Purges Continue at KPFA/Pacifica
Purges Continue at KPFA/Pacifica
Last fall the elected board of KPFA held a closed hearing where they put two of their fellow board members on "trial" and suspended them. In effect they kicked them off the Local Station Board. Why? They had blown the whistle on certain improper activities. I was present at that hearing and wrote an account of it, which you can read at either of these two websites: here or here
This summer the Pacifica Nation Board (PNB)is doing the same to one of their elected members. And this hearing will also be held in a secret session, not open to the network's subscriber-members. Below is a letter from the targeted board member, Alex Steinberg. Alex is a longtime activist at Pacifica.
The very fact that these purges are held behind closed doors must suggest there is something dubious about these processes. The faction who are doing the purges calls itself "New Day." The KPFA chapter of "New Day" call themselves the "KPFA Protectors."
This parallels shenanigans that go on in the Donald Trump Administration. Nevertheless, "New Day" and the "KPFA Protectors" are not Trump supporters. In fact they consider themselves "progressives" and they intensely hate Trump, but their authoritarian style and methods are the same.
Daniel Borgström,
Former board member at KPFA
------- -------- ---------
Here is an email from PNB member Alex Steinberg.
From: Alex Steinberg
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: Notice of disciplinary hearing
To: Pacifica National Board Secretary
Cc: Susan Young
I have received the notice from the Pacifica National Board Secretary, Julie Hewitt, that the PNB is moving ahead to try to throw me off the PNB and that you have scheduled a "trial" on Aug. 14 to determine my fate. I have not however received any specific information as to what the charges are. Exactly what "defamations" and "false statements" are you claiming I have made at the WPFW broadcast of May 3 (or May 2.) You have ignored my due process rights, rights that go back as far as the Magna Carta. Where is a transcript of the program and exactly which statements made by me are you claiming are "defamatory" and "false"? I cannot respond to statements claiming I made false statements unless I know which statements you claim are false and furthermore I would also need to see what evidence you have, if any, that the alleged statements are indeed false.
As for the WBAI LSB meeting of May 14, since when is it a crime to refer people to a website at a public meeting of the WBAI LSB? This is done all the time at LSB meetings and we have never called out anyone for doing so because we don't agree with the website's message.
Furthermore the website to which I referred people is not and never was engaged in a legal action "against Pacifica". The only legal action we have been contemplating is requesting that the Court add six members of Pacifica as intervenors to the case Pacifica vs. New Day. Since Pacifica entered into the collusive "settlement agreement" with Goodman/New Day the voices of those who opposed the agreement have been silenced. We have a right as members of Pacifica who voted against the Referendum in 2021, to be represented in Court prior to any "settlement". The New Day supporters on the Pacifica National Board made that impossible by firing Attorney Arthur Schwartz on March 13, 2025 and doing a 180 degree turn on Pacifica's official position toward New Day. Prior to that date Pacifica defended the Summary Judgment issued by Judge Tavelman in 2023 that declared that the Bylaws Referendum had been defeated. Pacifica went to court against Jan Goodman of New Day on numerous occasions to defend the integrity of the vote on the New Day Referendum. However, on March 13, 2025 Pacifica suddenly took the opposite position and therefore abandoned the rights of those of us who voted against the Referendum. The only legal remedy those of us who opposed this collusive settlement was to ask the Court to add us as Intervenors into the case since Pacifica was no longer representing our rights and of course the other party in the legal case, Goodman/New Day, never represented our rights. Pacifica's new attorney, working with Jan Goodman, then deliberately engaged in a legal maneuver to shut down our attempt to be added as intervenors into the case by coming to a mutually agreed upon "dismissal" of the case on May 27, 2025, prior to a previously scheduled Court hearing on July 3 on the settlement agreement and before we had a chance to file our motion to intervene - which we did on June 4, 2025. If you claim that this kind of legal skullduggery is a model of fairness and due process then all I can say is that your attorney should apply for a job in Trump's Department of Justice.
What also strikes me is the sheer hypocrisy of the group that is claiming our attempt to get the Court to hear our side of the story is an action "against Pacifica". This is the same group of people who supported the legal actions of Jan Goodman/New Day against Pacifica that have so far cost Pacifica hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills. It is largely the same group that either backed directly or approved of the complaint to the FCC by a group originating from KPFA, including some who are currently members of the KPFA LSB, who asked the FCC to reject WBAI's license renewal application. It is the same group that engaged in a frivolous lawsuit against myself and former PNB member Grace Aaron that also cost Pacifica at least $100K in legal bills. I would also remind everyone that we have broadcasters ( I will not name anyone here) who in the past urged their listeners, on the air, to end their financial support of Pacifica stations. Not only did those broadcasters get away with this blatant provocation against Pacifica, they are today considered valuable broadcasters at some of our stations. By way of contrast, we never asked people to stop donating to Pacifica. In fact some of us are very active in fund raising activity for our local stations. Finally we should recall the events of October 2019, when a faction on the PNB - not a majority - shut down WBAI and turned it into a repeater station. They also fired all WBAI staff members. This was an illegal action that was reversed through a Court Order a month later when the PNB majority succeeded in removing the Executive Director who took that action. Jan Goodman, later the voice of New Day, was one of the Directors who supported that action, an action that cost Pacifica something like $1 million in lost revenue and legal fees. If you want to know why 99% of WBAI staff voted against the New Day Referendum all you have to do is recall the events of 2019.
I look forward to my day in "court" and to hearing the charges against me and your supporting evidence.
I will have witnesses and a legal representative, but I will argue my own case.
I will also be asking the PNB to open the "trial" to the public. I am waiving all my rights to privacy as I think it would be an important educational mission for the public to hear what is going on in an institution that claims to be progressive.
ALEX STEINBERG Alex Steinberg, listener member (for now) of the Pacifica National Board, listener representative of the WBAI Local Station Board Former Chair, Pacifica National Board, Former Chair, National Finance Committee of the Pacifica National Board, Former Chair, Strategic Planning Committee of the Pacifica National Board, Former Chair, Personnel Committee of the Pacifica National Board. Author and Educator.
------- -------- ---------
On Sat, Jul 12, 2025 at 9:14Â PM Pacifica National Board Secretary
Dear Alex,
This email is based on a motion passed by the Pacifica National Board in Executive Session at its July 10, 2025 meeting.
You, Alexander Steinberg, are hereby cited to appear before the Pacifica National Board in an Executive Session via Zoom on August 14, 2025 at 8:30 pm ET for a disciplinary hearing to show cause why you should not be suspended for a designated period of time, be removed from the Pacifica National Board or have your Pacific membership be revoked by the Pacifica Executive Director at the request of the PNB on the following charge and specification:
Charge: Actions that are adverse to the best interest of the Pacifica Foundation Inc.
Specification: The Defendant allegedly made false and derogatory accusations about a notification from Pacifica management on a WPFW on the air program on May 3 [sic; 2], 2025 and misused Pacifica meeting resources at the May 14, 2025 WBAI Local Station Board Meeting to refer members to a website raising money for legal action against the Pacifica Foundation Inc.
Notice of Procedures
You may be represented by yourself, another PNB Director or by an attorney, and may bring up to 2 witnesses. You may be called as a witness.
If you wish to have a representative or witnesses, you must notify the PNB Secretary at secretary@pacifica.org by August 6, 2025 of the name, phone number and email address of the person representing you and the names, phone number and email addresses of proposed witnesses.
This process is scheduled to last for one hour.
The Pacifica National Board and the representative of the or the person being charged will each have up to 5 minutes for opening remarks and up to 3 minutes for a closing statement with a maximum time of 5 minutes for questioning and testimony of each witness.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the information in this email.
Thank you,
Julie Hewitt
Secretary, PNB
