discussions about any of that, out of concern that the network would be sued (as Lonnie Hicks has already filed).

There's a big difference between filing a lawsuit and winning one. Once a lawsuit is filed, all sorts of issues will then see the light of day.

One note: Bernard White asserts that Tony Riddle was fired from Pacifica. As I understand it, he was not fired but transferred to a different and important position within the Network.

Mitchel Cohen

Takeback Pacifica Coalition

FACT SHEET

1. Did you know that a racial and political purge is taking place across the Pacifica network?

2. Did you know that since the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron faction took control of the network, Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle and WBAI Program Director Bernard White, and Ron Pincback, WPFW Station Manager were all fired? Of the seven people who were terminated all were either Black or Latino.

3. Did you know that members of the Pacifica National Board and the local WBAI board illegally terminated Program Director Bernard White and Station Manager Anthony Riddle without due process?

4. Did you know that a multimillionaire WBAI LSB board member named Steve Brown has been actively sabotaging WBAI’s past fund drives by sending out thousands of racially charged emails with fabricated scenarios designed to undermine listener confidence. (http://whoisstevebrown.info/)

5. Did you know that Mr. Brown went as far asking listeners to send their contributions to his home address? (http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

6. Did you know that Cynthia McKinney applied for the position of Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and that the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of Pacifica denied her the opportunity to be considered for the position by telling her that she was not qualified? This action was taken without notifying the Pacifica Personnel Committee that McKinney had applied.

7. Did you know that there is an illegally imposed gag rule at WBAI that doesn’t allow open discussions of what is going on with administrators of color throughout the network as well as WBAI?

The purge that is going on in Pacifica is not only designed to remove people of color from decision making positions it is also to going to transform the political nature of Pacifica. The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of the Pacifica governance structure is going to eliminate the community character of its five radio stations. Their intention is to structure the stations so that they will have a greater appeal to a richer whiter audience.
For additional information: (http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or (http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

We the undersigned listener members of WBAI demand the recall of Delegate Mitchel Cohen for the following conduct that is adverse to the best interests of the
station:

1. For years Mitchel Cohen has engaged in a pattern of unsubstantiated on-air and on-line public assaults on the competence and honesty of some WBAI managers and staff, calling them “corrupt,” “liars,” “thugs,” and “a cabal of self-serving opportunists,”
yet not pursuing proper formal channels within the Pacifica structure for investigating and resolving specific allegations of misconduct.

2. Cohen has repeatedly defended the conduct of fellow board member Steve Brown, the author of a constant stream of racist and defamatory emails directed against Program Director Bernard White and other WBAI staff whom Brown and Cohen
opposed. Cohen was elected thanks in part to support from Brown’s expensive, slick and misleading “ACE” endorsement mailing.

3. Cohen is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Pacifica concerning problems with the 2007 board elections. The suit has cost the station more than $100,000 in legal bills and is largely based on frivolous, distorted, and untruthful allegations alleging a plot to deny ballots to Cohen’s allies when in fact people on all sides failed to receive ballots.

4. As board chair, in April 2009 Cohen convened an LSB meeting in secret session which did an on-the-spot, instant “evaluation” of General Manager Tony Riddle and Program Director Bernard White in the absence of any of the due process mandated by Pacifica by laws. This led to a recommendation that both men be summarily terminated, which was soon acted upon by Pacifica management.

For all these reasons, we the undersigned assert that Mitchel Cohen is unfit to continue serving on the Local Station Board and formally request a recall election.


For a copy of the petition and additional information:

(http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

The undersigned listener members of WBAI demand the recall of Delegate Stephen Brown for the following conduct that is adverse to the best interests of the station:

1. Using his massive e-mail lists of WBAI listeners, Stephen Brown engaged in a concerted seven-year defamatory campaign of unsubstantiated allegations against WBAI management including General Managers Don Rojas and Anthony Riddle, and staff whom he sought to remove. In particular, he campaigned relentlessly for the firing of Program Director Bernard White, and displayed a pattern of racist language and stereotypes targeting Mr. White. For example, in 2005 he wrote about a station employee, “you should have been at her side whacking Bernard with a baseball bat." (For more examples, go to http://www.justiceunity.org) As a result, in 2006, the Local Station Board voted to disassociate itself from Brown’s stream of abusive and racist comments.

2. In 2007, Stephen Brown publicly and unilaterally called upon WBAI listeners NOT to send their membership funds to the station’s authorized address, based on unsubstantiated allegations of theft of membership and funds and other misconduct against WBAI Program Director Bernard White and other staff members, but instead to send them directly to his personal home address; and then ignored an urgent request by Pacifica’s legal counsel that he send a follow-up email redirecting listeners to send donations to the station’s P.O. box.

3. In 2007, Stephen Brown, as the principal of ACE (Alliance for Community Elections), was found guilty by the Pacifica National Election Supervisor
of violating numerous election rules with his slick, multi-piece candidate endorsement mailing to WBAI members, including marketing merchandise (a “WBAI Truth Torch” which falsely implied station approval), raising funds for his organization in competition with WBAI, and making “improper and misleading statements,” including one falsely suggesting that Justice & Unity board members “would not keep Democracy Now on the air.”

4. In summary, Stephen Brown’s unsubstantiated charges, negative attacks, and racially offensive rhetoric have been extremely damaging to the station’s reputation and efforts to increase listenership and raise funds, and run counter to the mission of Pacifica that includes a mandate to “contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors.

For additional information and a copy of the recall petition:

(http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

For the moment, I'll just address this one point you bring up: "unsubstantiated allegations of theft of membership and funds".

Will you state under oath that you have never misallocated WBAI funds?

I don't think you will. I don't think you would be so foolish as to risk indictment for perjury.

What you are implying is of course manifestly absurd. If I had ever misallocated funds your gang would have had me hung then tried and sentenced, in that order.

But as I said Frank, you are going to have to wait your turn.

Bernard, YOU should be better than THIS: "...If I had ever misallocated funds your gang would have had me hung then tried and sentenced, in that order..."

You know very well that your protectors (local and national) would not allow your being penalized in any way (except for returning at least SOME of the funds). They are gone now. (Ironically, gone when you are no longer in a position to misallocate funds.)

White brought WBAI to the brink of insolvency.

He drove away Thousands of Paying listeners. ANECDOTE ; at anti war vigils in the nyc area I would ask people if they listen to wbai. WHAT? They get their info (sic) from WNYC. WBAI died about 6 yrs ago

Mr Whte - please exit Gracefully - no pun intended

Your stock is down

and OUT

Makibaka! Huwag Matakot!

I don;t know what the f**k it means but sounds like something a JUC cultist would like!

It is no mystery as to why I was removed from the PD position. I was removed for the same reason that: Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle, and Ron Pincback, WPFW Station Manager were all removed within the last few moths after the ACE group became the majority on the national board. Is it just a coincidence that all of those terminated or removed from their positions are either Black or Latino men? The real issue is that there is a racist, political purge going on throughout the Pacifica network and you, the ACE and the so-called Independents on our Local Station Board are the facilitators at the WBAI end of this purge.

THIS IS THE USUAL BULLSHIT THAT BERNARD LIKES TO ISSUE..EVERYTHING IS RACIALIZED IN THE REMOVAL OF PEOPLE AT PACIFICA. IGNORED IN THESE COMMENTS IS THE DEMONSTRABLE INCOMPETENCE HERE IN NYC THAT SWIRLS AROUND TE ISSUE OF THE LACK OF PAYMENT OF THE RENT AND TRANSMITTER COSTS, LET ALONE THE LEVY WHICH I UNDERSTAND HAS BEEN BEHIND FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

IT IS TRUE THAT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IS EFFECTING EVERYBODYA AND EVERYTHING AROUND THE WORLD AND THE U.S. IT HAS IMPACTED ON PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND CERTAINLY ON PACIFICA IN PARTICULAR. BUT, I KNOW OF NO NON-PROFIT OR PROFIT MAKING ENTITY THAT WOULD TOLERATE A SITUATION WHERE SENIOR MANAGEMENT IN A STATION LIKE WBAI WOULD RUN THE FISCAL SITUATION SO MUCH INTO THE GROUND THAT A THREE DAY NOTICE TO EVICT WOULD APPEAR. HE NEVER ADDRESSES THAT ISSUE, INSTEAD RELIES ON OLD STANDBY’S LIKE ACCUSTAIONS OF RACISM TO WORK THEIR MAGIC ON THE FOLKS WHO ARE WILLING TO BE MISLEAD OR WHO ARE MISLEAD.

AND WE ALL ARE AWARE OF MANY OTHER ALLEGATIONS THAT FURTHER BLOW THESE ARGUMENTS INTO THE WATER OR TOILET BOWL WHERE THEY BELONG.IF THESE WERE KNOW PUBLICALLY HOW WOULD BERNARD’S BULLSHIT RAP APPEAR?


It is a silly game that you folks are playing.

THE SILLY GAME IS YOUR BLATANT MANIPULATION OF WELL MEANING PEOPLE, SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST.
If I agree to your inane request it gives the impression that anything you say after that about me has some modicum of truth. Then I am expected to defend myself against your charges and then you make more charges and then I make charges and we never get to discuss the real issues. Your attempt to goad me into the narrow parameters of your discussion format is a feeble attempt to avoid a much larger truth. My protest is not merely about me nor is it merely about WBAI. I am firmly against the racial and political transformation of the network by a cabal of individuals who are perverting the Pacifica Mission and leaving an increasing roster of colored bodies in their path. Each of these casualties has an array of fabricated, unsubstantiated charges directed at them. Are we all guilty? Are we all incompetent?


AGAIN, LET US LOOK AT THE FACTS AROUND THE THREE DAY NOTICE TO EVICT..NOT DISCUSSED AT ALL IN HIS COMMENTS.
ALSO, THERE IS MUCH WE HAVE HEARD ON THE QT REGARDING SOME OF THESE OTHER INDIVIDUALS…KET US KNOW WHAT HAS REALLY HAPPENED SO WE CAN CLEAR UP THE COMMENTS.

I HAVE ALWAYS ARGUED FOR A FORENSIC AUDIT OF THE FINANCES OF THE STATION GOING BACK AT LEAST TWENTY YEARS..WE ALSO ARE AWARE OF FINANCIAL SHENENIGANS OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS..LET US HAVE THEM CLARIFIED?

The next casualty on your list will undoubtedly be Lem Lem, General Manager at KPFA in Berkeley. Her termination will break the mold. Lem Lem is a woman of color.


ALL OF THIS ANALYSIS IGNORES THE COMPLEX OUTLINING OF PACIFICA POLITICS…WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE POLITICALLY IN TERMS OF THAT?

Am I right? Time will surely tell.

You folks seem to get a perverted sense of pleasure out of ganging up on people and I’m not having it. As far as you are concerned, you can wait your turn too.


THIS COMMENT IS INCREDIBLE BULLSHIT…FROM THE HEAD GANGER UPPER HIMSELF…WHAT TOTAL FUCKING BS
Mitch can speak for himself.

§
For All To See
by Bernard White
Saturday Jun 27th, 2009 11:46 PM
Takeback Pacifica Coalition

FACT SHEET

1. Did you know that a racial and political purge is taking place across the Pacifica network?
AGAIN, ANSWER THE THREE DAY NOTICE TO EVICT ISSUE AND WHAT THAT SAYS ABOUT YOUR “VISION” FOR PROGRAMMING.

2. Did you know that since the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron faction took control of the network, Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle and WBAI Program Director Bernard White, and Ron Pincback, WPFW Station Manager were all fired? Of the seven people who were terminated all were either Black or Latino.

SINCE MOST OF THE STATIONS FOR YEARS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY GETTING MONEY FROM CPB BASED ON HAVING A MAJORITY OF THEIR SENIOR STAFF AS MEMBERS OF MINORITIES IT SHOULD BE NO SURPRISE THAT ANY FIRINGS WILL HAVE THESE FOLKS AS CASUALTIES..THEQUESTION IS WHAT DID THEY DO?
HERE IN NYC WE HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDES OF WHAT HAPPENED AT WBAI AND WITH SEVERAL OF THE OTHERS WE ALSO HAVE A GOOD IDEA..BUT WHY WERE THEY FIRED AND WHAT IS ITS CONTEXT IS WORTHWHILE TO KNOW. AFTER THE EVENTS OF 2000-2001 A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THE PEOPLE FIRED WERE AFRICAN-AMERICAN ALSO..WAS THAT A RACIAL PURGE ALSO THAT THE PACIFICA CAMPAIGN ENGAGED IN OR SIMPLY A FIGHT FOR POWER?
3. Did you know that members of the Pacifica National Board and the local WBAI board illegally terminated Program Director Bernard White and Station Manager Anthony Riddle without due process?

4. Did you know that a multimillionaire WBAI LSB board member named Steve Brown has been actively sabotaging WBAI’s past fund drives by sending out thousands of racially charged emails with fabricated scenarios designed to undermine listener confidence. (http://whoisstevebrown.info/)
STEVE IS ALWAYS THE BOOGIE MAN TO SET UP A STRAW MAN TO ATTACK.

5. Did you know that Mr. Brown went as far asking listeners to send their contributions to his home address? (http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

YES, WHEN THE OLD LEADERSHIP AT THE STATION WAS INCOMPETENTLY FAILING TO LIST NEW SUBSCRIBERS..IF I RECALL, PEOPLE WHO DID NOT SUPPORT THE JUC CANDIDATES WERE MYSTERIOUSLY NOT GIVEN THEIR PAID FOR MEMBERSHIPS..THAT WAS THE CONTEXT OF THAT.

6. Did you know that Cynthia McKinney applied for the position of Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and that the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of Pacifica denied her the opportunity to be considered for the position by telling her that she was not qualified? This action was taken without notifying the Pacifica Personnel Committee that McKinney had applied.
THIS I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, I ASSUME THE JUC AND THEIR ALLIES PUT HER UP TO THIS..BUT THIS IS ONE OF THEIR MANY PRONGS OF ACTION IN THEIR MULTI PRONGED ATTACK TO REGAIN THEIR POSITIONS AND ENGAGE IN THEIR TAMMANY HALL LIKE ACTIVITIES.
IN FACT, WE SHOULD HAVE A NEW PHRASE, WBAI HALL, FOR WHAT THEY HAVE PULLED.

7. Did you know that there is an illegally imposed gag rule at WBAI that doesn’t allow open discussions of what is going on with administrators of color throughout the network as well as WBAI?

THE GAG RULE..WHAT A JOKE? HE ENFORCES IT WHEN HE IS IN POWER AND WHEN HE IS NOT WHINES ABOUT IT..HE KNOWS THE FCC WANTS A STATION TO CONTROL ITS AIR AND NOT LOSE CONTROL OF IT..BUT WATCH THE JUC PEOPLE SPEAK UP FOR “FREEDOM” DURING THE NEXT FEW MONTHS…AND OF COURSE AMY AND JUAN WILL DO WHATEVER THEY DEEM NECESSARY TO JELP THE JUC GET BACK IN POWER…I WONDER HOW THE ELECTION TEAM WILL HANDLE THAT?

The purge that is going on in Pacifica is not only designed to remove people of color from decision making positions it is also to going to transform the political nature of Pacifica. The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of the Pacifica governance structure is going to eliminate the community character of its five radio stations. Their intention is to structure the stations so that they will have a greater appeal to a richer whiter audience.
For additional information: (http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or (http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

THE COMMUNITY VASED CHARACTER OF THE FIVE STATIONS…WHAT A JOKE IT IS TO ARGUE THAT THIS WILL BE THE OBJECT OF AN ATTACK..IT IS ONLY WHEN YOUR NARROW AND DISCOMBOBULATED DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY IS ATTACKED THAT YOU COME UP WITH THIS CRAP. IN YOUR MIND, THE COMMUNITY IS ANY GROUP THAT ALIGNS ITSELF WITH YOU, USUALLY FOR AIRTIME..WHAT A JOKE!!

Over the last several months seven individuals have been removed from their paid positions by the Grace Aaron-Steve Brown led purge of the Pacifica network. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=191011665261&ref=mf
To go to Take Back WBAI facebook page, click
http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508

This is a message from Bernard White, WBAI's fired program director.
AND WHY WERE YOU TAKEN OUT OF THE PD POSITION, CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY AFTER TEN YEARS IN CONTROL THE AUDIENCE DECLINED, REVENUES DIMINISHED AND YOUR STEWARDSHIP LED TO A THREE DAY NOTICE TO EVICT ..AND DO NOT BRING UP THE FACT THAT YOU OPPOSED THE MOVE TO 120 WALL STREET..YOU KEPT VERY QUIET DURING THAT PERIOD AND DID NOT STICK YOUR NECK OUT WHEN THE FIGHTS OVER THAT HAPPENED IN THE EARLY NINETIES. I REALIZE THAT MANY ISSUES MUST HAVE COME INTO PLAY WITH SCANT RESOURCES TO HANDLE CRITICAL EXPENSES .

_____
REREAD PHELPS


Pacifica Financial Crisis: Who is Responsible?
by Richard Phelps, former KPFA LSB Chair
Thursday May 14th, 2009 11:30 AM

For several years a collusion on the Pacifica National Board (PNB) allowed WBAI to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with no oversight from the PNB. This put the entire Foundation at risk of bankruptcy. Who was part of the collusion and why did they do it? Read on to find out.
Recently WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions.

Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.

Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.

The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.

Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.

Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.

Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.

At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.

The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.

So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.

To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belong to all of us and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.

Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber and former AM & FM Radio Announcer

P.S. One note on Ron Pinchback. A couple of elections ago when the sign up period was over at WPFW they had very few candidates, WHY? Because the GM, Ron Pinchback, didn't put anything on the air to encourage people to become candidates. He has always done his best to undermine the democratic process, just like the previous GMs at WBAI and the current one at KPFA. If we want a healthy and progressive Pacifica we must not allow the colluders back into power.

To My Friends At WBAI,

I have had a few moments out of the fussing and fighting at WBAI and I have to admit that that much is not a bad thing.

People disagree about the basic issues and fight for control of the station and its resources. I understand that. I understand that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and that always you find a way to fight for what you believe in.

There are those who believed the station would run better without me as GM. They have a right to believe that. That they got what they wanted ought to be sufficient. Evidently, a few people need to invent justifications for their actions as well. Ridiculous rumors circulate daily. No one has the right to lies. So, let me set the record straight, before it is carved into stone with other Pacifica “urban legends”:

One:
· WBAI did not get two eviction notices.
· WBAI did not get one eviction notice.
· I did not hide the non-existent notices or any other notices from anyone.
· WBAI’s arrears in rent were discussed in private conversation, and at local and national finance meetings on a regular basis.

We were significantly behind in rent at Wall Street. In late March or early April, the owner sent a “Three Day Notice to Quit.” This is a predicate notice: Pay us or we will begin the legal process to collect or evict. It is a warning. It is the only one we got during my tenure.

The owner didn't realize we’d sent a major payment of $43,000 five days before. When the owner found this to be true, he asked us to prepare a reasonable repayment plan, which I did with the knowledge of the National Office. I added to it a payment plan to catch up on the Empire State rent.

We made the first payment for 120 Wall on time. We paid the entire Empire State rent owed a full month ahead of schedule.

Anyone who says otherwise is confused or misleading. But now there is no excuse for either.

Two:

An “I told you so.”

It was announced in meeting after meeting that WBAI was $200-250,000 short in revenue for 1QFY’09. This was increased in second quarter reports and meetings. Time after time I tried to correct this error. I frantically called the late Fall PNB meeting. I sent written explanation. I argued verbally when I was present. I tried in the weekly GM meetings. I tried at the LSB meetings. At some point, I gave up, because it didn’t matter: No one would hear and we weren’t doing that well otherwise, anyway.

It was a technical accounting issue. National Office instructed me to include in the FY’09 budget expected collections in October and November of pledges made in the Fall Drive. But for the first time, the Fall Drive was in spread over two fiscal years—FY’08 (September) and FY’09 (October). So, when we brought in the money, if the pledge was made in September, we booked it for 2008. If the pledge was in October, we booked it in 2009. So, much of the money budgeted in FY 2009 came in, but was accrued to FY 2008. We were only a few thousand dollars short on that drive and nothing else could account for such a difference. We were not $250,000 or $300,000 or $400,000 short. The repetition of this inaccuracy wore me down over time. It alarmed all of Pacifica. But I could not undo it once it became legend.

If you go back to the audit report given in the most recent PNB meeting, you will hear the listing of how short each station was in FY 2008 according to the auditor. You will hear the confusion of the speaker saying, I paraphrase, “The auditor reports that WBAI is about $100,000 short of budget for 2008. We don’t understand this. We think it should be closer to $400,000. We’ll have to figure out what is wrong here.” (Please excuse my memory.)

If you are still following at this point, then you understand that the bulk of that so-called short-fall is the money collected in FY 2009 but accrued to FY 2008. It was there, just like I said. Finally. It makes no difference now; it was a misunderstanding of Pacifica’s accounting which made a bad situation at WBAI look horrible and opened us to attack. It did not affect the bottom-line, only the narrative.

The End

Undoubtedly, this narrative will be attacked because there is nothing more offensive in our Pacifica world than the narrative which contradicts the legend of the week. I do not intend to argue with any further attacks on this because, in the end, it does not matter. I am out of the GM position now. Many changes will be made. All that matters is that WBAI be healthy and relevant. It is not an easy task, so I wish all who endeavor success.

This is my official statement on these matters. If you have questions or disagreements, please refer to the above statement as many times as necessary.

Thanks.

Anthony Riddle

"...WBAI did not get one eviction notice...the owner sent a “Three Day Notice to Quit.” This is a predicate notice: Pay us or we will begin the legal process to collect or evict. It is a warning. It is the only one we got during my tenure..."

That's like Bernard saying "I didn't mis-allocate $5,000, it was only $3,000, and I only did it once."

"...We paid the entire Empire State rent owed a full month ahead of schedule..."

I think Tony means "We paid the OVERDUE rent ahead of schedule", so that we were ALMOST caught up on our arrears.

The fact that the money situation reached the state it was and that the notice to quit was given ...that seems to me absolutely absurd to not deal with in any other manner accept accuse your foes of racism.
You and others who agreed with you had the stewardship of the station...in many ways this goes back into the early nineties..
You and your political allies had control of the network and had as key allies folks who were in some of the the major positions of Pacifica for the past ten years.

This is why the difficulty of dealing with the consequences of your vision for fund raising/programming is so difficult to comprehend. You clearly made errors and your own POV prevented you from rectifying them.

This is not like the previous situation which built up over ten plus years and culminated in the NATIONAL actions that overthrew the old PNB in 2000-2001. The only national strip program that survived that period is DN..the old PNB wanted to create the entire national programming grid as strip programming. Clearly, that situation does not exist now.

Back then, the old PNB wanted to destroy the United Electrical Union link with paid and unpaid staff. They succeeded and if I recall you silently stood on the sidelines and watched that unfold.

The bottom line is whatever you and your allies were doing for the past ten years led to a fiscal disaster.

That is the bottom line.

Jim

Takeback Pacifica Coalition

FACT SHEET

1. Did you know that ideological and racial purges are taking place across the Pacifica network?

2. Did you know that since the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron faction took control of the network, Armando Gudino, Program Director at the Los Angeles station KPFK, Jerry Quickley the host of “Beneath The Surface,” Fernando Velasquez the host of “Informativo,” Lonnie Hicks, the Chief Financial Officer of the Pacifica National Foundation, WBAI Program Director Bernard White, Ron Pinchback, WPFW Station Manager were all fired and WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle was removed from his position? Of the seven people who were terminated or removed all were either African American or Latino.

3. Did you know that the local WBAI board violated its own rules and processes in rushing to engineer the removal of WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle and the termination of Program Director Bernard White? Neither White nor Riddle had received the annual evaluation required in the station’s bylaws. The board committee that was preparing the annual evaluation for Program Director Bernard White was illegally and single –handedly abolished by LSB board member Steve Brown? Brown is the board member who has waged a five years-long public campaign of defamation against Bernard White.

4. Did you know that multimillionaire, WBAI LSB board member, Steve Brown has been actively sabotaging WBAI’s past fund drives by sending out thousands of racially charged emails with fabricated scenarios just before our drives? These emails were designed to undermine listener confidence and negatively impact our revenue generation. (http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html)

5. Did you know that Mr. Brown went as far asking listeners to send their contributions to his upper Westside Penthouse? (http://whoisstevebrown.info/)

6. Did you know that Cynthia McKinney applied for the position of Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and that the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of Pacifica denied her application by telling her that she was not qualified? This action was taken without notifying the Pacifica Personnel Committee that McKinney had applied.

7. Did you know that for the first time since the Christmas Coup a gag rule has been imposed that threatens the hosts with removal if they openly discuss their opposition to recent changes at the station or the newly imposed redirection of Pacifica?

The purge that is going on in Pacifica will not only replace Blacks and Latinos from decision making positions it will also transform the political nature of Pacifica in contravention to its original mission. The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction now in charge of Pacifica will eliminate the community character of its five radio stations. Their goal is to increase revenue by appealing to a richer, whiter audience. Don’t be confused by the color of those who they are temporarily using to achieve their goals.
For additional information: (http://www.takebackwbai.org/) or (http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508)

BERNARD: "Did you know that ideological and racial purges are taking place across the Pacifica network?"

I know that is not true. It is shameful that Bernard associates incompetence with a specific "race".


BERNARD: "...Armando Gudino...Jerry Quickley...Fernando Velasquez...Lonnie Hicks...Bernard White, Ron Pinchback..were all fired and WBAI Station Manager Anthony Riddle was removed from his position..."

It's a fact that Bernard looks at managers removed for incompetence [including one manager PROMOTED to a better job], and at staff laid off for mandated budget cuts, and sees only "race". This is typical of the racialization of every aspect of WBAI under his rule.

BERNARD: "...Of the seven people who were terminated or removed all were either African American or Latino..."

How dishonest can one ex-Program Director get? He might as well say "of the people killed or injured in the Toronto explosion, almost all were Canadian".

BERNARD: "...the local WBAI board violated its own rules and processes in rushing to engineer the removal of WBAI General Manager Anthony Riddle and the termination of Program Director Bernard White..."

Funny, he did not complain when the JUC-controlled LSB let Bernard's previous "evaluation" be handled by his personal assistant (who owed him for her on-air gig, and was later rewarded with a job not-mailing Premiums). He didn't complain when this "evaluator" took confidential staff surveys home and kept them there for months, didn't complain when she refused to let LSB members (the ones who are LEGALLY responsible for the evaluation) see the results.

As for "rushing": judging from the JUC's taking several years to complete ONE of the legally-mandated evaluations, Bernard considers completing an ANNUAL evaluation within one year is "rushing". Really, any one who was familiar with Bernard's sins of omission and sins of commission over the past 6 years needed no more than 5 minutes to evaluate his performance and recommend termination.

BERNARD: "...Neither White nor Riddle had received the annual evaluation required in the station’s bylaws...."

Ha ha ha! Didn't complain about that until he got an unfavorable evaluation. YEARS went by while his JUC protectors stalled any attempt at an evaluation.

BERNARD: "...The board committee that was preparing the annual evaluation for Program Director Bernard White was illegally and single –handedly abolished by LSB board member Steve Brown..."

No, the committee's time had expired.

BERNARD: "...Brown is the board member who has waged a five years-long public campaign of defamation against Bernard White..."

And yet Bernard complains that this JUC scapegoat did not evaluate him. HMmmm... Brown is just one voice out of many who have been condemning Bernard's turf-protecting machinations.

BERNARD: "...Did you know that multimillionaire, WBAI LSB board member, Steve Brown has been actively sabotaging WBAI’s past fund drives by sending out thousands of racially charged emails with fabricated scenarios just before our drives? These emails were designed to undermine listener confidence and negatively impact our revenue generation..."

No, the chief saboteur has been Bernard White, who has "fired" thousands of listeners and donors.

BERNARD: "...Did you know that Mr. Brown went as far asking listeners to send their contributions to his upper Westside Penthouse?..."

To insure that they were not "lost in the mail" to WBAI. (Bytheway, checks were written "Payable to WBAI", not payable to Steve Brown. This contrasts with donations supposedly to WBAI but going into Bernard's pocket. Know what I'm talking about, Bernard? I'm not talking about that check you allegedly signed for and never deposited for WBAI.)

BERNARD: "...Did you know that Cynthia McKinney applied for the position of Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and that the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction of Pacifica denied her application by telling her that she was not qualified?..."

Well, Bernard takes some liberties with the wording, but as a matter of law, it appears she is NOT qualified: will Bernard claim she had "at least 10 years of relevant broadcast experience"?

BERNARD: "...for the first time since the Christmas Coup a gag rule has been imposed that threatens the hosts with removal if they openly discuss their opposition to recent changes at the station or the newly imposed redirection of Pacifica?..."

No, staff have been warned not to slander or vilify specific individuals, BY NAME, on air -- as Bernard did more than once and which would have been in itself a legitimate basis for removing him from the mic and even removing him from his job. Free to discuss the changes and their opposition? Of course, they remain free to do that.

BERNARD: "...The purge that is going on in Pacifica...will...transform the political nature of Pacifica in contravention to its original mission..."

I think it is long overdue for Bernard to read what the mission actually is: see the home page of http://takeFORWARDwbai.org for key points and for a link to the full Mission Statement.

BERNARD: "...The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron led faction now in charge of Pacifica..."

Notice how Bernard slips the Scapegoat's name into every topic he can. The "faction" is everybody who wants to rescue WBAI from Bernard's depredations, and IT is "leading" Aaron by helping to elect her. Steve Brown is one person, but he is far from being "the leader" of any faction. We don't believe in "leaders" (unlike the JUC Cult of Personality and its now-exiled leader) -- and We Watch The Parking Meters (unlike Tony Riddle).

BERNARD: "...will eliminate the community character of its five radio stations..."

Benard has already done that in NYC.

BERNARD: "...Their goal is to increase revenue by appealing to a richer, whiter audience..."

If Bernard had any aspirations for making WBAI relevant and having any impact on NYC political thinking, he would include appeals to ALL audiences, including "whiter, richer" audiences. I think "inclusion" rather than "exclusion" is at the heart of the Pacifica Mission. It is also essential if WBAI is to inform and influence a significant portion of 18,000,000 potential listeners (of whom scarcely 15,000, of the 20,000 Bernard inherited originally, remain); as well as being essential for it to pay its arrears (we are still in debt) and continue broadcasting to ANYBODY.

BERNARD: "... Don’t be confused by the color of those who they are temporarily using to achieve their goals..."

This is an insult to any "non-white" WBAI member, volunteer, staff person, or manager who has the intelligence and the integrity to support efforts to rescue and restore WBAI.

I don't know enough about nefarious,convoluted WBAI politics to voice any opinions about any WBAI factions.....but just the fact Amy Goodman's program is now onair at 8AM as well as 9AM convinces me Aaron-Williams are "on the right track" espousing sanity and the survival of WBAI and the Pacifica Fondation., respectfully, Werner Simon

Dear Bernard [Burnard?]--

I have been a WBAI member-supporter since 1968. Except for opposing
the "Christmas Coup" against which I devoted many hours I have avoided
WBAI and Pacifica politics. In recent weeks, such avoidance has become
more and more difficult. I attended the two most recent meetings of the
LSB to seek clarification. I left the first meeting early due to the fact that
it turned into a brawl. The most recent meeting [at Judson Chruch]
was a bit more orderly, and I had become toughened so I stayed through
the very noisy meeting.

As I sat and listened, it seems that the question of the reason(s) for your
firing were of central importance for both the Take Back group and what
you call (above) the Brown-Aaron group. The Take Back folks taunted
the chair, Mitchel Cohen, to reveal the reason for your firing. He and his
supporters said they could not do so without violating your privacy.

Since both sides seemed to think it would be beneficial for WBAI and
Pacifica, it occurred to me to ask you to make the stated reasons for
your dismissal public. The two sides, who seemed to agree on almost
nothing else seemed to be in agreement that a public airing of the reason
for your dismissal would be salutary; they differed on the means of
making it public.

Thus it seems you could help significantly to clear the air around these
factions if you were to make public the reasons yourself.

Sorry if I am somewhat repetitive; it's due to an effort to be very clear,
in a situation where I am not very well informed about the context; just
getting underway in the past few weeks.

--John Moran

PS I don't know if Text is HTML [guess I'm too old for that question].

If Bernard answers, I hope we will see the answer here.

Dear John,

Thanks for you letter which seems to be coming from an honest place. However I find it extremely strange that you would ask me that even though I have answered this question many times. I say it is a strange question that you would put the emphasis on ME answering why THEY fired me when it was THEY who did the firing. I hope you understand my point.

The Steve Brown/Grace Aaron gang is trying to make it appear that they have a legitimate reason for violating my rights as an employee because I have committed some serious infraction worthy of termination. They have convinced you to the point that you are asking me to "come clean" with an explanation even though I have given the same explanation over and over.

I have no idea what you are expecting however they know exactly what there motivations are. I will offer this two part explanation as to why I was terminated for your consideration. It may not fit you expectation of a great revelation or an earth shattering confession but it is the truth as I see it:

As most repressive societies do, Pacifica’s present renegade management has imposed a gag rule to intimidate staff members that are not in favor of their actions. As a result they have effectively limited the amount of information that has gotten to the public. So far in the last few weeks the National Board has removed the station manager and the Program Director at WBAI, forced out the Program Director at KPFK and the News Director of Informativo, fired the Chief Financial Officer of the foundation. They are also secretly considering the removal of the station managers at KPFA and WPFW. Is it just a coincidence that they are all people of color or are they all incompetent? Does this constitute a pattern and practice? You be the judge.

Conduct your own investigation. Believe no one. Look at the evidence. Come to your own conclusions.


Part 1: Recent Events

On Friday May 8th at around 4pm I was asked by LaVarn Williams WBAI’s Acting Station Manager to come to her office. When I got to the office and took a seat I was given a letter that placed me on a 10-day suspension, without pay.

The letter stated two specific reasons for the suspension:
1) You have failed to structure successful fundraising drives at the station, as shown by the substantial decrease in listener-supported revenues at WBAI.

2) You have failed to establish programming that increases and retains our listeners, as shown by the significant loss in the number of WBAI’s listeners.

Also present in the office was Ahmad J. Anderson, Human Resources Director. I was asked if I had anything to say and I said no. I knew that this was in fact a termination and did not want to engage in a useless discussion so I returned to my office. About ten minutes after my return a seemingly annoyed LaVarn came to me and said on second thought I want you to leave the building right now, so I did.

On Tuesday May 19th, the day that would have been the 84th birthday of Malcolm X, I received a letter via FedEx from LaVarn Williams. Inside the envelope was a letter of termination.

I was informed that Ms. Williams had determined that it was in the best interests of WBAI to replace me as program director for WBAI, effective immediately. The letter was signed by, LaVarn Williams, WBAI’s acting station manager.

My termination was effective as of Monday May 18th, four days before the end of my ten-day, unpaid, illegal suspension. Thus, the long-term campaign of LSB board member Steve Brown had achieved a major victory. Make no mistake, there are other players involved but the brains and financier of this takeover is Steve Brown.

A series of duplicitous and questionable maneuvers preceded this termination. Alliance for Community Elections (ACE), formerly List Prog., formerly CDPny , is the renegade faction of WBAI’S Local Station Board, which presently constitutes a voting majority on the LSB, has finally fulfilled its long pursued goal of eliminating the program director as a prerequisite to taking full control of WBAI’S program schedule. Their ultimate goal is to remove non-pliable, progressive programmers in general and people of color in particular from the broadcast schedule. This will allow them to bring back to the airwaves two former producers who were released from WBAI for legitimate cause. Since this is a personnel issue and I am not at liberty to disclose the reasons but there are others at the station who are more than willing to share the reasons.

The actions taken against general manager Anthony Riddle and I were the result of an illegal, closed session board meeting. This extraordinary and hastily called meeting initiated by the ACE faction of the LSB is fraught with violations and improprieties.

The ACE faction and the so-called independents kept the agenda secret from non-ACE members until after the meeting started. Before the meeting commenced there was an attempt to evict the station manager from the meeting. The reason given was that he was a staff member and should not be privy to personnel discussions because it may intimidate the staff members who are board members. He pointed out that since he is the manager he is also an ex-officio member of the board and entitled to stay in the meeting. They had no answer for this so Riddle stayed. Once the meeting finally got underway, Steve Brown, the Karl Rove of the Ace faction, made a motion to dissolve the established evaluation process even though the process of evaluation had already begun. Over the enthusiastic protests of the Justice and Unity group the ACE majority passed the motion.

Brown then made a motion to hold an, on-the-spot, immediate evaluations of the Program Director and the Station Manager. The Justice and Unity group once again protested declaring the unfairness of these actions. At the point where they realized that the ACE faction was going to move forward they removed themselves from the meeting. Then without providing any documented evidence to substantiate their claims, the ACE group demanded that the Station Manager fire the Program Director. They also told the station manager that if he did not follow their directive then he would experience negative consequences relative to his employment. To his credit Anthony Riddle is a person with integrity and did not allow himself to be complicit in this illegal request. The outcome of this meeting was conveyed to the interim executive director Grace Aaron and the termination process was officially underway.

Grace Aaron’s visit to WBAI was designed to give the national board and WBAI listeners the impression that she was here to objectively assess WBAI’s problems and craft a solution. It is now obvious, based on her behavior once she got here, that she no intention of being objective, fair or honest. Steve Brown is the one who scripted the outcome of Grace’s visit prior to her arrival in New York City.

WBAI does in fact have financial problems; there is no question about that. However, If Grace wanted to actually help us out of our difficulty it seems to me that she would have engaged in some form discussion with the managers to identify the problems and assist us with resolving the identified contradictions. She never said a word to me and pretended that she was looking for something on the floor when we passed each other in the hallway. Focusing on our programming as a solution to our financial problems is a ruse to fulfill the long held dream of the ACE faction of changing our programming and removing people of color from the broadcast schedule and putting into place obedient people who share their views and whom they can manipulate. Because the individuals who are being used to enact this policy are black don’t be fooled. This move has everything to do with race and the potential for personal profit making. Mark my word, if the proposed changes go through there is at least one individual who intends to achieve a monetary gain.

I maintain the same belief today that I held during the last Coup. I believe WBAI’s listeners, in the main, are both intelligent and analytical. I further believe that if there are common themes that unite us all; our belief in fairness, our intolerance for racism and an abhorrence for the callous manipulation and destruction of people to achieve personal gain. After you review all of the information I am confident that you will have a greater understanding of the present reality and make the proper corrective demands.

What has happened here is that a long term well financed, raced based campaign, designed to takeover WBAI’s programming has finally achieved success. Steve Brown, who has a long history of questionable and illegal behavior, has constructed, financed and with the assistance of a handful of collaborators executed this entire takeover campaign.

Who is Steve Brown really? Why would a multi-millionaire want to be on the Local Station Board of WBAI? What is the ultimate goal of most millionaires?

These articles may provide some insight into the character and thinking pattern of Mr. Brown: http://www.whoisstevebrown.info/

Part 2: Anatomy of The Latest Coup

Background:
Before the Christmas Coup of December 23, 2000 the Pacifica National Board (PNB) governed all of the Pacifica Foundation’s 5 radio stations and each station had a Local Advisory Board (LAB) that met regularly with station management to discuss the functioning of their respective radio stations. The LAB functioned in an advisory capacity. The role of the LAB was to lend their expertise and insight into solving and anticipating problems. Delegates were then elected from each LAB to represent the concerns of their particular station as well as deal with issues of concern relative to the Pacifica Foundation. As a result of the settlement that reversed the Christmas Coup all of Pacifica’s five radio stations are governed by Local Station Boards that play a greater role in the day-to-day functioning of the stations in their respective locales.

With this increased responsibility also came a greater level of competition to become a board member. Although the stated purpose of this change was to give the listeners a more significant role in the governance process it also gave those with less than honorable intentions and vast economic resources an unfair advantage by the creation of an unleveled playing field.

At WBAI there is a renegade segment of the LSB that is primarily interested in power projection, racial homogeneity and cronyism. The want to go back in time to the WBAI they once knew. This group wants to reconstruct a time in BAI history when most of the producers were male and white. They feel that the inclusion of other peoples is an insufferable imposition on “their” station. They act in an intolerant, capricious, discriminatory, retaliatory, prejudicial and coercive manner and believe that the ends justify the means. An additional feature of the WBAI state of affairs is this faction has a member that I believe also sees the distinct probability of increasing his personal income.

Toward that end he has designed and implemented a plan that has the following features:

Vilification and Disinformation Campaign:
To get a glimpse of how this propaganda campaign was carried out go to the web and look up (WBAI LSB Disassociates Itself from the Public Statements of Steve Brown). There you will find a minute portion of a series of racist fabrications that were sent out with great frequency to thousands of people within the Pacifica universe. The goal of this ongoing effort is to systematically give the impression that WBAI is unmanageable, unsafe, out of control, anti-Semitic and an irreversible drain on Pacifica. Another design of this effort was to make it difficult for us to achieve our monetary goals by bombarding our listeners with poison-pen emails thereby creating doubts in the minds of our listeners and the minds of national board members about our ability to function effectively. The emails were designed to systematically create an image of WBAI by the utilization of a negative racial construct focusing on the Program Director as the source of all that is evil.

Destabilization:
Identify and nurture key staff members who have personal dislikes and unmet ambitions. Support and protect those staff members who can be used to sabotage efforts to make positive change. A clear example of how this process manifests itself uncoiled at one of the national board meetings several years ago. Three staff members were given an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for each of them to make a three-minute-long negative statement about me to the national board. It was such an apparent and poorly orchestrated attempt at destroying my character in the eyes of the board that even critics of WBAI didn’t buy it. However it was enough to plant seeds that would sprout later. Although I spoke to all three of these staff members the day before I left for the meeting none of them gave any indication that they were going to attend the board meeting. I was quite surprised to look up and see them walking through the door together in time to speak during the public session. I was really astonished to hear the statements that they presented. Ironically one of the staff members who took advantage of the free trip is always too busy to attend staff meetings that are held just yards from his office but he made his way all the way to southern California to make a three minute presentation.

Over the last seven years WBAI has had five different Station Managers. Each manager was visited by a delegation of the ACE faction led by Steve Brown. With each initial visit they warned the manager that If they wanted to be successful in the job one of their first acts should be terminating my employment. None of managers had a valid reason to terminate me so they refused. After they refused they were subjected to endless harassment, vilification and eventually they either refused to continue in the position or they were removed. Anthony Riddle is the latest victim of their retaliation and vindictiveness.



Invasion:
After engineering a take over of the national board by their allies the stage was set for an invasion. Enter Grace Aaron, the ACE ally from the West.

The first stage of the invasion was Grace Aaron’s visit to New York. (She played the role of “Economic Hit Man.)” Aaron met with Anthony riddle and tried to convince him to fire me making it plane as to what his fate would be if he refused. Much to his credit he too had no valid reason to terminate me, so he refused. He had also fallen into disfavor with the ACE group because he began to confront them on their racism and constant harassment.

Grace also made a failed furtive attempt to take control of our transmitter. While she was in New York she met only with forces that were friendly to her mission. Even though her expressed concern was our the alleged lack of quality programming in our present grid and the role it played in our inability to meet all of our expenses in a timely manner she never discussed her assertions with me, the Program Director. Aaron also never presented any evidence to substantiate her claim of a dwindling listenership. We never did a comparative analysis of WBAI in relation to other stations in the network or to the experience of listener-sponsored media across the nation. She refused to discuss the role that escalating expenses played in creating our deficit. (see attached bar graph)

Occupation and Regime Change:
The next stage of the invasion was the arrival of LaVarn Williams and her installation as Acting Station Manager. Other members of the invasion party were Tony Bates and Ahmad J. Anderson, Director, Human Resources. Anthony Riddle was removed and I was the subsequently terminated effectively turning the management of the station over to the ACE group, led by Steve Brown and their collaborators. Their allies on staff will be the beneficiaries of staff changes. You can easily identify the ones who collaborated with them because they will be recommended to take leadership roles in the new regime. The staff will also begin to see Brown in the offices of WBAI as he begins to size up what opposition he may encounter from staff members.




Suppression of All Dissent:
A “Gag Rule” was imposed declaring heavy penalties for all violators. There can be absolutely no discussion on the airwaves about recent internal events… That is unless you agree with the actions that were taken. If that is the case then you can talk all you want without any fear of being taken off air.

Theft of Resources:
The final stage of the invasion will be the theft of our most valuable resource, our program grid. We can expect a concerted effort by the ACE group and their allies to attempt to go backward in time. We will see the return of producers whom they are friendly with and who were released from WBAI for legitimate reasons. This will all come to light as they strut back on the scene. We may also see the exposure of the ACE member who plans to benefit personally from the return of his (former) business partner.

Do these aggressive tactics seem familiar?

The remaining Staff members at WBAI and the listeners must pay close attention to those individuals who are now celebrating in their offices and in the hallways. These are the same individuals who have come to the airwaves to repeatedly proclaim their neutrality. Remember who told us that what was unfolding before our ears wasn’t really happening. The whistle-blowers who tried to alert us to the duplicitous behavior of some of our national and local board members were declared to be paranoid, over reacting and having an ulterior motive. You can be sure that these are not the only acts of duplicity engaged in by these on staff collaborators neither will it be their last.

This is no time for celebration. This is indeed a Pyrrhic victory.

For anyone who is interested in getting regular updates on this ongoing saga and the rapidly growing fight back effort regularly check: http://www.takebackwbai.org and http://www.wbixradio.org

“Stay Strong and Pay Close Attention”

Bernard White

John,

What has happened at WBAI is also being duplicated across the net work. Check out KPFK, WPFW, the Pacifica Foundation and WBAI. Don't allow them to set the parameters of the discussion.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME, IT'S ABOUT THE NETWORK.

Don't believe me and ceretainly don't believe Lefever or Dingeman. Check out the network's experience since the Aaron/Brown regime has come to power. Evaluate the despicable behavior of Mr. Brown over the last five years and come to your own conclusions.

Thanks for your inquiry.

Bernard was asked a simple question: will you permit the LSB to reveal what was actually said in the executive session?

Bernard's answer is "no".

All the rest is propaganda.

DEMONIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

One of the problems with folks in and around WBAI no less than in the Republican and Democratic Parties -- particularly with the leaders of the Justice and Unity faction, but not exclusively -- is that one is not allowed to have disagreements with others and discuss them publicly and fairly. What happens, instead, is that the heavy artillery is brought out immediately and individuals find themselves being torn to shreds.

This is a hallmark of Stalinist groups, where "winning" an argument by demonizing anyone who doesn't toe the line is all-important. Truth doesn't matter. The person is turned into an "opponent" and then ridiculed on every level imaginable, their lives smeared, and it doesn't matter what good they have done over the years, the only thing that matters is that "you oppose THIS point, you refuse to toe THIS line NOW."

Many, including me, refuse to play that game -- and in the current climate find ourselves at a disadvantage.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez are not my enemies, even if they have issued statements that endorse Bernard White and criticize some actions of Pacifica's new management. In fact, Bernard White is not my enemy, however inconvenient that position may be for some. All have done excellent work for a long time on many issues. The "enemy" is the mental framework that is promoted by some that creates enemies from every disagreement. The enemy is that manipulation of emotions and history in order to achieve some "victory," pyrric or actual.

If a progressive person says something that may be interpreted by some as racially insensitive, does that make that person "a racist" -- that is, discarding all value that the person has? Should the call to "disassociate" oneself from a person because of this or that remark -- that is, the drumbeat to denounce the person publicly -- be allowed to become the criteria by which a person's worth is measured?

Where does the urge to rip into a person -- because that is what an organized and self-proclaimed vanguard is calling for .... where does that emotional, almost sadistically gleeful "charge" come from?

I have always been skeptical of those who say, "it is with heavy heavy heart that I feel I must tear this person apart limb from limb, and you have to do so too, or you are a collaborator" (or, in current parlance, you are not being "supportive") . That was Joe McCarthy's approach (without even the pretense of a "heavy heart"), and it is also the approach of the campaign of demonization orchestrated by the Justice and Unity faction. "Believe what I believe regardless of the truth, say what I say, or your life is shit."

Thus, we see a campaign being orchestrated to keep Gary Null off the air -- regardless of what you think of Null, that is not my point here -- supposedly because he dares to differ with the JUC leadership on interpreting the Science around HIV and AIDS. Of course their campaign is not really about that; if Gary Null put forth a different view on HIV/AIDS they'd find or invent other reasons to demonize him -- ANYTHING to prevent him from returning to the airwaves at WBAI, because he is a leader of a formidable force that opposes that whole way of doing things.

The pull of such manipulation is very strong, and takes on a life (or rather, a death) of its own. Thus, when a friend of mine -- a FRIEND, mind you -- told me he felt "enormous pressure" into signing a petition to recall me and Steve Brown from the LSB, and that he DID sign it (at least he had the honor to call me and tell me that he'd felt coerced into doing this "terrible thing," he didn't agree with it in the slightest, and didn't know what to do about it), I advised him to read Lillian Hellman's "Scoundrel Time". Also Wilhelm Reich's "Listen Little Man."

How easy it is for even progressive-thinking people to be manipulated into feeding into that climate. I truly am shocked -- and hurt -- when people I respected and fought for -- Lynne Stewart, Nellie Bailey -- feed into the demonization frenzy and publicly denounce me as a "racist", without even talking to me, and not even for things I've actually done or said. How easy it is for some people to be turned into victims to the pressures being pressed upon them. Do this, or else you will be excluded from the community of anti-racists, the glorious community, even if we don't outright denounce you along with the scapegoat-of-the-day for being insufficiently anti-racist. That will be the implication, and you'll be tarred for life.

We all want to be part of something larger than ourselves, don't we. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your faction ... er, country," eh?

Charging a fellow Pacifican with being a "racist" in this context -- which is what is now being exacted by the Justice and Unity folks upon me (even by those in the JUC who know better) -- is not really about a serious effort to understand or address racism. It's about scapegoating individuals because they disagree with them on other matters in order for the leadership to invent the glue to hold together, however tenuously, a nation of sheep (as a different McCarthy, Mary, put it in the 1950s). Funny, you don't look "Glueish".

If it wasn't "racism" that worked to do the trick, they'd use some other charge to accomplish their ends -- for instance, broadcasting that someone is a CIA agent (as Erroll Maitland did), with no basis to such a charge, and with no public disavowal, retraction or "disassociation" by those in the same political tendency as Erroll. Again, this is not only about whether Truth matters, but shows how the demand for "disassociation" from a fellow Pacifican's alleged comments is simply a drumbeat to manipulate forces and opinion against a person because you disagree with him about other things.

I will not join in the demonization of Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez that some here practice, even though I apparently disagree with Amy and Juan over the question of Bernard White's tenure as Program Director at WBAI. People should be able to hold opposing views on a particular issue and still recognize each other's worth as a person and the value in the work they are doing, even though their conclusions are based on misconceptions fostered intentionally by others for that explicit purpose.

Beyond the financial precipice on which WBAI has been tottering, I urge folks to take a step away from the emotional/psychological precipice as we strive to move WBAI forward. The two feed each other. My intention is to re-create WBAI as a real community that addresses problems and differences respectfully, that does not promote the mechanisms of demonization as a substitute for real political understanding of the underlying causes of those problems and differences, and propose real solutions to them.

This is a worthwhile effort. Don't let the manipulators win by driving you to the depths of demonization in response. Many, many folks around WBAI are better than that. Let's create a CLIMATE that really does speak truth to power, within our own organizations as well as in the society at large.

Mitchel Cohen
Chair, WBAI Local Station Board

This a graphic example of what I've been talking about. Frank wants you to believe that because negative statements were made about me in a "closed session" of the LSB board meeting, by members of the Steve Brown led majority, that those statements have some validity. Further, if I say okay tell everyone what was said in the closed session, I must have been trying to hide what was said from public scrutiny.

More succinctly I would be agreeing that:

1. I knew what the statements were.
2. That the statements made in closed session have some validity
3. That I had something to hide therefore I was trying to keep this information from the public

Talk about SMOKESCREEN!!!

The fact is, I've been out of commission for the last six months during which time I underwent major surgery. I couldn't have committed any violations while I was out of the office. If I had committed any inappropriate acts when did they happen? Believe me, if I had this gang would have brought it up as soon as they found it out. If they didn't, why not? Isn't it a violation of there responsibility as board members to act on information as quickly and as responsibly as is possible? Do you really think that they would have waited for Grace Aaron to make her surreptitious midnight attempt to take over the transmitter or make her so called fact-finding visit to WBAI?

Their request is illogical at its base. What would give their request validity is my acquiescing to their demand.

As usual Frank and the Brown gang underestimate the intelligence of our listeners. They have always underestimated mine.

Evaluate the evidence that is in front of you. These folks are relying on your blind, unchallenged acceptance of what they say and the manner in which they say it.

Don't be guided by the illogical presentations of these people who are actively in the process restructuring Pacifica in contravention of the Pacifica Mission.

BERNARD: "...If I had committed any inappropriate acts when did they happen? Believe me, if I had this gang would have brought it up as soon as they found it out. If they didn't, why not? Isn't it a violation of there responsibility as board members to act on information as quickly and as responsibly as is possible?..."

I have already answered that (rhetorical?) question. I refer you to my reply four days ago:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's an evasion, not a denial
by Frank LeFever
( HelpFixWBAI (at) yahoo (dot) com ) Sunday Jun 28th, 2009 11:43 AM
Bernard, YOU should be better than THIS: "...If I had ever misallocated funds your gang would have had me hung then tried and sentenced, in that order..."

You know very well that your protectors (local and national) would not allow your being penalized in any way (except for returning at least SOME of the funds). They are gone now. (Ironically, gone when you are no longer in a position to misallocate funds.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When..."? I think Bernard knows very well when, unless he is thinking of other occasions I don't know of.

Meanwhile, the evasion stands: so long as Bernard refuses to permit disclosure of what was said in executive session, he is free to perpetuate whatever fiction suits his purpose -- without fear of contradiction.

Dear Frank,

Put up or shut up.

If you got something then bring it. Stop slinging poo poo with the hope that some of it will stick.

Put up or shut up.

Anyone who is interested in getting regular updates on this ongoing saga and the rapidly growing fight back effort to take back Pacifica from these rapscallions regularly check:

http://www.takebackwbai.org

http://www.wbixradio.org

http://whoisstevebrown.info/

“Stay Strong and Pay Close Attention”

Goodbye

So far, Bernard has not made an out-right assertion that he never "mis-allocated" any WBAI funds.

He deflects questions about this with a "rhetorical" question.

He asserts that any allegations about mis-allocation of funds is "absurd".

However, he is careful not to deny, in writing, that he ever mis-allocated WBAI funds.

Similarly, he is careful not to say he will permit disclosure of what was said in the most recent executive session at which his performance was discussed.

Were numerous off station phone lines with no reasons or clear location and the >$100,000 phone bill discussed?

I would never underestimate your intelligence...I always found you very bright and intelligent even if I ferevently disagreed with you.

But what I do doubt is your ablity to manage and move past the clear rigidity you possess.

That was demonstrated not by anything anybody has said but by what happened.

Afterall, you and your colleagues bear responsibility for allowing a situation to evolve where the station was seriously behind for several years in its financial responsibilities.

That lies with your skill sets, not anybody else.

Jim

You continue to ignore what is documented while trying to get me to respond to your fantasies.

Gentlemen we have reached an impasse and this discussion is no longer fruitful. You obviously have your position and I have mine. Fortunately it is not up to you or the people who you are representing. It is in the final analysis it is up to our listeners to decide who is lying and who is telling the truth. It may take some time but our listeners will sort this all out and you and your fabrications will be exposed.

You have you purposely ignored documentable evidence and continue to repeat your fiction to which I am supposed to provide evidence to counter you anecdotes. These exchanges have become a fruitless, non-productive exercise. (Do you still beat your wife? Yes or No?)

Information contained in these web locations strongly sugggest and support that there are factors in this equation that you have totally ignored. More than that, your role has been to steer people away from investigating the information they contain. But then, you are not actually trying to get to the truth anyway.

For those who are interested in getting clear documentable evidence upon which you can use to make intelligent decisions about the future of WBAI and the honesty and values of those who are presently diverting the network from its historical mission, I suggest that you visit the following websites.

http://whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

BERNARD: "...You have you purposely ignored documentable evidence and continue to repeat your fiction to which I am supposed to provide evidence to counter you anecdotes. These exchanges have become a fruitless, non-productive exercise. (Do you still beat your wife? Yes or No?)..."

(1) Perhaps Bernard's "evidence" is "documentable", but I don't see it DOCUMENTED. I see assertions as to personal motivations, I see assertions about "racism", but I don't see any DOCUMENTS.

(2) My evidence is not anecdotal. It is documented, at least for one occasion. For other occasions, it may be anecdotal, but the one Bernard knows I am alluding to is documented.

(3) My question is NOT the analogue of "do you still beat your wife?", but the analogue of "did you EVER beat your wife?" In other words, I am not asking "do you still mis-allocate WBAI funds?" -- I am asking, "did you EVER mis-allocate WBAI funds?"

Re :"Did you ever mis-allocate WBAI funds?"
Mr LeFever where is your evidence ? Without citation your question strikes me as disingenuous. You are making the accusation. The responsibility is on you to demonstrate it's validity.

"...Mr [sic] LeFever where is your evidence ? Without citation your question strikes me as disingenuous. You are making the accusation. The responsibility is on you to demonstrate it's validity."

WBAI has not served its mission for "education" if its listeners cannot distinguish between a question and an accusation.

This is an example of an accusation: "You have beaten your wife."

This is an example of a question: "Have you ever beaten your wife?"

See the difference?

In the case of an accusation, the accuser needs to be ready with evidence to support the accusation.

In the case of a question, there is no need for "evidence" (one could ask simply out of idle curiosity). It is up to the person questioned to say "no", "yes", or "I refuse to answer"

As regard this question, "Did you ever mis-allocate WBAI funds?", Bernard refuses to answer.
Why? His refusal to answer must surely raise other questions, such as "Why does he refuse? Why can't he say, 'no'?"

I think you need to ponder the meaning of "disingenuous" also.

Re : Why cant Bernard say "No ,I never did ?
In the case of a question, there is no need for "evidence." If I had it I would have used it by now , but insinuation is just as effective : Swiftboating works folks ! One could ask out of idle curiosity " Are you or have you ever been a communist ? " [Whoops that straw man bit the dust ! ] Financial impropriety suits me just fine ,I have DOCUMENTATION and EVIDENCE to that effect. But like Tony Blair I can't lay open my dossier , you must trust me. After all i am the accuser not he.

"It is up to the person questioned to say "no" , " yes" , or " I refuse to answer." Thus recognizing my little question game as to what the argument is about , whereby Bernard shall be "hung by his own petard ," [without a scrap of evidence or documentation] how ever he answers.

Arthur Miller turns in his grave. Mr LeFever you claim to have evidence and documentation, produce it now.

Everyone should read this material. Quite illuminating!


http://whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

Insinuation is effective only up to the moment that the question is answered, yes or no.

If Bernard says yes, that ends the insinuation and it remains only to hear the details.

If Bernard says no, then it will be up to me to provide contradictory evidence.

The power to end that insinuation rests entirely in Bernard's hands.

If you have documentation as you claim your responsibility quite clearly is to produce it for the listeners who trust WBAI and the wider community by which the station is funded.Good representation ends where insinuation begins Mr LeFever ; Remember Colin Powell's slam dunk? What kind of radio station do you want to build with this kind of conduct ? One of "gag rules" and accusation ? You stated : " My evidence is not anecdotal. It is documented, at least for one occasion." I have asked you to produce this "evidence" three times and remind you of your responsibility to do so. I don't believe that you have it , this reflects badly on you and your associates other claims.

I am letting Bernard continue talking about "false allegations", as a test of his character.

Surely you know that a man with nothing to hide would have said "No, I never mis-allocated WBAI funds" the FIRST time I asked.

Similarly, more than once he has been asked (by others, not just myself) to permit disclosure of the LSB executive session proceedings, so others can see whether his version of things is confirmed or contradicted by the facts.

A reasonable person would conclude that he does not want this side-by-side comparison of what happened with what he says happened, and must ask why he is reluctant to do this.

Don't YOU wonder?

Do you think this level of evasion speaks well for how WBAI has been managed for the past 6 years or more?

WOW!


http://whoisstevebrown.info/ http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

WOW!


http://whoisstevebrown.info/ http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

Every time Bernard is confronted with a question he dares not answer, he hauls out Steve Brown to provoke a Big Brother 1984 hate session...

...hoping people's attention will be diverted from himself long enough for him to get by -- or get over.

I'm just a listener/supporter of WBAI.
I don't know anyone who works at or has inside knowledge of WBAI.
I am eligible to vote in the upcoming LSB election and I wonder which way to vote.

In the past I've mostly voted for the faction opposing JUC but now I'm on the fence.

On one hand:
I don't buy into Bernard's "racial purge' argument.
I have heard rumors and innuendo regarding misbehavior by Bernard, I did think the sudden firing of Robert Knight was odd, I was certainly aware of sloppy management at the station particularly regarding premium fulfillment and the merry-go-round of station managers.
I also viewed some videos of LSB meetings at the PACVID site and felt JUC was the more obstructive faction.

On the other hand:
Here we are, Bernard and crew are gone and there should be a new era of openness and harmony - but is that so?

I listened the the "Talk to the Listeners" and frankly thought Ms Williams sounded as if she were trained in the Dick Cheney School of Governance. She had a curt "my way or the highway" attitude toward some of the callers.
I keep hearing there is no gag rule except regarding private personnel information. Yet the host of "City Watch" was suspended and one episode purged from the archives when he expressed his disapproval of Bernard's firing (I did not hear any private information mentioned on the bootleg recording available on other websites).
What of Bernard's firing?
If Bernard harassed staffers as some allege, why has no one gone public? Why weren't formal complaints filed? Why did nobody capture Bernard's misbehavior on an audio or video recording?
If Bernard misappropriated (doesn't that mean stole?) funds why haven't charges been filed? If someone steals from WBAI they are not only stealing from WBAI and Pacifica, but from the supporters of the station.

Something else that strikes me as odd.
For some time fundraisers have failed to meet their goal, yet miraculously this latest fundraiser, the first under the new management not only met, but exceeded the goal. Hmm, Ms Williams and others contend that weak station programming turned off potential donors. Yet this last fundraiser happened early in the new regime, before any noticeable on air changes.
Was the old management stealing donations? Is the new management rigging the fundraiser to look good?
Was Bernard and friends running the station for their personal gain? Is the new regime a front for Steve Brown's effort to turn the station into a channel to push his products?

WBAI listeners are taught to be suspicious, to look for hidden agendas, to distrust those who withhold information.
I don't entirely agree with Bernard's argument but I understand it.
Williams and company have so far done a poor job of gaining the trust of this and I believe many other listeners.

Secrecy may help in legal battles but it will loose the war for listener dollars and (LSB) votes.

PS Why aren't all LSB meetings videoed and viewable online?

A lot of questions; I will TRY to answer.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Here we are, Bernard and crew are gone and there should be a new era of openness and harmony - but is that so?..."

There are not as many people gone as JUC would have you believe, and they have not all left for the same reasons.

For example,

"Don DeBar writes that he has 'actually been banned and fired by
WBAI.' In actuality, he quit the station in a huff even though
management told him explicitly that they were continuing his regular
reports from Westchester and other projects."

"He also had written that Mimi Rosenberg had been fired from WakeUp
call. In actuality, Mimi has been given the job of 'labor reporter'
for WakeUp Call, appears there in that capacity on a regular basis
and also continues to do her own show, Building Bridges, with Ken Nash..."

[posted to one or more "Green" lists by Mitchel Cohen]


Ayo Harrington had ALREADY been laid off as "premium non-mailer" by former GM, Anthony Riddle, long ago.

Anthony Riddle was removed from his GM position, but has been transferred to a different job, working on development projects for WBAI.

Most of the people whose tenure as broadcasters depended on fealty to Bernard are still there, and they are MANY.

Ken Nash, for example, will again try to use his role in the "shadow" company-union "USOC" to determine who is allowed to vote for staff representatives to the LSB -- as he managed to do in past elections.

Even so, the atmosphere at 120 Wall Street has improved, and the animosity you see chiefly fueled by weekly rallies and demonstrations (including picketing the station) by JUC supplemented by the troops of the WWP front, ANSWER, supplemented by numerous online efforts.

The animosity will continue and indeed intensify as we move towards the LSB elections, because the people desperate to "take back" what they consider to be "their" station see no other option, and have managed to inflame the passions of a lot of rank and file members who truly believe that there is a racist conspiracy to deprive them of a progressive radio voice.

JUST A LISTENER: "...I listened the the 'Talk to the Listeners' and frankly thought Ms Williams sounded as if she were trained in the Dick Cheney School of Governance. She had a curt 'my way or the highway' attitude toward some of the callers..."

I am reminded of the fable of a young mouse returning from a venture into the barnyard reporting of seeing a frightening monster, all red and shiny and making harsh noises but then finding a reassuringly soft & fuzzy gray-furred potential friend who seemed to want to play. Dear foolish one, mouse-mother said: the first one was a rooster, who would not harm you, but the other is a cat, a deadly enemy.

Bernard has a purring radio voice (albeit HE has been known to cut people off, and to vilify absent listeners by name). LaVarn means business and may be impatient with those who are misusing such calls or mis-stating facts -- I would have to know the details of the exchange to comment further.

JUST A LISTENER: "...I keep hearing there is no gag rule except regarding private personnel information..."

That is not exactly it: the prohibition is chiefly against defamatory comments about ANY individual not present with access to the mic for a reply. Bernard and side-kick Errol Maitland have been notorious for doing this.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Yet the host of 'City Watch' was suspended and one episode purged from the archives when he expressed his disapproval of Bernard's firing (I did not hear any private information mentioned on the bootleg recording available on other websites)..."

If the recording was complete, it would have included his bad-mouthing specific individuals, including one who IS A CANDIDATE FOR RE-ELECTION TO THE LSB. This was a clear violation of very explicit Fair Campaign rules. Consequently, the penalty was imposed by the Local Election Supervisor, who is independent, answerable only to the National Election Supervisor, and cannot be instructed or constrained by Pacifica management, national or local.

JUST A LISTENER: "...What of Bernard's firing? If Bernard harassed staffers as some allege, why has no one gone public?..."

They have. Most famously, Interim GM Indra Hardat at the PNB meeting in L.A. (2006). Mike Feder complained of being harassed. Other examples are out there.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Why weren't formal complaints filed? Why did nobody capture Bernard's misbehavior on an audio or video recording?..."

You could say that Indra's complaint, as IGM speaking to the PNB, was formal.

A complaint was filed (a police complain, I think) about one of his foot-soldiers (Cerene Roberts), who was subsequently banned from the premises for 9 months.

As for audio or video recording... aw, c'mon -- you've watched too many episodes of Mission Impossible. Compact (hidden) recording devices are not cheap, WBAI staff are not wealthy, and how many devices would have to be carried 24/7 to catch the right moment? Harassment can be accomplished by very subtle gestures, words, facial expressions, etc. in situations where one person has all the power and the other person is vulnerable.

JUST A LISTENER: "...If Bernard misappropriated (doesn't that mean stole?) funds why haven't charges been filed? If someone steals from WBAI they are not only stealing from WBAI and Pacifica, but from the supporters of the station..."

As I have tried to explain before, at the time he was caught doing this, his protectors were solidly in power. Even if local management WANTED to file charges, Pacifica national would have ensured that would be the local manager's last act as a Pacifica employee.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Something else that strikes me as odd. For some time fundraisers have failed to meet their goal, yet miraculously this latest fundraiser, the first under the new management not only met, but exceeded the goal. Hmm, Ms Williams and others contend that weak station programming turned off potential donors. Yet this last fundraiser happened early in the new regime, before any noticeable on air changes..."

Many people stated publicly that they were resuming donations (or resuming former high amounts) because news of the management change gave them HOPE for improvement. It may be also that the message FINALLY sank in (even the JUC had to admit it after denying it for many years) that WBAI was in deep, deep, deep financial trouble.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Was the old management stealing donations?..."

One of the things we are trying to determine in our lawsuit (I am one plaintiff) is the reason why so many members failed to get ballots in the last election. It may be that many pledge cards were "lost", either systematically (Cerene Roberts handled many of them and knew who would be likely to vote how, based on the programs during which they called in pledges) or just randomly -- i.e. by careless handling.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Is the new management rigging the fundraiser to look good?..."

The pledge cards are there. It's easy to tear up good ones and hard to write phony ones in large numbers. The truth will out in the FULFILLMENT rate.


STILL A LISTENER: "...Was Bernard and friends running the station for their personal gain?..."

In my opinion, yes. This belief can be supported by evidence such as an on-air fund-raiser actually LOSING money (i.e. more "expenses" than revenue), and others for which itemized accounting of expenses & revenue has been missing or with-held. It can be supported by one Bernard mutual-protector GM having equipment purchased for WBAI sent elsewhere. It can be supported by people using office space and/or equipment for their own private enterprises [re office space: see front page of http://takeFORWARDwbai.org ]

JUST A LISTENER: "...Is the new regime a front for Steve Brown's effort to turn the station into a channel to push his products?.."

Excuse me while I clear the milk out of my nostrils (too funny for me to resist a spasmodic laugh). Steve Brown has relatively little influence over what any of us do or say, locally or nationally. I don't know that much about his finances, but I doubt that he needs or wants to earn more money. WBAI would lose its non-profit status and license if it were used to hawk commercial items. The usual story is that he wants to control programming to advance Zionism or some such crap.

Incidentally, Bernard recruited one "alternate health" broadcaster who can be said to be pushing his "products" and whose family is (in effect) paying for these "infomercials".


JUST A LISTENER: "...WBAI listeners are taught to be suspicious, to look for hidden agendas, to distrust those who withhold information..."

This sometimes goes to an extreme, of course. "Conspiracy theories" are big sellers a WBAI. However, what information do you feel is being withheld in the current situation? If I can provide it or find someone who can, I will.

STILL A LISTENER: "...I don't entirely agree with Bernard's argument but I understand it..."

I can "understand" it also, having seen it used repeatedly to divert attention from real issues. I have even had the "argument" turned on me: when I criticized a committee chair's absurdly incompetent screw-up of planning for a Town Hall meeting, I was told that I had a "melanin deficiency disease".

JUST A LISTENER: "...Williams and company have so far done a poor job of gaining the trust of this and I believe many other listeners..."

What would she have to do to gain your trust?

JUST A LISTENER: "...Secrecy may help in legal battles but it will loose the war for listener dollars and (LSB) votes..."

What "secrets" do you propose that LaVarn and others should reveal?

JUST A LISTENER: "...PS Why aren't all LSB meetings videoed and viewable online?"

Easy: there is no provision for doing that and no money for doing that. JUC has multiple video cameras in operation at every meeting, but use selected segments for widely-distributed propaganda. ONE person (Albert Solomon) does record entire sessions, un-edited, on his own volition, and makes them available online. However, he could scarcely afford the equipment & supplies, and has asked people to help defray costs. Try his website: http://pacvid1.com/page3.html and [because he is rather eccentric and does not organize the site in a way that facilitates communication] try emailing him, hobces (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I ask you a again Mr LeFever for the evidence .
Obviously your permitting Mr White to " continue talking about
"false allegations", as a test of his character," is more important than your responsibility to basic transparency at a public institution . Fair enough , let the voters decide.

If Mr White waved confidentiality would it not prejudice any case
he bought against you for unfair dismissal ? Hence insinuation to force his hand ? Or did Pacifica's lawyers advise you not to disclose it because his dismissal was illegal ?

Talk of Lawyers reminds me of the last coup ; when the network was liberated from a 'self selecting' PNB huge bills to expensive Washington law firms were discovered.

Mr Dingeman you wrote :
"SINCE MOST OF THE STATIONS FOR YEARS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY GETTING MONEY FROM CPB BASED ON HAVING A MAJORITY OF THEIR SENIOR STAFF AS MEMBERS OF MINORITIES
IT SHOULD BE NO SURPRISE THAT ANY FIRINGS WILL HAVE THESE FOLKS AS CASUALTIES.."

Why ? Because WBAI is in a financial black hole and doesn't need CPB funding anymore ? Does seniority , time of service or the specialized skills these employees bring to WBAI and Pacifica come into your argument ? Alternatively, were they there in your eyes solely to garner CPB money ? Maybe you have a more lucrative target audience in mind that would free you of the bothersome constraint ?

JustAlistner I think you are on the right track with your questions. I wouldn't trust the easy answers given to them by either faction , draw your own conclusions and question factionalism itself.

To quote Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez from their Letter to WBAI management, staff, listeners and supporters : ''A governance structure that was meant to assure greater democracy turned out to breed greater factionalism.'' What is Pacifica's aim ? To make great radio that "gives a voice to the voiceless" and empowers communities that are diverse but recognize their bonds or set up a miniature government in a perpetual state of civil war ?

G.F.: "...I ask you again Mr LeFever for the evidence.."

Moments after Bernard answers "yes" or "no", I will present the documentation by which one can judge the validity of his answer.

Thank you Frank and G.F for your responses.
I'm going to throw out a few quick thoughts.

Phew! I've done some poking around online and do see a transcript from a PNB meeting where Indra Hardat and another staffer (not sure I remember his name so I won't give a name) discuss being abused (they did not name names). Paul Ashby also publicly complained of abuse.
Frankly it's weird - WBAI staffers were publicly complaining of physical threats and actual attacks and other than one staffer being suspended nothing was done!!!! This at the "Peace and Justice" progressive station - yes, I suppose Bernard's faction controlled much of the staff, but where was everyone else? Where were the producers who were on the air then and still on now? Everyone sat around complaining about the US abusing prisoners, Israel abusing Palestinians, corporations abusing their workers and meanwhile their stationmates are being attacked without a publicly visible protest (if any).

Frank: "Compact (hidden) recording devices are not cheap"
It's not the 1960's (when "Mission Impossible" aired) almost any cell phone would do the job.

Frank: "Bernard has a purring radio voice"
Something we probably all could agree on! I did enjoy listening to his voice. Of course I have serious doubts about the way the station ran when Bernard was there but I'm focusing on those running the station now because they are a less known quantity and I can only judge them by the way they are running things now.

G.F: "To quote Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez from their Letter to WBAI management, staff, listeners and supporters ..."
It's tough to convince people that Bernard and JUC are a bunch of nutty self serving nogoodniks when they pick up the Daily News and see Amy Goodman supporting Bernard.

So today i listened to "City Watch" (Wed 10:00am - check the archives) and instead of the show, it's Grace Aaron, Levar Williams and the WBAI and National election managers. Oh good I thought, an opportunity for them to explain election rules and why DiFazio was suspended (BTW I agree that calling Mr Cohen and Brown "false leftists" is a violation of the rules).
But no, it was just a cheery pitch for people to consider running for the LSB.
Did they inform City Watch listeners why the show isn't on, and will it be on next week? - No.
Did they leave me with a sense that they are committed to an open debate among LSB candidates and all views will be aired (within the rules) - No.
In fact, if the election supervisors are suposed to be independent it was inappropriate for them to be on the program with Ms Aaron and Williams (whose legitimacy is being challenged). Listen to the show and tell me there isn't an Orwellian feel to it (hear the way WBAI's election manager shut a caller down even though the national manager wanted to answer him).

Bernard and JUC may be as bad as claimed, but this new bunch is way off on the wrong foot.

(Early) Wed morning Bill Weinberg (Moorish Ortho Radio Crusade) made a call for management clarity regarding whether Bernard and Ayo Harrington are banned from the station.
He also offered to use his show's airtime for a debate between members of the two factions who are not running for the LSB (to avoid election rule conflicts).
He specifically proposed a debate between Vajra Kilgor, Ray LaForest and Kathy Davis, Alex Steinberg.

I think this is a big step in the right direction and hope it happens.
Shine a light on the thing - warts and all.

JUST A LISTENER: "...G.F: "To quote Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez from their Letter to WBAI management, staff, listeners and supporters ..."
It's tough to convince people that Bernard and JUC are a bunch of nutty self serving nogoodniks when they pick up the Daily News and see Amy Goodman supporting Bernard..."

Yes. Tough job. Not very many voters know the intricate history of shifting alliances that resulted in Amy's getting sweetheart deal to get paid for distributing back to Pacifica a program which originated at WBAI and Bernard's being restored to his management position.


JUST A LISTENER: "...So today i listened to 'City Watch' (Wed 10:00am - check the archives) and instead of the show, it's Grace Aaron, Levar [LaVarn] Williams and the WBAI and National election managers. Oh good I thought, an opportunity for them to explain election rules and why DiFazio was suspended..."

I think this was part of the Election supervisor's planned schedule of on-air education about the election process, and especially the need to complete procedures to qualify as a voter (easy) or a candidate (complicated) before the deadline, not an ad hoc broadcast to address specific decisions -- which might, indeed, be seen as adversely affecting DiFazio's right to endorse candidates off-air.

JUST A LISTENER: "...But no, it was just a cheery pitch for people to consider running for the LSB..."

I think this is a stated priority of the Election Supervisors: to increase participation and provide genuine competition. I believe there have been elections at other stations where the number of candidates was scarcely more than the number of vacancies. At this point in time, the ES does not know how many people will actually follow through and file formally.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Did they inform City Watch listeners why the show isn't on, and will it be on next week? - No..."

Normally, this is the job of the announcer, at the break between programs. If he did not do this, that was a slip-up. There will be many programs "pre-empted" in the coming weeks, to provide on-air candidate forums at various times of day.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Did they leave me with a sense that they are committed to an open debate among LSB candidates and all views will be aired (within the rules) - No..."

I don't know what your "intuition" is drawing from. "They" are, properly, only the Local and the national Election Supervisors: they are the ones who arrange open debate, and do so in a way that gives equal opportunity to each candidate. This is not the job of management.

The co-operation of station management is important, however; at some stations, in past elections, management has not co-operated. For example, at one station, recordings of brief candidate statements (of a minute or two, I think) were to have been broadcast throughout the campaign period. The PD or GM (I forget which) played THE ENTIRE SET of statements, without interruption, and always in the same order (of course) with a candidate that manager favored (because she was protective of management) always at the beginning. Others have refused to pre-empt regular programs so that candidate debates can be broadcast.

JUST A LISTENER: "...In fact, if the election supervisors are supposed to be independent it was inappropriate for them to be on the program with Ms Aaron and Williams (whose legitimacy is being challenged)..."

It was proper for management to show that they supported the Election Supervisor's efforts to increase participation in the election. I have no doubt that the ES invited them to be on the broadcast. In other words, it was not the ES appearing on their program: they were appearing on HIS program.

Their legitimacy is NOT in doubt: they have been appointed by the authority of the board of directors which has ultimate legal responsibility for what is done ANYWHERE in Pacifica. It was important to show that management supported the election process (management often shows contempt for the LSB). If he had excluded them from the broadcast, THAT would have sent a message that he favored those who "challenge" the legitimacy of lawful and orderly Pacifica management decisions, and thereby favored the JUC "the back" candidates.


JUST A LISTENER: "...Listen to the show and tell me there isn't an Orwellian feel to it (hear the way WBAI's election manager shut a caller down even though the national manager wanted to answer him)..."

I suppose I will have to listen to the archive to see what the dialogue was. Seems to me it would be more Orwellian if the National ES countermanded a decision by the Local ES. The local ES is undoubtedly more familiar with local controversies and may have seen a slippery slope the national ES didn't see.

JUST A LISTENER: "...Bernard and JUC may be as bad as claimed, but this new bunch is way off on the wrong foot."

Sorry you perceive it that way. What would they have to do to change your perception of them and what they are doing or not doing now?

The JUC (on the board and in the audience) were so disruptive at the LSB meeting last night that Ethan Young (the Local Election Supervisor) was not able to report orally or answer questions, but he did leave copies of a written report, which I append here. It includes a reference to the pre-emption of City Watch for the 1-hour election special program:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Local Election Supervisor report to LSB meeting, 7/8/09

Campaign update:
We have been notified of at least 10 potential listener-member candidates, and 1 staff candidate. We have received only one completed package (signatures, statement, questionnaire, etc.) from a potential candidate. As in previous elections, we expect a flood of paperwork at the last minute (July 15). All eligible LSB members who intend to run are urged to get their paperwork in as soon as possible.

Campaign Fairness Provisions:
All staff have received a copy of the CFP in their station mailbox. They should be signed and returned to the Local Election Supervisor's mailbox. Any staff who can't get to their mailbox can download and print a copy from wbai.org.

Signature get-togethers:
We had tables at Vox Pop in Brooklyn on 7/4, and Bluestockings downtown on 7/5. We hope to have more before the deadline; negotiations are in progress. We will announce any meetings on the air.

Carts and tutorials:
We have run carts by several producers and have a tutorial on tape for use in the next few days. Producers are encouraged to run these as often as possible. Today's City Watch was pre-empted for an hour-long election special.

After July 15:
Nominees and signators will be vetted to ensure they are eligible. Candidate statements will be posted on wbai.org and recorded for broadcast. Ballots and pamphlets with candidate statements will be printed, to be sent to members on August 29. Statements will be aired on a strict equal-time basis.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What do you think?


http://whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

Hello WBAI Listeners!

Do you have questions about what is going on at WBAI? In an attempt to address listener's concerns, the Take Back WBAI Coalition has created a series of videos in which Bernard White answers questions submitted by listeners.

There are currently 6 segments available, which address the following topics: Politics and Intellect, Premiums, Finances, Infighting?, Pacifica Network, and Untruths.

Click: http://takebackwbai.org/

Please watch any or all videos that address your specific concerns. More to come!

Thanks for listening!

Do Bernard's video cameo appearances include one in which he answers THIS question?

"Have you ever mis-allocated WBAI funds?"

Or this question?

"Will you authorize disclosure of the proceedings of the executive session of the LSB that resulted in a negative evaluation of your performance as Program Director?"

Mr LeFever ,
"Moments after Bernard answers "yes" or "no", I will present the documentation by which one can judge the validity of his answer." Justice delayed is justice denied.Your stipulation that Mr White answer the question when you CLAIM to have secret evidence is McCarthyite ; the burden of proof is upon you.

Do you have evidence that Mr White mis-allocated funds ? Have you launched legal action to recoup the funds? If not why not ? You alone would not be privy to this information. Please list all those who have seen it so we can ask them about your insinuations.

What Mr Fever is your personal position regarding Gary Null returning to WBAI's airwaves?

Frank,

I was just going over the roster of WBAI LSB members and I see that you are not a member of the board. So, I'm wondering if there was some discussion in this illegal, secret, closed session board meeting that led to the firing of Mr. White regarding the theft of funds, how did you get a copy of the proceedings? How do you know what was discussed in this closed session meeting?

I also read some thing written by Mr. White where he stated specifically the reasons given to him by LaVarn Williams as to the reasons he was terminated. Neither of the two reasons he gave contain your allegations. Why should anyone believe you and not LaVarn Williams? Was she lying Frank? Is she a liar? After all the termination letter is a legal document and the only statement that will stand up in court as to the reasons for White's termination .

What gives here?

Are trying to pull a fast one on us Frank?

Are you running some private campaign?

Why should anyone listen to you?

ENLIGHTENED: "I was just going over the roster of WBAI LSB members and I see that you are not a member of the board. So, I'm wondering if there was some discussion in this illegal, secret, closed session board meeting that led to the firing of Mr. White regarding the theft of funds, how did you get a copy of the proceedings? How do you know what was discussed in this closed session meeting?..."

Good work, Enlightened! I respect people who do their research (being a researcher -- in neuroscience -- myself).

HOWEVER:

(1) Of these 3 descriptors, "illegal, secret, closed session board meeting", two are redundant ("closed session" and "secret"), and the other is false. Closed ("executive") sessions are specifically provided for in Pacifica governance, and are MANDATORY when confidential personnel matters are discussed.

(2) I do not know WHAT was discussed at that meeting. I have no idea whether mis-allocation of funds was included [n.b. "theft" is your term, not mine]

ENLIGHTENED: "...I also read some thing written by Mr. White where he stated specifically the reasons given to him by LaVarn Williams as to the reasons he was terminated. Neither of the two reasons he gave contain your allegations..."

(1) These are the reasons that LaVarn made public as the basis for HER decision.

(2) Whether these are the only reasons for the RECOMMENDATION by the LSB is a matter of speculation.

(3) There is no requirement that the LSB and the GM agree on details: it suffices that they agree on the action to be taken (retention or dismissal).

ENLIGHTENED: "...Why should anyone believe you and not LaVarn Williams? Was she lying Frank? Is she a liar? After all the termination letter is a legal document and the only statement that will stand up in court as to the reasons for White's termination..."

If she saw those reasons as sufficient for dismissal, there is no need for her to add other reasons. Whether other reasons strengthened her resolve, I have no way of knowing.

ENLIGHTENED: "...What gives here? Are trying to pull a fast one on us Frank? Are you running some private campaign? Why should anyone listen to you?"

Bernard is trying to portray his dismissal as part of a nation-wide racist conspiracy directed against local autonomy, free speech, and progressive broadcasting. I am trying to get people to question that and see what insiders at WBAI see: tawdry self-serving efforts to hold on to a feudal domain controlled by patronage and access to station resources for personal gain.

ENLIGHTENED: "...how did you get a copy of the proceedings? How do you know what was discussed in this closed session meeting?..."

I did get a copy of proceedings of a PREVIOUS executive session. Bernard surely must know this, otherwise he would have answered very simply, "no, I never mis-allocated WBAI funds."

I also know (from my work in the Finance committee) of at least one (in house, on air) fund-raiser by one of his cronies that had expenses EXCEEDING revenues, and numerous others for which no itemized accounting of expenses OR revenue could be obtained; and of a hge budget over-run of un-named "consultants" whose services, dates of service, or individual fees could not be identified.

And there is also the matter of rent-free office space for somebody's private enterprises:
http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/whohasarentfreewbai.html

Frank,

When did these things allegedly happen?

Why isn't the finance committee making these claims?

I thought only the Station Managers can hire and fire paid staff?

How could Bernard be held responsible if in fact a private enterprise had space in WBAI?

Why would the last five Station Managers let a private enterprise exist in the station?

Would each of them jeopardize their employment to allow this to go on under their watch?

Were they all corrupt too?????

What you are saying just doesn't make much sense.

You seem to be dumping a lot on Bernard's table that was not a part of his area of responsibility and that all of the five station managers allowed this to happen without ever reporting it to the board or the Finance Committee.

I find that extremely difficult to believe. It just doesn't make sense.

You've answered all my questions but you have used nonsensical responses. I find this to be very insulting to my intelligence.

This is a childish tactic that is not worthy of the truth teller you purport to be.

As Bernard has said you should "be better than that."

ENLIGHTENED: "What you are saying just doesn't make much sense..."

I can understand your consternation. A lot of things "don't make sense" if your experience has not included the context in which they DO make sense. Didn't make sense to me as a child that a boat made of reinforced concrete or metal could float. Didn't make sense to millions of people to say that the earth wasn't "flat".

To do some catch-up work on the context in which these paradoxical WBAI phenomena make sense, do some preliminary reading on the PACIFICA "Big Picture": http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/thebigpicture.html

ENLIGHTENED: "...When did these things allegedly happen?..."

Various things happened at various times, but the thing Bernard dares not deny publicly happened in the fall of 2003.

ENLIGHTENED: "...Why isn't the finance committee making these claims?..."

Here are some early Finance Committee discussions:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wbailsbfinance/message/209
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wbailsbfinance/message/285
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wbailsbfinance/message/312

Scroll to earlier and later messages to get a fuller picture.

[NOTE: at the time, the public was NOT allowed to see any Finance Committee messages, only in the past year have we had a Treasurer (R. Paul Martin) who agreed with me that the list should be publicly accessible.]

ENLIGHTENED: "...I thought only the Station Managers can hire and fire paid staff?..."

In theory, yes. However, people on the scene know that Bernard has always called the shots. His most spectacular act of insubordination was his over-riding his nominal superior (iGM Indra Hardat) in a physically menacing way when she dared negotiate a deal for Gary Null to return for a "farewell" broadcast after Bernard kicked him out. He "asked" iGM Adams to give himself responsibility for Premiums (non-)Mailing and promptly hired Ayo Harrington (who had managed a secret "evaluation" of Bernard's performance).

As you can see in early Finance Committee exchanges, we never were able to identify the "consultants" that were hired.

ENLIGHTENED: "...How could Bernard be held responsible if in fact a private enterprise had space in WBAI? Why would the last five Station Managers let a private enterprise exist in the station? Would each of them jeopardize their employment to allow this to go on under their watch?..."

Read http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/thebigpicture.html now, if you haven't read it already, or read it again if you have. The Power Structure was such that their jobs would have been jeopardized if they penalized Bernard in any way.

ENLIGHTENED: "...Were they all corrupt too?????..."

Well, let's just say that at the time of the mis-allocation I have alluded to, Don Rojas was GM. He was not in a very good position to discipline Bernard because (1) he had abandoned his station during this period without making arrangements for supervision, and (2) he mis-allocated WBAI resources himself, most notably when he had $65,000 of equipment purchased "for WBAI" sent to his father's address in NJ. Bernard rode rough-shod over Indra Hardat, she was the obvious target of Bernard protectors on the national level (as well as JUC locally) and her own fall-back job (Financial Officer) was insecure. Robert Scott Adams was a recovering(?) substance abuser and internet sex-trash blogger who was in what was essentially a temp job (iGM) and no place to go afterwards.

Indra DID succeed in some minor reforms in the handling of the WBAI cash-cow: she insisted that NUMBERED TICKETS be used for the cash-only door fees for WBAI's "Pier Parties", to allow SOME accounting of revenues.

ENLIGHTENED: "...You seem to be dumping a lot on Bernard's table that was not a part of his area of responsibility and that all of the five station managers allowed this to happen without ever reporting it to the board or the Finance Committee. I find that extremely difficult to believe. It just doesn't make sense...."

Yes, in a normal organization with normal safe-guards it would not make sense. It makes sense only if you understand how entrenched management and staff at each (or almost all) Pacifica stations colluded with each other to maintain control of their own private turfs.

I'll give you examples of the kind of people we're dealing with:

Sherry Gendelman (KPFA, former chair of the PNB and former iED of Pacifica), a lawyer KNOWN to have (1) lied to a client, (2) failed to prepare for a hearing (to the disadvantage of the client), and (3) misled the court.

Dan Siegel: as General Counsel advised EDs to ignore more than one law, and as iED ignoring it himself -- as well as intervening in LSB elections on behalf of turf-protectors (including the JUC).

Lonnie Hicks: as CFO, tried to obtain signature privileges for a WBAI bank account for a former ED (Dan Coughlin) AFTER that ED was already out of office.

ENLIGHTENED: "...You've answered all my questions but you have used nonsensical responses. I find this to be very insulting to my intelligence..."

"Nonsensical" is in the mind of the beholder (or the bewildered, or simply uninformed).

ENLIGHTENED: "...This is a childish tactic that is not worthy of the truth teller you purport to be..."

Like Socrates, I hope to goad you into asking enough questions until you manage to educate yourself.

COMING UP SOON: similarities between Ron Pinchback and Bernard other than the "racial" one that is all Bernard sees; also, what the new auditor found, compared with what the old auditor found.

For a better view of who th guy is refer to the website: http://whoisstevebrown.info/

Steve Brown is a prominent member of the Local Station Board (LSB) of WBAI 99.5FM in New York. He is currently running for reelection and is a leader of the Alliance for Community Elections (ACE), which has endorsed 8 other board candidates.

Steve Brown is also a multi-millionaire with a history of being one of the biggest direct mail marketers in the US. According to the Seattle Times, at one point Steve Brown claimed to be responsible for four percent of all the junk mail in the country. According to the New York Times, in 1986 alone he earned $500,000 in salary and up to $13 million in dividends.

Steve Brown's Direct Mail Career
The businesses Steve Brown owned engaged in questionable practices that caused the Attorneys General of seven states, including New York, to step in. They "investigated, filed suit or forced the company to halt various business practices." (NYT) The Times notes that "The F.T.C. in 1986 issued a consent decree under which Raffoler [one of Brown's business names], without admitting guilt, paid a $150,000 penalty and agreed not to violate mail order rules."

In 1988, "Elizabeth Bradford, an assistant attorney general, said last summer in a complaint filed in State Supreme Court, ''Having shown themselves incapable of making an honest sale or a consistently timely delivery, they should not be permitted to conduct any further mail order business in the state of New York.'' (NYT) According to Crain's, "In January [1992], DME [Direct Marketing Enterprises, another business name of Brown's] settled a five-year-old lawsuit with the New York state attorney general. DME, while admitting no guilt, agreed to changes in advertising, complaint resolution and its refund procedures. It also paid the state $175,000 in investigation costs."

For more detailed info: A NY Times exposé on Steve Brown's mail-order business practicesCrain's New York Business on complaints against Steve Brown's companyThe Seattle Times on Steve Brown's marketing to the gullibleUPI on Steve Brown's settlement with the NY State Attorney General Crain's on a canceled IPO and a Post Office probeMisc. articles about complaints and legal actions against Steve Brown's companies Steve Brown's $7 million French chateauA bibliography of articles referencedWBAI LSB disassociates itself from public comments of Steve BrownVideo: Behind Steve Brown's Fabulous Wealth

Brown's company's plan to go public was scuttled -- in part because investors' confidence was shaken by a US Postal Service probe. "Investors apparently won't get their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy stock in Direct Marketing Enterprises Ltd., the Long Island mail-order company known for its low-priced, hyperbolically promoted merchandise." (Crain's)

Incidentally, Steve Brown also owns an 18th century French Chateau, called Chateau des Thons, on sale for $7 million, which had been disassembled in France and brought to the US and reconstructed in Long Island.
Steve Brown's Controversial Actions in the WBAI Community

At WBAI Steve Brown has been a member of a group that has opposed affirmative action in the governance of Pacifica, and has attacked and vilified progressive African American Program Director Bernard White. The attacks have been on a number of fronts. Brown has regularly exaggerated, distorted and even fabricated stories about the program director and has used e-mail for the last several years to spread the stories.
Steve Brown has issued clear, unequivocal calls to turn the station's main focus away from oppressed communities and in the direction of serving the white middle class -- the same kind of audience that NPR and Air America already serve. In 2003 on a public email list he wrote: "... There is not just 'one' WBAI audience -- but 'two.' The first of these audiences, we have always sought to attract -- it comprises the voiceless, the downtrodden, and the oppressed. But we must be careful not to indulge in an orgy of misguided nobility and political correctness by convincing ourselves that this should be our ONLY audience, or even our 'main' audience."
Steve Brown has relentlessly used racist and violent imagery to attack Black station staff. At one point after making unsubstantiated charges against Bernard White, Brown wrote: "If you were there, you should have been at her [Interim General Manager Indra Hardat's] side whacking Bernard with a baseball bat and then calling the police." At another point he wrote: "One witness describes coming to the station these days as like living in the South Bronx, where rival gangs are shooting at each other and all you can do is keep your head down to keep from getting beaten up, knifed, or shot." This is not only a patently and outrageously false depiction of the station, it is also designed to play on the racial fears of white people.

What Does This Mean for the WBAI Elections?

Steve Brown is the leader of ACE, the Alliance for Community Elections. ACE is the 2006 makeover of List-Prog, the 2004 slate in which he also played a leading role. List-Prog members discarded the name following widespread criticism of their role in pushing out Don Rojas, the General Manager of WBAI, attempts to remove Program Director Bernard White, and an attempt to remove Father Lawrence Lucas from the WBAI Local Station Board after he became hospitalized, saying he had "unexcused absences."
Steve Brown brings to WBAI the kind of tactics that made him a wealthy but legally embattled king of the direct mail business. And now WBAI is paying the price.



http://whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

After "Enlightened" posts a series of apparently sincere and "indignant" challenges requiring me to provide details, I provide details which SOMEBODY using the name "Enlightened" immediately tries to bury:

Heeere's Stevie
by Enlightened
Monday Jul 13th, 2009 7:43 PM

Same old smokescreen Bernard's gang always resorts to, same old demon to divert attention from Bernard's record.

Bytheway:
(1) "Enlightened" is not very well-informed about who is running for re-election and who is not.
(2) As you can see by my messages to IndyMedia (http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/05/105526.html ) and elsewhere, I and others have been encouraging EVERYBODY independent of JUC to file as candidates. The independent movement is much bigger than Steve Brown -- and is independent of him.

Now, let's get back to something REALLY relevant, examining Bernard's mis-allocation of WBAI funds and the misdeeds of his protectors.

Just thought I'd drop in to let you know about this important event.

THE COALITION TO TAKE BACK WBAI
The Action for Justice Committee
The Anti-Racism Team & Resistance Cinema

PRESENTS: T I M W I S E

“PROGRESSIVE LEFT MEDIA AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM”
Thursday, July 23
6:30-9:00 pm

Tim Wise is one of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation." — Michael Eric Dyson, best-selling author and University of Pennsylvania professor

Community updates on the purge at WBAI and throughout Pacifica

BERNARD WHITE: Fired Program Director of WBAI
LESLIE RADFORD: National Board Member from KPFK, Los Angeles FERNANDO VELASQUEZ: Fired KPFK News Director, Executive Producer of Informativo Pacifica, Pacifica's daily Spanish language news program
LAWRENCE REYES: KPFK Member and Community Activist
and others...

The Community Church of New York
40 E. 35th St. (bet. Park & Madison Aves.) Manhattan (#6 Train to 33rd St.)
Admission Free….Donations will be accepted.
Tim Wise’s books will be available for purchase.
For more information, call: 212-561-7231

Should be a nice program on the eve of the PNB meeting. Hopefully Cynthia McKinney will attend the PNB to tell her story of dealings with the Steve Brown/Grace Aaron administration.

Although this guy Frank has been assigned to give everyone who reads his stuff the impression that this is about me, after the PNB weekend it will have become clear for all to see that this is by no means, about me. It's about the theft of the network.

Come out and hear for yourself and come to your own conclusions.


http://www.livestream.com/wbaix
http://www.takebackwbai.org/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/takebackwbaiorg/89438391508

(1) Nobody "assigns" me to do ANYTHING.

(2) I'll acknowledge Bernard's expertise regarding "theft".

Go ahead: pull out the Big Bad Steve Brown smokescreen again!

speaking of theft

has anyone seen
the wbai cameras
the MLK DVDs, the midnight Ravers DVD
The results of the money paid for premium distribution to a contract agency
the box of "premium books" now missing from the premium office
the on air results of many long distance calls particularly to Jamaca, the Island
the source, reason for WBAI conference calls after 9pm
Xerox paper used to xerox JUC and Mumia flyers
the equiptment taken from WBAI via hired truck and by paid staff later retrieved in WBAI assigned locker
all this without mention of the "pier party" cash cows
need I go on?

The real reasons for JUC's front group (the "take back" movement) and the damage it is doing to Pacifica:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/20/18611770.php

I was VERY disappointed to learn Ron had left WPFW.

The thing about Ron is when he came along I was skeptical, PFW had been having some problems and when he came along he really improved things. The station markedly elevated from a Jazz station to a living interactive source of information.

I miss Ron because he was good for the station.

But when I got to know Ron in the few brief personal actions I had with him, he showed me a sense of humility, warmth and compassion for others that is just unheard of elsewhere in the media.

Ron deserved to retire with Pacifica, and I will plan on being very upset if I dont receive a great explanation for his removal.

>_<

I've taken some time to view the Bernard interview vids on the "TakeBack" site, to read Frank's summary of his view at the link he posted above, to listen to the LSB report on July 9th and to mull things over.

Personally I listen to the station because of programs that I like. I started donating to the station when the archive site went up because it allowed me to listen to programs I rarely heard (eg. "Weaponry"). I felt the station deserved my support in return for the information/entertainment I received even though I have strong disagreements with many of the political views aired.

Generally I find the politics at WBAI/Pacifica to be part of the entertainment (the wacky Left thinks it has a better way to run the country but they can't even run a tiny non-profit radio network!) but as a member I do feel some responsibility to use my vote to help the station/network survive.

So we come to the current schizm.
As I've previously mentioned, it boils down to whether Bernard and crew are well meaning community minded good guys who saved the station in the 2000 coup or are corrupt thieves who used thuggish tactics to retain power.

This is not an internal station management matter - because of the listener finance and governance structure this is more of a political campaign. The sides have to present their arguments to the public.

JUC/Bernard White have done a good job so far. They are also starting from a stronger base - Bernard worked for the station for many years and was suddenly removed with a tenuous official explanation. Well known personalities such as Amy Goodman has given support.

The current management may be totally correct and have the station's best interests at heart, but so far their behaviour has not effectively supported their case. They are the new faces, the unknown quantity and need to work harder to gain trust.

Frank, the best thing would be greater transparency.
I pointed out how poorly Bill DiFazio's (CityWatch) suspension was handled - the show was preempted with no explanation to the listeners (Frank, it's usually TalkBack that's preempted for station specials and the hosts (including Lavarn Williams) always thank Hugh Hamilton for the time).
It will be interesting to see what happens to DiFazio after his "rant" this morning.

I pointed out that it was poor practice to have the "independent" election chairs on the air with the current management (Williams and Aaron) who are one one side of the split and should have stayed away (it could have been hosted by an announcer such as Michael Haskins).

And of course there is the fact that Bernard/JUC use to great effect - you can't accuse someone of great misdeeds (criminal acts really), claim you have proof and then show nothing. If you're worried about a libel suit, your online statements have probably been enough for him to get that going.
Yes I have seen enough to give me serious doubts about Bernard's innocence - Indra Hadat's complaint to the PNB, that some producers I like support the management change, but nobody's coming out and talking directly.
(How come there is no online interview with Hardat or other witnesses about Bernard's "reign of terror"?)

Lay it out and let the fur fly!

BTW I'd like to thank all those (on both sides) responding to this thread. It's a refreshingly civil discussion.

"You can't accuse someone of great misdeeds (criminal acts really), claim you have proof and then show nothing." Your right on but i don't think that's the point of the often repeated claims by Mr LeFever . I believe you have to contextualize his actions within what is happening. He's not going to say "They were decent people (White & Riddle etc)but we rolled them because we wanted power to be in the hands of our cronies." Is he ?

A still more timely reason for his insinuations is the LSB elections. Again he's not going to say " That I myself have asserted to have evidence against Mr White which I will not show to anyone else while making the claim over and over again begs belief .But if even one voter is swayed by my little untruth it's a win for me." That's called a smear campaign and demonstrates a clear contempt for the voters.

It reminds me of the last coup .Judge them by their actions , not their words.

Mr LeFever's claim of some kicking WBAI when it's down is a case in point. He's bad mouthed at least one program that airs on WBAI in this thread. Perhaps his own reprimands don't apply to him? Draw your own conclusions.

TRANSPARENT "GF" (JUC posing as "newcomer seeking answers"): "...Mr LeFever's claim of some kicking WBAI when it's down is a case in point. He's bad mouthed at least one program that airs on WBAI in this thread. Perhaps his own reprimands don't apply to him?..."

(1) This has been a long thread, and I don't recall "badmouthing" even one WBAI program (nevermind "at least one"). Perhaps "GF" would care to specify?

(2) I will never hesitate to criticize programs, and usually offer a balanced criticism (e.g. I value MORC for its very interesting mix of music we don't usually hear -- middle east, North African, Central America, etc. -- and interesting commentary on less-well covered social/political movements in those regions; but I give the host poor marks for his inability to dialogue with listeners who call in). However, this is far from attempting to discredit the entire elected governance and management of Pacifica by calling all of its actions "racist".

"GF" re TIMING: "...I believe you have to contextualize his actions within what is happening. He's not going to say 'They were decent people (White & Riddle etc)but we rolled them because we wanted power to be in the hands of our cronies.' Is he ?..."

Although I (very naively) welcomed the return of Bernard and the rest of the "fired and banned" several years ago, I learned enough about Bernard and other WBAI managers soon enough to want a house-cleaning years before I ever heard of Grace Aaron or LaVarne Williams, and scarcely knew others on the national scene even by name. [for some insight into the national scene and some names, see http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/thebigpicture.html and for some insight as to what I was learning at the local level, read the early archives (c. 2004-2005) of WBAI's Finance Committee, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wbailsbfinance -- who knows, you might even see something about mis-allocation of funds there!]

[NOTE re TRANSPARENCY: one of my fights from the beginning was to make Finance Committee archives readable by the public; JUC fought this. Is wasn't until R. Paul Martin became Treasurer that a Finance Committee chair agreed with me that this should be done.]

"GF": "...A still more timely reason for his insinuations is the LSB elections. Again he's not going to say ' That I myself have asserted to have evidence against Mr White which I will not show to anyone else while making the claim over and over again begs belief .But if even one voter is swayed by my little untruth it's a win for me.' That's called a smear campaign and demonstrates a clear contempt for the voters..."

Bernard's mis-allocations (in at least one case) were made public several years ago. I have explained why he got away with it then. Reminding people of this is timely now because his protectors have only recently been deprived of their ability to shield him from the consequences of his actions and his inactions.

As for Riddle: that is a more complex story. I had great hopes for Riddle and got a lot of flak for saying so. I have considerable compassion for him -- even though he has escaped firing and has been "bumped upstairs" to an easier Pacifica job. When I say easier, I have in mind the extraordinary hard work and long hours he put into his work as a GM, in sharp contrast to Bernard White's sloth and complacency. Unfortunately, JUC got to him very early (Ayo Harrington helped him get an apartment in her building) and he found their flattery more persuasive than our criticism.

With regard to : "TRANSPARENT "GF" (JUC posing as "newcomer seeking answers")" I'm sorry this reads like a drunken singles advert. Enlighten me with one of your fables and/or Socratic talking points... I'm guessing I hit a little close to the mark ; your insinuations are usually at least clearer.

"I will never hesitate to criticize programs," That much is true :

"Ken Nash, for example, will again try to use his role in the "shadow"
company-union "USOC" to determine who is allowed to vote for staff
representatives to the LSB -- as he managed to do in past elections."

"Bernard recruited one "alternate health" broadcaster who can be said
to be pushing his "products" and whose family is (in effect) paying
for these "infomercials"."

"Not very many voters know the intricate history of shifting alliances
that resulted in Amy's getting sweetheart deal to get paid for distributing back to Pacifica a program which originated at WBAI ."

These people are BROADCASTERS who produce amazing programs and should be celebrated not impugned.Yet you make them out to be backhanded schemers .Where is your "balance" here ? They deserve at the very least more respect than someone spreading insinuations on an internet forum , however "Socratic" their intentions may be.

Back to the smearing: "Bernard's mis-allocations (in at least one case) were made public several years ago. I have explained why he got away with it then." No you haven't ! Where is your evidence ? Why if it was made public do you yourself hold the information privately of his wrong doing and won't show anyone ? Why have you not produced the public evidence in this discussion ? Why won't you produce it after I've reminded you of your responsibility to do so? Mr LeFever your refusal to do so speaks louder than your initial allegation.

With regard to Mr Riddle you state he has been "bumped upstairs" to an easier Pacifica job." Was the "bump" offered similar to that offered to Valerie Van Isler ? NYTimes

Judge them by their actions , not their words.

I think some perspectives about events at KPFK and WPFW from listeners would be helpful in this discussion .There seem to be commonalities in what is happening at these two stations with what has occurred at WBAI. Lets put the pieces together.

Dear Friends and supporters,

I want to express my sincerest gratitude to those of you who attended the “Takeback WBAI Coalition” forum this past Thursday at the Community Church. You were part of an enthusiastic standing-room-only audience. Tim Wise was, as usual, exciting and informative as he deconstructed institutional racism in progressive left media. Tim was also able to draw parallels from the struggle at WBAI, Pacifica and so called progressive left media as it relates to the issue of systemic racism. We also heard from the fired Executive Director of Informativo, Fernando Velasquez and Lawrence Reyes community activist and observer of the KPFK experience. They were able to give us some primary source information about the actions of Grace Aaron at KPFK. Their testimonials illustrated the fact that what is happening at WBAI is not an isolated incident but part of a network wide purge of people of color.

Your presence was in stark contrast to the fund raising event that was held by the staff at WBAI a week earlier. Even though they were able to advertise the event incessantly over a two-week period they were only able to get thirty people to attend. About fifty percent of the thirty people in attendance were either WBAI staff members or non-paying friends of the performers. This is a clear example of their disconnection with community. If they were linked to community issues, struggles and culture they would have known that this program would not attract an audience. This is not an indictment of the quality of the performers that donated their time but it is an illustration of the lack of connection to community that the new leadership at WBAI shares in common.

Following Tim Wise’s presentation of Thursday the Takeback WBAI Coalition focused its efforts on the Pacifica Nation Board meeting that was held in Manhattan this weekend. The coalition took a very vocal, no-business-as usual stance and was able to successfully disrupt the meeting. Members of the coalition were able to confront members of the board majority over its violations of Pacifica’s bylaws, employment policies and their overt bigotry.

Having two very successful actions is not enough to turn this coup around. We have to continue to turn up the heat at every occasion. Our next opportunity to get their attention is the up-coming WBAI fund drive. The major question that we must grapple with is whether or not listeners should continue to finance the purge of African American and Latino employees or give financial contributions in support of racism and the abandonment of the Pacifica Mission.

It’s up to you. WBAI/Pacifica’s future depends on the actions that you take or on your inactions.

Bernard White

Bernard brags about (1) competing with WBAI for funds and (2) disrupting a session of a democratically elected board of directors who have the legal responsibility for ensuring the survival of WBAI and the Pacifica Foundation (which owns WBAI). HE ALSO WANTS TO MAKE THE ON-AIR FUNDRAISER FAIL.

Step By Step
by Bernard White
Wednesday Jul 29th, 2009 12:36 PM
Dear Friends and supporters,

EXCERPTS:

"I want to express my sincerest gratitude to those of you who attended the “Takeback WBAI Coalition” forum this past Thursday at the Community Church. You were part of an enthusiastic standing-room-only audience. Tim Wise was, as usual, exciting and informative...Your presence was in stark contrast to the fund raising event that was held by the staff at WBAI a week earlier..."

"...Following Tim Wise’s presentation of Thursday the Takeback WBAI Coalition focused its efforts on the Pacifica Nation Board meeting that was held in Manhattan this weekend. The coalition took a very vocal, no-business-as usual stance and was able to successfully disrupt the meeting..."

BERNARD IS ALSO SAYING "MAYBE WE SHOULD FORCE WBAI INTO BANKRUPTCY"

PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS!

BERNARD WHITE SAYS: "...Our next opportunity to get their attention is the up-coming WBAI fund drive. The major question that we must grapple with is whether or not listeners should continue to finance the purge of African American and Latino employees or give financial contributions in support of racism and the abandonment of the Pacifica Mission..."

BERNARD IS SAYING: "Let all the remaining staff at WBAI be fired, let the landlord evict WBAI from its studios, and let WBAI lose its irreplaceable Empire State Building transmitter & antenna!"

BERNARD IS SAYING: "Apres moi, le deluge!"

HIS MOTTO: IF I CAN'T HAVE IT, NOBODY CAN HAVE IT!

Hey Frank ,

You're still here?

Are people responding to your distorted message?

Have WBAI's listeners begun to recognize that you are lying?

http://takebackwbai.org

http://whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

http://takebackwbai.org

Frank your boss, Steve Brown has brought this same behavior to Pacifica.

You know it's that changing spots thing.

Check this one out.

http://takebackwbai.org/pdf/1988-05-07.NYTimes.Mail-OrderHouseof100Names-.pdf

You reach back TWENTY-ONE YEARS for a story of dubious accuracy and relevance, about someone who has no more authority in WBAI than any other LSB member and no special influence or power over me or other independent candidates.

However, I need go back less than 21 MONTHS to find SOME of Bernard White's abuses or misuse of station resources, and there are a few more, beginning less than SIX years ago.

Considering that he was a MANAGER at WBAI and had responsibilities, as well as power, far exceeding those of any LSB member, I think it is MUCH more relevant to talk about Bernard White than to talk about Steve Brown.

G.F says "I think some perspectives about events at KPFK and WPFW from listeners would be helpful in this discussion .There seem to be commonalities in what is happening at these two stations with what has occurred at WBAI. Lets put the pieces together."

Yes, "commonalities" indeed! Bernard sees only one shared attribute among managers recently removed from their positions: "race".

Judging by the first report of the newly-appointed WPFW General Manager (who, incidentally, shares that attribute), there may be something else Bernard White and Ron Pinchback have in common:

"...we have been unearthing unpaid invoices to us from the 2007 Gala event which was itself a curious accounting misadventure in the many ways it blended Pacifica Foundation payments with those from WPFW...WPFW has not fared well with its events. Our latest, popularly known as “The Duck Race”, lost $14,612.40..."
http://www.pacificafoundation.org/national/documents/task,doc_download/gid,110/

Please note that somewhere along the way the saved URL for take FORWARD wbai got corrupted and copied into each subsequent IndyBay comment.

It should read: http://takeFORWARDwbai.org

Hey LeFever,

I see that you are still actively creating fantastic tales to capture the imagination of the public. It won't work Frank. You might as well give it up. Many, many people have known me for years. They know who I am and what I stand for. You will never be able to sell your nonsense to them. But, I guess that you have nothing else to do with your little life so you want to build up yours by destroying mine. You are obviously a very lonely person.

As I told you before WBAI listeners for the most part are not stupid and they have very sensitive "Bullshit Sensors." Your fabrications moves their gauge to the high-end of the scale.

Wait until the next election and you will see how few people have bought into your madness. By the way, what is this sexist statement you made about wanting to touch some woman's breast? Or do you deny making that statement? You dirty old man. (http://www.justiceunity.com)

By the way did you hear that there is a "Takeback Campaign" at KPFK, KPFA and one developing at WPFW. Do you think they formed because of me or do they see the same racist behavior manifesting at their stations.

I have to go now but I know we will all see you again the next time you crawl out of your dark hole to flash us again.

"No lie can live forever."

http://www.takebackwbai.org

http://www.whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

Well Frank I guess you don't want the truth to be told. You're so quick on demanding a response to your odious assertions.

Why haven't you denied my charge?

I'm waiting!!!

"No lie can live forever."

http://www.takebackwbai.org

http://www.whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

justiceunity.org

Where are you Frank? I thought I'd hear from you by now.

If there is anyone else out there please visit these websites to get a better picture of this partially told story.


http://www.takebackwbai.org

http://www.whoisstevebrown.info/

http://www.justiceandunity.org/steve-brown-disassociates.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1PPeBxqGo

http://www.justiceunity.org

TAKE BACK WBAI COALITION

FACT SHEET

1.Did you know that: A racist Local Station Board majority, led by WBAI board member, multi-millionaire Steve Brown, has taken over WBAI and Pacifica.

2. Did you that: This new board majority is going to systematically eliminate Black, Brown and progressive producers from WBAI. Mr. Brown believes that WBAI would be better off if it had no people of color on its staff or in its audience.

3.Did you know that: Across the Pacifica network, this group has fired or replaced seven staff members over the past eight months and all of those who were fired or removed are Latino or African American.

4.Did you know that: WBAI Program Director, Bernard White, was illegally fired one week after he returned to work as he was recuperating from a life threatening illness.

5.Did you know that: Programs that you have to that caused you to subscribe and that focus on issues of concern to people of color in particular and poor and progressive people in general will be systematically eliminated? The new majority is looking for a richer, wider, whiter audience.

6.Did you know that: Gary Byrd’s, GBE, is going to be replaced by comedian Roseann Barr who will be broadcasting from Los Angeles, California. This is just the beginning.

*** Take Back WBAI” and return it to its Mission***
“What you can do to keep the community in community radio”

1. Join the TAKE BACK WBAI Campaign help us educate/organize:
contact: http://www.info@takebackwbai.org">http://www.info [at] takebackwbai.org

2. Vote for the Justice and Unity slate in the coming election

3. Attend board meetings and speak out against the coup.

4. Demand the removal of the “gag rule.”

5. Call the station to demand the return of Anthony Riddle and Bernard White and all of the staff that have been summarily banned, fired or removed.

Anyone who cares about Pacifica radio and the Pacifica stations would do well to read the reports published by the Board on the Pacifica web site. The Arbitron ratings are cited there for the years 2004-2008. The graphs show that every Pacifica station had a significant net decline in listening audience over that period. For example: WPFW went from ~220,000 listeners to ~120,000. That is a 45% drop in just four years! One might cite the changing radio market, new media, and question how accurate Arbitron is. But this is still an enormous decline.
There may very recently have been an uptick at some stations and a decline stopped at WBAI, but still, the numbers are alarming.

A number of major donors have dropped away. Also inferred in the reports are that management of Pacifica has been very faulty. The Board discovers a $300,000 balloon note is past due on a line of credit? Currently, the Executive Director, HR Director, Development Director and CFO of Pacifica are ALL "interim." And the interim E.D. is also the Chair of the Board. Not a good sign nor a good division of labor and authority. The interim Chair now reports that good sexual harassment training has been initiated at Pacifica. We should be celebrating such at Pacifica? It should be the last place this is such an issue.
Maybe cleaning house is/was deserved.
Obviously there is a serious question about how well Pacifica can manage its business, how able Pacifica stations are to reach substantial and desired audiences, and what business model can sustain individual stations over time.
Example: The board candidates for WPFW this fall almost all cite as their foremost concern the expansion of programming with more local news, special reporting, outreach to new audiences, and collaborations, all of which require money. Many want to "turn around" WPFW (back to what?)
Or should it be to evolve WPFW? There seems a blind faith that new audiences will convert to members and donors. Yes, on-target programming can generate listener support over the years. But are the target audiences candidates cite ones that will bring in the green or the number of listeners needed? Barely any candidate has any significant interest or specific ideas on how to better manage WPFW and to expand revenue. Do candidates have the interest or skills for such? Many cite (because asked by station) seeking anonymous grants to pull the station in the black. But foundations have cut back significantly, are giving more to emergency human needs, many would simply be skeptical of WPFW, and competition is at an all time high. And what new staffers will raise and manage these grants? One candidate even cites wanting a free building from DC at a time of tax revenue losses and budget cuts. How would WPFW even get the money for such a move? I hope WPFW and Pacifica can face the reality, secure skilled leadership, and get out of the hole.

T. Siegel puts some sobering observations before us.

It is not likely that any of these real-life difficulties and uncertainties will be dealt with adequately and proactively by the cabal that is fighting tooth and nail to "Take Back" a station or stations which they assert is "their" station, given their failure to foresee the meltdown that many of us warned of several years ago. [I can point you to debates in the WBAI Finance Committee for corroboration.]

This is particularly true when their chief weapons are claims that recent efforts to improve management are no more than a "racial purge", and whose contempt for orderly governance is shown in outrageous physical and acoustic disruption of Local Station Board meetings and at least one Pacifica National Board meeting. These are not likely to encourage support from the broader progressive community which is so important for Pacifica's survival and for its RELEVANCE.

One residue of the deteriorated operations inherited by the new interim GM (Station Manager) at WBAI has been the mailing of ballots for the current LSB election to thousands of FORMER members and a costly correction by mailing thousands of ballots to ELIGIBLE voters. If the reform candidates cannot come up with funds for a second mailing, it is very likely that we will end up with Pacifica back in control of those who oversaw and aided the meltdown: no effort to publicize the station to its 18,000,000 POTENTIAL audience, deliberate disrespect to "undesirable demographics" (including long-term listeners), waste, and even theft (as well as managers using station resources -- cash, equipment, and more --for their own private purposes).

Yes, there was a peak due to alarm over the war build-up and a drop-off afterward, but Program Director Bernard White surely did not help retain any of these listeners when he ignored a major anti-war demonstration and filled the day with an in-house "Doo Wop" festival [see http://www.takeforwardwbai.org/amajorantiwar.html ].

For some specific details of bi-coastal collusion, misuse of station resources, etc. browse through http://takeFORWARDwbai.org

But if you already know the score and want to help us get at least a bare-bones (post-card) mailing out, just go to the home page instructions. We need to mail by Nov. 5 to reach voters before they return their ballots.

Advertising, which I Thought YOU, Bernard, Knew About Since YOU Should at least,
Have Known about 'IT' Because 'every mention' of WBAI-99.5FM is (was) an
"Advertisement" as was the On- Air Broadcasting, Streaming (wbai.org) & Archives & WBAI Suffered Greatly By NOT Having 'Funds' to 'mention' WBAI'
in ALL Sorts of Places to Remind People 'Again & Again' in Magazines*, & Elsewhere!!!!

*Even The Long Island Movie House That Plays 'Fine Films' Didn't Have a Small Ad to
REMIND EveryOne of 'Strugglingly Important WBAI' - even WUSB (StonyBrook) Had
a Visual Box !!!!!! - in Their Monthly Film Program Magazine !!!!


*That "TimeOut" Magazine Decided a Year Ago or so - To STOP Even Having a FULL
PAGE as It Used to - was a Cultural Crime = The Page Shrank in size-& then 'Vanished' !!!