Pacifica National Board Already Decided — Bequest Should Have Been Sent to Pacifica!

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Webworker1

By: UCR Candidate Sharon Adams

Our opponents have been claiming that United For Community Radio “cost KPFA $400,000“, implying that KPFA was actually entitled to a $400,000 bequest. Of course, that is the exact issue — KPFA was not entitled to the $400,000 bequest — the Pacifica Foundation was entitled to this bequest. Our opponents inappropriately decided, WITHOUT CONSULTING PACIFICA, that this bequest was intended solely for KPFA. The reason we know that KPFA was not entitled to the $400,000 bequest is because the Pacifica National Board (PNB) has determined that the bequest was actually supposed to go to Pacifica.

The PNB’s decision is supported by the evidence. First and foremost, both the bequest and the check were specifically made out to “Pacifica Foundation Radio”. There was no mention of KPFA in the bequest documents.

And, even assuming there was ambiguity in the identification of Pacifica Foundation Radio, the proper response would have been to contact the PNB to mutually discuss and decide how to deal with the bequest. It was our opponents failure to ask Pacifica that is at the heart of this matter. To the extent that our opponents felt there *was* ambiguity, they should have checked with the Pacifica National Board.

Interim Executive Director (and SaveKPFA candidate) Margy Wilkinson later apologized for this failure to disclose — after the fact and when the bequest funds were already comfortably residing in the KPFA bank account. It really would not have been that difficult to send this information to Pacifica prior to depositing the check in the KPFA bank account.

~Screen shot of kpfa.org website

As the image above shows, it is quite easy to make a bequest that is for KPFA, and the KPFA website provides clear instructions on how to do this. Of course, Pacifica must be mentioned in the bequest instructions because Pacifica is the parent organization of KPFA. Significantly, the KPFA website makes clear that the phrase “for the benefit of KPFA” or “fbo KPFA” must be added. This is not difficult to do, and is standard operating procedure for attorneys working in estate planning who are trained to make clear and unambiguous bequests.

Now that our opponents have been exposed, they start the mudslinging, with personal attacks on UCR candidate Janet Kobren who found the documents showing that the bequest was intended for the Pacifica Foundation. However, Janet Kobren was simply doing her duty as a board member and secretary of the PNB. This is in stark contrast to other KPFA members on the PNB, Brian Edwards-Tieckert and Margy Wilkinson. They have shown that they are willing to “Save” KPFA — at the expense of the entire Pacifica network.

United for Community Radio is not into assigning blame. UCR wants to ensure that the entire Pacifica network remains strong, including KPFA and its sister stations. UCR’s opponents must stop cannibalizing Pacifica to allegedly “Save” KPFA.

Vote for the entire UCR slate in the KPFA Local Station Board election.

RESCUE KPFA from Save KPFA

For another perspective on the bequest, read Frank Sterling’s article here about how We Are All One!
Frank Sterling is KPFA’s Technical Director of First Voice Media program.

Beholden to Nobody but the Listeners

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Webworker1

By: Susan da Silva

To me the most important plank of the United for Community Radio (UCR) platform is the one that will preserve Pacifica as an independent entity where free speech is valued. I’m referring to this part of the platform: Refuse corporate underwriting or advertising.

These are desperate times at Pacifica. Many people say: “There simply is not enough money, so why not take advertisements?” The answer is that taking corporate money will change Pacifica and KPFA in ways that are unacceptable.

Keep Corporations Out of Our Daily Life – photo credit below

At this point, at most Pacifica stations, there is no outside entity beyond the FCC who has any say about what is on the air. Sometimes what goes out is not polished, sometimes it’s not politically correct, sometimes it causes us to protest. All that is good in my opinion. That’s what makes us trustworthy. We are accountable to each other and to the listeners, no one else. Each person who speaks, speaks for themselves. With corporate underwriting would come outright censorship and self-censorship. We might as well be NPR! Those who say that they never feel pressured by their advertisers, are not being totally honest, in my opinion. They don’t even realize that they are self-censoring.

In this world ruled by corporations, Pacifica is a unique network, a place where no outside corporation can tell us what to say or feel or think.

Bring The People In - photo credit below

Connect with the People – photo credit below

So how do we get the money we need? We do it with programming that connects to many parts of the community, programming listeners really want. We do it by bringing new voices to the air. We do it by reminding the listeners that we don’t take corporate money, and that we listen to them and allow them to vote for board members. We do it by being fiscally responsible enough to not leave millions of CPB dollars on the table. (Pacifica has not received CPB money for several years because of their inability to complete an audit.)

Somewhere along the line Pacifica stopped taking budgets and audits seriously. That nonchalance has brought us to the brink of losing our network. I believe that hard fiscal decisions need to be made immediately. I believe that once we get our financial house in order, we can go forth with the support of the listeners and that we will not need corporate funds to do so.

If you don’t want corporate underwriting and advertising on your Pacifica station, please vote for the UCR candidates.

—

“Keep Corporations Out of Our Daily Life.” – photo by Brooke Anderson from “Our Power Festival” in Richmond, CA.

“Connect with the People.” photo by Brooke Anderson from “Our Power Festival” in Richmond, CA.

Democracy Now! on KPFA — UCR wanted Dem Now! aired at 7 a.m., when most people listen

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Webworker1

By: Mara Rivera
Save KPFA is apparently claiming that United for Community Radio (UCR) wanted to eliminate the show — this is UNTRUE. United for Community Radio has always wanted Democracy Now! to air at 7 a.m. on KPFA.

At the time in 2011 (and as it is now) KPFA airs Democracy Now two times each morning, at 6 a.m. and again at 9 a.m. UCR wanted Democracy Now to be on the airwaves one time in the morning, at 7 a.m. As Richard Phelps says, you put your most listened to program at the most listened to time. Therefore, UCR wanted Democracy Now to have one slot in the program line-up, at 7 a.m. This would open the 9 a.m. slot for additional local programming.

The Save KPFA forces wanted to keep drive time for the paid staff, apparently so that paid staff can claim that their programs are the biggest fundraisers for the station. More information can be found here, in an article written at the time these events were happening.

The article, written in 2011 by Marc Sapir states:

[T]he governments of Tunisia and Egypt have fallen and massive non-violent uprisings are occurring throughout North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, all this widely covered daily on KPFA which recently became the only national network carrying Al Jazeera-English. In addition, the staff of the program Voices of Middle East and North Africa put together extended shows that aired in prime time with fantastic commentary from experts and activists rarely heard anywhere in U.S. media. At the same time Amy Goodman’s Senior Producer, SA Kouddous, an Egyptian-American, traveled to Egypt where he was on the scene daily reporting from Tahrir square as well. Through the good sense of Pacifica ED, Arlene Engelhardt, Goodman’s show, Democracy Now (KPFA’s most listened to program) is now running in the 7 a.m. drive time slot, complemented by a diverse and local Morning Mix show at 8-9 a.m. which has also brought to KPFA airwaves many new voices and perspectives.

Save KPFA Candidate said Palestinian Children’s Art “Not Appropriate”

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Webworker1

(Since this information emerged, Hilmon Sorey was quietly dropped from the Save KPFA website and the official website says “candidacy withdrawn”)

In 2011, Oakland’s Museum of Children’s Art abruptly cancelled a planned exhibition of art created by children in the Palestinian occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. At the time, Museum board chair (current Save KPFA candidate) Hilmon Sorey stated that the art was “not appropriate” for the Museum.

UCR says: “This kind of candidate is NOT APPROPRIATE for the KPFA Local Station Board.”

The following open letter was sent by Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance.

From: Barbara Lubin
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 11:22 AM
Subject: Hilmon Sorey

I received a letter today asking me to vote for the new KPFA Board of Directors and I was shocked to see Mr. Hilmon Sorey’s picture and name on it.

I don’t know if you remember when MECA brought the Children’s Art Exhibit to the U.S. from Gaza.

We spent 6 months working with the staff of The Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland.

They had agreed to let us hang the exhibit at the museum for 2 months during which time we would have many small events with children and teachers.

We were all very excited but that changed after a visit from Hilmon Sorey who was chair of the Museum’s Board.

He came to MECA’S office 2 weeks before the exhibit was to open and informed us that the Museum had changed their mind and we would have to look elsewhere for a place to hang the pictures.

The rest of this story is in the book we had published and I will get to you.

I have been thinking about all of this and all the pain that we here at MECA went through and I asked myself this question “with all the problems that KPFA has do we really need a person like Mr. Sorey on our Board?”

He is not to be trusted and when push comes to shove he will do what the Zionist community tells him to do.

We received hundreds of letters from all over the world condemning him for his lack of leadership but mostly for insulting the Palestinian children who drew these pictures.

Barbara Lubin
Middle East Children’s Alliance
Web: www.mecaforpeace.org

Maia Project: Bringing clean water to children in Palestine
www.mecaforpeace.org/project/maia-project

Press coverage of the incident:

San Francisco Chronicle

Daily Kos

Huffington Post

VOTE!!!

UNITED FOR COMMUNITY RADIO CANDIDATES

KPFA LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTION

Union Activists Endorse United for Community Radio

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Webworker1

The folks at SaveKPFA seem to say that anyone who opposes their ideas are union busters. Although it’s a knee-jerk response on their part, it’s a serious charge.

Read this for a comprehensive explanation of the union dynamics at KPFA, Historical Analysis: KPFA’s Working Majority Gets Screwed by CWA Job Trust.

Brief Summary: Both paid and unpaid staff were represented by United Electrical Workers (UE). Due to machinations, the paid staff formed a union that excluded the unpaid staff. Now, KPFA has staff that are paid to be at the station, and are represented by a union, and are allowed to participate on the Local Station Board. That is too much control in the hands of too few.

Read recent strong criticism of Save KPFA for union busting at KPFK, our sister station in Los Angeles.

Union Supporters of UCR. Here’s some of the union stalwarts who have endorsed United for Community Radio:

Jack Heyman, Executive board member International Longshore and Warehouse union Local 10 (retired) and chair of the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

Mary Prophet, Member – KPFA Community Advisory Board; Steering Committee – US Labor Against the War; Delegate – Alameda County Central Labor Council; Past Chair – California Teacher’s Association Peace & Justice Caucus

Marsha Feinland, former Berkeley Rent Board member, California Teachers’ Association honored union activist

Michael-David Sasson, Former President, Coalition of University Employees (CUE), Local #3, (now part of IBT #2010)

Ramses Teon Nichols, Vice President of Organizing, SEIU Local 1021, Local Station Board member from the United For Community Radio slate in 2012.

Francis Grinnon, Communication Workers of America, Local 9415, former Vice-President, Retired Members Council

Laurence Shoup, author, Wall Street’s Think Tank, Rulers and Rebels, and other books, former member, Alameda Central Labor Council

Richard Stone, Delegate, S.F. Labor Council; member, Save Mid-town (San Francisco)

Dave Welsh, San Francisco Labor Council delegate; retired letter carrier, longtime executive vice president fo Golden Gate Branch 214 of the Letter Carriers Union; helped protect union jobs from the privatization effort which was the context of the successful struggle to stop the sale of the Berkeley Post Office.

Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio, former KPFA programmer and union steward

A quick list of our endorsers tells the larger story. These people are often active in union issues. They, and the United for Community Radio candidates, know how important vibrant unions are to the crucial progressive issues we work on.

More on NPR Programming — Don’t Let This Happen to Pacifica!

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Webworker1

By UCR Candidate Sharon Adams

Chrissie Hynde

NPR Music did an interview with Chrissie Hynde about her new book. The interviewer asked Hynde to read from her book, and she replied:

“Can I just not repeat stories that I’ve already said in the book? Can we talk about things outside of that? Is that possible?”

But, the NPR host couldn’t get out of his ordinary NPR mindset — he had prepped by reading her book, and most authors will just tell stories from their books. So, apparently thinking “must talk about stories in her book, even though she just said she doesn’t want to talk about stories in the book” he tries again, and Hynde slaps him down, like the real artist and rebel that she is.

“No! I’m not going to tell you stories that are in the book!”

The NPR host really can’t understand Hynde’s zeitgeist, which steps outside ordinary bourgeois boundaries. There is something so insipid about the NPR zeitgeist, something so timid. When Hynde states: “I don’t care what a lot of people want. I’d rather say, ‘just don’t buy the book’… I’m just telling my story” — he is speechless, and the interview immediately cuts away.

We need boldness and courage to face the challenges ahead of all of us — not just radio listeners, but the whole world. We need less certainty about the correctness of our views, and more willingness to listen.

And within Pacifica and KPFA — we need radio that is willing to allow the people to speak. We need radio that trusts the intelligence of its audience to listen and make their own decisions about what is true. As was so eloquently discussed on a recent KPFA Project Censored show, there has been a winnowing of what is considered legitimate discussion, a subtle self-censorship that is occurring in film, books and general dialogue. Censorship does not just happen by government intervention, it happens when NPR can’t allow Hynde to be who she really is; or when NPR can’t understand the facts about Syria.

Protect Free Speech Radio — Vote for UCR in the upcoming election!

photo credit: The Pretenders Day on the Park via photopin (license)

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