KPFA: Stop the Closed Door General Manager Hire

Hiring facts

The current procedure for hiring a general manager was discussed and approved by this elected Local Station Board at its March 27 meeting by a vote of 17 to 3, with two abstaining. You can read the meeting minutes here: http://kpfa.org/lsb/docs.php?type=minutes&id=15&doc=3

The full Local Station Board _will_ learn the identities of all the finalists, and will _not_ choose KPFA's next general manager. Under Pacifica's Bylaws ( http://kpfa.org/lsb/index.php?page=bylaws ), the Local Station Board must submit a pool of three applicants for the Executive Director of Pacifica to choose among. The purpose of this meeting is for the hiring subcommittee to present its recommendations for that pool, and for the full Board to either accept them, reject them, or ask the subcommittee for more information so it (the LSB) can decide at a later date. The actual hire will be made by Pacifica ED Dan Coughlin.

Confidentiality agreements are standard in most hiring processes. They exist to protect the privacy of the job applicant, and to shield the employer from liability. The most obvious example is an applicant who has not told his or her present employer that s/he's looking for a new job. If word gets back to the boss, s/he could be fired.

While it's possible to set up a completely open hiring process (whether it's advisable is another discussion), it is very problematic to tell applicants you will protect their confidentiality, then change your mind halfway through. The time to discuss an open hiring process would've been back in March, before the current procedure was approved by a supermajority of the elected board.

Riva Enteen, the only board member to sign on to this statement, was not permitted to vote on the resolution that established the current hiring process (under Robert's Rules, the chair may only vote when doing so would create or break a tie). However, as part of the Personnel Committee, she helped draft it. And, as a member of the hiring committee, she signed a confidentiality agreement that binds her to keep confidential "any and all information in these applications" on pain of "removal from my elected position."

The Local Station Board recently suspended Enteen from the Hiring Subcommittee following allegations she breached that confidentiality agreement and later attempted to schedule candidate interviews on her own, without the rest of the committee.

Why did she support this hiring process until the day she stopped controlling it?

Go to http://www.MarcNorton.us,
then check out the "KPFA and Pacifica" section.

This is from a leaflet, dated July 24, 2004, signed by Riva Enteen, Mike Alcalay, Lincoln Bergman, Jeffery Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Bill Mandel, Henry Norr, Joe Wanzala and Stan Woods:

"The station is now searching for a permanent station manager. A good choice can be a major step forward. YET THE LARGER KPFA COMMUNITY HAS NOT YET BEEN INVITED TO BE PART OF THIS PROCESS, AND NEEDS TO BE." (my emphasis)

In other words, Riva, and others, have been calling for a public GM hiring process for months.

Get your facts straight, Gadfly FactNerd.

On July 24th, the Local Station Board had already begun the discussion of Enteen's conduct that would eventually lead to her suspension from the hiring subcommittee. You can see it on their agenda here: http://www.kpfa.org/lsb/docs.php?type=agenda&id=15&doc=13 (you can't see the actual discussion in the minutes because that part of the meeting was in closed session).

In fact, the Board's Personnel Committee had already voted eight to one to remove Enteen from its General Manager Hiring Subcommittee earlier that week. Enteen refused to recognize that decision, claiming (correctly, as I read the record) that since the full Local Station Board had created the General Manager Hiring Subcommittee, only the full LSB could remove one of its members.

The point, however, is that Enteen already knew she was in hot water for breaching confidentiality, and seized on the opportunity to take the issue of her misconduct and dress it up as a political battle over openness in governance.

Also, please note that the Mark Norton whose web site is referenced above is Riva Enteen's partner. To his credit, he discloses that fact in one of his articles.

You are splitting hairs, Mr. Gadfly FactNerd. Is that the best you can do?

Besides, in the words from a recent article by Greg Palast, Shooting the Messenger Doesn't Discredit the Message.

Are Mike Alcalaya, Lincoln Bergman, Jeffrey Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Bill Mandel, Henry Norr, Joe Wanzala and Stan Woods all Riva's dupes?

Or, maybe we should ask, whose dupe are you?

So why did the above signatories not demand that the public be involved in the last GM Hire process? Was it because they didn't want the public to know that Nicole Sawaya was a candidate? And not THEIR candidate of choice, despite four years of listener DEMANDS that she be re-hired as GM?

The article these good folks signed is incorrect on its face anyway -- and "shoot the messenger" only applies if the information the messenger carries is true.

The GMHC is to forward its multiple recommendations to the LSB for consideration to forward to Dan Coughlin, who actually hires the candidate. The LSB can accept or reject, or modify, that list as it chooses. It's not "hiring" the GM. And yes, Riva Enteen was involved in the formulating of that process and really has nothing to beef about now, unless she injected herself to advance, or deny, specific candidates who did, or didn't, make the final cut.

"Democracy" is not about a small group with high and mighty credentials ordering specific outcomes, no matter who "righteous" they feel they are or worse, whether they alone "know best." As a friend of mine once said, "the problem with democracy is you have to let people vote."

This group probably would not see the intended irony of that statement, sadly.

Mike Alcalay, Lincoln Bergman, Jeffrey Blankfort, Maria Gilardin, Bill Mandel, Henry Norr, Joe Wanzala and Stan Woods all signed on to a statement that is factually incorrect:

"the decision could be made without the entire Local Station Board even knowing the names of all the finalists."

Either they intentionally misled the people this statement was sent to, or they signed the statement on the basis of misleading information that was fed to them.

Riva Enteen is the only signatory who was actually involved in the hiring process; if she didn't actively mislead other signatories, then it was at least incumbent upon her to set the record straight when she was asked to sign this letter.

...and the fool stares at your finger. (old Chinese proverb)

The message in the "Stop the Closed Door General Manager Hire" statement is straight-forward.

The GM hiring process has been mired in conflict and controversy. The KPFA community should be much more broadly involved. The specific proposal is that the finalists who emerge from this process should appear at a public meeting where the KPFA community can meet them, hear them, and ask some questions. This is similar to a process used at KPFK, Pacifica's sister station in Los Angeles.

This statement is signed by eight prominent leaders of the KPFA community.

Instead of addressing this proposal on its merits, "Gadfly FactNerd" aka "dupe de dupe" aka "LogicHead" responds with a smear campaign against one of the signers of the statement. Joe McCarthy would be proud.

Like McCarthy, Mr. Gadfly FactNerd has little regard for the real facts. Instead, he presents a muddle of allegedly insider information, full of inaccuracies and nonsense. For example, Riva Enteen never violated any confidentiality agreement, but Personnel Committee chair Marnie Tattersall and her allies have done so repeatedly. Tattersall is the chief financial officer for KGO and "Hate Talk Radio" KSFO.

(For more info on Tattersall, see Jeffrey Blankfort's letter at http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1697924.php. For an accurate description of the witchhunt against Enteen, go to http://www.marcnorton.us, then click on the KPFA and Pacifica section.)

Unless there is a public process for the GM hire, the fix is in. The KPFA Local Station Board will soon select a pool of final candidates. This pool of candidates will then be submitted to Pacifica Executive Director Dan Coughlin. Coughlin will make the final decision. How much do you want to bet that Coughlin and Tattersall have discussed this scenario over dinner on her houseboat in Sausalito?

Real Facts -- Thank you for your real info!
Here's some more:

* Yes, Marc Norton's letter of 10/7 at
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/09/1694711.php
lists instances of "breaking confidentiality".
See also among the comments below it, Sepideh Khosrowjah's letter of resignation from the General Manager Hiring Subcommittee, reprinted on 10/10 8:18 am in which she deals with breaches of confidentiality & unfairness on that committee. Click on any comment & scroll up to that date & time. Or go to
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/09/1694711_comment.php#1695680
& do the same.

*Riva Enteen was pushed off of the GM Hiring Comm. Sepideh Khosrowjah & Michael Lubin quit in protest.
The divisiveness on this committee & the loss of these 3 appointed members leaves the committee controlled by one faction, not at all a democratically constituted committee.

*The Pacifica sstations are now trying to democratize. They are struggling with this. We can expect it to be, among other things, a learning process. We have now learned that GM hiring needs more checks & balances. The general membership needs a chance to review the applicant finalists, as was done at KPFK.

*Evidence points to the possibility that the opposition to the Pacifica stations has not stopped trying to destroy it.
When the conservative forces first started to attempt this, in 1991, & up until the firing of Nicole Sawaya, etc. in 1999, there was widespread denial that this was an attempted takeover of the station.
Take Back KPFA, led by 3 of the signers of this letter, led the struggle against the attempted hijacking of the station.

*Again there is denial that this could be happening. Suppose it could happen. Would you want the all-important permanent station manager to be chosen by such a faction? Or would you prefer a democratic method of manager selection, knowing that it was the listeners & some of the staff which saved the station before.

Can we learn any lessons from past experience?
Can the station which features a dissenting point of view support the dissenting voices within the KPFA community???

We should be supporting these long time fighters for truth & justice. There is cause for their concern.

New statement on GM hire, from:

Mike Alcalay
Lincoln Bergman
Jeffrey Blankfort
Riva Enteen
Maria Gilardin
Bill Mandel
Henry Norr
Les Radke

Posted at:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1700389.php

PUBLIC FORUM:
KPFA/Pacifica - Democracy Deferred?

WHEN:
Wednesday, November 10, 7-9:00 pm

WHERE:
La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley


Panelists are:

SOLANGE ECHEVERIA
Flashpoints, moderator

RIVA ENTEEN
Chair, KPFA Local Station Board

MARIA GILARDIN
former KPFA Development Director,
Co-founder, Take Back KPFA

BILL MANDEL
37 year programmer fired for violating KPFA's gag rule

GERALD SANDERS
KPFA Local Station Board and Pacifica National Board

SUSAN STONE
KPFA Director of Arts and Humanities Programming

JAMES E. VANN
community and political activist,
long time listener

(Organizations listed for ID purposes only)


The historic victory achieved by KPFA listeners hangs in the balance.
Once again, listeners must come to the rescue.

A panel of the "banned and fired," current programmers,
board members and community members,
followed by an open-mike session,
will address questions and propose solutions
to protect the nation's only independent radio network.

In 1999, 10,000 people poured into the streets of Berkeley
to defend KPFA, Pacifica Network's flagship radio station,
from a corporate take-over. As a result, a court settlement
was reached, which established elected governing boards.
However, the struggle for democratization, which requires
transparency and accountability, is far from over.


To solidify our victory, we must address these questions:

How do we put the community back into community radio?

Is station management listening to the listeners?

Is our elected board showing the leadership we need?

What went wrong with the General Manager hiring process?

Is KPFA really "free speech radio"?

How does our mission inform our news coverage and public affairs programming?

What about the "banned and fired?"

Is it time to take back KPFA again?

What's happening at other Pacifica stations?

An example of what's wrong at KPFA:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/11/1703564.php