Parliamentary Addiction

This was my introduction to KPFA's board (LSB) some years ago.--Daniel


Roberts abuse rendered KPFA's Local Station Board dysfunctional. The following report from 2006 recommended enrolling acutely addicted board members in Parliamentarians Anonymous for rehabilitation.

(It should be noted, however, that later studies traced the addiction to an uncontrollable compulsion on the part of a small clique of station staff, backed by local Democratic Party clubs, to prevent a transparent presentation of the budget, and to control all programming at KPFA.)

Descent into the gnarly tangle: the epidemiology of advanced parliamentarianism at KPFA--a year-long empirical study in causes and possible treatments

by Daniel Borgström,
(updated piece from 2006).


About nine years ago I took up board watching. As a KPFA listener I began attending the monthly public meetings of the Local Station Board (LSB), and I have to admit that for me it's often like looking into the insides of my computer and trying to figure out what's going on in there. Just keeping up with the names and faces of the LSB members and the roles they play is an ongoing process. There's also a host of other players in this drama, many of whom I've met or at least seen, and a lot more who just seem to be out there somewhere, exerting their influence on events. Names without faces. And of course there are the hijackers of the 1990's, ghosts of the past, who still cast their nefarious shadows over KPFA and Pacifica Radio.

The board has 25 members, at least 20 of whom are normally present, but they don't always work together in harmony. The dysfunction has often been subtle, but frequently blatant, as on Saturday, April 22, 2006, the day the LSB met in San Jose, and where I really first saw this dysfunctionality manifested. For me, in my career as a board watcher, it was a rite of passage.

I arrived late and walked in the door fearing the meeting would be nearly over, but my concern was unfounded. To my amazement and disgust, it hadn't even begun. After three hours, the board members were still haggling over what items to include on the day's agenda.

The entire session was dominated by Robert's Rules of Order--in all its glory. Someone would speak and someone else would interrupt, saying, "Point of order." The point-of-order guy was Brian Edwards-Tiekert. Brian had points of order on this, and points of order on that.

The purpose for holding this meeting in San Jose was to include listener-activists from the South Bay Area, to hear their input, and involve them in the KPFA process. At least the first part of that plan had been a success; the room was nearly full, some fifty local people attending. But by the time the agenda was finally approved, most of the audience had gone home. For those who remained, it was time for public comments, an opportunity for these people to address the board. Not surprisingly, they got up one after another and castigated the LSB for the horrendous, time-wasting display of parliamentary procedures they had just been subjected to.

At long last, having worked out an agenda, and having received well-deserved scoldings from what remained of the audience, the board could finally settle into the business of the day. However, the hall had to be vacated by five o'clock, and it was now already after four. So, most of the agreed-upon agenda was jettisoned in hopes of dealing with one supremely urgent issue, a matter concerning the Pacifica National Board (PNB).

There was one more hurdle. Although they had rented the hall till 5:00, the meeting was scheduled to end at 4:20. They needed to extend the meeting time; naturally this had to be done according to Robert's Rules of Order.

And, of course, Brian Edwards-Tiekert was there to complicate matters. All afternoon he'd been bringing up arcane points of order, and now he did more of the same, seemingly impervious to the intense anger and disgust that had just been expressed by listeners who'd attended this meeting in hopes of seeing something done. Of course Brian's points were correct, according to the revered rules at least, but they were pointless points.

"Brian! What are you doing!" gasped a fellow board member. And Brian promptly responded with a rule to show that her rebuke was out of order.

I and other listeners in the audience sat there, helplessly watching the clock and groaning as the precious minutes ticked away. Five minutes wasted, then ten. Another five, and, finally, after twenty of those last minutes had been squandered, the chair overruled him and called for a vote. The meeting was extended to 5 p.m.

That single crucial item--concerning the national board of Pacifica Radio--was then quickly discussed and the vote was unanimous, Brian being part of the unanimity. The meeting then adjourned, having spent less than half an hour of that long afternoon on actual business.

So why had Brian gone off on such a parliamentary binge? He's a capable KPFA news reporter, and had aired some excellent, well researched reports on environmental topics, which made it even harder for me to understand his disruptive use of the rules of order. It seemed a bizarre and inconsistent way for an intelligent person to act. He seemed a likable person; I couldn't imagine him being so incredibly inconsiderate to all the people at that meeting. The big "why" of Brian's actions kept puzzling me as I remembered him sitting there, desperate to make yet another point of order, his hand reaching out compulsively for a microphone, like an alcoholic grasping for a drink.

The sickness and abuse of parliamentarianism. Brian Edwards-Tiekert was clearly addicted to Robert's Rules of Order, and, like so many addicted persons, he created problems for people around him. "Parliamentarians Anonymous," I kept thinking, might be the answer.

Addictions are said to be a symptom of underlying problems in the family, in this case the KPFA mgmt family. There is a faction of this board (the "SaveKPFA" slate) which represents the station's dysfunctional mgmt and maneuvers to render the board irrelevant, leaving their control issues untreated. Brian Edwards-Tiekert is the favored child of station mgmt, essentially their voice on the board, and a leader in this faction, which enables him in his parliamentary binges.


DANIEL BORGSTRÖM



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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

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. There are also about 160 affiliate stations.



Vote for the UCR -- United for Community Radio














































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The Gray-haired Forty

Sasha Lilley attacks listener democracy, disses listener activists

"unlike those living on pensions, trust funds or SSI, the majority of working people don't have the time to participate -- even if they wanted to, which itself is dubious from everything I've heard from listeners, excluding the grey haired 40 people who come to every LSB meeting with such regularity that you could save seats in advance for them all." --Sasha Lilley


From : Sasha Lilley
Reply-To : lbo-talk(at)lbo-talk.org
Sent : Friday, August 20, 2004 12:13 PM
To : lbo-talk(at)lbo-talk.org
Subject : [lbo-talk] KPFA Staff Open Letter to the Local Station


I do think the bylaws are a disaster. And even worse have been the actions of members on the LSBs who go beyond their mandate under the bylaws by trying to intervene into the daily business at the stations.

Can you honesty say that having an elected board is going to save KPFA and Pacifica from another takeover attempt? The actions of those on the LSBs -- engaging in bizarre parliamentary manipulations, sabotaging essential station business, creating an unsafe working environment for both staff and fellow board members, slandering staff and management (for which litigation may be in process) -- has opened up the stations to intervention from the FCC and the state in this very hostile political climate. You are probably aware that both KPFA's and KPFK's licenses are up for renewal next year and these sorts of irresponsible and self-serving actions could very well lead to revocation.

Do the bylaws "empower the listeners" or just the very few that have the time and inclination to get involved? Is it the voice of all the listeners that are represented on the boards or just a small few who are harboring grudges dating back decades in some cases? Our membership numbers in the tens of thousands and our listenership in the hundreds of thousands and yet people were elected to the KPFA LSB with as few as 400 votes.

What good is democracy if it leads to the rule of a small faction of people who are not representative, either politically or demographically, of the listeners as a whole? And you can talk about outreach all you like, but built into this system is the fact that, unlike those living on pensions, trust funds or SSI, the majority of working people don't have the time to participate -- even if they wanted to, which itself is dubious from everything I've heard from listeners, excluding the grey haired 40 people who come to every LSB meeting with such regularity that you could save seats in advance for them all.

Having lived through the Mary Francis Berry era I am concerned once again about the concentration of power by Pacifica's board -- albeit for different purposes, but with the same potential for destruction (I'd rather not respond to the penis-waving statements here about experience in the struggle, except to note that I was a volunteer at KPFA at the time of the lockout and was out in the streets with tens of thousands of other people). One of the key issues during the struggle against the old regime was how Pacifica was draining the stations of revenue. Yet this year alone the costs of the LSBs, the elections, and the Pacifica National Board are projected to be $580,000 and it is expected that the coming elections will cost much more than last year's, making the next fiscal year's expenses for governance even higher.

The June report from Pacifica's Chief Financial Officer states: "The variance which is most worrisome is that of the [Local Station Board] elections. It shows a negative variance YTD in April of 138k. On projection, I have received word that the new elections this summer and fall will cost the network an additional 160k. This will bring the total election costs in this fiscal to a grand total of 347k. (I had projected 268k by fiscal end but this new figure supercedes that number.) This figure is 347k is 29% of the Network's working capital figure! Governance costs here are actually higher when we include National Board expenses (168k), Board related legal expenses (50k), telephone costs (15k) - all in one fiscal year. This totals 580k!.... Governance costs, projected at 580 thousand dollars are 48% of our required working capital, and 4.4% of our total expenses. This does not include other normal administrative expenses, insurance and other requirements. We, as a Network, cannot survive this kind of expense."

Instead of helping raise money for the stations -- an essential part of the LSBs' mandate -- the governing structure has become a big drain on them. As an underpaid worker, and someone who routinely has to deal with outdated equipment at the station as do 200 other KPFA paid and unpaid staff, the costs of this (volunteer) bureaucratic stratum, intent on increasingly consolidating power, is really troubling.

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Updates, reports & essays about KPFA & Pacifica Foundation Radio at
UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO


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. There are also about 160 affiliate stations.












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Dan Siegel at Pacifica Radio

DAN SIEGEL and the KPFA/Pacifica Election of 2007


Attorney Dan Siegel has an interesting history at Pacifica Radio, where some of his unethical acts are documented in a report by a former election supervisor, Casey Peters.

According to Peters' report, Siegel (along with others) manipulated the KPFA/Pacifica elections of 2007, in which Siegel's group, the "Concerned Listeners" (CL), now SaveKPFA, fraudulently won a majority of seats on KPFA's LSB (Local Station Board). Siegel was then Foundation Counsel and, during the election, also became interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Radio network.

Peters also mentions that Dan Siegel entered his home illegally, startling his wife who yelled at him to get out, and called the police. "We seriously considered pressing trespass and assault charges," Peters says in the report.

Today (2008) Dan Siegel is a member of KPFA's LSB. His group, formerly the CL'ers (Concerned Listeners), now call themselves SaveKPFA

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excerpts from FINAL REPORT
on the Pacifica 2007 Elections
by Casey Peters
National Elections Supervisor (NES)


An unexpected problem arose at KPFA where candidate carts were bundled in large groups playing for several minutes at a time. This was done rather than the traditional broadcast of carts individually, dispersed among other sorts of programming. Some candidates contended that the bundles always started with management’s favored candidates and that listeners tuned out after the first couple of carts were aired. I spoke with KPFA’s Interim General Manager Lemlem Rijio and Interim Program Director Sasha Lilley, and both agreed to de-bundle the carts and to broadcast them individually as other stations do. However, in practice they refused to conform to a direct order from the National Election Supervisor [NES]. The bundling continued, putting some candidates at a distinct disadvantage. The one candidate whose cart aired first in the bundle garnered the most first place votes by far in the KPFA Listener Sponsor vote count.


Management Interference

Greg Guma, who hired me to be Pacifica Foundation's National Elections Supervisor for the 2007 election cycle, was known as a critic of our elections and someone who felt that his power as Executive Director [ED] was undermined by interference from ill-informed but strongly opinionated board members. However, Guma was unflinching in following the letter and spirit of Pacifica Bylaws in his administrative support for the election process. He published a brief commentary on other approaches to governance that might draw upon a number of traditions. Regardless of his personal and professional views on how best to govern the Pacifica Foundation, Greg Guma always lent his full support as ED to implementing the governance process established in the ByLaws and to the work of the Election Supervisors.


Many of the problems that arose in the elections this year may be traced to the disruption caused by the early severance of Greg Guma after he tendered his plan for resignation as Executive Director. The PNB [Pacifica National Board] ushered him out the door hurriedly rather than on the timetable he offered which would have left him at the helm during the election cycle. The vacuum of power, with an intermittent interim ED interlaced by the spectacle of unprofessional vacillation on the part of the presumptive new leader, created a virtual meltdown situation. With obvious instability at the top, the election campaigns descended into chaos. As soon as Nicole Sawaya stepped into the Executive Director role, I left word with her assistant that I was available to meet at her convenience to brief her on the status of the ongoing elections. Ms. Sawaya sent word back that she had no intention of meeting with the NES [National Election Supervisor] and that she opposed Pacifica Bylaws provisions for elected boards.


Shortly thereafter, Ms. Sawaya's sent an email to the PNB [Pacifica National Board] attacking me for allegedly being partisan in my administration of the election. Apparently, she preferred to get her information by rumor and to spread falsehoods through a gossip mill rather than to meet face to face on a professional basis and civilly discuss any concerns that might arise. This was a great disappointment, as the warring factions had put aside their differences to join in support of Ms. Sawaya to be hired as Executive Director. My hope was that her leadership would help to bring about an Era of Good Feeling. Instead, she fomented the worst of behavior already prevalent at Pacifica.


Soon, Nicole Sawaya had resigned -- at least temporarily -- and Dan Siegel was put back into place as interim ED [Executive Director]. At that point, the power really seemed to go to Siegel's head and he started ordering me about in how to fulfill my duties. He applied intimidation regarding the still-pending certification of KPFA results, telling me that I would be fired if I did not do so promptly. The problem was that criteria for certification had not been met due to irregularities in the campaign, as will be explained later in this report.


Regardless of my desire to maintain absolute integrity in each of the local elections throughout the cycle, I was forced to capitulate in order to continue my work in administering the elections at the remaining radio stations. I realize now that this was an unforgivable error on my part and that I should have publicized the fact that the Interim Executive Director [Siegel] was using extortion to intimidate the National Elections Supervisor and wrongly influence the outcome of the elections to the detriment of members of the Pacifica Foundation.


Essentially, Dan Siegel in his dual roles as corporate counsel and Interim Executive Director engaged in threats and manipulation to unlawfully control the outcome of Pacifica elections. This constitutes the highjacking of the vote count. On the evening of March 13, 2008, I was about to leave for Los Angeles International Airport to fly to New York for the WBAI vote count when I received a message from Pacifica Chief Financial Officer Lonnie Hicks. Earlier in the day, he had confirmed that my accommodations in New York City were reserved. The new message said that Interim ED Dan Siegel did not want me conducting the vote count at WBAI and was firing me as National Elections Supervisor. Further information about the WBAI count follows later in this report.


A few days later, Dan Siegel entered my home illegally without any prior notice, and without ringing the bell, knocking on the door or announcing himself. Siegel startled my wife Marilyn, who was home alone, in our living room and she yelled at him to get out. His intent was to confiscate election equipment and materials without compensating me for work completed. Siegel had apparently been drinking, and sat in a rented SUV flashing his headlights into our bedroom. Marilyn called the police to stop the harassment. We seriously considered pressing trespass and assault charges, but felt any publicity about the incident would not look good for the Pacifica Foundation.


Shortly thereafter, I arranged through the good graces of KPFK Interim General Manager Jim Lafferty to deliver the desired equipment and materials in exchange for partial payment for services rendered.


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The full report on the Pacifica 2007 Elections by Casey Peters, National Elections Supervisor (NES)


Open Letter: 2007 elections




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Updates, reports & essays about KPFA & Pacifica Foundation Radio at
UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO


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. There are also about 160 affiliate stations.










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Disinformation & abuse of airwaves during the 2010 KPFA board elections

by Felipe Messina, KPFA Listener-Member
October 22, 2010

KPFA Radio's 2010 Local Station Board Elections were subverted before the candidates were even nominated. Partisan programmers misused Pacifica's airwaves at both KPFA and WBAI, broadcasting biased and even bogus news reports to influence the election process. Also, partisan staff obstruction and resistance to the process in general (potentially in violation of Fair Campaign Provisions) all contributed to undermining KPFA's 2010 LSB Elections Cycle.

Leading up to the 2010 LSB Elections, Doug Henwood ("Behind The News," 6/24/2010) brought on Matthew Lasar to attack Pacifica's democratic governance structure. Doug Henwood's anti-LSB "tutorial" interview with Matthew Lasar may be viewed as part of the larger disinformation campaign.

Then, Sasha Lilley ("Against The Grain," 7/6/2010) brought on Iain Boal to do more of the same.

All of this went unchecked and apparently laid the groundwork for the overtly slanderous disinformation campaign later by the "SaveKPFA"/"Concerned Listeners" (SK/CL) staff clique in the last days of KPFA's LSB Election. The consequences for the Elections process should be obvious, if not, thorough FCP reports must clarify this point.

All of these incidences must be documented and reported to Candidates, Listener-Members, and other interested members of KPFA's broader community before the certification of the 2010 LSB Elections in the interest of fair election processes.

Sadly, neither the interim General Manager nor the Assistant interim General Manager ever went on the air to offer a disclaimer for any of the anti-LSB commentaries and/or attacks. In contrast, every single Candidate Cart was qualified by repetitive disclaimers before each Cart's airing.

It's not trivial to note, as we listen to Henwood narrowly attack Pacifica's democratic governance structure, in line with Sasha Lilley's attacks with Iain Boal on "Against The Grain," that Lilley was instrumental in autocratically bringing Henwood's "Behind The News" to KPFA. One isn't surprised, then, to find the two working together to undermine the LSB Elections in 2010.

With Iain Boal, Sasha Lilley pitched the notion of promoting a petition to shred Pacifica's Bylaws to dissolve democratically-elected Boards similar to the way Lilley moved to dissolve KPFA's Program Council circa 2007, as acting interim Program Director.

Meanwhile, Lilley's east coast counterpart, Doug Henwood, raised an idea, which made even anti-democratic-governance Lasar react a bit squeamishly. Henwood suggested to Lasar, during an interview on June 26, 2010, "What about the, uh, invoking a slate of candidates who promise to commit institutional suicide and change the governance structure?"


Behind the News, 6/24/2010 & 6/24/2010 -- Host: Doug Henwood. Guests: Matthew Lasar, Max Fraser, Keith Gessen, and Anonymous Hedge Fund Man. Aired on WBAI 6/24/2010, Thursday & on KPFA Saturday, 6/26/2010.
Also 6/24/10 podcast
(transcript at end of article)


Abusing the power of the microphone

The power of the microphone was definitely abused by staffers, whom allied themselves with the proxy-like slate, "SaveKPFA." This anti-democratic governance faction of staffers seems to be enabled to run roughshod over the station because they have their CWA Local 9415, of which Mark Mericle is a Contractual Vice President, to uncritically support the paid-staff faction's autocratic rule of KPFA.

Whether under the guise of "Save KPFA," "Concerned Listeners," or "KPFA Forward," a particular faction of staffers has colluded with their friends running for LSB seats since 2004 when LSBs began to maintain a stranglehold on KPFA's editorial direction and programming in general through stifling of critique, programming evaluation, and Board oversight of management

Observers have written extensively on Fair Campaign issues during past KPFA LSB Elections. It is imperative that all observers of KPFA's 2010 LSB Elections, especially the Local and National Elections Supervisors and station management, document Fair Campaign violations to insure the most progressive elections processes possible, establish a record to inform improved future Elections processes, and facilitate disciplinary actions and/or redress of grievances, as necessary, in the course of our LSB Elections Cycle. Candidates shouldn't need friends on the PNB to motivate inquiry and redress for Campaign grievances.

Other factors to consider regarding KPFA's 2010 LSB Elections Cycle:

• The CWA Local 9415 union colluded with "management" to subvert and/or influence the LSB Elections (Mark Mericle, KPFA News Co-Director, is a "SaveKPFA" endorser and a Contractual Vice President of CWA Local 9415; Philip Maldari is reported on-air as being "a union steward" by KPFA's Aileen Alfandary, 10/21/10, 12:05 pm).

• Meanwhile, UnPaid Staff has been stripped of its representation wherein, "[u]ntil 1997, the United Electrical, Machine and Radio Workers [union] represented both paid and unpaid workers at the Berkeley and New York Pacifica stations." And, worse, KPFA workers' own efforts toward collective bargaining vis-a-vis the UnPaid Staff Organization (UPSO) was undermined by union-busting 'management' and the hostile environment fostered by a particular faction of staffers associated with the CWA. It seems, the SK/CL faction at KPFA can do whatever they want chiefly because they are uncritically supported by CWA Local 9415, of which partisan KFPA paid staffer Mark Mericle is a Contractual Vice President.

• Inadequacies of the Fair Campaign Provisions and the election system in place. Although, it's an improvement over previous years, especially with the assistance of the Fair Elections Committee, the Elections system needs work.

• LSB Election Campaign Finance Issues. The slates with the most money buy the most propaganda and influence.

• Lack of equal access to information (requiring listener voters to have internet access, despite the digital divide)

• Lack of timely mailing of printed information, included with ballots, regarding LSB Candidates

• One-sided on-air attacks against Pacifica's democratic governance structure by established programmers having the inevitable effect of influencing listeners' perceptions and, thus, the LSB Elections, in violation of Fair Campaign Provisions. Guilty programmers include hosts and producers of "Behind The News," "Against The Grain," "Letters To Washington," "The Morning Show," the News Department, and those associated with the partisan paid staff faction which endorsed and allied itself with the grouping/slate "SaveKPFA" (formerly "Concerned Listeners," formerly "KPFA Forward").

• "SaveKPFA" Candidates slandering other Candidates during the On-Air debates, including blatant ad hominem attacks, unsubstantiated claims, and/or on-air leaking of confidential Executive Session PNB information.

• Partisan propaganda disguised as news -- e.g., 10/21/10 (12:05 pm), as LSB Elections await certification, partisan Paid Staffer Aileen Alfandary continues anti-LSB, anti-PNB, one-sided SK/CL 'perception management' propaganda masquerading as News Headlines on "Living Room."


From "News Headlines"

Here is a transcript from KPFA's "News Headlines," on October 21, 2010, Aileen Alfandary and Philip Maldari reporting, and briefly quoting Arlene Engelhardt, Pacifica's Executive Director:

AILEEN ALFANDARY: "Deep cuts are looming at KPFA after the parent Pacifica National Finance Committee turned down budget proposals from the unionized staff, which is represented by the Communication Workers of America. The union put forward what it calls "A Sustainable Budget" with proposals for savings to prevent or minimize staff cuts. Philip Maldari, host of "The Sunday Show," is a union steward at KPFA.

PHILIP MALDARI: "The Finance Committee, in a vote, looked at each of the proposals by the union members and rejected all of them. And this means that, uh, the only thing they have on the table to resolve the shortfall in our budget is lay-offs. We think this is absolutely irresponsible."

AILEEN ALFANDARY: "The union's proposals included requiring Pacifica to rebate $28,000 yearly rent for the office space it currently occupies for free in a KPFA-owned building next door to the station's studios, spreading out the payback of $105,000 in dues KPFA owes to Pacifica over three years instead of paying it all in one year, and saving the entire network more than $110,000 by holding Pacifica National Board meetings over video-conference, instead of having in-person meetings four times a year. Individual union members also volunteered to switch to less expensive health care plans, which was the only union initiative the Pacifica management has agreed to. Altogether, the [paid-staff CWA] union said its proposal would have saved $250,000. At the Pacifica Finance Committee meeting, Executive Director, Arlene Engelhardt said the union's proposals to avert lay-offs were untenable."

ARLENE ENGELHARDT (Executive Director): "My budget reduces the salaries to, salaries and related expenses to $1,720,000. The big issue that the union and the staff are looking for is to cut way back on the number of cuts and I don't see this as possible."

AILEEN ALFANDARY: "In a subsequent written statement, Engelhardt said the union proposals were governance items and, as such, can only be included in the budget, if approved by the Pacifica National Board. KPFA's Local Station Board had endorsed the union's proposal, as had the local management at KPFA. The union reported that during negotiations over how to minimize lay-offs, Engelhardt declined to put any proposals of her own on the table."

There is so much Aileen Alfandary leaves out of the above report. For example, opposing points of view. Alfandary (SK/CL) only gives one side to the story and avoids any historical contextualisation of the KPFA/Pacifica dynamics. Alfandary avoids disclosing her SK/CL partisan allies' LSB majority during KPFA's October LSB meeting, which voted to endorse the so-called "LSB proposals," which were drafted by Brian Edwards-Tiekert (SK/CL) and voted for, and against, along the usual partisan LSB lines. In her reporting, Alfandary tries to obscure LSB polarization in the interest of her partisan LSB objectives.

Despite the various blemishes on the 2010 LSB Elections process, a more systemic LSB problem exists, wherein staffers with programs, obviously interested in protecting their turf and obstructing meaningful program evaluations, as might happen with an active, effective Program Council, also serve on the LSB. Conflict of interest can come into play when LSB Members, who must work collaboratively to insure KPFA's overall operations and programming are striving to meet the needs of diverse communities and fulfilling Pacifica's Bylaws, yet due to conflict of interest, would rather protect their own time-slots.

FELIPE MESSINA, KPFA Listener-Member
October 22, 2010

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Transcript of Doug Henwood & guests

Behind the News, 6/24/2010 & 6/24/2010 -- Host: Doug Henwood. Guests: Matthew Lasar, Max Fraser, Keith Gessen, and Anonymous Hedge Fund Man.

Aired on WBAI, 6/24/10, Thursday

Aired on KPFA, 6/26/10, Saturday

Also 6/24/10 podcast

[opening theme music and intro]

Doug Henwood (DH): "Hello and welcome to 'Behind The News.' This is, uh, Doug Henwood, and we're looking, as we do most weeks at this time, at the worlds of economics and politics. That's, uh, several segments up.

First of all, my required tutorial on the Pacifica Elections process, which will come, uh, in about a minute. Uh, and we will be joined by Matthew Lasar who has written a couple of books on the history of Pacifica, uh, to talk about, uh, these Elections, what they mean, where they came from.

And then, uh, at about a quarter past the hour we'll be joined in the studio by Max Fraser, who wrote a piece in The Nation magazine, uh, another post-mortem on Andy Stern, uh, the, now former President of the Service Employees International Union. Uh, we can talk, we'll talk about Stern's, uh, reign, his departure, and what that all means.

And then a little after the half hour mark, we'll be joined in the studio by Keith Gessen, who's the editor of, one of the Editors of n+1 magazine. Uh, and, a ss-, an anonymous hedge fund man, uh, who is the interview subject of a collection of interviews, uh, that, uh, uh, Gesson put together, uh, for Harper Perennial, n+1 Books, Diary of A Very Bad Year: Confessions of An Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager. So, we'll hear from Keith and Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager on the crisis. OK, now to the Pacifica Elections.

By writ of the Pacifica National Board, all programmers are required to devote 15 minutes of their shows to a tutorial, as they call it, on the network's Election Process. I doubt many listeners are any more interested in hearing this, than I am in producing it. But such are the regulations.

So, in a few words, the run down on the Election process itself and then we'll talk with Matthew Lasar, the historian of Pacifica and author of two books on that fraught and complex topic about the history and performance of this governance structure.

First, the Elections: this network and its five constituent stations are ultimately governed by elected Boards. The Local Boards [sic] are elected by a combination of staff and listener supporters. And the National Board consists of Representatives chosen by those Local Boards [sic].

If you would like to run for one of the Listener seats you have to have donated $25 or more to the station or done three or more hours of volunteer work in a year, between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. Note that the June 30 deadline is just around the corner, next Wednesday, in fact. And if you'd like to run, the Nomination forms are due by midnight on the same June 30th, which I assume means just before the 30th turns into the first and not the 29th into the 30th. For more on how to run, visit PacificaElections2010.org. That's PacificaElections2010.org.

When the nominations close, campaigning begins. And you will be treated to many repetitions of the Candidates' statements over these airwaves, featuring a lot of people who, uh, don't seem to know all that much about how to raise money or run a radio station. Ballots will be mailed on August 16th and are due back on September 30th. For more info, you can contact the WBAI Election Supervisor, Nicole Justice Hylton, at les_wbai [at] pacifica.org or the KPFA Local Elections Supervisor, Oriana Saportas at les_kpfa [at] pacifica.org. And that website, again, where you can read about everything I just told you and much, much more is PacificaElections2010.org. OK, let's now turn to Matthew Lasar.

Doug Henwood (DH): Matthew teaches U.S. History and Broadcasting Telecommunications Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He's the author of two books: Pacifica Radio: The Rise of An Alternative Network and Uneasy Listening: Pacifica Radio's Civil War. He also writes about FCC, uh, issues for arstechnica.com. Alright, welcome Matthew.

Matthew Lasar (ML): Hi Doug, um. Thanks for that introduction, not, not that you're bitter or anything like that. [Doug Henwood chuckles.]

DH: He-he-he. Well, what can I say? [gasps] Uh, I have to, uh, I, I do what I'm told. So, tell us where, uh, this governance structure came from.

ML: This governance structure came from two very nasty management takeovers. Um, the one which was the most spectacular, which was the, um, um, shutdown of KPFA, your sister station KPFA in Berkeley, um, um, in 1999, which resulted in, um, the City of Berkeley basically being engulfed in riots for weeks. And finally when all the smoke cleared, after that and, um, the, um, someone, somewhere shut down WBAI and even discussion on the National Board about selling the stations. Um, this lurched the, uh, Pacifica Radio organizations towards, uh, towards a, um, um, a call for an increasingly democratic internal structure, which, um, was created and, um, then finalized around 2003 and Elections began around 2004. And, um, we've been running those Elections ever since. Um, I supp-, supported those Elections in 2003 and 2004, and endorsed candidates, and even campaigned for them. This year [of 2010], I have decided to stop supporting these Elections at all and I'm not gonna vote in them. And I'm certainly not gonna endorse anybody, um, to, um, uh, uh, to run in what I experience is an increasingly, um, bedlam-like, um, um, event. These, by my estimate, these Elections have now cost Pacifica Radio, just the elections themselves, my rough estimate based on documents, about a million dollars since 2004. And that actually doesn't cover Board expenses. We have a much larger Board... [Doug Henwood interrupts]

DH: That, that's just the expense of running the elections?

ML: Yeah, that's just the expense of running the elections. I've, my, my estimates from, and this is from audits, you know, and audits you can see on the finance page. And I, it's actually an incomplete estimate. I think it's close to a million dollars. It might be more. Um, um, since 2004. That's actually not, actually, expenses of the Board, um, themselves. If you take the Board, if you, if you experience the Pacifica Board, not just as a National Board, but as the five, also the five Local Station Boards. You know? You're talking about an organization of about a hundred and twenty people. And I would guess that another million dollars, um, or something close to that, um, should be attached to that. And this is very significant, of course, when you consider the fact that, according to the audit that was, um, recently released. Um, Pacifica Radio, um, between 2008 and 2009 lost four million dollars in revenue and that was a third of the revenue it, it got in, um, 2000, the equivalent of a third of the revenue it got in 2009 and, um, lost 27% of its subscriber revenue. So, we're talking about a very, very expensive process. Um, expensive in terms of running the Elections and then expensive in terms of maintaining, um, these Boards. And for what?! I mean, you have to ask, for what? Is Pacifica's internal life, uh, smoother and...[DH interjects] less...

DH: Well, that's what I was gonna ask you.

ML: ...complicated? I mean, I'm asking, I'm asking a rhetorical question...[DH interjects]...

DH: Wha-, What is the value for money, as the Brits say. Uh, that, uh...[ML interjects]...the process produced...

ML: ...what is the value for money? Yeah, well, there is no value for money in any of this, uh, it, it really. Um, Pacifica's Board, you know, Pacifica's internal governance life is chaotic, nasty, brutish, um, nothing but mudslinging, dishonesty, lawsuits, um, and wasted money. And just an enormous amount of time spent on these, um, Boards, um, which have, which have rather scary meanings, um, um, on more than one, more than one occasion... [Trails off, DH interjects]...um...

DH: So, it's that way on, uh, your coast as well as ours?

ML: Yeah, uh, I mean it's certainly, it's been that way for all, for, ff-, for most of the Boards. Um, um, and the consequence of this, of course is that it's, very, very difficult to find people who, um, will, um, run on these, who, who will actually, um, competent people to run the stations. Um, all of the stations are constantly, um, facing interim staff. Um, last year there was a whole, you know, purge of General Managers, um, for a variety of reasons, real and imagined, um... [DH interjects]...

DH: We've just lost ours here.

ML: Yeah. So, and, uh, you know, I, I have this page. I have a smaller blog called Radio Survivor, um, in which I have an article. It's called "Pacifica Board Elections: Count Me Out," in which I explain why I'm counting myself out of these things. I mean, as a consequence of the fact that you can't find anybody who, I mean, I would never ask anybody, you know, to me. There are these jobs that are now available. I would never in any good conscience ask any of my friends or anybody I know to actually, um, apply for a job, um, running a Pacifica Radio station at this point.

DH: The, the Board, the whole governance structure makes it kind of impossible to run the station, doesn't it?

ML: I, I, I think so. It doesn't make it impossible to run the station. No, I don't, but it makes it very, very difficult. Um, and it's certainly, the, the extent that there's been any improvements in programming. And here at KPFA I think we've got some pretty good programming. We've also got you, I should, um, note. Um, uh, you know, as a conseq-, but, but that's, really, despite governance. I mean, I think that most people, uh, in management at KPFA and in programming at KPFA experience those improvements despite governance not because of governance.

ML: So, you're not getting any of the things that you're supposed to get, um, from these Elections. Um, I supported it for a long time, but it was an experiment, and I think that experiment has failed. Um, the reality is, is that Pacifica Radio's financially tanking so fast, it really is urgent that the organization find some people who can actually run this place. Um, um, um, in, in, in the, in the very near future. And it, I think it's really urgent that that happens. And I just don't see how that's going to happen. The, uh, these Elections. And so, I'll be frank with you, Doug, you know? I hope that, I hope that, that, the minimum number of people you need to certify these Elections, um, don't surface. I hope that the voters don't vote!

DH: What about the, uh, invoking a slate of candidates who promise to commit institutional suicide and change the governance structure?

ML: Well, um, um, I don't think that, that, I, I, I'm rather skeptical that you're gonna find anybody who's gonna say that. I mean you have this small, I think, you know, political class, within Pacifica that really just sees these Elections as this way that they get to have a say in, in what goes on at the station.

The other problem with these Elections is, is that the expectations of most of the candidates. I think you alluded to this in your, um, in your discussion. The expectation of most of the candidates seems to be that they will have involvement in programming. They don't really seem to see themselves as Board Members. You know what I mean? They don't see themselves as kind of doing the dull, but necessary things that such folk are supposed to do, which is fundraising, capital campaigning, um, and, you know, and behind the scenes problem-solving. They really see themselves as people who are gonna sit on these Boards and they're gonna tell the stations, um, what kind of things to put over the airwaves.

DH: Well, and listening to these Candidate statements over the years, that most people cite their political resumes and not, uh, their, uh, institutional experience, their, their experience running things or raising money.

ML: Yeah. And I think that that, that has really deprived the organisation of people on these Boards, who are really hel-, capable of helping Pacifica get through this really complicated time. I mean, in fairness to the, um, to the revenue, um, problems that I just described earlier, it's not like other radio stations aren't having tremendous problem. All radio stations, commercial, non-commercial, everybody's losing revenue these days because we just have this enormous, and we're still having this enormous recession.

But Pacifica is in particularly bad shape. And, um, and I really think that, um, this governance structure, um, is, uniquely unqualified to help it get out of this crisis.

DH: We've only got a couple of minutes left, so, uh, I wanted to ask you, uh, what is a better way of governing, uh, uh, an institution like this? Uh, what was Lew Hill's vision first of all?

ML: Uh, you know? [DH interjects]

DH: Uh, I mean, uh, what, what's a better way of doing this?

ML: I mean, um, you know, people who are listening to me and grinding their teeth, um, at, you know, in horror at what I'm saying right now. Hello, out there, to you. Um, um, uh, are gonna be grinding their teeth even more when I say that I think that we need to go back to something like what we had around 1998, which is that five, the, the, Local Boards [sic] should be, basically, self-appointed Boards. Um, and they should, um, uh, uh, you know, mostly recruited by the station staff and management. And they should, um, then appoint two delegates each to a National Board, or three delegates each to a National Board, which should basically run the organisation. Um, I'm, um, I'm, I'm, I'm, out, I'm, count me out when, in terms, it comes to Elections, um, um, finding good candidates for Pacifica radio. I just think that we need to go back to a system like about what we had around 1998, 1997 with one thing. I do think that there needs to be some kind of a recall system. So, that if you do get somebody like the kind of out-to-lunch Board Members that we really had around 1998 who really started talking about selling the stations, um, that you can recall them. But beyond that, I really think that we need to go back to some kind of a system, we can find people who are more professional and skilled then the people that we are getting now.

DH: Uh, I just, one, in, in thirty seconds or so. What was Lew Hill's vision of how these things should be run?

ML: Well, Lewis Hill, um, thought that basically, I mean Lewis Hill did not think that the listeners should, um, um, should vote in Elections. He said so on numerous occasions. Um, his early Board was basically just pacifists like him. Um, who, um, who, who basically, um, ran the station. Um, the early KPFA was a staff-run, um, Foundation, in which basically, everybody did the work, um, was on the, was basically part of the organisation, appointed the Board, which then appointed the Executive Committee. We don't really have time to talk about the, um, permutations of that over 50 years.

DH: Of course, if anyone wants to find out more they should pick up Matthew's books. Uh, alright, thank you for joining us. I've been speaking to Matthew Lasar who is a historian, uh, at Pacifica and, uh, teaches, at, uh, UC Santa Cruz. And that website again, PacificaElections2010.org. OK, let's take a musical break and we'll be back with Max Fraser.

[End of transcript]
transcripted by Felipe Messina
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