KPFA Staff Face Purges from Members of Local Station Board

It is long overdue that KPFA live within its budget, and that obviously means programs promoted by long-time programmers must be cut and volunteers from communities not heard on KPFA, namely the workingclass, have opportunities to present programs. The 6 p.m. news could easily be cut to 1/2 hour as most of it is filler and endless interviews with the latest Hitler in the White House, etc. The Morning Show could certainly be cut to 1 hour or less. Democracy Now should be moved to 7 a.m., and the Morning Show to 8 a.m. There is no need to repeat Democracy Now as we can get it on the Internet. This frees lots of air-time for new programs, desperately needed at KPFA. As to the long-time programmers, anyone age 62 and over can collect Social Security and should do so, just as we all do out here in the REAL WORLD. The rest of the unemployed can look for work with an excellent resume, namely being at a job for more than 1 year, just like the rest of us.

KPFA has to live within its budget, as does everything and everyone else. It was born in a time of comparative prosperity, 1949, and we are now in desperate poverty, just like the last Great Depression. If KPFA is to survive, it must rely on the workingclass communities to provide volunteer programs, thus also giving voice to their needs and concerns, which is a primary task of KPFA.

As to the potential unemployed, here is what they are NOT faced with: Grand jury subpoenas and possible prison time as are Democrat Obama's latest police state victims; being tasered by Israeli police on the latest freedom flotilla all paid for with US tax dollars; life-threatening diseases such as cancer and all the many problems that people have. They are facing the same reality we all face, and leaving with a good resume.

I am so sick and tired of these hate KPFA TROLLS

The KPFAWorker web site was previously used in a racist campaign to get ride of GM Roy Campanella II. The same people that had control of the hiring process and hired him decided to dump him after he decided to implement the Democracy Now! time change to prime time, 7-8 a.m., that had been voted in by the Program Council and the LSB and ignored by Brian E-T, Jim Bennett and crew. Why. because their allies who "owned" the Morning Show didn't want to give up prime time despite the votes, the popular demand, and the basic rule of Radio 1-A, you put your best program in Prime Time.

Here again the "professionals" are not acting professional. It is only their rhetoric not their practice. Their personal agendas always come first.

Phelps is a racist clown. First he throws out the oldest, laziest attack in the book by calling anyone who disagrees with anyone of another ethnicity a racist. You’ll notice he doesn’t bother with proof. Just sling mud and hope it sticks. Phelps is the worst racist because he can’t interact with a person of color without bringing up their ethnicity. Phelps is the worst kind of phony and demagogue.

Look at how selective this austerity plan is. Where are the Flashpoints staffers on this list? Why no demands for Flashpoints, which costs way more than it brings in, to be cut? Why? Because this is about cheap politics. Phelps is a hypocrite and a fraud.

It's pretty obvious that KPFA has to make more staffing cuts. I don't know if this list of individuals is accurate but it does include many low seniority folks.

That is going to hurt -- not only will we lose some of our favorite programmers but internally there will be less people to do the work. The programming is not going to be as tight-- for awhile. Maybe there will be more music because it is somewhat easier to do. Maybe there will be more experiments and learning-while-doing programs with more inconsistency and more excitement.

It probably won't be pretty. It could be fun. It's likely to be a mix of both.

How much energy will we use fighting, rather than building (skills, listener base, administrative policies)?

That is up to each of us.

Neither Tracy Rosenberg nor Joe Wanzala are responsible for the budget deficit. Now they, with the interim manager, the other KPFA National Board representative and the Pacifica Exec. Director, are responsible for doing something about it. (The national board has to be involved in lay offs if the local board is not willing or able to make the hard choices that are necessary. KPFA owes Pacifica $300,000. That directly brings the National Board into local problems.)

We could lose this network and this station. The national finances give KPFA, or any station, no wiggle room.

I am interested in what people can propose as plans for the next year, not in attacking anyone. If the KPFA's union members do not like the current proposals, make another proposal. Let's get some ideas on the table.

But, remember, the option to ignore the financial problem is no longer possible.

I am appalled at the possibility of dismissing paid staff at KPFA. If Sasha lily, Brian Edwards Teakert (sp?), Amy Allison etc., are dismissed, I will be forced to cancel my membership. I have been a financial supporter of KPFA since 1968

Any alert observer has to notice that there was NO refutation of the substance of my post. And by the way, I didn't say anything or take any position on the layoffs. I won't do that until I have more information. As to the "racist" allegation, here are the facts.

In the history of the US, African American men have been fired, beaten and lynched for even talking to non-African American women. Roy was viciously accused of sexual harassment after he let folks know that he was going to make the DN! time change. There were two investigations one by an HR professional and the other by Dan Siegel one of the attackers allies and a CL slate candidate in 2009. Neither of the investigations found any "sexual harassment".

Two former KPFAForward LSB members, which became CL and then "Save KPFA", Marnie Tattersall and Willie Radcliff, have stated that they thought the treatment of Roy was racist. They both switched sides at that time. Which is what generated Brian Edwards-Tiekert's infamous e-mail, see below. Marnie Tattersall was the KPFA Treasurer and back in 2004-5 she along with La Varn Williams and I and others were warning of the need to cut back on staff payroll and the CL majority just wouldn't listen.


The e-mail below was found at the station in September 2005. It has been acknowledged as real by the author. I have contacted in person or by e-mail everyone but one on that strategy group to ask them if they were just recipients of an e-mail that discussed “dismantling the LSB” and other interesting topics or were they active participants and none of them have denied active involvement.

This e-mail was sent shortly after the LSB voted down a staff motion to fire the GM for sexual harassment. It was voted down 15-5. Four of the five votes for it were in this e-mail group. There was NO evidence of sexual harassment found after two separate investigations. It was an attempt to fire an African-American GM who wouldn’t toe their line. Their pushing for this unjust firing caused them to lose the majority on the LSB, thus their need for a strategic retreat. This e-mail gives one a view of what these folks really believe in! Sort of like a Pentagon Paper. Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB.

P.S. Also note that these "union loyalists" were discussing strike plans and union grievances with management and non-union members!!! Lemlem Rijio was Development Director>management, and Bonnie Simmons and Sherry Gendelman were not union members. So I think it is clear that their loyalty was to their secret group and not to the union. They throw around terms like "union" and "professional" and it is just rhetoric if you look at their practices.


From:"Brian Edwards-Tiekert"
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by gmail.com. Learn more
To:"Lemlem Tekle" , "Bonnie Simmons" ,
LisaRothman [at] kpfa.org
CC:"Sasha Lilley" , "Lemlem Tekle" ,
mawu_mama37 [at] yahoo.com, "Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia" , Rain
Geesler" , "Sherry Gendelman" , "Gary
Niederhoff"
Subject:Re: budget
Date:Thu, 1 Sep 2005 20:58:28 -0700

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

Issues include:

How should we be handling the expiration of the union contract—is a strike in order, or is it a really terrible idea?

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

Coming up with, and presenting, an alternative budget.

Getting the Roy issue to the national board.

"Propping up staff morale."

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

Dealing with the grievances underway.

Building community support—formation of a labor-community coalition.



Brian Edwards-Tiekert
Staff Representative, Local Station Board
KPFA 94.1FM
1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley CA 94704

I don't know who Melinda Cespedes is and I don't have time to research her before my computer overheats again and has to be put to sleep for a while. However, she writes:

I am appalled at the possibility of dismissing paid staff at KPFA. If Sasha lily, Brian Edwards Teakert (sp?), Amy Allison etc., are dismissed, I will be forced [sic!] to cancel my membership. I have been a financial supporter of KPFA since 1968

Well, Ms. Cespedes. You were a financial supporter of KPFA throughout the 1990's, when the Clinton Democrats led by Pacifica National Board chair Mary Frances Berry, and including Pat Scott and David Salniker, almost succeeded in turning Pacifica into NPR-lite. How come you didn't feel 'forced' to cancel your membership at that time, especially in 1995 when long-time volunteer programmers like Bill Mandel and Mama O'Shea, and many, many others, were summarily fired? Note, by the way, that there was NO budgetary reason for firing those unpaid volunteers -- quite the opposite! Also, how did you respond to the lockout in 1999? If you didn't feel the need to oppose those right-wing actions by the Democratic Party hijackers in the 1990's, why should your reaction to the potential firing (or cutting to half time?) of your favorite programmers be taken seriously by decent people?

Where's the proof Phelps? You didn't substantiate a single idiotic claim. Also, you're not only a racist yourself, you're also a sexist. No, it couldn't possibly have been that Campanella was being inappopropriate with a group of women at the station, no those women had to be liars. A woman's protests against sexual harrasment have to be faked, right Phelps? A woman's word isn't as good as a man's, right Phelps? You're pathetic and you stand against everything that a real progressive would stand for: honor, truth, integrity. You've got none of those things.

Are the staff who are so upset about these proposed cuts aware that the management who has refused to make the needed cuts to SAVE KPFA actually wanted to cut Hard Knock and Flashpoint instead of their beloved Brian Edwards Tiekert who is the real power behind the throne - even though that is not legal under the seniority rules of their union contract ? Would that have been better ? And where were these staff members when Nora Barrows Friedman was cut from Flashpoint radio despite that wasn't proper under their union contract ? And where was the staff protests when other staff members were cut from the Apprenticeship program or from Hard-knock making it almost impossible for them to function ?

Pacifica National Board Members Demand Purge of Dissenting KPFA Staff


Three members of KPFA’s Local Station Board who sit on the Pacifica National Board–Tracy Rosenberg, Joe Wanzala, and Shahram Aghamir–have drawn up a list of their staff enemies who they are demanding be laid off, according to a misdirected email. The three are affiliated with a slate that has a majority on the KPFA board. Their targets appear to be their political opponents on the board and within the station.

[[ ----- just how are they targeting opponents on the board who do not also work within the station?]]

The purge list includes the staff of some of the most successful programs at KPFA—both in terms of popularity and fund raising—including Aimee Allison, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, and Laura Prives of the Morning Show; Sasha Lilley of Against the Grain; News Anchor John Hamilton, the only two paid reporters Christopher Martinez and Max Pringle, and News Engineer Rose Ketabchi. All of these staff members have signed statements in opposition to the actions of the board majority.

[[ ----- could it be that these staff members also have tenure which falls below that required for continued employment under the union contract, and the conditions of plausible projected revenue for fiscal 2011?]]

Rosenberg, Wanzala, and Aghamir are also proposing that the Morning Show, which fund raises three times what it costs, be cut to one hour and that the Evening News, which is one of the few remaining sources of local and regional news, be cut to half an hour.
Such a purge would decimate KPFA’s ability to fund raise, eviscerating some of the largest income-generating programs at a time of financial crisis.

[[ ---- what if the audiences are large primarily by virtue of time slot? ]]

The move by the three national board members contravenes the Pacifica Foundation’s bylaws and flouts KPFA’s local autonomy, by taking the power over the station’s budget out of the hands of the KPFA Local Station Board

[[ ----- the LSB has the power to approve budgets and to report to the PNB on how closely the station is functioning according to budget, but not the power to make a budget.]]

and decisions on layoffs out of the hands of the station’s General Manager.

[[ ----- it is well known that the recent interim and permanent GMs failed to execute 2008 - 2009 staff cuts as directed, choosing instead to spend through nearly a million dollars of unrestricted reserves. what else can the ED and board do in this case?]]

The proposed purge would also violate KPFA’s contract with Communications Workers of America Local 9415, which represents the paid staff of KPFA.

[[ ----- my impression just the opposite, that cuts per the contract would be taken in order of least seniority.]]

Members of the Pacifica National Board are demanding KPFA make deep cuts to its staffing, claiming that the station owes Pacifica $300,000 and must pay that money back. However, during the crisis of 1999, KPFA lent Pacifica almost $1.5 million, which Pacifica has still not repaid.

[[ ----- ``Concerned Listeners'' should have gone after that back when there was just an iota greater chance than today of getting anything. or better, acted at the national level to stop the drainage through the national office down the WBAI drain.]]

Pacifica is also holding $150,000 of KPFA’s money as collateral for a line of credit. And KPFA has been paying a disproportionate share of listener income to Pacifica, compared to the four other stations in the Pacifica network.

[[ ----- really? i heard it was a flat 19.8% that KPFA hasn't paid since april 2010. i also heard that KPFA borrowed from KPFT to cover september 2010 payroll.]]

KPFA staff are asking listeners and subscribers to email the Pacifica National Board to demand that these staff and programming cuts not take place and to insist that Pacifica honor KPFA’s union contract.

[[ ----- dear boards: i insist that pacifica honor KPFA's union contract, and optimize any necessary cuts for the least aggregate disadvantage to the foundation and its members.]]

brian s

There were two investigations one by an HR professional and the other by Dan Siegel, one of the attackers allies and a CL slate candidate in 2009. Neither of the investigations found any "sexual harassment".

Two former KPFAForward LSB members, which became CL and then "Save KPFA", Marnie Tattersall and Willie Radcliff, have stated that they thought the treatment of Roy was racist. They both switched sides at that time. Which is what generated Brian Edwards-Tiekert's infamous e-mail, see below. Marnie Tattersall was the KPFA Treasurer and back in 2004-5 she along with La Varn Williams and I and others were warning of the need to cut back on staff payroll and the CL majority just wouldn't listen.


The e-mail below was found at the station in September 2005. It has been acknowledged as real by the author. I have contacted in person or by e-mail everyone but one on that strategy group to ask them if they were just recipients of an e-mail that discussed “dismantling the LSB” and other interesting topics or were they active participants and none of them have denied active involvement.

This e-mail was sent shortly after the LSB voted down a staff motion to fire the GM for sexual harassment. It was voted down 15-5. Four of the five votes for it were in this e-mail group. There was NO evidence of sexual harassment found after two separate investigations.
_______________________________________________

The 15-5 vote ( a fact) was made by people that read the two investigation reports after lots of discussion. Several of the NO votes were folks that regularly voted with KPFAForward/CL. Unlike your side, that violates confidentiality often, I can't release the reports that were given to me in confidence as an LSB member.

Why should anyone pay any attention to a coward who 's basic game is anonymous name calling? You haven't rebutted any of the facts that I have reported. Why? Because you can't, so you revert to personal attacks. How Pacifica of you????

iGM Speaks: CL/ Save KPFA Endorsers Crying Wolf (Fwd: [KPFA Staff] KPFA BUDGET & LAYOFFS)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: KPFA Staff Announcements
Date: Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 12:01 PM
Subject: [KPFA Staff] KPFA BUDGET & LAYOFFS
To: KPFA-Paid, KPFA-Staff,
Cc: Arlene Engelhardt, George Reiter


Greetings All,

I am very concerned about the recent events that have taken place both in the station ,with the LSB /PNB ,and across the KPFA airwaves !
Let me be very clear about my position about the layoffs and budget matters:

All KPFA personnel decisions will be made by the ED,iGM,Asst. iGM & HRD.

No final decisions have been made about the KPFA budget or layoffs

KPFA staff & unpaid staff please maintain your integrity, dignity, & professionalism at all times

It is inappropriate to defame, denigrate, or slander staff, volunteers and or LSB / PNB members ON AIR OR OFF THE AIR (KPFA candidate forums).

****IF THIS CONTINUES THERE WILL BE CORRECTIVE ACTION
IT IS IMPERATIVE TO STOP THE KPFA CIVIL WAR TODAY!


--
Regards,
Ahmad J. Anderson
Pacifica Foundation
Director,Human Resources / iGM KPFA
Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley,Ca 94704
(O) 510-849-2590 ext 204

_______________________________________________

The Concerned Listeners a.k.a SLAVE KPFA mob have shown that they want to turn Pacifica into a Mainstream Liberal mouthpiece( another NPR) where true radicals need not apply. However, if they care so much about equality, why is there 80% unpaid staff, leaving 20 percent of the SLAVE KPFA TO DETERMINE THE OUT COME FOR THOSE 80% UNPAID STAFF MEANING VOLUNTEERS. ON THE LSB THERE IS ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNPAID STAFF HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE, AND THE SLAVE KPFA MAKES IT SO UNPAID STAFF ONLY HAS ONE VOTE THAT COULD OR COULD NOT INFLUENCE THE REST OF THE LSB. AT THE SAME TIME THEY VOTE WITH LSB MEMBERS, AND MOST OF THE TIME THEY ARE OUTNUMBERED. ALSO WHEN THE LAST MANAGER COLLEAGUE OF SLAVE KPFAS, IGNORED THE PROCESS OF UPSO. THEREFORE, MAKING UNPAID STAFF(VOLUNTEERS) EASIER TO TARGET FOR REMOVAL, AND FOR MOVING PEOPLE AROUND WITHOUT A LONG TERM PROCESS THAT HAD BEEN IN PLACE EVEN WITHOUT A MANAGER. NOW WE SEE THIS MINORITY SLAVE KPFA AS A THREAT TO THE WHOLE STATION WITH THE CORPORATE VIEW OF SLAVING KPFA, AND KICKING THE COMMUNITY OUT IN COMMUNITY RADIO. ASK THESE SLAVE KPFA HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT USING POLICE BRUTALITY, AND SACRIFICING VOLUNTEERS, COMMUNITY FOR THEIR PAYCHECKS. SLAVE KPFA WILL MAKE LISTENERS TRY TO PUT OUT MORE MONEY DURING FUND DRIVE, WHILE TRYING TO GET UNDERWRITING. FOLLOW THE MONEY OF THE SLAVE KPFA CAMPAIGN, AND HOW IS IT THAT THEY HAVE SO MUCH RESOURCES, TIME TO WRITE SELF PROMOTION ARTICLES, AND TRY TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT THEMSELVES BY SELLING THE STATION OUT. SOME PEOPLE CALL IT MIDDLE CLASS, OTHERS CALL IT RICH AND YOU GOT TIME, AND MOST OF THE SLAVE KPFA CAMPAIGNERS ARE PAID STAFF?

Is this the same ahmed J.anderson who went on the air many times to slender J.R about something he said weeks before about the zionist sasha lily in a whinning lament barely understandable? Sounded real ridicule . Anderson i dont think you have the right to use the air wave to filfull your little personel agenda.Qote urself "It is inappropriate to defame, denigrate, or slander staff, volunteers and or LSB / PNB members ON AIR OR OFF THE AIR (KPFA candidate forums" I wish you will have the manhood to excuse yourself . You dont belong to KPFA.

This small paid-staff clique and their supporters always promote and defend the "objectivity" of their KPFA News Department in dealing with ruling-class lies and bullshit. However, they display no such objectivity in dealing with their opponents to the left of them.

They have circulated the above polemic far and wide, but have not seen fit to actually quote, even in part, the email they claim to be responding to! Could it be because actually quoting or, better, reproducing it, would totally undermine their misrepresentation of what the three PNB members were saying? (Tracy Rosenberg, Joe Wanzala, and Shahram Aghamir would surely be accused of improperly publicizing confidential personnel matters if they were to defend themselves by making the text of the email public.)

Incidentally, this hit piece was also sent out to what turned out to be the email list of U.S. Labor Against the War. The only name in the From line was 'Michael', but it was not hard to establish that the sender was Michael Eisenscher, an endorser of the phony 'Save KPFA' slate.

In a recent e-mail message "CL trick in last day of election?" a KPFA listener wrote:

"If you were listening to KPFA during the 10 am to 11 am or 12 noon to 1pm hours, you would have heard Mitch Jeserich and C.S. Soong saying they had been told by their union that KPFA's representatives on the Pacifica National Board have proposed "firing" staff from the Morning Show, Against the Grain and the Evening News, that there could be a vote to do this as early as this evening, and urging listeners to go to kpfaworker.org for more information. Neither Jeserich nor Soong, at least not to my awareness, mentioned the names of the PNB members they were complaining about on the air, but the text at kpfaworker.org (which was also sent out this afternoon as an email to Mike Eisenscher's Bay Area News list) does mention the names, one of whom (Tracy Rosenberg) is a candidate up for election.
Does this constitute an attempt by on-air staff to inappropriately interfere in the LSB listener elections? Has the question been raised yet with the Local Election Supervisor or others responsible for insuring that the election rules are followed?"

The timing of the Jeserich, Soong, Edwards-Tiekert pitches with the end of the LSB campaign doesn't seem like a coincidence; the core staff/CL regime may be desperate, afraid their "Save KPFA" fraud isn't working.

To be clear, this practice is not only inappropriate and unprofessional but also a dishonest, self-serving use of the air; and the info source, supposedly "a misdirected email," is more likely a PNB member who violated meeting confidentiality. PNB members should be accountable for their actions and record, but insider News and Public Affairs staff spinning the story on air and directing listeners to an offshore website that implicates their opposition slate and a candidate by name is another matter, not transparency. As the listener notes, whether it's an interference in the LSB election and Fair Campaign Practice violation is a question for the election supervisors. 

Its important to put the current core staff misuse of the air in the long term history and context of the struggle for democratic representative governance, policy and decision making vs. insider power, privilege and control without transparency and accountability.

As Richard Phelps notes (see comment), this is not the first time the core staff clique has conspired to refer listeners to their slanted door website, KPFA Worker. A similar tactic was used against former GM Roy Campanella (son the great Brooklyn Dodgers catcher, one of the first black MLB players after Jackie Robinson) as part of an open, all out fraternity campaign to not just terminate him as GM but also to ruin Roy's reputation and run him out of town - for the sins of being hired under the new Pacifica bylaws process, not being one of them or completely controlled by them. The coordinated action, including unsubstantiated charges of sexual harassment and demonizing posters, was concurrently directed against Flashpoints programmers (pieces of toast in their mail slots, a torn picture of Nora and her child.)

From my article written after the forced resignation of GM Lemlem Rijio earlier this year, "KPFA Workers and Community Step Up, GM Resigns" http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/25/18659813.php (reposted):

"...The senior union "core staff" think they are KPFA and are used to running the station as they please. A GM must be selected from their ranks or the station becomes a "management free zone:" outsiders selected through the by-laws process, Campanella and former Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, were rejected, sabotaged and forced out. Inclusion and interests of volunteer staff do not matter. Historically, both paid and unpaid staff were represented by one union (UEW); but thanks to the Healthy Station project, paid staff breaking solidarity and dumping co-workers to join the CWA (1996-97) and Rijio's non-recognition of UPSO (recently rescinded under new Pacifica management), volunteer staff have had no effective labor representation, benefits or budget funding for personal and production costs. However, all staff now have voting power and LSB representation, and in recent elections voted for a majority of independent representatives, clearly indicating a split with the management regime; also, staff will have a special election on the proposed recall of Edwards-Tiekert.

Clearly, there was widespread staff and community disaffection with Rijio's management and a renewed commitment to new leadership and direction for KPFA, in the spirit of the 1999 beginning of "a new era of democratic decision-making and station Transformation." Black/people of color programmers, staff and community members led a campaign protesting the Nadra Foster arrest/beating and supporting her legal defense (see above and #6). In Sept-Oct 2008 eighty unpaid and union staff signed an "Open Letter on New KPFA Leadership Attributes/Priorities" http://www.physicszone.org/letter2008/letter.html with an 8 point program for changes to be initiated and supported by new management; 74 signed a "Statement Of No Confidence," calling for a new GM appointment http://mediajusticekpfa.blogspot.com/2008/10/74-kpfa-staffers-no-confidence-rijio.html; a letter from 21 listeners demanded rescission of her permanent appointment. …

….However, in the interim management period and resulting "management free zone" at the station, the old guard "core staff" cabal remains in control, and the damages and consequences of former management's policies, decisions and actions are ongoing."

Interim GM Ahmad Anderson could hardy be surprised by the latest hoodlum, spoiled brat pack, manic acting out behavior. He had intervened to contain the core clique excesses following Rijio's resignation and now has issued an admonition and warning to staff. We'll see what happens.

However, like preceding managers Anderson partly tends to the path of least resistance, relying on and catering to the insider staff power clique for their acquiescence and limited cooperation, as evidenced by a) declining to review and modify the last round of budget cuts that disregarded equity and union contract seniority, particularly as impacting Flashpoints staff; and b) his sickening apology to Sasha Lilley (for a programer's commentary implicating her involvement in the arrest and beating of long term volunteer staff Nadra Foster's at the station). While KPFA management has never apologized to Nadra Foster, Anderson felt obliged to record a cart and use KPFA air to kiss Lilley's ring and clear her name, even though she had been a senior KPFA manager (iPD) and present during the police intrusion and violence (see SF BayView Newspaper June 17 KPFA apologizes to Sasha Lilley but not to Nadra Foster).

But Anderson is an interim GM, temporarily reassigned from Pacifica HR management, primarily to execute the overdue paid staffing reductions and other budget cuts. From the last LSB program report we hear that a new GM appointment is imminent. Will we finally have the strong, decent permanent management and leadership envisioned in the staff Open Letter (see article excerpt above) and with the integrity and guts to stand up to the insider gang, put a stop to their crap and clean house?

Maybe it's a not such a terrible thing if the PNB is actually discussing the core program staffing cuts as alleged, although as another KPFA listener says in a posting to the archive page of the Sept 29 Letters to Washington (aka Letters to the DNC):

"I am not sure why this information was leaked from a confidential meeting and then repeated on the air. nevertheless i agree that we need good programming. but not sure what the solution is to the huge budget problems at KPFA . Do you have an answer for that ? cause seems like this is about some people upset about their jobs and just wanting other people at KPFA to get cut. Maybe everyone needs to be cut to part time if that is what it takes to SAVE KPFA."

I've listened and supported KPFA for 50 years.But I do not want to support the PNB' s partying and flying around using the money they get from KPFA. The morning show should be restored to what it was. Legal action should be taken against the Pacifica National Board. jedwardbaldwin [at] gmail.com