Friday, September 28, 2018

The slippery PNB slope...


A sigh of relief followed the announced solution of Pacifica's WBAI-based rent arrears problem. That included the purchase of a new transmitter and a change in location from the Empire State Building to 4 Times Square.

Now, thanks to borrowed money, WBAI's rent became more manageable—considerably so—but with listenership at an all-time low and dysfunctional management (the worst in memory), one would never know that the old problem had ceased to exist. The long promised one-phone studio system  continues to severely limit the scope of call-in shows and the station's audio quality is as horrific as ever.

Soon, celebration of an anticipated, drastic reduction in operating cost turned into speculation. Free speech or not, Pacifica wasn't talking and the sighs of relief morphed into such unanswered questions as: Is the new debt being paid? Is transparency unaffordable? Why is there more secrecy than money in the bank? Another month of fund raising? Who's in charge? Where/who is the new Executive Director? Who are the candidates? Are there candidates?

The good news about the bad news is that Jara Handala is on the case. Here's what he unearthed:

Jara Handala on FJC's Loan to Pacifica

6 comments:

  1. Poor Jara trying to make sense of the nonsensical. Its a power trip my friend. They couldnt deal with those who wanted bankruptcy since they had more assets than liabilities on paper so they got Major Tom to smooth things over until the new guy shows up. He will show up because if not the PNB chair steps in and no one wants that. The election will happen because otherwise the JUC takes over. The quorum for election is not a minimum but a goal to be reached. Meanwhile, the GMs continue merrily along doing whatever it is they do.

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    1. 1) Just for the record:

      a) re "they had more assets than liabilities on paper", the last audited balance sheet when that happened was exactly six years ago, 30 September 2012. That gave $495 924; 12 months later it was net liabilities of $2 328 122.
      http://pacifica.org/documents/pac_audit_2013.pdf (page 3)

      b) re "[t]he quorum for election is not a minimum but a goal to be reached", it is a minimum: that's what 'quorum' means. The Elections Supervisor will declare the election results valid if, amongst other conditions, two quora are satisfied: 10% of listener-members vote, & 25% of staff-members (Article 3, section 7).
      http://pacifica.org/indexed_bylaws/art3sec7.html

      2) As of today the Foundation lacks both an Executive Director & a Chief Financial Officer.

      3) Last Thursday's special PNB meeting, solely in private session, was cancelled – without explanation. It's probably good news because its purpose was "considering matters relating to individual employees" (plural intended?). The Pacifica audio archive also says the meeting was "tentative - meet if contract not yet approved". Strange wording because (a) a contract, as such, is signed (by all parties), that's part of its nature, & presumably any approval to be done is prior to this, concerning the content it should have, & (b) if the PNB itself isn't doing the approving (of what?) who is, & under whose authority? Anyway, perhaps it's to do with the new ED's contract of employment, & the anonymous author meant to say 'accepted (by the new ED)', that the lucky neonate has accepted Pacifica's offer of employment. Perhaps there'll be an unveiling of the cherub this week.
      https://kpftx.org/archive.php

      The regular PNB meeting convenes this Thursday, with both public & private sessions announced.

      Last Monday's Strategic Planning Cttee was also cancelled – again without explanation.
      https://kpftx.org/archive.php

      The Audit Cttee meets tonight, Monday, with both public & private sessions. If the waiver from FJC is only six months (as stated in an undated email from the iED at the time, Tommy-Clay Royce) then the auditor's report for FY2018 (according to the PNB chair Nancy Sorden's spurious summary) needs to be available to FJC within 120 days of the year-end, so 28 January 2019 at the latest. There's no chance of that, not least because the FY2017 audit has to be done first, & according to audios at pacifica.org that's scheduled to be ready when Father Christmas is already on his rounds.

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    2. 1A I can't talk numbers. What I understand is that their assets in total are worth more than their liabilities. If they went bankrupt, they would have to sell assets to meet their debts before doing anything else. They opted not to go into bankruptcy and took on more debt.

      1B You're being too literal. They're trying to get an election done by the end of the year. They just need to meet the quorum. Hence the quorum is the goal. If the turnout is greater than the quorum required great but they just want to get that election done.

      2. They better get that ED now. They're out of time. Major Tom is on his way to greener pastures. The CFO role has been outsourced because they can't stand to have someone tell
      them the truth about the finances. Only problem is this company is having trouble getting
      data. I'm sure it will be sorted out by the next financial deadline.

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    3. Wouldn't it be better for the listeners and Pacifica's Mission if the foundation went into administration? Forgot, the greater good be damned!

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  2. It's more than likely the PNB doesn't care if the election makes quorum. If that happens, all the board members stay seated. That's the way these folks can guarantee they'll stay seated. They're also making sure no new people find out about the election in case someone might want to be a candidate and threaten the cabal.

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    1. I a inclined to agree with you. There are too many vital game-changing moves they could/should have made. Why, for example, are the bozos (like Reimers) untouchable?

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