Pacifica's Uncivil War

You probably know that five avowed disruptive elements made a sorry attempt to stop the long awaited approval of Pacifica's FY2015 Audit Report, a move upon which hinged the organization's immediate future. Here is a summary of this failed attempt as posted elsewhere by Stephen M. Brown, Gary Null's Man Friday.   —CA

August 25, 2017

Why did these five national board members vote to kill Pacifica last week?

Dear Pacifica Supporter –

In the last three years, Pacifica has lost grants from the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) totaling more than $3 million, which has crippled it badly. In addition, the Attorney General of California has threatened to take away Pacifica's non-profit tax-exempt status, which could destroy it entirely.

Why has Pacifica lost its CPB funding, and why has the Attorney General threatened to take away its non-profit tax-exempt status? The reason is that Pacifica failed to file yearly audits with the California Attorney General, as required by law.

Filing yearly audits is usually a simple administrative matter, and Pacifica has never failed to file the required audits during its more than half a century of existence. So its sudden default in filing – not just one – but three successive yearly audits was, for many, not only astonishing but inexplicable. So inexplicable, in fact, that many believed the default to be deliberate – that is, part of a strategy to destabilize the foundation in order to break it up and reassemble it, under different ownership, for private gain.

Suspicion that a deliberate destabilizing strategy was indeed in effect was directed at then-board member Margy Wilkinson, who, in her position as Board Chair and Interim Executive Director, had repeatedly failed to file timely audits, despite numerous pleas from worried board members. Suspicions about Wilkinson were intensified when it was discovered that she, together with Pacifica’s former Corporate Counsel, Dan Siegel, had created, in secrecy (that is, without informing the rest of Pacifica’s board or its newly appointed Executive Director John Proffitt), a “shadow” entity called KPFA Foundation. This entity took over Pacifica’s trademarked call letters without permission, which seemed to be a violation of the law. Its corporate charter had also plagiarized, word for word, the entire mission statement from Pacifica’s own corporate charter. The purpose of this shadow KPFA Foundation, as later admitted by Siegel (after its existence had been brought to light), was to acquire for its owners (Wilkinson and Siegel) one or more of Pacifica’s broadcasting licenses (valued at approximately $200 million), in the event that Pacifica lost its non-profit tax-exempt status, became inoperable, or entered bankruptcy.

Because a failure to file audits was so serious, and so dangerous, Pacifica’s membership voted overwhelmingly, in the most recent election, to throw out the delinquent national board and its (apparently corrupt) Wilkinson-Siegel-Brazon management team. The board then promptly appointed a new Executive Director whose first order of business was to immediately bring Pacifica’s audits up to date, so that (1) the foundation could regain millions of dollars in future CPB grants, and (2) it would no longer be under threat of losing its non-profit tax-exempt status (which the California Attorney General promised would happen if it did not file an approved FY2015 audit with his office by the “drop dead” deadline date of August 27).

So what happened? (Suspenseful, right?) Well, you will be happy to know, if you haven’t heard, that by dint of extraordinary efforts, the new Executive Director, Bill Crosier, and Chief Financial Officer, Sam Agarwal, managed to dig through the chaotic jumble of disorganized financial information left to them by Pacifica’s prior management, and then hire a top auditing firm that succeeded in completing the FY2015 audit ten days ahead of the Attorney General’s deadline.

Only one crucial step remained.

Before an audit can be filed with the Attorney General, it has to be formally approved by a vote of the Pacifica National Board. One might think that this was a no-brainer. Because if the audit were not approved, Pacifica would be dead.  So the board took a vote on August 17. Did it approve the audit?

The answer is -- yes, of course. But with one big surprise. Five board members actually voted No -- that is, voted against approving the audit, against letting Pacifica regain its CPB grants, and against letting it keep its non-profit tax-exempt status.

Unbelievable? Sure. But not if one understands that those five board members – the ones who, in effect, voted to kill Pacifica – were hold-over members or supporters of the same Wilkinson-Siegel-Brazon team suspected of trying to destabilize and dismember Pacifica in order to funnel its $200 million worth of broadcast licenses into their own shadow KPFA Foundation (whose legal address is the law offices of Dan Siegel).

The rest of the board was so upset by the No vote of these five members – which it viewed as a betrayal of fiduciary responsibility to the foundation -- that it did something unprecedented. Although the vote whether to approve the audit was cast in executive (that is, closed) session, the board decided to waive the privacy of executive session and publicly reveal how each member voted. So that those five members – who thought their No votes would remain private – will now be forced to explain themselves to the angry local station boards that appointed them. (Do I see tar and feathers in their future?)

Anyway, this is how each board member voted, by station. Check out the 5 who voted No, and let them know what you think of them.

VOTING YES --
For KPFK: Jonathan Alexander (Board Chair), Grace Aaron, Mansoor Sabbagh
For KPFT: Bill Crosier (Pacifica’s Executive Director), Robert Mark, Rhonda Garner
For WBAI: Kathryn Davis, Ken Laufer
Sabrina Jacobs, Akio Tanaka, TM Scruggs
VOTING NO --
For WPFW: Jim Brown, Benito Diaz
FOR KPFT: Adriana Casenave
FOR WBAI: Cerene Roberts
FOR UHURU RADIO AFFILIATE: Themba Tshibanda

—Stephen M. Brown

A step forward

CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO ENLARGE

The following letter was sent to the pnb@Pacifica.org site as well as to the Pacifica Radiowaves forum. It was picked up by this blog unofficially and unashamedly.

Dear Mr Brown, Ms Casenave, Mr Diaz, Ms Roberts, and Mr Tshibanda et al of the PNB

This is a polite and quite sincere request for information from the five of you as well as a request for further information from the PNB as a whole.  

It relates to votes cast at the August 17 2017 PNB Executive Session.  

The report out from the PNB executive session held on August 17 states that three motions related to the Pacifica audits were passed at that executive session.

I am one of many concerned Pacifica listener members, including several attorneys, who have been actively tracking and documenting the board behavior of PNB members for over a year--as individuals and as voting blocks.  

Our goal is to examine the accusation, frequently made, that a subset of PNB members are working from within to sabotage Pacifica in hopes of walking away from the destroyed organization with valuable pieces of it and/or control over those pieces, or for some as yet identified self serving purpose. 

Should evidence of this sabotage be apparent, legal action against such PNB members could commence. This action could include civil AND CRIMINAL prosecution under a host of state and federal fraud statutes, including breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy to breach fiduciary duty, and conspiracy charges under the RICO statutes.  

As I understand it, a group of board members, acting in a coordinated fashion, and in collusion with each other can qualify as a corrupt organization or enterprise under the RICO statutes.  

Those found guilty under the RICO statutes can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for EACH RACKETEERING COUNT of which they are convicted. RICO includes 27 federal counts and 8 state counts under which legal charges can be brought. 

Collusion to commit fraud would be easy to prove, given the lock step voting pattern of the group of you, usually joined by Ms Washington, Ms Turner, and Ms Sorden.

This quote is from Wikipedia information on the RICO statutes: 

"Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts."

Nothing would be easier to prove than "patterns of behavior" on the part of each of you as individuals and as a group. 

As you well know, a cornucopia of open source audio exists that would easily establish a coordinated voting pattern on the part of this group.  

In addition, evidence of coordination among you is not limited to voting patterns of your group, but also to the intense and unremitting and often successful vocal disruptions, designed to create delay and chaos, that your group engages in. Your behavior occurs every meeting along very well established, highly predictable guidelines and methods and absolutely suggests a coordinated or conspiratorial quality to your group.  

The report out from the August 17 2017 PNB Executive Session states that three audit related motions were approved. A vote count was given for the first motion only:

"The PNB accepts and approves the Audit Report, Management Letter, and Amended Tax Return prepared by Regalia & Associates for FY2015."

Failure to produce timely audits has afflicted Pacifica for some time now, without any clear explanation given as to why. This is but one piece of suggestive evidence of a "plan from within" to sabotage Pacifica.

The lack of timely audits is an existential threat to the Pacifica Foundation by at least two, and possibly more, mechanisms--denial of CPB funding and the revocation of Pacifica's tax exempt status by the Attorney General of the State of California. Other vendors, lenders, etc often demand to see audited financials before deciding whether or not to do business with Pacifica. Absence of the audits obviously seriously jeopardizes Pacifica's basic ability to function day to day. 

Therefore, I would respectfully ask that you clarify your vote on this motion to "clear your name" before the public. For starters, I would suggest responses to the following:

1) Published statements by each of the 5 PNB members referenced above who voted "No" on this motion to clarify the reasons and rationale led to your "No" vote.

2) So many of your votes, if not all, are in lock step with one another, whether on something as weighty as a Pacifica audit or as minor as extending time. This vote absolutely bears that stamp. Why would a reasonable person not conclude that your No vote was not part of a coordinated attempt to block approval of the audit, hurting Pacifica, potentially fatally if your side had prevailed? Please elaborate.

3) That the report from Executive Session for the August 17 meeting be amended to include the roll call results on the other two motions approved during this Executive Session.  

4). That explanation be given as to why these Audit Committee motions were made, discussed and voted under a cloak of secrecy in Executive Session. Under which of the limited "reasons for consideration in Executive Session" do these Audit related motions fall?

I would suggest that responses to the above be placed on the Pacifica Radio Waves Yahoo Group website, along with any other places you choose. 

Once your statements and the voting results outlined above are published, that you make yourselves available for written questions and answers to the public you serve on the Radio Waves group site. Or, in the case of Mr Tshibanda, responses to "The People" you purport to represent.

Thank you so very much,

S D Cohen

The hole gets deeper

Read this and see what they have done to WBAI.

WBAI Treasurer's Report - August 2017
__________________________________ FYI

On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 7:42 AM, Gary Null wrote to Berthold Reimers, the token, well-paid "general manager" of WBAI:

Berthold..late last evening  while getting a fresh juice a man approached me to tell me that he had been at the Plant Codes premier and was a long time listener. He then mentioned that he has been waiting for a premium for more than a year….that he has either received premiums very late or not at all and that the only reason he pledged this spring drive was because I gave my personal promise that all of the funds from the premier would go to the purchase of premiums. I assured him that the manager was in the process of making final arrangements for all spring premiums to be delivered. He reiterated his enjoyment at the premier and lecture. I asked him his occupation . He said he was a lawyer. I  thanked him for his continued support to WBAI. Berthold please honor your word and on Monday wire the money for the premiums. I hope you realize that one of the main reasons the station has lost so many supporters is due to not getting the listeners their premiums in a timely manner or not getting them at all. Also everyone tells us that no one responds to their phone calls or e mails.  This time I gave my word. You gave me your word. We must keep our words. Just last week I had a tragic death very close to me . I flew out of town to grieve and handle all arrangements. I told Scott…my in house council …to let you know I would not be able to attend the premier. He told me that the audience would be very upset and disappointed and that I should fly back for the premier then return  the next day. I did the best I could and let no one know that I am in a grieving period. I also spent thousands out of my own pocket for the two free films and forgave my normal lecture fee…all for the station. Also do you realize that during the past three years that I have paid for more than 50% of the premiums…saving you tens of thousands. I hope you will do the right thing and pay for these premiums. Please honor your word. Thank you.

From: Michael Hudson [mailto:michael.hudson@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 10:13 AM
To: Gary Null
Subject: Re: Iceland Recovering Fastest in Europe After Jailing Bankers Instead of Bailing them Out

Another stretch without imagination

As the absurd Mimi Rosenberg crawls around in blackface spewing her toxic JUC drivel and advocating handing WBAI over to MNN, Reimers, Bates, and the rest of the scammers are pulling harder and longer on those udders. However, that alleged cash cow is feeling rather poorly these days, so there's but a trickle where it used to flow rather nicely.

Null is rumored to be the only one generating a mentionable amount of sales, which means that he is doing okay for himself. That said, the station's credibility is now such that nothing we hear coming out of there (on or off the air) is to be taken seriously.

The Pacifica National Board is no help—it spent its entire public meeting this evening (1 hour and 21 minutes) arguing about what to argue about.

We laugh, but it isn't the least bit funny.

Where censorship and self-satire go hand in hand...

They may in many ways be as race-obsessed and dishonest as WBAI, but KPFA—Pacifica's mother station—will at least allow themselves to be the subject of satire. I don't know about Washington and Houston, but WBAI has Randy Credico, whose humor belongs on milk cartons, KPFK has predictable Jimmy Dore, whose weekly attempts are better, but have too much in common with Credico's, and KPFA has the Twit Wits, who know what's going on and have the intelligence topical humor demands. The following link will take you to last Sunday's ungodly goodie.

Twit Wit - July 30, 2017