Berkeley-The “60 pages you can’t see” of documentation regarding the bequest directed to Pacifica Foundation Radio that was incorrectly reported as a restricted donation for the exclusive use of KPFA-Radio, has finally been made available. The national board of directors voted the bequest had been made to the Pacifica Foundation and then to distribute the document package to the network’s five local station boards. Continue reading Partial Document Dump Re: Bequest
Berkeley-The Pacifica National Board had an informal “strategic planning” meeting Thursday night. In the hour-long meeting, KPFA director Jose-Luis Fuentes pushes for the Pacifica Foundation to move into voluntary bankruptcy, which is described as “a beginning” by PNB director George Reiter. The board indicates they wish to consult with their FCC attorney John Crigler about filing for reorganization, although Crigler is an FCC and copyright attorney, not a bankruptcy attorney. Options on the table are described as a sale of Berkeley’s national office building or a lease, sale or swap of WBAI’s broadcasting license. PNB members Adriana Casenave and Tony Norman insist the board’s discussions about selling real estate, leases, swaps or sales of broadcasting licenses or “debt reorganization” be held in executive session where the network’s members cannot hear them, and discuss how these decisions are “political”. The full meeting audio is here, a seven minute clip is here. Continue reading Bankruptcy Is A Beginning
Wednesday night, at the stroke of midnight, LA station KPFK’s website disappeared from the Internet for about three hours, putting a sad cap on a month-long fund drive that ended on Friday 11/6 at $608,000 or $142,000 short of the goal.
Why did the website completely go down? KPFK didn’t pay the bill. Continue reading KPFK Website Gone For Hours
On November 10, 2015, supporters of the Berkeley wing of the Siegel/Brazon faction (Save KPFA) targeted an interview between Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein and Indypendent editor Arun Gupta.
Gupta, who writes for The Nation, The Progressive, Al-Jazeera America, and The UK Guardian and has been a Democracy Now correspondent, was accused by Save KPFA supporter Sheila Sexton of being anti-union. This was quickly echoed by SaveKPFA-affiliated local station board member Kate Gowen and former Pacifica IED Margy Wilkinson, who asked for complaints to be filed with KPFA’s general manager and program director over Gupta’s interview. Continue reading Censoring Arun Gupta
Berkeley-In last night’s Pacifica National Board meeting, held in executive session, the national board voted to order KPFA to refund to the Pacifica Foundation national office the proceeds of one of two large bequests deposited into KPFA’s Mechanics bank account by then-IED Margy Wilkinson. One of the checks (totaling at least $400,000) was donated to the Pacifica Foundation. In the spring of 2015, the “Hall Trust bequest” was characterized as a restricted gift to KPFA, but information derived from a directors inspection convinced the board of directors the gift was instead left to the Pacifica Foundation and misappropriated for the exclusive use of the Berkeley station. The funds were not deposited into the national Pacifica operating bank account where they belonged. Continue reading KPFA Ordered To Refund Bequest
The following open letter was sent by Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance (www.mecaforpeace.org).
It refers to a highly publicized event in Oakland, California when MOCHA, the Museum of Children’s Art, removed a planned exhibition of art created by children in the Palestinian occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Continue reading An Open Letter from Barbara Lubin: SaveKPFA Candidate Hilmon Sorey
By Kim Kaufman – published in the LA Progressive on October 24, 2015
A quiet coup has taken place at Pacifica, and the results are disastrous. The National Board has failed to carry out its obligations to have elections in a timely manner. Their negligence has led to board members holding seats past the expiration of their terms. One faction now controls the local board at KPFK and the National Board. They are in the process of changing the fundamental nature of our station and the Pacifica network. It is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Berkeley-This edition of Pacifica In Exile is devoted solely to endorsements for the upcoming board elections. We will return to news and updates in a day or two.
Overview
In the year and a half since Pacifica in Exile began publication, the Pacifica Foundation has toppled into critical condition after a series of board coups, loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, an investigation by the California Attorney General of accounting irregularities, the establishment of nonprofits by board members to privately secure Pacifica’s broadcasting licenses, and severe declines in membership and revenues. Under “volunteer” executive director Margy Wilkinson, the network could not complete timely financial audits, borrowed from and did not repay restricted funds, relied on temps who embezzled and “damaged” accounting systems, and hired an inexperienced board crony to lead its largest station and most powerful broadcasting signal in Los Angeles. Pacifica’s democratic system, put into place after Northern California subscribers petitioned the California Attorney General for membership rights, allows current donors to kick the board out. That time has come. Continue reading Board Elections Edition
Berkeley– 22 months after scheming to depose her predecessor and replace her with herself and secretly setting up a nonprofit corporation to scoop up one or more Pacifica broadcasting licenses or other assets, Pacifica’s lame duck board of directors is facing the consequences and moving to mortgage real estate. In a startling national board meeting last night, reality overcame fraudulent financial statements trumpeting a “profit” for the year and chirpy election propaganda from Wilkinson’s faction sent out just a day prior. Continue reading Margy Wilkinson’s Pacifica Skids Off The Rails
Berkeley–Global Village host Derek Rath was the latest long-time staffer to blast KPFK and Pacifica management, saying in a September 8th email that “you are either not thinking straight or you are trying to bring down the station”. Rath’s whole email in which he describes management and the boards as “out of sync with reality” can be read here. Continue reading Not Thinking Straight
