All posts by Pacifica In Exile

Audio

Pacifica Vs. Obamacare (and a point of snipe)

Audio Leave a comment

 

A summary reel of Pacifica’s December 27 national finance committee. In order:

1) A brief discussion of the still-invisible FY 2014 audit, which at two years late is claimed to be done but is impossible to locate

2) The motion to pass DC station WPFW’s budget, which like all the budgets in the current cycle is both 3 months late and inaccurate pending  large rises in central services fees several stations will face due to Cerene Robert’s SCA motion granting credits for sideband rental revenue

3) A discussion and vote on the budget for LA station KPFK, where GM Leslie Radford, already responsible for $285,000 in contract violations, proposes balancing the budget by stripping Pacifica’s LA employees of all dependent health care for both spouses and dependent children. In addition to the ERISA issues brought up on the call, later research uncovered the proposal was a violation of the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act and would lead to more fines and penalties for Pacifica. The board majority on the committee passed it anyway

4) A late night poison pill from Cerene Roberts.

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Winning Isn’t Everything

Leave a comment

December 26, 2016

For Immediate Release

Winning Isn’t Everything

Berkeley – After disenfranchising NY station WBAI of 75% of their national board representation, Pacifica’s national board held elections for two 2017 affiliate directors. The two affiliate directors will be the tie-breaking votes on the 2017 PNB after the independents won resounding election victories in Los Angeles, Houston and New York. Incumbent affiliate directors Efia Nwangaza and Temba Tshibanda both voted not to seat the directors chosen by NY’s newly elected delegates, who they feared would not vote for them to retain their affiliate seats in 2017. Sole NY representative Cerene Roberts brought motions twice last week to eliminate elected NY directors not affilated with her NY branch of the Siegel/Brazon faction. A legal letter sent by LA attorney Jerry Manpearl to the board prior to their second vote to disenfranchise WBAI can be seen here.  Continue reading Winning Isn’t Everything →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Catch 22

1 Comment

Berkeley – The second Pacifica National Board meeting in three days went no better than the first with another three hours of invalidating elections on the agenda. The board took no action to change or correct their Tuesday action of decertifying the entire 2016 delegate election, despite a legal opinion informing them the certified election results are final. There has been no word from IED Brazon, National Election Supervisor Lynne Serpe or election vendor True Ballot if or when the board’s requested “recount” would be performed.

Having decided the results of the elections,  60 newly elected delegates in all five signal areas, and any actions those new delegates take are “provisional” for an indefinite period of time, the board majority went on to finish the total disenfranchisement of NY station, WBAI, once the pride of the network for its fearless reporting and countercultural dominance. After throwing out WBAI’s election of national representatives that occurred on December 7th, the board majority then threw out the WBAI election of national representatives that occurred on December 14th, invalidating a total of 13 elections in 3 days. You can hear an 11-minute summary reel of the meeting here.  Continue reading Catch 22 →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Election In The Garbage Can

1 Comment

dove-300x176

Berkeley – In an abruptly called “special meeting” on Tuesday evening, one of two Pacifica National Board meetings called for this week, the outgoing board majority decided they didn’t like the results of the 2016 board elections and threw them out after certification by the independent national election supervisor and True Ballot, a nationally recognized election services firm. They declared in a motion they wanted a “recount” and that the seating of newly elected delegates, and any officers and national board members they elect, and any business they transact were all “provisional” until further notice. Continue reading Election In The Garbage Can →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Are Two Meetings Better Than One?

3 Comments

dove-300x176

Berkeley – The upcoming week features not one, but two, Pacifica National Board meetings on December 13 and December 15. The long-scheduled December 15th meeting is when the board will select two affiliate directors for 2017 from among 5 applicants, and a recently called special meeting was initiated by directors Cerene Roberts, Adriana Casenave and Janet Kobren for December 13. The reason for the sudden meeting on the 13th isn’t entirely clear with the meeting notice saying the meeting is about 2016 local board elections and the FY 2014 audit. The 2016 elections were certified as complete last Wednesday. A draft of the FY 2014 was distributed to Pacifica’s audit committee last Monday. Roberts, Casenave and Kobren have not indicated what motions, if any, they may be presenting for board for consideration. Continue reading Are Two Meetings Better Than One? →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Report Back from KPFA Local Station Board

2 Comments

dove-300x176

Update November 21st. Please see the bottom of the post for supporting documents and a 15 minute summary audio reel from the meeting.

Berkeley-The following is provided as an eyewitness report back on the actions taken by the KPFA local station board at their November 19th board meeting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the audio recording of the meeting has not yet been provided by the board. Once it has been, a summary reel will be prepared by Pacifica in Exile and made available on the website at pacificainexile.org and on the Pacifica in Exile Soundcloud page. The original 3.5 hour meeting audio will also be made available on Soundcloud and on the Pacifica website kpftx.org as soon as it is posted.

This report will include a description of the actions taken with some analysis of what can be expected to follow. Please bear with us as explanations may get a little complicated. We welcome follow-up and/or clarifying questions from Pacifica members via the comment function on the website or by email to [email protected]. Continue reading Report Back from KPFA Local Station Board →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Rumored Asset Grab

1 Comment

dove-300x176

 

Update: As of 11/17, the rumor is not a rumor. KPFA local station board member Sharon Adams as apparently the voice of the “crisis group” released the following document:

kpfa-lsb-dissolution-of-pacifica

The drift seems to be that if the PNB does not either swap out WBAI’s license, transfer KPFA’s broadcast license and 40% of the real estate assets at a fraction of  their value and/or allow some unidentified group of “core people” to unilaterally rewrite the foundation bylaws, the authors intend to sue to dissolve the Pacifica Foundation.

Berkeley – A reliable anonymous source has indicated the Berkeley wing of the Siegel/Brazon faction, who refer to themselves as “Save KPFA”, intend to present an offer at the next KPFA local station board meeting on November 19 to pay off Pacifica’s debts (last reported at $4-5 million dollars) and in exchange get KPFA’s broadcasting license transferred to themselves.  Continue reading Rumored Asset Grab →

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Organizational Darwinism 2.0

1 Comment

dove-300x176

Berkeley – (From Day 4 of Trumpocalypse) … Pacifica’s outgoing Siegel/Brazon board majority hit the network’s five stations with a large central service fee increase, with the deepest impact to be felt at Berkeley’s KPFA and DC’s WPFW. The maneuver, which was pushed by NY rep Cerene Roberts and Houston rep Adriana Casenave, is complicated so bear with us for an explanation of what happened and the likely effect if not repealed. Continue reading Organizational Darwinism 2.0 →

Audio

Busted Eardrums

Audio 1 Comment

At a 3-hour Pacifica National Board meeting on 11-3 at which nothing actually happened, Houston listener rep Adriana Casenave, always notable for the volume of her participation, goes for irony of the first degree by invoking a point of privilege regarding her nemesis, Houston rep Bill Crosier, accusing him of busting her eardrum.

Casenave then embarks on a lengthy screaming fit at 4x the volume as she goes to war with the chair – over a two-minute extension of time. After she loses her shrieking challenge to the chair and the 2-minute extension of time is approved, Casenave exits the meeting, apparently unable to bear her defeat.

Be warned that the clip can cause aural discomfort and listen at your own risk.

From the same meeting is a brief bonus clip of a hilarious segment when no less than five board members change their vote at the last minute, apparently succombing to confusion about which faction is voting is yes and which one is voting no on a fairly innocuous motion to notice an affiliates director election for 2016-2017. It was the only substantive motion voted on for the three hour duration of the meeting.

 

Pacifica in Exile Newsletters

Documents and Meetings In Hiding

3 Comments

dove-300x176

For Immediate Release

Documents and Meetings in Hiding

Berkeley –  IED Lydia Brazon has failed to respond to a directors inspection request filed by KPFK listener representative and attorney Jan Goodman requesting the final SAG-AFTRA arbitration results at LA station KPFK. Goodman’s request was filed on October 14. Brazon had not replied as of the close of business on Tuesday October 25, much less provided the requested information.  California Corporations code section 6334 provides every member of the board of directors the absolute right to inspect and copy all books, records and documents of every kind. Members of the board of directors have not seen the SAG-AFTRA settlement signed by Brazon and unofficial corporate counsel Dan Siegel more than a month ago. Until recently, they had not even known the amount of money Pacifica was responsible for paying and when it had to be paid.

Continue reading Documents and Meetings In Hiding →