Tag Archives: dan siegel

Those Who Can

 

March 13, 2017

For Immediate Release

Those Who Can

Berkeley-Pacifica’s one day national fundraiser on March 2 was a smashing success, raising over a quarter of a million dollars to fully fund both remaining delinquent audits (FY 2015 and FY 2016). Network members in NY, DC, LA and Houston pledged $82K on the phone, $54K via Mobile Cause pledge-by-text and fully used up an $86K match fund provided by the estate of Jim Krivo, a former WBAI programmer and supporter. In Berkeley, KPFA’s listeners didn’t hear the fundraiser due to the station’s own local fundraiser in progress, but a days worth of receipts will go to support the national effort. Pulled off only 19 days after the board changed executive directors and appointed Bill Crosier to the position, the effort ends three years of the network’s board of directors whining there was no money to pay for audits and clears the way for a return to legal compliance in 2017. Continue reading Those Who Can

2017 Board Finally Shows Up

Berkeley-15 days after being seated, the 2017 Pacifica National Board finally threw off the shackles of the previous board, refusing to concede to an imperial order from 2016 officers Adriana Casenave and Janet Kobren to unilaterally adjourn the February 10 meeting without conducting any business. The expired officers got on the phone call, established a quorum was present, and then claimed the previous year’s officers had to “approve the meeting in advance” and therefore the meeting was to be adjourned without any vote. The ploy didn’t work and a quorum of the board remained on the call after half a dozen Siegel/Brazonites hung up, passing several motions and then moving on to an executive session. Quorum was re-established in the closed session and the 2017 board made a change in the interim executive director position, relieving former board member Lydia Brazon of the position and appointing Houston listener rep Bill Crosier, pending the hire of a permanent executive director. A 20-minute summary reel of the open session of the meeting can be heard here. The meeting notice can be seen here.   Continue reading 2017 Board Finally Shows Up

Rumored Asset Grab

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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:

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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

Mass Layoffs Averted; Now What?

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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.

For more on our endorsed slates, see the Committee to Strengthen KPFKMove KPFT ForwardUnited for Community Radio (KPFA), and WBAI Indy Caucus websites. Continue reading Mass Layoffs Averted; Now What?

Erasing The History of Pacifica

 

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Berkeley- Pacifica Archives Director Brian De Shazor has announced his resignation from Pacifica Radio, effective June 30th. De Shazor’s resignation provoked a strongly worded rebuke to Pacifica from Dr. Josh Sheppard, director of the Radio Preservation Task Force at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Sheppard stated De Shazor’s resignation forced him to retract a Library of Congress offer to apply for grant funding to support the archives and would amount to several hundred thousand dollars in potential lost funds. Sheppard went further, stating the Library of Congress would change Pacifica’s status to that of an endangered archive and advised Pacifica management that “abandoning maintenance of the archive and the consequent degradation of these materials will effectively erase the history of Pacifica”. Sheppard’s full letter can be read here.  Pacifica had recently threatened significant cuts to archival preservation staffing.  Continue reading Erasing The History of Pacifica

Legal Bills For Procedural Quibbles

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Berkeley-In bicoastal court appearances this week, Pacifica relied on procedural feints to further delay hearings on two requests for injunctive relief filed against them by their own members. In Northern California, Yeakey vs. Pacifica requests the removal of 7 national board members whose elected terms expired in December of 2015 and who were not re-elected, and the removal of two Pacifica affiliate representatives who are not affiliated with current Pacifica affiliated stations. The complaint can be seen here. In New York, Young vs Pacifica requests the seating of national board representatives from WBAI-FM who have been prevented from voting or participating on the national board for four months by the Siegel/Brazon majority faction. The East Coast complaint can be seen hereContinue reading Legal Bills For Procedural Quibbles

Control At Any Cost

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Berkeley-In the wake of the overwhelming election victory for the Committee to Strengthen KPFK and the rejection of current IED Lydia Brazon’s handpicked slate by KPFK’s donors (depending on how you count the votes, Brazon’s slate held 3 or 4 of the 18 seats up for grabs), the Siegel/Brazon faction has resorted to numerous shenanigans to retain control of the foundation after their April 2014 coup. Continue reading Control At Any Cost

Time To Stop Dan Siegel

 

This interchange, while lengthy, is very worth a read. It covers many aspects of Pacifica history and the destructive contributions of attorney Siegel.

Documents referred to in the text are hyperlinked. All of the claims made by Brown can be substantiated by documents. Many are posted, some have not been to protect the privacy of other parties.

Text in black was written by attorney Siegel. Text in blue by outgoing national board member Stephen Brown.

Disclaimer: Pacifica in Exile editors are mentioned in the body of the text by Brown. We would attest Brown’s statements are entirely accurate about the events we were directly involved in.

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Hi, Dan –

I am grateful you finally found time to respond to one of my emails — I know you’re a busy man. But haven’t you forgotten something? Isn’t it customary, when one responds to an email, to include a copy of the email to which one is responding, so that your readers will not wonder what you are talking about – or, worse, see only your paraphrase of what I may or may not have said?

I have therefore corrected your omission, and attached a copy of my original email, the one that offended you (“Why the judge ordered Pacifica to pay an extra $32,000 re Silverman v Pacifica”). I will also try to correct the many half-truths, and whole falsehoods, in your response to my email. My comments are below in blue.

And never mind thanking me for correcting the record, Dan. Glad to do it. Continue reading Time To Stop Dan Siegel

New CFO From State Department Funded NGO

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Berkeley– Pacifica has installed a new chief financial officer by the name of Sam Agarwal. The board moved quickly, making Agarwal the signatory for all bank accounts and vendor relationships within days of his arrival. Agarwal’s last full-time CFO position was with San Francisco’s Equal Access, a nonprofit that sets up media projects in developing countries. Equal Access, according to their 2014 annual report, was funded by the US Embassies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US AID – Office of Transition Initiatives, The US Department of State – Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, The US Department of State – Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, The US Department of State – Middle East Partnership Initiative, The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Continue reading New CFO From State Department Funded NGO

4 Months Further Behind

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Berkeley- In this astonishing clip, IED Lydia Brazon reports to the audit committee, 4 months after predecessor John Proffitt told the national board that “things were ready to go” and the 2014 audit would be “wrapped up in a month” that only 12% of preparatory audit schedules had been sent to the auditor as of the evening of December 15th. Listening to the two sets of sound clips side by side reveals the misinformation being provided to the board of directors about the long overdue financial audit which was required to be filed with the CA Attorney General on June 30, 2015. Continue reading 4 Months Further Behind