Berkeley – On January 23, an Alameda County, California courtroom decided to allow 600 members to force their late-submitted anti-democratic bylaws proposal to a referendum vote immediately at the expense of Pacifica’s membership. The January 23 decision pauses the results of the last delegate election, which 6,085 members participated in. It delays the seating of national board reps selected by newly-elected delegates and keeps the outgoing national board unwillingly frozen into place for another seven weeks. Each Pacifica member faces a bill of approximately $1.50 each for what will be the third nationwide election in little more than a year. Ballots are expected to go out in mid-February. 

This publication had previously suggested that Pacifica members would be well-advised to simply ignore these bylaws ballots should they receive them. But we are now changing that advice. On further review of this ill-advised proposal, we strongly recommend a loud and decisive “NO” vote. We will talk a bit about why below. 

Continue reading It’s Up To You Now →

Berkeley – When we last wrote, the Pacifica National Board had voted yes on the anti-democratic bylaws proposal so that the local station boards at the five stations would have the opportunity to debate, discuss and issue their referendums on the proposal to replace the network’s bylaws and revert to a self-appointing board majority. The national board’s statement regarding the bylaws proposal submitted by the Pacifica Restructuring Project can be found here. 

Since that time, three of the five local boards have discussed the proposal. On January 8, the local board of WPFW-Washington DC issued a unanimous no vote. On January 8, the local station board of WBAI-New York issued a unanimous no vote. On January 11, the local station board of KPFA – Berkeley, the spiritual home of the Pacifica Restructuring Project and the home base of seven of the nine proponents, voted no by a 4 (yes) – 13 (no) – 4 (abstain) margin. The four yes votes were from PRP members Aki Tanaka and Susan Da Silva, and two station staff members, Phillip Maldari, host of Sunday Show and Tim Lynch, co-host of Dead To The World (a Grateful Dead music show). The local board of KPFK-Los Angeles will vote on January 19. The local board of KPFT-Houston was supposed to vote on January 8, but ended up postponing to a meeting on January 22. 

Continue reading Back To Court →

Berkeley– On December 20, the Pacifica National Board considered the new set of bylaws initiated by the Pacifica Restructuring Project to gut the democratic reforms introduced in 2003. The new set of proposed bylaws, which were written by a small group of people primarily in Berkeley, with a few helpers in Texas and LA, would return the Pacifica network to a majority of self-selected individuals on the board of directors.

Supported by a membership petition signed by 1% of Pacifica’s overall contributing membership, the Pacifica Restructuring Project went to court to force this vote. Their lawsuit (technically an alternative writ of mandate) was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on the auspicious date of October 7th, the same day that former Pacifica IED John Vernile and two directors from Texas, Adrienne LaViolette (who just resigned from the Pacifica National Board) and Bill Crosier, swept into New York City and took WBAI off the air, setting up a month of legal battles that ended on November 6th, when NY State Supreme Court judge Melissa Crane returned WBAI-FM to the air.

Continue reading Bylaws-Palooza →

Berkeley-The full transcript of the November 6th court hearing that reversed the shutdown of WBAI-FM is now available. We recommend giving it a read. The format is not the best, but the majority of the hearing is captured. You can download it here. It is a reasonably compact (by legal standards) 23 pages. In summary;

Continue reading NY Supreme Court Transcript Released →

Berkeley-On November 6, 2019, NY State Supreme Court judge Melissa Crane reinstated in full the October 7 temporary restraining order against the Pacifica Foundation and required the brand new interim ED John Vernile and a portion of the board of directors to stop piping in reruns on WBAI’s transmitter and return the station’s bank accounts, web page and airwaves to the WBAI staff and local board. WBAI began broadcasting at the stroke of midnight this morning. 

Judge Crane also declared the national board meeting of October 20th to be properly noticed and valid and all motions therein passed and binding upon the Foundation per the bylaws. Those motions included:

1. Restoring local control and local content at WBAI-FM

2. Placing interim executive director John Vernile on paid leave

3. Terminating the legal relationship between Foster Garvey and the Pacifica Foundation

4. Terminating the legal relationship between Ford Greene, corporate counsel, and the Pacifica Foundation

5. Removing Sabrina Jacobs as vice chair of the Pacifica National Board

6. Removing Bill Crosier as secretary of the Pacifica National Board

7. Allowing all elected directors to vote on any matters relating to WBAI-FM

Continue reading NY Judge Undoes The Coup →

Berkeley-Apparently distressed by the unwillingness of the federal courts to support the unauthorized shutdown of WBAI, comrade Donald Goldmacher has issued an appeal to the aging Stalinists of Berkeley to dig deep into their land-owner pockets and fund a new lawsuit to take control of the Pacifica Foundation away from board of directors that just won’t vote the way he wants.

The new communist revolution that Goldmacher appeals to his “comrades” to support has a distinctly capitalist tinge. His need to “bring the national board to a standstill” requires a corporate attorney. A corporate attorney with “connections” and a “steep hourly rate“. They need big bucks. NOW.

You can read the full email here.

Continue reading Comrade Goldmacher Wants Your Money →

Berkeley-To recap, after WBAI was forcibly shut down by Pacifica’s new interim director without board authorization, a temporary restraining order has prevented the termination of WBAI’s staff while allowing program content to be piped in from California. In the after-shutdown vote of the Board of Directors, which was held over two nights on October 12th and 13th, after five board members were prevented from voting on the 12th, the Board voted 12-9-1 to restore WBAI, change their officers and remove attorneys Foster Garvey from the case, but their decisions are frozen pending the federal court. 

The board members who have turned Pacifica over to the federal government after being out-voted are:

Christopher Cory (KPFA), Sabrina Jacobs (KPFA), Jan Goodman (KPFK), Mansoor Sabbagh (KPFK), Bill Crosier (KPFT), Donald Goldmacher (KPFA), Adrienne La Violette (KPFT), Wally James (KPFT), and Gerry Boast (Affiliate).

Continue reading Canceled Meetings, Compromises and Data →

Berkeley-The legal wheels are spinning at a rapid speed and it is not easy to keep up. We will try to keep you as informed as we can. 

Unable to accept their 12-9–1 loss at a board vote on 10-13-2019, the 9-person shutdown crew on the Pacifica National Board appealed to the federal courts to strip control of the Pacifica Foundation from the members and their elected representatives and the judge has at least partially complied. The Pacifica Foundation board’s ability to take actions is constrained until October 21st per the United States government

An AM order prevents the restoration of WBAI until a hearing on October 21st, prevents the majority of the Pacifica National Board from changing their officers, and prevents them from restoring WBAI for six days, essentially making the foundation a ward of the court, and stripping democratic control of and autonomous action by the Foundation. Membership donations of $1,000 provided the bond for the suspension of membership rights. 

Continue reading Legal Wheels Spin →

Berkeley-On the evening of Sunday October 13th, the majority of the Pacifica Board of Directors voted to restore WBAI-FM to local content and staffing and undo the heist that occurred on October 7th. This vote also occurred on Saturday, October 12th, but on that day the perpetrators decided to “not count” the votes of five members of the national board from three different signal areas and then muted their telephone lines so they could not participate in the board proceedings. 

The twelve directors who met on Sunday night, who represent an absolute majority of the Pacifica National Board and include at least one director from each of the five signal areas, also did the following:

1. Removed the vice chair of the board from the vice chair position

2. Removed the secretary of the board from the secretary position

3. Instructed law firm Foster Garvey to withdraw from all litigation on behalf of Pacifica

All 12 board members, who represent a quorum of the nonprofit’s board of directors formally waived notice requirements for the special meeting and convened on a conference line that did not permit the involuntary muting of participants. 

Continue reading Majority of Pacifica Board Votes to Restore WBAI →

Berkeley-Faced with an imminent loss on an after-the fact and in-secret Pacifica National Board vote to approve the shutdown of WBAI-FM, the perpetrators are changing the voters. During a closed session meeting on Saturday night, a letter was presented proposing to invoke conflict of interest charges against 75% of WBAI’s elected directors, who are charged with being the voice of WBAI’s 8,000 members on the Pacifica Foundation board. The charges of conflict of interest invoked Section 5233 of the CA Corporations Code which is about financial conflicts of interest. The 5233 accusation seeks to prevent three of WBAI”s elected directors from being allowed to vote on all matters affecting WBAI members indefinitely. The three votes being eliminated are unable to vote on whether or not they are eliminated, allowing a minority of the board of directors to “vote” to disenfranchise the majority and therefore win a series of votes they would otherwise have lost.

The vote on the Pacifica National Board is vital because the actions to terminate all of WBAI’s staff and turn the NY community radio station into a repeater can only be legally supported as an action of the licensee, which are the 22 members seated on the national Pacifica board. If the majority of the directors seated on the Pacifica National Board do not support the shutdown of WBAI, the action is not an action of the licensee. 

The removal of voting rights is being applied to WBAI staff representative Shawn Rhodes because is WBAI staff, and WBAI directors Alex Steinberg and James Sagurton because they are plaintiffs in WBAI vs Pacifica, the request to the Supreme Court of New York to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the shutdown of community radio operations in the New York metropolitan area. 

Continue reading The Turn of the Screw: WBAI’s Elected Directors Prevented From Voting On WBAI Shutdown →