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Pacifica’s Current Board Structure is Destroying the Network
Carol Spooner's finger-wagging review of the current state of Planet Pacifica ignores the crushing impact of the new 122-member National Board structure. Top-heavy, hugely expensive, conflict-ridden and racially polarized, this five-year old Board system was instituted to assure greater democracy and prevent the corporatization of Pacifica.
But instead of protecting Pacifica, the new governance structure is destroying Pacifica. Itʼs bred factionalism, dysfunction, self-dealing, a plethora of litigation and staff purges network-wide.
But instead of protecting Pacifica, the new governance structure is destroying Pacifica. Itʼs bred factionalism, dysfunction, self-dealing, a plethora of litigation and staff purges network-wide.
Pacifica’s Current Board Structure is Destroying the Network – Carol Spooner’s Long-Sought Purge Now Well Underway
Carol Spooner's finger-wagging review of the current state of Planet Pacifica ignores the crushing impact of the new 122-member National Board structure. Top-heavy, hugely expensive, conflict-ridden and racially polarized, this five-year old Board system was instituted to assure greater democracy and prevent the corporatization of Pacifica.
But instead of protecting Pacifica, the new governance structure is destroying Pacifica. Itʼs bred factionalism, dysfunction, self-dealing, a plethora of litigation and staff purges network-wide.
The sad fact is that under this Board system Pacifica has become a pariah organization and the miserable object of universal pity and contempt. Until the governance structure is thrown out, Pacifica Radio will never be able to stabilize and focus on its historic mission.
But for Spooner and her faction, entrenched staff and false cries of racism are the problem.
Spooner says that the termination or removal earlier this year of seven males of color, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback, was necessary to restore financial stability.
But the reality is that since 2003, Spooner has demanded the summary dismissal of many of those same individuals on purely factional grounds.
In early 2004, then Board member Spooner made illegal and strident demands for the immediate termination of the entire network management, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback. Those demands earned a formal censure by then Board chair Leslie Cagan.
Later that year, Spooner physically assaulted a female staff member in a pique of anger after failing to get the Board to summarily fire the then Executive Director. The staff member, a single mother, demanded that Spooner resign.
Spoonerʼs statement that simply because you replaced fired people of color with people of color means you can't be, or be called, racist is shocking. The fact is it does not matter what the color of the person is you replace a fired person of color with. The firing itself for racially motivated reasons is illegal irrespective of any subsequent actions.
Spooner ignores the fact that Pacificaʼs attorney at the time of the firings warned the Pacifica Board against those summary firings precisely on the basis that it exposed the network to possible charges of racial discrimination. As a result of recommending against the terminations, the network attorney was then forced out.
The fact is that Spooner and the faction she represents have been openly seeking the summary dismissal of many paid staff around the network for years. Financial mismanagement is a convenient excuse. And once removed, the very Board members who had openly demanded their removal end up replacing those paid staff members.
In fact, naked self-dealing by current and past Board members is common in the new Pacifica.
In her latest email, for instance, Spooner does not reveal that for the last several years she has been working for Free Speech Radio News (FSRN), an independent entity funded almost entirely by Pacifica. FSRN has received some two million dollars from the network without any strings attached. Unlike Pacifica staff members, or Democracy Now!, FSRN is not required to fundraise and, in fact, raises functionally nothing for the network.
But while Pacifica staff members are laid off due to "economic reasons," or fired supposedly because of financial mismanagement, Spoonerʼs FSRN outfit still receives hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from the network.
This fact should be a wake-up call to the entire Pacifica community and media reform movement. Pacifica is threatened not by entrenched staff or false claims of racism. But like in the late 1990s, the National Board itself is the problem -- unjust firings, gagging dissident producers, self-dealing, running up legal bills, deepening racial divisions and putting at risk the entire organization for narrow personal or factional gain. The solution is clear -- the current Board structure must go, the sooner the better.
Carol Spooner's finger-wagging review of the current state of Planet Pacifica ignores the crushing impact of the new 122-member National Board structure. Top-heavy, hugely expensive, conflict-ridden and racially polarized, this five-year old Board system was instituted to assure greater democracy and prevent the corporatization of Pacifica.
But instead of protecting Pacifica, the new governance structure is destroying Pacifica. Itʼs bred factionalism, dysfunction, self-dealing, a plethora of litigation and staff purges network-wide.
The sad fact is that under this Board system Pacifica has become a pariah organization and the miserable object of universal pity and contempt. Until the governance structure is thrown out, Pacifica Radio will never be able to stabilize and focus on its historic mission.
But for Spooner and her faction, entrenched staff and false cries of racism are the problem.
Spooner says that the termination or removal earlier this year of seven males of color, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback, was necessary to restore financial stability.
But the reality is that since 2003, Spooner has demanded the summary dismissal of many of those same individuals on purely factional grounds.
In early 2004, then Board member Spooner made illegal and strident demands for the immediate termination of the entire network management, including CFO Lonnie Hicks and WPFW GM Ron Pinchback. Those demands earned a formal censure by then Board chair Leslie Cagan.
Later that year, Spooner physically assaulted a female staff member in a pique of anger after failing to get the Board to summarily fire the then Executive Director. The staff member, a single mother, demanded that Spooner resign.
Spoonerʼs statement that simply because you replaced fired people of color with people of color means you can't be, or be called, racist is shocking. The fact is it does not matter what the color of the person is you replace a fired person of color with. The firing itself for racially motivated reasons is illegal irrespective of any subsequent actions.
Spooner ignores the fact that Pacificaʼs attorney at the time of the firings warned the Pacifica Board against those summary firings precisely on the basis that it exposed the network to possible charges of racial discrimination. As a result of recommending against the terminations, the network attorney was then forced out.
The fact is that Spooner and the faction she represents have been openly seeking the summary dismissal of many paid staff around the network for years. Financial mismanagement is a convenient excuse. And once removed, the very Board members who had openly demanded their removal end up replacing those paid staff members.
In fact, naked self-dealing by current and past Board members is common in the new Pacifica.
In her latest email, for instance, Spooner does not reveal that for the last several years she has been working for Free Speech Radio News (FSRN), an independent entity funded almost entirely by Pacifica. FSRN has received some two million dollars from the network without any strings attached. Unlike Pacifica staff members, or Democracy Now!, FSRN is not required to fundraise and, in fact, raises functionally nothing for the network.
But while Pacifica staff members are laid off due to "economic reasons," or fired supposedly because of financial mismanagement, Spoonerʼs FSRN outfit still receives hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from the network.
This fact should be a wake-up call to the entire Pacifica community and media reform movement. Pacifica is threatened not by entrenched staff or false claims of racism. But like in the late 1990s, the National Board itself is the problem -- unjust firings, gagging dissident producers, self-dealing, running up legal bills, deepening racial divisions and putting at risk the entire organization for narrow personal or factional gain. The solution is clear -- the current Board structure must go, the sooner the better.
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The lead article uses some of her mistakes, if all of what is said by anonymous is true, which I doubt, to try and justify the opportunistic behavior of the JUC, Concerned Listeners and their allies at other stations who have used the race card to try to take over Pacifica.
Their conduct has been destructive in the struggle against racism and white supremacy and has almost pushed Pacifica into bankruptcy. The article is but another voice we often hear from those that want absolute control: Get ride of the democratic process. Their unspoken next sentence constantly repeating in their minds is the usual sectarian mantra: "We are the chosen ones (self selected of course) entitled to run things so, get this democratic process out of our way." And of course their attack piece is anonymous. So courageous!
I would gladly debate these issues with them if they will take off their mask and stand behind their words.
The article below explains who has caused the major problems facing Pacifica democracy.
THE PACIFICA FINANCIAL CRISIS!
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction in March of 2009. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,100,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20% of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director. The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air. Bonnie Simmons, CL endorser, made a motion to rescind the required election coverage. It didn’t pass. And we will have a more inclusive election this year. No thanks to CL and its allies.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Conn or Matthew Hallinan, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belongs to all of us, and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained and unaccountable power.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB