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rep Adriana Casenave, is complicated so bear with us for an explanation of what happened and the likely effect if not repealed.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
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.
Berkeley – Election update. As of press time, voting has been extended at KPFT in Houston and WPFW in Washington, DC until October 7th and at KPFK in Los Angeles until October 10th. Elections at WBAI and KPFA are closed. Continue reading The Return
Berkeley – Ballots mailed for Pacifica’s 2016 board elections from the East Coast on August 15th. Pacifica in Exile’s candidate endorsements for all stations can be found here. You will find online voting instructions inside your printed ballot envelope. The voting period ends on September 30 at 11:59pm in your own time zone. If you donated, but don’t receive a ballot or for any ballot-related question at any station, you can contact King Reilly, a KPFK member who has graciously agreed to assist folks, at kingreilly@roadrunner.com. Continue reading The One-Page Financial Recovery Plan
Berkeley-On July 28th, a second special meeting on finances was held, once again boycotted by the entire board majority, with an attempt to unliaterally cancel the meeting by board chair Tony Norman. You can listen to the entire meeting here,a highlights reel here, and read a written summary of recommendations here.
The Siegel/Brazon board majority did attend the August 4th board meeting a week later, a meeting which which focused primarily on bylaws amendments, elections and disciplinary retribution. A highlights reel can be heard here. Among the subjects discussed:
After a two-year delay, New York station WBAI was re-licensed by the FCC, although the station’s lack of a local or toll-free telephone number since June 23rd place it in violation of broadcasting law (Section 47 C.F.R. 73.1125(e)). The Siegel/Brazon majority on the national board celebrated with Brazon announcing “The really good news is that WBAI has been granted their license renewal until June 1, 2022. That is really important in that it allows us to proceed with a lot of things (giggle) including negotiations that we have with debtors {sic} and so forth”. License renewal is what permits a sale or lease transaction of a broadcasting license. License renewal has no value in a negotiation with a creditor due to FCC prohibitions on using the value of broadcast licenses as collateral. Continue reading Proceeding With Things
Berkeley-Recovering from a brief 15-minute flirtation with taking action to address the financial crisis, interim executive director Lydia Brazon ignored a unanimous vote from the board of directors and didn’t pay for the audit. The motion instructed her to use last week’s $50,000 bequest to KPFK to get the 2014 audit report released, and then use the 2014 audit to take out a loan on the national office building and pay a long list of pressing items. Didn’t happen. Continue reading Never Mind
Berkeley-After a literal slew of “special meetings on finances”, the Pacifica National Board finally came to the conclusion they had to pay the fiscal year 2014 audit fee – 22 months after the end of that fiscal year. At a few minutes to midnight, in a bit of a hysterical rush, they agreed to snatch money from anywhere in the network they could find it, starting with a $50,000 bequest gift to KPFK that reportedly came in just a few days ago. The motion was amended repeatedly, most significantly to authorize another grab for a $38,000 payment to the contractor for the board elections. The total amount will range from $68,000 to $117,000, depending on what portion of the $67,000 remaining balance due on the audit fee will be enough to pry the audit from the unpaid audit firm. The motion may have been motivated by the looming August 11 deadline on the third extension of board liability insurance that protects the assets of board members from litigation directed at Pacifica.
The network’s financial crisis is summarized in this bullet point list prepared for the Pacfica National Board. Continue reading Better Pay The Audit
In a “special meeting on fundraising” by Pacifica’s national finance committee that is unlike any fundraising meeting you have ever heard before, Siegel-Brazonite Adriana Casenave hurls accusations of secret underwriters and payroll slush funds at the financially-troubled radio network her faction has controlled since a March 2014 coup.
Perhaps the moral of the story is the better you know the board majority, the less you trust them.
In this somewhat lengthy snippet from a lengthier meeting, Pacifica’s finance committee goes into a bit of a meltdown.
Berkeley-Houston’s KPFT, usually the quietest and smallest of Pacifica’s five radio stations, exploded into witch hunt mode this week after a dust-up about frequently absent board member Maria Elena Castellanos trying to “rescind” her resignation a month after submitting it. After the Siegel/Brazon majority in Houston supported the absurd claim, the board doubled down and proposed suspending 4 members of the independent faction for six months for sending emails advocating that Castellano’s resignation couldn’t be taken back a month afterwards per Pacifica’s bylaws – which state board seats become vacant upon the occurrence of a resignation. The targeted board members include Bill Crosier, the former president of the Houston Peace and Justice Center, George Reiter, a professor of physics at the University of Houston, long-time KPFT volunteer Teresa Allen and Prison Show producer Hank Lamb, a former Siegel/Brazonite who broke with the faction in July of 2014 after telling them to “cut the crap” and calling for Margy Wilkinson’s removal as board chair.
Continue reading Witch Hunts Redux
