Crosier addresses the KPFT LSB

As self-serving vandals infiltrate Pacifica's LSBs, they compound a crisis that is partly of their own making. Every station has its own board and every LSB has its own disruptors. It is highly possible that the current result of ineptitude will result in Pacifica losing WBAI—there certainly will be no returning to the third rate black outlet opportunists have created.

Pacifica iED Bill Crosier has been far too tolerant of agenda-driven disrupters like Cerene, Adriana, the Uhuru puppet and others of their ilk. That patience may be running out—here's a note from Bill sent to the KPFT (Houston) LSB yesterday:

To KPFT's LSB:

The proposed KPFT LSB agenda, like most of them this year, virtually ensures that we'll have little, if any, time to talk about some very critical financial matters.

All year long, our LSB agendas have prevented us from having enough (or sometimes any) time to talk about important topics. In many meetings this year (not just the last few months), items that should have been in new business in accordance with Roberts Rules were put at the beginning of the agenda, and then we didn't get to the main parts of the agenda. I remember one meeting several months ago where we spent over an hour on motions that mostly involved micro-managing programming and similar matters of interest to the chair, and I think all were eventually voted down, as they should have been. But it wasted a great deal of time. In one meeting we did not get to the finance committee report, despite my requests earlier to have more time for it, until 9:55, 5 minutes before adjournment. In a number of meetings we never got to the comm. reports at all. Even in the months when we actually got to PNB reports and committee reports (which should generally be one of the most important parts of the meeting) before the end of the agenda, time has been very limited and we have not been allowed to have discussion during the committee reports. Instead, all year long we've spent most of our time on things that have accomplished nothing.

Even my repeated requests for an executive session, to answer people's questions about the personnel changes made at KPFT in July, were ignored and not put on the agenda until I had to ask the LSB itself to overrule the chair so we could do that. But we were not able to get to that in the August meeting and so we had to wait until the Sep. meeting, in which I again had to ask the LSB to overrule the chair. For both months, the chair refused to put my request for the executive session on the agendas even though I had asked in advance more than once each time, and at least seven days in advance.

What has the LSB achieved this year? Anything productive, that actually helps the station? I can't think of anything.

We spent a whole meeting a week ago Sunday on a motion to re-instate Obidike. Whether you think that's a good idea or not, why is it on the agenda again this time? Our LSB chair himself recognized that the LSB does not have the authority to do this and that it could only be considered as a recommendation.

In July, the PNB approved a resolution (that I did not even ask for and on which I abstained) that re-affirmed the iED's authority to make iGM changes, and in support of the personnel changes I made. Yet some people on KPFT's LSB won't give up, and persist in spreading false statements about whether I have proper authority to do so or whether I followed some twisted interpretation of the Bylaws. They've made sure that the LSB can accomplish nothing this year except encourage people to spread lies, misinformation, slander, libel, and insults during public comment, when our rules prevent us from responding, not even to correct lies and statements made in violation of our Code of Conduct.

Some LSB members have also invited people who did not like decisions made to come to closed (and invalidly noticed) meetings of an "Assertions" committee where they were allowed to assert anything they wanted, without proof or corroboration and by stating misleading things out of context, about me and another LSB member, without even having the courtesy of providing me with the report they promised on what was said in secret about me and the other member. They claimed I could come and refute whatever was said, but they wouldn't tell me or the other member what was said, so we don't know what needs to be refuted.

You may choose to spend your time discussing yet again whether the LSB should recommend (remember, the LSB has no authority to do more) that Obidike should be put back in as iGM, and you can choose to schedule meetings to put me and another member on "trial" based on secret "testimony" that we were not allowed to hear. And you may decide to persist with your guilty until proven innocent approach.

But please let the LSB have time to discuss the very urgent and important financial issues that are facing Pacifica and all of our stations, at tonight's LSB meeting. We have not had enough time, all year long. If you won't do that, then what's the point of having an LSB?

I have not had time to waste on the endless e-mails and petty local e-mail conflicts that some of you seem to enjoy. But I decided that I can't sit back and let another LSB meeting prevent discussion of important, critical issues. 

Now that I've spent most of my lunch time writing this, I'm getting back to work to help Pacifica and all of our stations. I appreciate the help some of you are giving, and I also appreciate the many thank-you's I've received. I won't comment on what the rest of you are doing (or not doing).

Bill

AN OCTOBER 11 RESPONSE FROM STEPHEN COHEN

I honor everything you just wrote about the time wasting, Salem witch trial resembling KPFT LSB—which I assume stands for Lying Slices of Baloney (this a family yahoo group. Can’t  use the more common meaning of S(o)B).

One way to give all who are interested a sonic ear’s view would be to upload the audio of the public portion of these meetings to kpftX.org. Or elsewhere. But if you put it elsewhere you need to announce, at kpftX, where  people can find it. If there isn’t time to edit it or compress  the number of bytes, can’t it be posted anyway?

It’s harder for those who wish to help you or Robert Mark or the latest target without hearing the audio. To all wavesters, Adriana is on the KPFT LSB, albeit lacking in Cerenity. But it’s time Adriana had her lace in the son. Must she always be relegated to being a race, gender, and class baiting side kick?  Must she always be in the shadows, itself an insult to brown people?

For those of you who struggle with your Jones for her or otherwise can’t get enuf of her, like moi, this KPFT LSB audio could  help slake your thirst—I’m talking the equivalent of methadone vs cold turkey when you strung out on Hydrocodone. 

Take a look at kpftX. org and anyone can see the massive holes in KPFT LSB Audio posting. Despite my requests to post what I believe is recorded audio of all/virtually all  meetings. I suspect embarrassment or some other need of some, ?many, on this LSB to hide what is going on or how they speak and behave to listeners.   Occasional snippets of discussion at kpft lsb drawing parallels between board member’s rhetoric and foul smelling items found in a laundry basket reinforce my view of them as craven. 

Which in turn leaves me a couple of units of blood short of feeling sanguine about the matter. 

And yet there is no hesitation to monetarily shake down the naive listener ad lib. 

Tip of the yamikah to Jaime Gomes and Fred Blair (both KPFK)  and the folks at kpfa LSB for responding quite effectively every time I’ve hungered for audio from their LSBs 

And shame on the star chamber LSBs at WPFW and WBAI—too ashamed or too allergic to sunshine or too interested in ruling from the anonymity of the shadows are they to allow anyone to hear how they roll. I mounted several campaigns (phone calls) at WPFW to post their LSB audio, current and past. I’m always promised the moon then given it—figuratively speaking. 

Like all the Pacificans, they are the first to decry, protest, demand, threaten, relish the targeted “antic” and “prank” and sometimes worse, a perception of lack of transparency in others. Meanwhile their windshields are so dirty, you’re safer being schlepped around town in a rickshaw. 

I know you’re super busy Bill. But would you help in getting KPFT, and BAI and PFW  LSB posted to kpftX?

I question the ethics of cajoling people to send in their money with this very telling audio data being withheld from them. In some cases, I suspect quite deliberately, which is the definition of fraud.

Stephen Cohen