Monday, April 4, 2016

For whom the phones ring...


The PNB Audit Committee held another phone-based meeting this evening. The purpose was to hear from Grant Lamb, the auditor from Armanino. As usual, there was much time wasted on the discussion of an agenda, but even more time was devoted to speculation as to how much Armanino would charge Pacifica for this call. As the clowns discussed and argued, the air was filled with "points of order", which nourished the disorder. You can hear it all on the unedited stream. Best that way, for these meetings are beyond adequate description. There was no Mozart tonight, nor a chorus of beeps, but Mr. Lamb was finally connected, much to the discomfort of the bozos, especially Margy Wilkerson, who obviously would be happier if the public, including listener sponsors, were simply kept in the dark. This lady and the concept of free speech do not get along.

When the Empire State Building contract was mentioned, Madame Wilkerson had one of several smelling salt moments, so an "Executive Session" was ordered and the rest of us were unceremoniously cut off.

Our good friend and astute observer, Indigopirate, has given us permission to share his notes, made on the fly, as it were: 

INDIGIPIRATE'S NOTES:
A Hasty Pudding of Notes re Grant Lamb’s Audit Progress Report and Pacifica’s Eternal Coverup, or: ‘Openness’, Pacifica Style, or: Rats Scurry to Corners, Clutching Information, Periodically Snapping at One Another’s Tails (a singularly sorry spectacle, indeed).

Grant Lamb, from Armanino

85-90% Complete

Working with Lydia

Democracy Now! Contract: Ended 2012, Pacifica has continued to air, Pacifica has not accrued costs for the period since, and situation is unclear. DN seems not to have itself accrued amounts for 2014, so they may not be owed/pursued – need confirmation.

ESB: Can’t discuss in public session.

Brief interviews with station managers planned.

Armanino owed ~$75,000 open balance, est to complete ~$100,000, which total is less thatn 2013 audit.

No engagement letter for 2015 audit.

Biggest overrun is the organization not having support in place at time of audit’s commencement, which then became piecemeal. An organization Pacifica’s size should not require more than two weeks.

Going Concern issue… Margie wants to squelch. Period is one year from the date of issuance of the report… through April 2017.

Ramifications: Going Concern Opinion would likely affect ability to seek loans or donors.

Improvements Needed (pointed out in previous audits): Pending

Fraud: Was pointed out in 2013 audit report that controls as to possible fraud were needed to be improved.

~ ‘indigopirate’, Dishonorable Hasty Pudding Secretary, Pro Tem, Ad Nauseum, Sic Transit Pacifica

20 comments:

  1. Between an incompetent chair and members trying to squelch the report, I'm surprised the auditor kept his cool. After wasting so much money, Its hard to believe they would get worked up over a hourly rate for auditors doing an audit for 2014. I liked the part where he explained most audit committees are 3-5 members with some financial background. Welcome to Pacifica Grant Lamb.

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    1. Incompetent may be too generous a description of these clowns.

      I thought this embarrassing meeting was quite revealing and, yes, Mr. Lamb remained remarkably cool as the fools worried about $450. Think of all the money their dumb decisions and petty jealousies have—and continue to—cost Pacifica. These are people who intervened a few years back when Summer Reese fired a $100,000.00-a-year do-nothing imbecile called Berthold Reimers! He is still there, still making destructive decisions (and nothing else), but one thing has changed, his salary went up to $110,000.00.

      Amazing.

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  2. I'm about half way through now, but I burst out laughing when the one guy said, "We're radio people." Talk about delusional!

    SDL

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    1. Amazing how disrespectful these clowns are to the Lamb. If they had shut up and let the man talk, he'd have been done in a few minutes! There would have been no need to worry about a measly $450.

      As time goes on, these idiots just get further and further away from reality. They are the type of people who, during a fire, rush to the exit and fight over who is going out first, eventually all getting fried.

      SDL

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  3. barron just can't seem find a white man to blame the killing on .
    cop was asian , ken thompson black. hmmm.

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    1. Your response does not relate to the subject at hand. In the future, please try to stay on subject.

      Delete
  4. "cop was asian , ken thompson black"
    According to Barron, when they join the DA's office or the police force, they've sold out their race. They're honorary whiteys, which is worse than bona fide, died in the wool whiteys. Nomesayin?

    KGT

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  5. KGT and Mr. Anonymous - you don't have to insult to make your point. There was a good discussion on WBLS Radio the other day where they questioned Charles Barron about his position on that shooting. They were skeptical about his stance on the Gurley shooting. DA Thompson made the right call - the shooting was not intentional, but the shooting was reckless. Barron is reacting to a number of past cases in which cops were not charged. Frankly, DA Thompson is cleaning up a number of cases were people were falsely charged and sentenced to crimes in which they did not commit, including a case where a man was at Disney World with his family when he was charged with a murder in Brooklyn - he was not even in town when it occurred.

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    1. There is, however, the matter of the shooter cop's failure to act properly once he had made that "mistake." As I understand it, he walked away, leaving Gurley on the floor, dying. That alone warrants this policeman's incarceration, I think.

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    2. Insult? It's a little comic relief.

      KGT

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  6. The PNB Governance Comm. was supposed to meet Tuesday but didn't make quorum. The agenda included motions to get rid of the bogus affiliate directors, a proposal to require the stations to comply with FTC rules regarding shipping premiums within 30 days, requiring sexual harassment training for nearly all paid and unpaid staff since they are considered to be supervisors according to the motion and a motion/discussion regarding KPFT's resolution asking the board to seat WBAI directors selected by the delegates assembly back in January. I wonder if it was just a coincidence they couldn't make quorum or if they were rushing to silence the auditor's report.

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    1. Re your last line, I think either is plausible, but I lean toward the veracity of your latter speculation.

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  7. Is it me or is WBAI spending an increasing amount of time on the anti-vaccine campaign? Oh, no! Will there be less black nationalism reparations programming?

    On a slightly related topic. I saw an interesting documentary on youtube called Maafa 21. In a nutshell it's about the genocide plot against black people that has a lineage of the eugenics movement/Margaret Sanger/Planned Parenthood/forced sterilization/legal abortion. The interesting thing is that it was a Christian right propaganda piece, made by a white guy using black people to get black people to support his anti-abortion agenda.

    SDL

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  8. BAI could benefit so much simply by spending more time talking about current events. Even Amy Goodman found the time to talk about the presidential race albeit with Van Jones and Juan Gonzalez. Not exactly fair and balanced but to her credit she freely admits her bias. How about some coverage of the migrant crisis, the elections, the economy..you know the stuff everyone else is talking about? I'd bet money that even their 'target demographic' is not overly concerned about reparations, alternative medicine or anti-vaccine campaigns.

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    1. In the same vein, Linda Perry on now doing a decent job again, live and talking about current events and life.

      SDL

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    2. Yeah. But they're going down the drain no matter what. They might as well do what gets them off in the meantime.

      KGT

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  9. ^ That sounds like a great idea . Only problem with it is, that these morons aren't that smart .
    And if anybody needs any more proof of that , here's two more shows to illustrate my point
    Education at the crossroads and Where we live . Tune in and see for yourself .
    This isn't good radio , it's not even mediocre radio , it SUCKS !

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  10. Another great PNB moment. In their public meeting last night, they actually voted on a motion to accept a 'going concern' issue just to get the 2014 audit done. Think about it. They would have endorsed a proposal to question their ability to keep operating because the sponsor (Edwards-Tiekert) didn't have faith that they would come up with a restructuring plan which they would need to do as part of the audit process anyway.

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