Monday, December 11, 2017

Enough is Enough—really?


Posted by Bill Crosier 12:57 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017


It's time that reasonable people in Pacifica agree to stand up to the bullying, harassment, intimidation, sabotage of meetings, and neglect of fiduciary responsibilities on the part of the PNB and KPFT's LSB. I have personal knowledge of what's going on there, but I'd like to hear from those of you from other stations who may want to talk about similar problems with your LSBs.

Pacifica is facing its biggest crisis ever, caused by years of financial neglect and the failure to get our deficits under control and take effective action to reverse the decline in listeners and members and revenue, so that we can pay our bills and keep Pacifica alive. Our mission is seriously threatened by our financial problems and our failure to get the boards to do what's needed to correct the problems. Management, both nationally and at each station, are trying, but we need help if Pacifica and its mission are going to survive.


Empire State Realty Trust has a judgment against us, our debt to them keeps increasing every month, we have other creditors who may take us to court to get similar judgments (and some already have - those have been for substantial but smaller amounts), we have several years of unfunded pension liabilities, and we have no PNB-approved plan for how to pay for any of this.


Some PNB Directors are trying to help us find a way to pay ESRT, but we can't ignore our other serious financial obligations.  Getting a loan may be necessary in the short term, both for paying the ESRT judgment and some of the other immediate financial needs, but we MUST identify a way of paying off the loan. It can't come from regular operations - we don't have the cash flow to do that.  We've obtained appraisals of all of our buildings - showing that they are worth less than many had hoped - and it's clear that selling them would not be enough to take care of our financial crisis.


But in spite of all this, and the clear need for our boards to work together to come up with plans to get more listeners and members and donors, and to pay our debts, we are paralyzed by dysfunction on our boards.


In almost every PNB meeting this year, it's taken an hour or more just to get through approval of the agenda and minutes from the last meeting. Some times we can't even do that in an hour and a half. Objections brought up often have nothing to do with the agenda or minutes or whatever else happens to be on the floor.  Some Directors repeatedly talk without being recognized, interrupt, and often yell so that their voice is so loud and distorted that no one can understand what anyone is saying. Because of this, it took over two months this spring just to get members chosen for national committees, including the Audit committee which urgently needed to get the auditor chosen (they did). The PNB started using a different conferencing system this year, that allows the chair to mute people who disrupt meetings. He does so only after repeated disruptions and warnings, and he does not eject them from meetings even though Roberts Rules allows this. They are also allowed to vote on all motions. Yet they repeatedly make points of order about using an "illegal" conference system and play the victim role, claiming that their right to disrupt meetings is equivalent to censorship.


In last week's meeting, as in the one before, the PNB never even got to discuss nor vote on any of the proposed Bylaws amendments. Some of those amendments, if approved, would have helped make our LSBs and PNBs less dysfunctional. None of them would discriminate against one faction in favor of another. But it was clear that a very vocal minority of the PNB was determined to not allow those amendments to even be discussed.


The bullying behavior from certain Directors has made PNB meetings this year even worse than in the past. While we have a majority of Directors who do want our financial problems addressed, and who want more functional boards, a determined minority has made that impossible. This is contrary to what our members want, and it's contrary to the interests of Pacifica. It's also a serious failure of fiduciary duty on the part of some of the PNB Directors.


KPFT's LSB has accomplished nothing this year other than raise the level of anger, hate, and frustration to unprecedented levels. I realize some people are unhappy that I replaced the previous interim GM with someone else, but the finances of the station have improved substantially, and KPFT has been paying Central Services and transmitter loan payments every month since August. But even before that, the LSB there was doing little more than frustrating LSB members who wanted to get things done to help the station.


This year, KPFT's LSB has experienced intense levels of bullying, harassment, false accusations, personal attacks, minor incidents turned into major ones, multiple improperly called meetings, and more. One week, KPFT's LSB had three meetings and a Town Hall Meeting in which LSB members were asked to come - all in a period of six days. A number of KPFT LSB members have resigned this year because of the time wasting, lack of accomplishments, and the harassment and intimidation that has occurred during and between meetings. Others have privately told me they had felt physically ill to the point of nausea in some of the meetings, because of the way they were conducted, and because the insults and harassment and efforts of intimidation were encouraged rather than discouraged. One KPFT LSB member who missed two of the improperly-called LSB meetings was removed due to excessive absences, and the LSB chair would not allow me or another LSB member to make motions to excuse his absences, calling our motions "out of order" and "dilatory". Yet the chair asked the LSB to excuse a friend of his (Adriana Casanave), who had missed the same meetings, and they did so.


This is no way to run a so-called democratic governance, and is a great disservice to our members and to the Pacifica mission. Remember, we're supposed to be for peace, right?


I realize some of our board members don't like the results of last year's Delegate elections, but you need to live with that instead of circumventing the clear wishes of the membership - to get our finances under control - by driving off board members you don't like and ignoring the Bylaws, and making it almost impossible to get work done in our board meetings.


I appreciate all of you who have stayed on our boards and who are trying to help at your station and to make our boards work, but I realize it's somewhat like being in an abusive family. I hope you stay on and not let the bullies prevail, as they have too often already.

      
Let's all stand up to the bullies and concentrate on working to save Pacifica.

 —Bill

45 comments:

  1. And how many law suits for unsafe workplaces, threats, and sexual harassment? Pacifica governance has become a festering cesspool. Whatever happened to community radio?

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  2. Well said and—99% true. We are still waiting for you to recognize publicly and take action against "management" such as WBAI's Berthold Reimers and Tony Bates. Their vandalism is clear to anyone who tunes into WBAI and it has been the subject of serious complaints for several years, so why is nothing done about it, Bill? Why is thousands of dollars totally wasted to pay salaries to people who either don't have the station's welfare at heart, wish it destroyed, or are simply ignorant beyond imagination? WHY?

    I'm sure parallels exist at the other stations—certainly at KPFT. Complaints against such vandalism are, I'm afraid, invalid as long as one allows them to continue. Your letter is a good start, Bill, but it is inexplicably late.

    I would not discount the prevailing feeling that some of the LSB and management neglect is criminal.

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    1. Nonfeasance is cause for 99.5% of so called management to be terminated and indictment for a bill that includes a long felonies and non-compliance with FCC, FTC, and EBSA regulations. These government entities will give voice to the voiceless. My 2cents.

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  3. If people had wanted to get rid of the disrupters, they could have done so years ago. Why does Crosier think that people who put up with this nonsense for months (if not years) will be able to grow spines and gonads overnight?

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  4. JUC playbook for each meeting:
    1. Point of Order regarding MUTE phone MUTE complete with detailed citations MUTE appealing MUTE ruling before MUTE ruling is even stated.
    2. Point of Order insisting on re-seating their friend from KPFK despite it being a legal matter and threatening everyone with personal liability if they don't comply.
    3. Multiple amendments to the agenda and notices of some action to be taken.
    4. Arguing about meeting minutes even though they've had weeks to review it.
    5. Running commentary on every statement made by their opponents just to needle them.
    6. Posting messages to everyone remotely connected to Pacifica on why the chair is incompetent
    because he can't handle 50 points of order, 25 questions and multiple complaints all at the same time.
    7. Adriana asking if she can be heard again and again and again.
    8. Long..drawn out...statements...about...something...by Benito...that just...bring...the meeting....to a...complete halt.
    9. Taking their sweet time submitting their vote.
    10. Asking what they're voting on again after debating an item for the last thirty minutes.

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  5. Hey, Bill, tell me something I don't know...

    Funny how he's figuring this all out on his own. Someone give him a cookie.

    SDL

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  6. The 12-13-2017 Berthold Reimers/Tony Bates ill-conceived WBAI fundraiser event will be a complete financial flop.

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    Replies
    1. I have no doubt about that. nor can I imagine paying $500 to meet Berthold and Bates—two thugs who bear much of the responsibility for WBAI's financial crisis, and some unidentified member of an equally unidentified "revolution" (who either has yet to be signed up or hasn't a big enough name to serve as an attraction.

      There seems to be no end to these people's overestimation of themselves.

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    2. In addition, the party is futile, even if it is a success. The money is supposed be for the ESRT debt. 20 attendees would yield $10,000. They would need 200 such parties to reach $2 million.

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    3. I don't think there are twenty members of The Remnants who could afford to go to this very boring sounding shindig.

      SDL

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    4. We will never know—Reimers and his gang never tell the station's victims how much had actually been raised. Remember the Daulton Anderson Jesus fest? Null's retreats? Katz.s art sale? The parade of marathons?, etc. Scam after scam is staged with secret results... If the money taken in were not embarrassingly low or spent in a circuitously criminal way, there would be no reason to hide the facts.

      We are not just talking about ineptitude, I strongly feel that criminality continues to be a factor.

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  7. Mimi is back to old form with her anti-Israeli stuff. I guess she's Palestinian for a day.

    SDL

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    Replies
    1. Mimi hates everything about herself - her nationality, her ancestry, and the color of her skin. That is why she is always so angry.

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    2. I think she hates herself because she wants to be like everybody else. if you get my drift.

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    3. I think Mimi is simply psychotic.

      SDL

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  8. Chris,

    What lawsuits?

    "Empire State Realty Trust has a judgment against us, our debt to them keeps increasing every month, we have other creditors who may take us to court to get similar judgments (and some already have - those have been for substantial but smaller amounts), we have several years of unfunded pension liabilities, and we have no PNB-approved plan for how to pay for any of this."

    Many of the individuals either have serious psychological issues or are awaiting the savior of WBAI: The Russian Revolution in an American style.

    Thank you.

    Ed Manfredonia

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    Replies
    1. Don't forget, they think of themselves as victims of the Evil Empire State Building and—in a rather sick sense—the station's former listener-supporters.

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  9. Legally speaking, there's a difference between saying somebody's a sleezy ass crook and then actually proving it. What's Pacifica's total debt (ESB, DN, etc.)? Almost $9 million? More than once, I've done my homework beforehand and tried to bring up many of these issues with various people at all 5 stations. I also tried Pacifica's National office. I got repeatedly blown off and laughed at. At times various managers were actually shocked that I had the nerve to actually ask questions. Now Crosier wants my time AND my money to pay off a debt I'm not responsible for? What's he gonna do about the LSB's? Just throw everybody out? If he does that I gurantee that more than one faction will scream YOU CAN'T DO THAT SHIT! YOU'RE A GODDAMN DICTATOR! What's that going to accomplish?

    How many news outlets have carried pr hound Credico? Yet NOT ONE has mentioned Pacifica. There's a reason for that.

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    Replies
    1. PR Hound Credico lifts his leg, but nothing comes out..... nothing!

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    2. Speaking of Randy (full of) Crapico, what ever became of his blitz on WBAI? Did it go down like the Battle of Britain?

      SDL

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    3. Ah, I see. So, his Messerschmitt Me 209 never even got off the runway...

      SDL

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    4. I called Pacifica's CFO several years ago. He took the time to explain to me that he was looking at the accounting misstatements that I had written about, including that there appeared to be no loan from Steve Brown to hire Andrea Katz. And two weeks later he was gone.

      Delete
  10. After "Democracy Now" finished its broadcast this morning, WBAI's "chief engineer and radio guide" announced "next up, Al Angeloro and 'World Music'" and then a two-hour Geoff Brady "bio-engineering" re-broadcast began. Haskins is clueless.

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    Replies
    1. He also announced the time as 9 am when it, in fact, was 9:10 am.

      Delete
    2. Two hours of Brady? Now there is a conspiracy. It must be the aliens at Roswell or the Illuminati. Perhaps Brady is part of a disinformation campaign. There must be an explanation for how Brady can get any airtime.

      Delete
    3. This is yet another recycle of a mindless 2-hour blather session. It has conspiracy inventor Whittington on the phone, predicting doom for the planet, and scam-master Bates in the closet studio, confessing that lunatic Brady's over-imaginative delusions have "converted" him. He is now a climate conspiracy believer, just as he was a double-helix water believer/consumer and loony creator of history distortion.

      Brady's air time dates back to Bates' original intrusion—putting this lunatic on the air was the other lunatic's misdeed.

      The question, of course, is: Why would the U.S. government want to wreck the U.S. rather than its declared foes?

      Why???????

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    4. The evil Swiss are behind the weather manipulation. Didn't you know that?

      Anyway, Brady is just a psycho, but scam artist Bates likes psychos who make extreme claims. He thinks the people who listen to this horse shit are fanatics who will immediately buy a product that satisfies their need for an answer, any answer, no matter how stupid it may be. He's almost right, but when you have so few listeners, you still can't sell enough to pay the ESRT.

      Sadly, conspiracy theories (I call them hypotheses, since theories require proof) have a religiosity to their dogma.

      SDL

      SDL

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    5. Some of them seem to have accepted the fact that WBAI's listenership has reached its nadir, but none will admit that there are but five peas left in this diluted bowl of rancid soup.

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  11. That horrid woman, Margaret Prescod, is doing her Paul Robeson thing again—how long is it going to take her to sell those 15 packages? Were he alive he would gladly have lent his name to fundraising for civil rights, but I don’t think he would have approved of these neo-Toms using him to raise money for their embarrassing, racist radio programs and scams.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah. Yeah. Listen. We need $5,000 in the next five minutes. Drop whatever you're doing and call now. Right now. Don't worry about the package. You'll get it eventually. We have only a few days left in this mini-fund drive. In fact, we may need to extend it another week or two. Then there is the Christma- Chri- holiday beg-a-thon and then the appeal for end of year donations. Then we can start to plan for black history month.

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  12. I have an idea. WBAI does a New Years beg-a-thon, all day December 31, and if they raise enough money to buy cheap champagne, party hats and noise makers (the kind you blow into, not Mimi), they have a midnight ball drop celebration, telling us how NYE is a traditional African holiday.

    SDL

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    Replies
    1. Perhaps they can issue tourist visas to white people and ceremoniously drop Cerene at midnight.

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  13. The deadline for securing a $500 ticket to the Wednesday, December 13th secret location WBAI fundraiser is 5PM on Tuesday December 12th. So, why were they still running the promo for the event at 5:50 PM?

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    Replies
    1. With so many children starving, I hate to see all those eggs wasted on the faces of imbeciles.

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    2. They've only run that promo for a few days. Amazing if they sold more than three tickets. Imagine if this is like the Africa tour that never came off?

      SDL

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    3. Oh, I had forgotten about the Africa tour. Yes, this is probably another "encore presentation" of nothing.

      Have you noticed the intensified effort to free and bring "home" the mumia character? Also, the clods are again playing the victim game, suggesting that WBAI is dangerously honest and, ergo, on the Empire State Building's hit list. Not a hint of truth in their fantasy, however... the don't owe the money. What a bunch of losers.

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    4. Like the ESRT cares about their programming. If they did, they would never have rented them the room in the first place!

      I guarantee you some conspiracy idiot will say the ESRT remted the room to WBAI just to trick them.

      SDL

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    5. Well, I made the decision to rent "the room", as you call it, but it was really the deciding factor was really the antenna hookup (and height) rather than the room. They probably weren't thinking of the station's programming—after all, we were in many people's mind a "Commie station."

      I had applied for unemployment while volunteering at WBAI. One day, I received a postcard from the unemployment people, informing me of a job in radio. When I called the office and told the clerk that I was already working and about to be added to the payroll, he said, "Good, you probably wouldn't have wanted to work there, it's a little Communist station."

      The ESB people had just installed this antenna and they were anxious to recruit clients—they even paid the cost of moving and, I believe, installation. Remember, too, that we were not everybody's cup of tea, politically, but we were widely respected.

      As for your conspiracy idiot assumption, you know that is so—the Bozos of BAI are incapable of accepting the truth.

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  14. Wonder if they will charge David Rothenberg the 5 hundred .
    If he decides to show up . haha

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    Replies
    1. I'm sure David will be driven by his overgrown ego to attend and talk about Elizabeth Taylor. His motivation aside, David at least did some positive things.

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    2. I am wondering if Gary Null will be present with some of his many followers.

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    3. That probably depends on his setting—i.o.w. whether his WBAI Love/Sue switch is on or off.

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