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"Save KPFA" is somebody else's name
The "Concerned Listeners" (CL'ers) have changed their name to "Save KPFA." But members of the original "Save KPFA" object that the CL'ers are wrongfully using the name without permission.
To the KPFA and Pacifica election coordinators, and all concerned
From Curt Gray
Member of the original Save KPFA
Hello, my name is Curt Gray. I was the co- treasurer of the original Save KPFA, which was a listener activist group that started in 1993. I have recently learned that an election slate running in the KPFA board elections is using our name. The original Save KPFA was one of the earliest groups calling for subscribers to be voting members of the foundation, with the power to elect a local station governing board. This was back when there was only a self-appointed local advisory board for KPFA and the only members of the foundation were the Nat. board itself. Save KPFA eventually begot Take Back KPFA, which eventually led to the creation of the current group Coalition for a democratic Pacifica. All of these groups worked for the democratic reform of Pacifica that led to the elections Pacifica has now.
I have proofs of the existence of our original group, and that its prior existence is public knowledge through recent on-line discussions and documents that are currently available on the web. Plus, I have documents like fictitious name app, bank statement, statements printed in the KPFA Folio program guide that was published back in those days and fliers. I am also putting together a joint statement protesting the use of our name from members of the original coordinating committee of our group.
From what I can tell, the group using our name is against Pacifica having elections, and that KPFA board members associated with this faction using our name have worked to undermine the functioning of the democratically elected boards to perform their duties under the bylaws, and to undermine the fair election process itself.
I am sending you this e-mail as a first notice of protest, and when these other materials mentioned above are assembled, we plan to submit a formal objection to all concerned about this use of our name that we believe to be misleading as to what this current group using our name stands for, and confusing to voting members, who may think use of our name is an endorsement of this anti-democratic slate. If necessary there may be a legal challenge.
I do not have any contact information for the group that is currently using our name, so I have not sent this to them yet. Please let me know that you have gotten this notice from me and whatever actions you intend to take regarding this issue. Feel free to send this to the group using our name, so they can know that there is a serious objection to their using this name, and that we are not going to let them undermine our years of work, or damage our reputations as pro- democracy listener activists. We expect them to immediately stop using our name, and to send out notices to anyone they contacted using our name that the original Save KPFA did not give permission, that we object to the use of our name in this manner, and that we do not endorse them.
Curt Gray
August 12, 2010
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First it was "KPFAForward". Then "Concerned Listeners". Now they are stealing the name of a former grassroots movement which their folks opposed at the time "Save KPFA"!
They may add new people as some old ones leave and their goal is the same, stymie or destroy the democratic process so that they can control the jobs and air time without any transparency or accountability to the listeners and subscribers.
If they spoke truthfully their pitch would be "Send in your checks and then shut up and let us run things" Below is some of their history they are trying to hide from. Aka, avoiding accountability!
In November 2008 a Trust donated money to KPFA and Pacifica, it included various checks that were turned over to LemLem Rijio GM. I believe that KPFA, then Treasurer, Brian Edwards-Tiekert ( famous for his: "dismantle the LSB" and "How do we blame our enemies for the problems to come" agenda items for this groups private strategy meetings), Sherry Gendelman, and Dan Siegel were present when these checks were given to KPFA/Pacifica.
LemLem didn't deposit a check for $375,000.00 for a year. It was discovered when an audit was approaching. This was no accident and maybe some day we will find out the details their nefarious scheme. After it was discovered and folks asked for a new check to be issued the Trust would only put it into another foundation to manage it. So once we had a $375,000.00 check to be deposited straight into KPFA/Pacifica accounts and now we have to ask a manager for the money!
Is that how they plan to "SAVE KPFA"??????????
KPFA: TEN YEARS AFTER THE 1999 HIJACK ATTEMPT
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. The Bylaws process was long and difficult and like all new progressive ideas on governance they aren’t perfect. Neither is the U.S. Constitution, which has 27 amendments and still needs some major work. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html . Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
What has become clear, as Pacifica embarked on a new democratic path, is that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their listener supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who gets air time and jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways. The staff/ listener group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity and the group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?” The other members of this group were a mix of listeners, paid staff, unpaid staff and management in 2005, when the e-mail was written. Most have moved up in the power hierarchy: Lemlem Rijio, then Development Director, now General Manager; Sasha Lilley, then paid staff, now Interim Program Director appointed by Lemlem Rijio; Bonnie Simmons, then LSB staff representative, now PNB; Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, then unpaid staff, now paid Director of Arts and Public Affairs; Sherry Gendelman, then Listener LSB, now PNB; Lisa Rothman, paid executive producer of the Morning Show, Lisa had a beautiful baby and in 2006 left KPFA. This group has been supported by their electoral counter parts, first called KPFAForward in the 2004 election and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
Let’s see what these folks have done to “dismantle the LSB”*. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There had been significant listener demand/support for this time change and having worked several years in radio, AM & FM, I know the following, it is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. Lisa Rothman didn’t want “her” program moved from “its” prime time position and her allies in the control group made sure it didn’t happen.
In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote and set up a protocol on how to deal with program changes with management and the Program Council. The new interim GM, Jim Bennett, refused to make the time change and ignored the LSB Resolution*. Dan Coughlin, the Executive Director (ED) of Pacifica, appointed Jim Bennett. Coughlin was an ally of the KPFA control group and worked closely with them to stifle transparency and Director’s Inspections of the financial records. Director’s Inspections are an “absolute right” given to Corporate Directors to facilitate their fiduciary responsibilities, California Corporations Code Section 6334 and Article 12, Section 3 of the Pacifica Bylaws. For more information on why the PNB allowed this to happen see my May 14, 2009 article http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio and her appointed Interim Program Director, Sasha Lilley, quietly ended the Program Council after some months of describing it as “advisory.”* The LSB under CL majority control ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council. The CL majority didn’t vote to overturn the prior resolution since that would have exposed their undemocratic nature. They just looked the other way.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO)*. UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air. After a two-year struggle UPSO is now being recognized after a change in Pacifica leadership and a directive to GM Rijio to do so. See the May 14, 2009 BDP article for more details on the change in leadership.
The vote on UPSO recognition at the LSB in 2007 was one of the very few times the CL didn’t vote in lock step to support Rijio’s consolidation of power. However the few defections didn’t change anything since at that time they controlled the PNB in collusion with some others local tyrannical majorities. This collusion elected Sherry Gendelman Chair of the PNB in 2008 and she did nothing to change the UPSO denial by the KPFA GM. Only after a change in the PNB majority, with the CL collusion losing control did the new PNB Chair and Interim ED, Grace Aaron lean on the KPFA GM to reinstate the UPSO.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the issues of the Program Council and the DN! move to prime time. http://www.PeoplesRadio.net and most listener activists have consistently supported a Program Council with listener participation and the DN! move to prime time.
In January of 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month. This despite the backlog of work to be done and how it effected the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees. All the stations elect the committee members in February. This year KPFA didn’t elect their committee representatives until March, despite my bringing this up to them during the January meeting before the vote to meet half as often and not in February.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB. Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was, coincidentally, a fund drive in progress. Election information was broadcast during fund drives at other stations. Each year CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election black out imposed by their ally Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once and Sherry Gendelman was first. After the election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, a CL candidate, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed.
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons a CL/Rijio group PNB member recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. As of this writing her motion hasn’t been up for debate and vote. However it comes out, the CL/Rijio group’s desire to limit information about the election and the candidates is clear and stands in stark contrast of the Mission of Pacifica.
Over a year ago Rijio took the visible link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site and hid it under “ABOUT”. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
When they did the 60th anniversary celebration for KPFA and Pacifica this year they held a $300 dinner. I support having fundraisers and there also should have been a celebration open to the majority of our listeners. There was nothing official about the 10th anniversary of the struggle against the Hijackers, which brought 15,000 people to a rally and ended with new democratic Bylaws.
What is clear from the actions described above is that the CL/Rijio/Lilley regime has sought to eliminate democratic centers of power at the station and reduce listener input and concentrate power and control in their hands contrary to the Bylaws. At a LSB meeting in 2007 Rijio referred to the Bylaws when addressing the LSB as “your” Bylaws. Sasha Lilley has also made comments attacking the Bylaws.
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”, Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters. And if democracy matters for you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer. July 6, 2009.
THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. 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 $1,100,000.00 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 of past years.
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.
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 KPFA 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. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year, no thanks to CL and its allies.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors 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 and a recent CL candidate.
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.
KPFA/Pacifica is a Commons that belongs 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 (Labor donated.) May 2009
They may add new people as some old ones leave and their goal is the same, stymie or destroy the democratic process so that they can control the jobs and air time without any transparency or accountability to the listeners and subscribers.
If they spoke truthfully their pitch would be "Send in your checks and then shut up and let us run things" Below is some of their history they are trying to hide from. Aka, avoiding accountability!
In November 2008 a Trust donated money to KPFA and Pacifica, it included various checks that were turned over to LemLem Rijio GM. I believe that KPFA, then Treasurer, Brian Edwards-Tiekert ( famous for his: "dismantle the LSB" and "How do we blame our enemies for the problems to come" agenda items for this groups private strategy meetings), Sherry Gendelman, and Dan Siegel were present when these checks were given to KPFA/Pacifica.
LemLem didn't deposit a check for $375,000.00 for a year. It was discovered when an audit was approaching. This was no accident and maybe some day we will find out the details their nefarious scheme. After it was discovered and folks asked for a new check to be issued the Trust would only put it into another foundation to manage it. So once we had a $375,000.00 check to be deposited straight into KPFA/Pacifica accounts and now we have to ask a manager for the money!
Is that how they plan to "SAVE KPFA"??????????
KPFA: TEN YEARS AFTER THE 1999 HIJACK ATTEMPT
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and the Pacifica Foundation from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. The Bylaws process was long and difficult and like all new progressive ideas on governance they aren’t perfect. Neither is the U.S. Constitution, which has 27 amendments and still needs some major work. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html . Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
What has become clear, as Pacifica embarked on a new democratic path, is that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their listener supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who gets air time and jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways. The staff/ listener group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity and the group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come?” The other members of this group were a mix of listeners, paid staff, unpaid staff and management in 2005, when the e-mail was written. Most have moved up in the power hierarchy: Lemlem Rijio, then Development Director, now General Manager; Sasha Lilley, then paid staff, now Interim Program Director appointed by Lemlem Rijio; Bonnie Simmons, then LSB staff representative, now PNB; Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia, then unpaid staff, now paid Director of Arts and Public Affairs; Sherry Gendelman, then Listener LSB, now PNB; Lisa Rothman, paid executive producer of the Morning Show, Lisa had a beautiful baby and in 2006 left KPFA. This group has been supported by their electoral counter parts, first called KPFAForward in the 2004 election and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
Let’s see what these folks have done to “dismantle the LSB”*. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There had been significant listener demand/support for this time change and having worked several years in radio, AM & FM, I know the following, it is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. Lisa Rothman didn’t want “her” program moved from “its” prime time position and her allies in the control group made sure it didn’t happen.
In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote and set up a protocol on how to deal with program changes with management and the Program Council. The new interim GM, Jim Bennett, refused to make the time change and ignored the LSB Resolution*. Dan Coughlin, the Executive Director (ED) of Pacifica, appointed Jim Bennett. Coughlin was an ally of the KPFA control group and worked closely with them to stifle transparency and Director’s Inspections of the financial records. Director’s Inspections are an “absolute right” given to Corporate Directors to facilitate their fiduciary responsibilities, California Corporations Code Section 6334 and Article 12, Section 3 of the Pacifica Bylaws. For more information on why the PNB allowed this to happen see my May 14, 2009 article http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio and her appointed Interim Program Director, Sasha Lilley, quietly ended the Program Council after some months of describing it as “advisory.”* The LSB under CL majority control ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council. The CL majority didn’t vote to overturn the prior resolution since that would have exposed their undemocratic nature. They just looked the other way.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO)*. UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air. After a two-year struggle UPSO is now being recognized after a change in Pacifica leadership and a directive to GM Rijio to do so. See the May 14, 2009 BDP article for more details on the change in leadership.
The vote on UPSO recognition at the LSB in 2007 was one of the very few times the CL didn’t vote in lock step to support Rijio’s consolidation of power. However the few defections didn’t change anything since at that time they controlled the PNB in collusion with some others local tyrannical majorities. This collusion elected Sherry Gendelman Chair of the PNB in 2008 and she did nothing to change the UPSO denial by the KPFA GM. Only after a change in the PNB majority, with the CL collusion losing control did the new PNB Chair and Interim ED, Grace Aaron lean on the KPFA GM to reinstate the UPSO.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the issues of the Program Council and the DN! move to prime time. http://www.PeoplesRadio.net and most listener activists have consistently supported a Program Council with listener participation and the DN! move to prime time.
In January of 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month. This despite the backlog of work to be done and how it effected the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees. All the stations elect the committee members in February. This year KPFA didn’t elect their committee representatives until March, despite my bringing this up to them during the January meeting before the vote to meet half as often and not in February.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB. Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was, coincidentally, a fund drive in progress. Election information was broadcast during fund drives at other stations. Each year CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election black out imposed by their ally Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once and Sherry Gendelman was first. After the election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, a CL candidate, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed.
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons a CL/Rijio group PNB member recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. As of this writing her motion hasn’t been up for debate and vote. However it comes out, the CL/Rijio group’s desire to limit information about the election and the candidates is clear and stands in stark contrast of the Mission of Pacifica.
Over a year ago Rijio took the visible link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site and hid it under “ABOUT”. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
When they did the 60th anniversary celebration for KPFA and Pacifica this year they held a $300 dinner. I support having fundraisers and there also should have been a celebration open to the majority of our listeners. There was nothing official about the 10th anniversary of the struggle against the Hijackers, which brought 15,000 people to a rally and ended with new democratic Bylaws.
What is clear from the actions described above is that the CL/Rijio/Lilley regime has sought to eliminate democratic centers of power at the station and reduce listener input and concentrate power and control in their hands contrary to the Bylaws. At a LSB meeting in 2007 Rijio referred to the Bylaws when addressing the LSB as “your” Bylaws. Sasha Lilley has also made comments attacking the Bylaws.
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”, Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters. And if democracy matters for you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer. July 6, 2009.
THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. 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 $1,100,000.00 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 of past years.
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.
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 KPFA 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. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year, no thanks to CL and its allies.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors 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 and a recent CL candidate.
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.
KPFA/Pacifica is a Commons that belongs 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 (Labor donated.) May 2009
Rather than making a grand announcement on IndyMedia, perhaps you can simply contact some of the members of that group and discuss the situation with them. The text of your message seems to state that you haven't done so yet. I think there is enough talking without listening going on that we need not compound it with more.
I would advise against a litigious or quasi litigious approach as I think this will not be productive.
I would advise against a litigious or quasi litigious approach as I think this will not be productive.
Chris, why don't you deal with the history, instead of trying to deflect reality by trying to sound like collaboration would work with CL folks.
What do you think the CL folks were doing sitting on the $375,000.00 check for a year?
CL using the name "Save KPFA" is so disingenuous and Rovian. It is contrary to the Pacifica Mission. Why aren't you criticizing CL for using "Save KPFA"?
Have you asked them why? What is their justification?
What do you think the CL folks were doing sitting on the $375,000.00 check for a year?
CL using the name "Save KPFA" is so disingenuous and Rovian. It is contrary to the Pacifica Mission. Why aren't you criticizing CL for using "Save KPFA"?
Have you asked them why? What is their justification?
You have mastered the game well, my children.
Tell the Masses: we must Save KPFA, and SAVE CALIFORNIA!!!
Tell the Masses: we must Save KPFA, and SAVE CALIFORNIA!!!
you guys must be really desperate. "our name, that's our name!" gosh, why didn't you use it for your slate then?
geez, the two words "save kpfa" have been used by many, many people and groups in the struggle. and will be used by many more in the future. what makes you think you have copyright on them?
geez, the two words "save kpfa" have been used by many, many people and groups in the struggle. and will be used by many more in the future. what makes you think you have copyright on them?
http://www.savekpfa.ORG is the website of the actual SAVE KPFA candidates slate, endorsed by a wide array of community leaders, union members and KPFA unpaid and paid staff -- that's ".org" folks.
http://www.savekpfa.NET has been registered by a competing slate who are trying to fool people into thinking they are who they are not.
Sigh. Typical dirty politics. For the backstory, see Brian Edward-Tiegert's message here:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/21/18656505.php
"Why you should vote for Save KPFA in the Local Station Board election"
And good luck to all of us trying to save KPFA.
http://www.savekpfa.NET has been registered by a competing slate who are trying to fool people into thinking they are who they are not.
Sigh. Typical dirty politics. For the backstory, see Brian Edward-Tiegert's message here:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/21/18656505.php
"Why you should vote for Save KPFA in the Local Station Board election"
And good luck to all of us trying to save KPFA.
I'd be interested in linking up with many folks at the other Pacifica stations, as we've noticed a lot of "funny business" going on at KPFK, such as non-transparency of policy and finances, the absence of a GM for two years, and a Program Director for several years, and recent summary dissolution of our CAB by station Management. These people are clearly out of control, and are not responsive to the Pacifica Mission Statement, nor to the community the station serves (nor CPB grant guidelines).
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