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Indybay Feature

Pacifica KPFA Manager: Incompetence or Malfeasance-Charges By Pacifica Election Supervisor

by repost
Incompetence Or Malfeasance?

Les Radke, the Pacifica national election supervisor has charged Concerned Listener CL supporter and KPFA Manager Lemlem Rijio with malfeasance and cover-up in the collection of funds for Pacifica. According to Radke and Lavarn Williams, the interim CFO of Pacifica, Rijio kept the $375,000 check for over a year without depositing it. Also according to Radke the mailbox for collection of funds at WBAI was unpaid and had over $100,000 in it which had not been collected due to the failure to pay the PO the fee.
From: Les Radke
Sent: Jan 1, 2010 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: KPFA Staff: KPFA Open Letter on Budget Reductions

What's peculiar about this is the 'casual' way checks are discarded, and not just small sums. Last year Sherry Gendleman was given a check for $375,000. Why SHE was given the check (I was told it was Dan Siegel's decision, but don't know that first hand), is compounded by the fact that the check was given to Lemlem, who kept it for a year without turning it into the National Office. Credit LaVarn Williams who discovered it in going through the financial books and ordered the check turned over a week ago to Arlene (Pacifica's new ED).

In addition LaVarn discovered that one of the P.O. Box's at WBAI was not being paid, and therefore the mail was being held by the post office. This mail box included pledge money, $100,000, some of which will not be collected because the time on the accounts has expired or the credit limits on the accounts has been reduced. To me, something about this is criminal, not just sloppiness. More on this later.

Les Radke,
National Election Supervisor

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by ragouman
If they can not make kpfa a new zionist npr station they will destroyed it financially. They are trying to shut down the most loved and listen show ; flashpoint then they will go after hardknock, voice of the middle east, africa today la raza , anything who dont fit their racist zionist agenda.I use to calL kpfa community my people but i knew something was wicked when they call the cops on nadra .YOU DONT CALL THE COPS ON UR OWN SISTER IF U ARE NOT ROTTEN INSIDE. NADRA GOT RAPED and this liars of management never came clean about it. LIKE if it was not important lemlem riiji is a fake a liar.the unpalatable letter from washington, the lame chris welch and her hot flashes, the npr type pacifica knews and the boring blablaba of the morning show are a real financial drain on kpfa finance.Why not give more life and fire by replacing this boring show with uprising or robert night passionate comment. kpfa is not a commercial entreprise for god sake.
by ^
It is very clear that if the new board does not IMMEDIATELY FIRE MS. LEMLEM RIJIO, they will be implicated in this criminal theft. We, the listeners, have had more than enough of this constant complaining about this crook, and the destruction of our radio station. RIGHT NOW, FIRE LEMLEM RIJIO. We have at will employment in Califormia, meaning that those who are not covered by a union contract, such as management, can be fired fo no reason at all.
by ragouman
since i live near the oregon border i listening kpfa online and i noticed something wierd for the last two weeks .For few hours several shows are archived under the name of a single show. For exemple saturday morning shows like behind the news and uprising were archived under saturday talkies. So we had saturday talkies at 9 am at 10 am an 11 am. Consequently to listen to uprising one have to click saturday talkies at 11 am. Same thing for the kpfa evening news which was posted like 4 times. the strangest is that after few hours or or the following day everything is corrected. The web is a good way to judge the popularity of a show since you can have a real count of everyone who is listening i wonder if it is a way for phoney management to altere the number of people who really listen to one show.
by maggie kaigler
How is it possible for KPFA General Manager Lemlem to held alone responsible for this possible act of malfeasance? What about KPFA Treasurer Brian Edwards-Tiekert? Can it be BET knew nothing of this failure to effectively administrate station funds? Usually BET, all too well versed in station fiscal affairs, is the first to shout an alarm. Witness what happpened when BET alleged to have caught WBAI staffers in an unauthorized transfer of $100K in KPFA funds. BET not only sounded an alarm, but labeled it a "raid", created an online petition which lead to an unauthorized newspaper interview in which he made accusations and private personnel matters, public, all this over what was later determined to be a nonexistent problem. OF course this was during an election period and questions remain about political motivation and timing. So where was he this time? Perhaps in Copenhagen? Is silence the assistance that affords him, certain perks and access to power, because, despite massive program cutbacks, lay offs and slashed program hours, BET flew to Copenhagen, a trip that even a travel/green grant does not explain. Why are staff hours allocated toward a such narrow benefit grant or expenditure? News anchor John Hamilton was justifiably in Copenhagen, but how many news reporters does it take? Apparently as many as can get away with it, in spite of across the board cuts, lay offs and the supposed elimination of all travel expenditures or consulting fees.

This latest concern of possible malfeasance is the tip of a well covered iceberg that should be reviewed for other possible concerns that may lay just beneath the surface, including but not limited to, veracity of previous charges that led to the resignation of previous station general manager who was charged with harassment based at least in part on the word of the present station manager, charges that were found at that time to lack legal merit. A review of present concerns about competence should be leveled at both station manager and station treasurer, with a view toward possible intent to defraud for personal or professional gain, possible intent to defraud listeners through the loss of interest and monies that could have been accrued and accorded to KPFA but were not due to negligence and failure to effectively administrate KPFA funds either through intent or negligence, failure to maintain or negligence in reporting or maintaining bookkeeping, paperwork and funding or instituting process, records and review that would provide sufficient oversite to prevent errors, or the cover up of errors and possible collusion with intent to cover up similar failures to effectively administrate station funds, grants or donations.

Efforts to fairly determine what is provable negligence, legal fraud and collusion with intent to defraud including staff expenditures and management of cash expenditures, are serious concerns that require time, patience, open process and legal knowledge and full private and then public review, and said efforts that should begin immediately.
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