WBAI

This was posted yesterday to other forums—first in a clipped version by Rodrigo Argueta, then by Tracy Rosenberg in the following unabridged version. I post it here FYI—it does not reflect my personal thoughts on this matter, but the more we see, the better we can formulate our own thoughts.

An Open Letter to Pacifica Executive Director Summer Reece

Dear Summer,

You are the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and you have a three year contract to perform on. This attack on you by the illegitimate PNB populated by infiltrators and enemies of the Pacifica Foundation is wrong in so many ways I do not know where to begin, so I will leave the enumeration of details to others. I am sure many will step up to the plate here. Except that I will point out that the three ersatz “directors” sent to the PNB by the KPFK LSB have no legitimacy or authority, except as caretakers, to enact such an attack on the Foundation.

I call them the “Tres Amigos” an all Hispanic faction representing nobody but themselves. The “staff candidate” Rodrigo Argueta is universally disliked by staff, and after this I am sure, fervently hated. Lydia Brazon hates you, is behind this, and is acting out a personal vendetta, and the hapless clown, Lawrence Reyes, was not elected to anything but was an alternate so far down in the election of four years ago that I do not think he received any votes at all in that LSB election, like me. These three changed the balance on the PNB and I am unwilling to let them grab the tiller, throw you overboard, the careen Pacifica onto the rocks drunk with illegitimate power. And, Summer, I am unwilling to permit you to capitulate to this. You signed a three year contract with the Foundation and I expect you to honor it, first by defending the Foundation from this midnight assault.

The last election of the KPFK LSB elicited so little interest by the listeners that it failed to reach quorum and was not seated. Due to a serious flaw in the bylaws the old LSB was permitted to continue with many members exceeding the term limits imposed by those very same bylaws. Over the intervening four years many board members resigned for a variety of reasons, and alternates were advanced from the list. Now most of the board is comprised of these alternates going so far down the list as to even include me. Their entire claim to the LSB is based on their attending a nominating petition party at the station four years ago and getting 25 signatures on a nominating petition, bypassing the very purpose of a nominating petition, i.e. that you have some real support. These alternates got no votes in the election. I did not run, quit KPFK in disgust, that’s my excuse, but these folks did run and got no votes. Like the now ersatz PNB director Lawrence Reyes. These unelected alternates changed the composition of the KPFK LSB allowing them to send the “Tres Amigos” to the PNB.

I predicted what they would do earlier in writing, in my nomination of the only responsible PNB member Kim Kaufman. This LSB is the lowest quality LSB that I have seen in the history of the institution, has no sense of responsibility to the Foundation, and seems to be exclusively concerned with private hidden agendas and “ethnic” issues like preventing an honest evaluation of Spanish Language programming, and protecting the permanently interim Program Director Alan Minsky who protects them and the CIA directed National Security programming that we all must endure. Plus a majority of members are just plain stupid; and we have a chair that has serious cognitive problems which displays any time she has to write more than a dozen words in sequence. This LSB actually elected her again, perhaps based on the qualification that she knows nothing about Robert’s rules.

In short, this KPFK LSB has no legitimacy, and the members that it sent to the PNB similarly have no legitimacy. So they took this action all on their own without any authority to do so. Now, Summer, let them enforce it. I want you to do the following:

1.      Do not surrender your office or your position.

2.      Do not surrender the checkbook or control over the bank account.

3.      Do not permit members of this faction into the Pacifica building or into your     office. If you want to meet with them do so at some other place.

4.      Change the locks on your office immediately, get a 24 hour security camera.

5.      Keep your supporters and allies nearby, working in your office, do not ever be there alone.

6.      Immediately hire an armed security guard. If anyone in this faction shows aggression or violence towards you requiring self-defense, shoot them. Not to kill; but a 38 hollow point in the knee cap, obliging the recipient to spend the rest of their life in a wheel chair, should have a salutary effect on the rest of them. Or call the police.

7.      Understand that they are not your friends, or friends of Pacifica, and you cannot work with them.

8.      Fire the WBAI General Manager and the KPFK Program Director tomorrow, you were remiss in not already doing so. They are your enemies. Appoint Christine Blosdale KPFK Program Director.

9.      In short, fire the PNB. If they think they can enforce their bogus decision let them try to get a court order. But make sure they have to fund it on their dime. Your defense, of course, should be conducted by the Pacifica Foundation. You should also:

10.  Withhold distribution of the $350,000 in severance pay to the fired WBAI employees (good riddance) until this is resolved.

11.  You should place in a suspense account under your control the amount due you under your three year contract. There is no reason that you should have to sue to be paid what the foundation owes you, better you should already have it under your control subject to a court’s disposition.

God bless you Summer, you are the first intelligent and competent ED the Pacifica Foundation has had in my memory. Do not let them drive you out. I will be back from Asia in one month and will stand beside you. Do not let me down.

Christopher Bayard Condon

KPFK LSB member (but not elected)