Originally posted May 7, 2015

Berkeley–Pacifica’s chief financial officer Raul Salvador suddenly resigned on May 6, 2015 at 10:00am. The resignation is effective May 15th, four days after new Executive Director John Proffitt begins work on May 11th. Salvador’s tenure at Pacifica was stormy, marked by the Board’s decision not to move ahead with his permanent hire in January of 2014. The decision was reversed by the new incoming board a month later, leading to the departure of most of the national office accounting staff. Continue reading Pacifica’s CFO Resigns →

Originally posted April 18, 2015

Berkeley-On a sad note, long-time KPFA board operator and music host Wesley Burton was killed in an automobile accident in the early hours of the morning on Saturday April 18th driving home after hosting Sideshow Radio, a late night hip-hop show that ends at 2:00am. Burton leaves a wife and several children. Continue reading Shutting Down While Breaking Even →

Originally posted April 6, 2015

Berkeley–Pacifica’s much-delayed FY 2013 financial audit, after 11 months in the making, $80,000 spent, and close to 300 hours of auditing services, has been exposed as faulty with double-accrued expenses. The entry of the same bills twice was caused by the tumult instigated by the 2014 rogue board which has been utterly resistant to competent financial staffing and has not even seen a list of how much money Pacifica owes. The late audited financial statements, delivered 9 months after the 6-30-2014 State of California deadline, don’t hold up under scrutiny. Simple questions like the Audit Committee’s request for a list of accued legal expenses, revealed six-figure disrepancies with the general ledger and failures to reduce accounts payable after paying bills, a pretty basic bookkeeping requirement. Continue reading Recording Expenses Over and Over Again →

Originally posted March 26, 2015

Berkeley-Pacifica’s response to the December 17th document request by the California Attorney General, sent on February 17th, contains some startling omissions to straightforward questions. For example, question 12 from the AG asks for “records of all donations and grants received by PFR, including but not limited to donations received via Twitter, Facebook and Pacifica’s websites, from January 1, 2010 to the present”.

Pacifica was not gifted with a huge amount of donations and grants in 2014, but Pacifica’s CFO Raul Salvador can be heard announcing the receipt of a $150,000 unrestricted donation from the Toyashima Foundation drawn from a T. Rowe Price brokerage account in this sound clip from the Pacifica National Board meeting of July 31, 2014.  Continue reading The Stuff They Forget →

Originally posted March 3, 2015

Berkeley-At the last Pacifica board meeting, CFO Raul Salvador revealed that Pacifica management has been unable to access the Corporation for Public Broadcasting online submission site for, apparently, the last ten months, as the federally funded agency has demanded a letter signed by all 22 board members in order to reauthorize access to the Isis system. It is impossible for Pacifica to formally request an extension with no log-in capability. Pacifica’s FCC/CPB attorney John Crigler was reported to be out of town. The board passed a motion stating Wilkinson and Salvador were authorized representatives with the votes of 15 of the 22 board members in the affirmative. There is no indication the motion will have any impact on CPB’s request for a written authorization with board member signatures. Salvador stated that Pacifica remains in ineligible status and stated there has been no indication Pacifica has been or will be reinstated as an eligible CPB grantee. Continue reading Corporation For Public Broadcasting Not Recognizing Pacifica Management →

Originally posted February 25, 2015

Berkeley-Pacifica Radio sent “something” to the California Attorney General last week, but exactly what was sent has been concealed from the board of directors, at least those of them not affiliated with the rogue majority. Despite repeated requests for a copy of the jump drive sent to the AG’s office, IED/chair Wilkinson has failed to provide it more than a week after the deadline, and says she will not be able to get copies to board members until next week. This would be a problem for board members if omissions and errors are found in the documents as the board of directors is collectively responsible for the contents sent. Among the documents sent was not the long-delayed audit of the year ended 9-30-2013, which remains undone after 17 months. Auditor Armanino has declined to sign an engagement letter with Pacifica for the next fiscal year, which ended on 9-30-2014. Continue reading The Cat Getting Out Of The Box →

Originally posted February 17, 2015

Berkeley-Just when it seemed the process to fill the vacant executive director position at Pacifica Radio couldn’t get any more troubled, another shoe dropped when board vice-chair Tony Norman, a DC attorney employed by the federal government, inexplicably carbon-copied his ballot indicating his choice for the position to a public Pacifica discussion list-serv with about 100 subscribers. Continue reading Ballot on the Internet →