SaveKPFA'S scheme to hijack Pacifica

A scheme to hijack Pacifica's broadcast licenses & assets


Documents registered with the California Secretary of State for a private “foundation” called the “KPFA Foundation” seem to be part of a conspiracy by “SaveKPFA” insiders to gain total control of KPFA (under the guise of protecting KPFA) and to “capture” its license in the event of Pacifica’s dissolution. Further, it appears to be an attempt to privatize the Pacifica Foundation for the benefit of a few instead of the many. These documents were recently uncovered by Pacifica's National Board (PNB) Secretary Janet Kobren, a United for Community Radio (UCR) candidate and whistleblower.

Here’s what was revealed:

In September 2013, PNB director, former PNB chair/interim Executive Director (iED) Margy Wilkinson registered the above named shadow corporation with the California Secretary of State at the address of Siegel & Yee, the law firm of former PNB director and current Pacifica legal counsel Dan Siegel. They kept this information hidden from the KPFA listeners, the Local Station Board (LSB) and the Pacifica National Board (PNB) until its discovery only recently.

In addition to usurping Pacifica's trademarked "KPFA" call letters, this shadow corporation also adopted Pacifica’s Articles of Incorporation that includes its Mission Statement. When asked to explain, Siegel and Wilkinson admitted that they created this shadow corporation to acquire the licenses and assets of Pacifica (estimated to be worth more than $100 million) in case Pacifica went bankrupt and/or was taken over by creditors or the government.

The establishment of this covert “KPFA Foundation” raises the question of whether some of the decisions Wilkinson made when overseeing Pacifica‘s finances during her tenure as interim ED contributed to the current disastrous financial state of the Pacifica Foundation and its stations. What might be considered gross ineptitude was so systematic that it appears to be an intentional attempt to bankrupt Pacifica and its stations, in order to gain control of KPFA from Pacifica via the “KPFA Foundation” At the very least, this constitutes a severe conflict of interest and ethical violation by Wilkinson and Siegel.

How does this relate to the KPFA Local Station Board election?

As a KPFA member, you will shortly receive a ballot to elect members to the KPFA LSB. This board not only sets policy for KPFA, it also selects four of its members to sit on Pacifica’s National Board. Right now, the Siegel-Wilkinson “SaveKPFA” faction has a majority of KPFA’s seats on this board. This election can overturn the “Save KPFA” majority of seats on the board and enable the new local and national boards to block their plan to hijack Pacifica's licenses. “Save KPFA's” Brian Edwards-Tiekert’s recent motion to get the KPFA LSB to overstep its powers and ratify the creation of the secret “KPFA Foundation” was stopped by UCR LSB members. But it could still be approved if the LSB majority stays the same in this election.

The United for Community Radio (UCR) candidates are committed to doing everything in their power to block “Save KPFA” from dismantling KPFA and Pacifica and walking away with KPFA’s licenses and assets.

Help Pacifica remain intact. Rescue KPFA. Vote for the UCR 9.


These are the UCR (United for Community Radio) candidates. Please vote for all of them:


Scott Olsen -- Iraq Veterans Against the War board member, ex-Marine, survivor of police raid on Occupy, licensed radio operator.

Janet Kobren -- Incumbent LSB member, Pacifica National Board Director and Secretary, 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla passenger.

Virginia Browning -- current LSB member, Pacifica Governance and Programming Committees; health care researcher, downwinder, longtime KPFA activist.

Don Macleay -- 5 years working for the Sandinistas, 19-year school volunteer, Green Party activist, former union organizer and shop steward Oakland.

T.M. Scruggs -- Executive Producer at TheRealNews.com; ethnomusicologist, Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa; volunteer for community radio stations in U.S., Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Marilla Argüelles -- former President of home care workers' chapter SEIU, Local 616; editor of "Extracts from Pelican Bay," former KPFA Labor Collective member,

Jeremy Miller -- Idris Shelley Foundation program director, S.F. No-Taser Task Force, host of Heterotopia on Mutiny Radio, independent journalist with S.F. Bayview newspaper.

Sharon Adams -- Attorney, past vice-president of National Lawyers Guild, Bay Area; instrumental in protecting undocumented persons from civil ICE detentions in Berkeley jails.

G. Mario Fernandez -- recent SF State political psychology graduate, former Napa Community College Student Body President, former Occupy Oakland volunteer.


UCR also supports Listener candidates Tom Voorhees and Richard Hart:

Tom Voorhees -- early-on KPFA volunteer transmitter engineer; 2014 volunteer of the year, National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

Richard Hart -- former natural foods store owner, Berkeley progressive activist, longtime (Pacifica) WBAI supporter.


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for updates, reports & essays on KPFA/Pacifica, please visit these websites:

UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO

PACIFICA IN EXILE

ANN GARRISON, A KPFA REPORTER

SaveKPFA's GROVER NORQUIST SOLUTION at KPFA

LORDS & LADIES vs. the PEASANTS at KPFA


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KPFA 94.1 FM is one of five stations of the Pacifica radio network which are located in major cities across the country. The other stations are WBAI 99.5 in New York, WPFW 89.3 in Washington DC, KPFT 90.1 in Houston, and KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles. The Pacifica network also has about 160 affiliate stations.