Tag Archives: Daniel Borgstrom

Our Last Day at the Pacifica HQ

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70 year old former Marine Daniel Borgstrom testifying before the Oakland City Council about his tough economic situation and about being arrested twice in Occupy demonstrations. 2012. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

70 year old former Marine Daniel Borgstrom testifying before the Oakland City Council about his tough economic situation and about being arrested twice in Occupy demonstrations. 2012. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

by Daniel Borgström

In the 9th week of our occupation of the Pacifica HQ, on May 12th, the judge ruled against us, issuing a temporary restraining order against Executive Director Summer Reese’s continued presence at the national office. We’d already decided that in case of such an event, we’d evacuate, withdraw from the building. So about a dozen of us went to the Pacifica HQ and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing up, eating pizza, and discussing details of how we were going to move on.

This was a disaster, and nobody could deny it. I guess we were all in shock, though doing our best to not to show it. Some were consulting computers. Virginia Browning was improving a salad. Richard Uzzell was on the phone, presumably discussing this with other Pacifica National Board (PNB) members. I was taking brief notes, keeping a timeline as always. At one end of the table, Barbara Deutsch had placed a bouquet of lush green leaves; among them was perched a magnificent caterpillar, munching its way towards becoming a butterfly — a blue-winged Swallowtail.

Evacuations aren’t easy, and after most of us had gone home for the night, Summer Reese and her mother, Geneva, with the help of Richard Uzzell, and Barbara Deutsch spent the night packing, hauling stuff away, and putting the place in order. Everything we’d brought in during the last eight weeks had to be taken out — air mattresses, food, even vases of flowers, and the caterpillar too. More of us returned in the morning to help with whatever still needed doing.

The court had ordered Summer out, but didn’t specify the rest of us. So we probably wouldn’t have to rush out the door, and the staff might want us to be there that morning because with us present, disputed PNB chair Margy Wilkinson and whoever came with her would be less likely to act badly. So half a dozen of us stayed in the HQ, including Richard Uzzell (from KPFT in Houston), Sally Sommer, Steve Gilmartin, Virginia Browning, Aki Tanaka, and me.

Margy and Barbara Whipperman, the Local Station Board treasurer, came knocking on the door at 9 a.m. “Open the door!” Margy demanded, “Just open the door!”

Barbara Deutsch had placed a bouquet of lush green leaves; among them was perched a magnificent caterpillar, munching its way towards becoming a butterfly — a blue-winged Swallowtail.

We didn’t argue with them, we just let them wait outside for half an hour while we phoned the staff, who were considering quitting, but had consented to a meeting with Margy. The staff asked us to stay and witness the meeting. We calmly waited for them in the reception area by the door. I was glad to have Richard Uzzell, a Pacifica National Board director, here with us; he seemed to know or sense exactly what to do, how to handle each thing as it came up, inspiring confidence in the rest of us. Yes, we had lost, but it’s possible to lose with dignity, just as it’s also possible to win without much dignity.

The staff arrived at 9:35 a.m. and we opened the door, let everyone in, went to the luncheonette/conference room where Margy, Barbara and five of the staff took seats at the table while the six of us sat behind, witnessing the meeting which lasted about 20 minutes.

“I’m Margy Wilkinson, Chair of the National Board,” Margy introduced herself. Perhaps some of the staff had not before met her face to face, though they certainly knew who she was, as she had been bombarding them with emails and phone calls for the last eight weeks, from the day the occupation began. Margy and her group had also attempted several times to forcibly push their way into the building — which is why we’d installed a bolt across the entrance to back up the lock. Her ostensible purpose in this meeting was to persuade the staff to remain at their jobs and complete the financial audit which they were working on. Or it might have been just to get them to stay until they found their own replacements.

The staff diplomatically replied to Margy that they didn’t have any problem with her or anyone else, except for one person. “The only person we have an issue with is Raul Salvador. We want nothing to do with him.”

Raul Salvador is the CFO who was let go by the Pacifica National Board last year for incompetence and abusiveness. This year the new PNB which fired Summer Reese, had rehired Raul.

The staff told Margy that Raul was abusive and incompetent. A staff member had testified in court on May 6th that staff had to redo IRS forms filed incorrectly by Raul Salvador, and that he didn’t seem to understand basic financial information. She had also stated in court that in addition to their previous bad experiences with him, he’d been harassing them with emails and phone calls, threatening retaliation. Summer Reese had protected them, the staff person had told the judge. Unfortunately, the judge had now ordered Summer out, thus leaving them vulnerable.

Another source of information available to Margy was a report from an HR workplace investigation into allegations of Raul’s bad behavior. Actually, Margy was the only one who had access to the report since she’d seized it back in March, allowing nobody else to see it, not even PNB members. Nevertheless, Margy expressed surprise at the staff’s extremely negative reaction to Raul.

“We don’t know if you don’t understand, or don’t care,” they said to Margy.

“I do understand,” Margy insisted. “I do understand.”

“Raul is the elephant in the room. Until we address Raul [ . . . ]”

“He will not be coming in the door,” Margy promised them. “He’ll be working out of his home.” She explained that he’d only communicate with them through emails and phone calls. “Until things are resolved [regarding Raul],” she added.

The staff were less than reassured and they told her so. They were also unhappy that Margy’s new interim Executive Director, Bernard Duncan wasn’t there to speak for himself. “I don’t know what I came here for,” said one of the staff.

Margy told them that on the following day, there’d be a meeting with Bernard. Unlike Raul, Bernard is reportedly easy to get along with, but is apparently not a capable manager. He was previously the general manager of KPFK, the Pacifica station in Los Angeles, where he acquired a reputation for being ineffectual and conflict-averse. For example, on one occasion when it was brought to Bernard’s attention that the station business manager was running a business of his own on station time and with the use of the station’s computers, Bernard famously said, “I don’t want to know about it.”

To win a court action or even a court case is one thing, but to run a foundation is quite another matter,

Margy wanted to know how soon the audit would be done. “When are you going to give us the financial data?” she asked.

“It’s KPFA that’s holding it up,” the staff told her — as if she needed to be reminded. It had come out at the April 12th Local Station Board meeting (with Margy present) that the financial people at KPFA had not even reconciled their books for well over a year.

The meeting ended at 9:59 a.m., and the staff then held a private meeting of their own. The six of us wondered if perhaps we’d fulfilled our task, and that we might leave now. But the staff asked us to stay a while longer.

We sat around talking or not talking, thinking about the peculiar scene we’d just witnessed, commenting on how at one time or another during the morning, each of the women had been in tears at the very idea that Margy would try to force them to work under Raul Salvador again.

Why would Margy and her group hire someone for such an important position whose competence and managerial abilities are so clearly called into question?

A courier would be arriving with the payroll checks, and the staff wanted us to be there and make sure that the courier’s package was delivered straight to them, not to anyone else who might be in this office. The staff seemed to fear that Margy might remove their paychecks from the package in retaliation. As per the staff’s request, we sat by the door, intending to intercept the courier.  Actually, staff member Weiling was right there to receive the package as soon as the guy showed up, and after that most of us left. Richard and Aki stayed till both Margy and the staff left at 2 p.m. Several of us will have to return to the HQ on Wednesday to witness the next meeting, the one between the staff and Bernard, Margy’s new temporary Executive Director.

Margy & Co are proclaiming it a major triumph that the court has handed them control of Pacifica Foundation Radio. To win a court action or even a court case is one thing, but to run a foundation is quite another matter, and I seriously doubt that they’re up to it. Some of us are wondering if they even want to.

DANIEL BORGSTRÖM
daniel41@trip.net
http://danielborgstrom.blogspot.com/

April 2014

Dan Siegel’s Not-So-Great Decade at Pacifica

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compiled by Daniel Borgström

For several years Attorney Dan Siegel has been championing the rights of victims of police violence in Oakland, both before and during the Occupy movement. Nobody can deny that Siegel has done good work.  Nevertheless, his record at KPFA and other Pacifica stations including  WBAI has been consistently bad and seems difficult to write off as  “bad judgment.” Looking back at things Siegel did while General  Counsel and interim Executive Director for the Pacifica Foundation, I strongly suspect that Siegel deliberately intended to harm the foundation.

This spring he took time out from his campaign for Mayor of Oakland  where he is running as a progressive candidate to appear in court on April 28, 2014 and again on May 6th to argue for a TRO asking police to raid the Pacifica National Office and evict occupiers. This seems totally inconsistent with his progressive image.

This week, while awaiting the judge’s decision on the May 6th hearing, he reportedly assisted disputed CFO Raul Salvador in his efforts to interfere with Pacifica Foundation payroll from going out on schedule — a destructive action which looks to me like a deliberate attempt at sabotage against Pacifica.

Below are some of the not-so-great things that Dan Siegel has done during the last decade at the Pacifica network.

Daniel Borgström, daniel41@trip.net,  Daniel’s Blog

*** *** ***

ASKING POLICE TO EVICT OCCUPIERS FROM THE PACIFICA HQ

Margy Wilkinson of SaveKPFA (Margy is the disputed chair of the PNB) asked the police to evict occupiers from the Pacifica HQ in Berkeley.  That is part of a TRO which Attorney Dan Siegel of Siegel & Yee requested the court to issue on Monday, April 28, 2014.

Here is paragraph 9 of Margy’s TRO declaration, signed Margy Wilkinson
and dated April 22, 2014:

The Board has sought the assistance of the Berkeley Police  Department, which is charged with protecting the Foundation’s property. However, the Berkeley Police Department was unable to persuade Reese to vacate the National Office. The Foundation has previously applied for a citizen’s arrest to the Berkeley Police
Department which after weeks of considering the matter, requested that Cross-Complaint obtain a Court order to abate the nuisance. The Berkeley Police Department has stated that it would enforce a temporary restraining order if the Court were to issue one.

The case was continued to May 6th, 2014; Dan Siegel again argued the
same case. The court’s decision is not yet in.

*** *** ***

PREVENTING A KPFA GENERAL MANAGER HIRE

In 2008 the KPFA LSB found an ideal candidate for GM, who was supported so overwhelmingly by the LSB. The candidate was Michel Shehadeh, a Palestinian-American businessman, human and civil rights activist, former research associate at San Francisco State University

Siegel prevented Michel Shehadeh from being hired by demanding a pool of candidates, thus dragging out the process till Shehadeh eventually took a job somewhere else.

An article in the SF Bay View by Fadi Saba (Feb 6, 2008) gives details:

*** *** ***

SELLING WBAI

On Jul 13, 2012, Mitchel Cohen of WBAI wrote:

Here are his words, verbatim, from the July 7, 2012 KPFA Local Board meeting. Keep in mind, please, that this was the second recent meeting at which Siegel advocated the selling of WBAI.

I don’t know if it’s true or not anymore, but a few years ago at least it was possible there were actual people who would buy WBAI for enormous amounts of money, and that part of the deal in exchange is that WBAI would get a new spot on the dial, admittedly, a less attractive one in the eyes of the person who wanted to buy it. Now we’ve always been extremely resistant about even thinking about ideas like that but given 1) the urgency of the situation, and 2) the fact that BAI really has a tiny number of committed listeners making that change doesn’t seem as radical as it might be anymore.

*** *** ***

BREAKING UP THE PACIFICA NETWORK

Carol Spooner suggested that we sell WBAI and break up the Pacifica
network in her article “Time for an Amicable Divorce at Pacifica?”
(August 5, 2012)

Dan Siegel agrees with her proposal, below is his response, 8/26/2013:

Subject: Re: From Carol Spooner
Date: 8/26/2013 9:34:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
From: danmsiegel@…

I agree with most of Carol’s ideas, with some modifications:

1. Each LSB (and the Archives?) should form a new nonprofit and seek 501(c)(3) status: KPFA, Inc., WPFW, Inc.
2. Each nonprofit should structure its bylaws to preserve the best aspects of the Pacifica structure, including listener members as prime decision-makers.
3. Pacifica transfers station licenses to the nonprofits. How decisions regarding the sale of any license or station and what happens to the proceeds needs further discussion.
4. Each station is responsible for its programming decisions and finances.
5. Pacifica remains as a network. Its roles, budget, and staff (if any) are based entirely on what the stations agree: examples might include programming initiatives and administrative needs such as insurance. Stations participate and pay for these initiatives as they choose.

Dan Siegel
Siegel & Yee
499 14th Street, Suite 300
Oakland, CA 94612Tel. (510) 839-1200
Fax. (510) 444-6698
DanMSiegel@…

*** *** ***

COMPETING FUND DRIVE, LOYALTY SUIT

Dan Siegel, Conn Hallinan, Margy Wilkinson and Mal Burnstein, elected members of Pacifica governance, all organized and supported a fund drive competing with KPFA’s Winter 2010/2011 fund drive.

Siegel & the other three breached a fiduciary duty of undivided loyalty owed to both KPFA and its owner, the Pacifica Foundation. On August 29, 2012 an Appellate Justice asked SaveKPFA’s attorney Alan Yee: “Shouldn’t your clients have resigned if they wanted to compete?” The judge said to Attorney Yee, “[When your clients] take action that adversely affects what the board is trying to do; they should get off
the board.”

See article by Richard Phelps here:

*** *** ***

“YOU ARE A CHICKENSHIT COWARD!”
Dan Siegel to Daniel Borgström regarding a lawsuit

After the January 13, 2011 LSB meeting, as I was gathering up my stuff to leave, Dan Siegel, who had just been elected as a KPFA representative to the Pacifica National Board, approached me and said, “You are a chickenshit coward!” and “a fucking bag of shit!” he added as an afterthought. He proceeded to speak in depth and at some length about how I was a “fucking'” this and a “fucking” that, making liberal use of vocabulary that’s excluded from the FCC’s lexicon. (Siegel was apparently upset because he’d just been served papers for the Competing Fund Drive, Loyalty Suit.)

*** *** ***

SIEGEL CHALLENGES PHELPS TO FIST FIGHT

Dan Siegel challenges Richard Phelps to fistfight at KPFA’s Local Station Board (LAB) meeting of March 7, 2010

Siegel: “You’re suing me!”

YouTube VIDEO of March 7, 2010 drama

*** *** ***

NADRA FOSTER

Siegel quoted by SF Chronicle (9/2/2008):

Dan Siegel, an attorney for Pacifica Radio, said management felt afraid when Foster refused to leave.  “Everyone is appalled at what occurred, but I’m not sure I would blame the person who called the police,” he said. “Our staff people have the right to work in a safe environment.”

*** *** ***

KPFT in HOUSTON — $1,000

A KPFT listener, currently a PNB member, recalls is first experience with Dan Siegel, some years ago. Siegel, who was at the time Corporate Counsel for Pacifica, happened to be passing through Houston, Texas, and he offered the KPFT LSB to give a talk on fiduciary responsibilities and legal duties of the LSB. The Texans
thought Siegel was giving the talk Pro Bono. They thought wrong.   A few weeks later KPFT received a bill for $1,000 from Attorney Siegel.

*** *** ***

LAWSUITS POORLY HANDLED

Lawsuits against KPFA/Pacifica were poorly handled, costing hundreds of thousands of the listeners’ dollars. Attorney Dan Siegel (then General Counsel for Pacifica) is considered a very smart lawyer, so why did he handle these legal matters so poorly?

Dan Siegel was Pacifica’s legal counsel for years and during his reign [he] cost Pacifica hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, by practicing what appears to be a very self-serving and sloppy form of lawyering.

Shawn Casey O’Brien, KPFK Local Station Board Staff Representative and
member, Pacifica National Board

*** *** ***

PAIGE V. GEORGIA & PACIFICA

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:50:35 -0500 [11/26/2012 03:50PM CST] From: PhelpsMediation@aol.com

The conflict in the Paige v Georgia and Pacifica case was that Siegel was Foundation counsel and was defending Georgia and Pacifica in a case where as Foundation counsel he should have only been defending Pacifica. Without going into the pages of legal issues it is improper to represent both the company and the management employee in a case involving intentional torts such as sexual harassment and retaliation since there are clear areas of potential conflict if not actual conflict.

Richard Phelps

*** *** ***

SIEGEL AT WBAI
prior to 2009, (when Siegel and his faction ruled Pacifica)

Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2012
From: Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen@mindspring.com>

STUDIO RENT
it was Dan Siegel and his faction that imposed on WBAI the renewal of its onerous lease that he now blames on us! (Studio rent is $400,000 per year; antenna rent is $500,000 per year.)

WBAI ELECTION OF 2007

Hundreds of WBAI listener-members and a few staff did not receive ballots in the 2007 election, when Dan Siegel was Chief Counsel for Pacifica. We brought this repeatedly to the attention of Siegel et al.  Instead of simply ordering that we be sent ballots, Siegel and the Board he controlled at the time refused to send them. (Many of us were opponents of Siegel and his faction, and we believe that that played into his decisions.) We had to go to Court, and won a Temporary Restraining Order that, among other things, directed Pacifica to send us ballots.

*** *** ***

KPFA LSB ELECTION OF 2007

Responding to Dan Siegel’s intervention in the LSB election
October 26, 2007
Dan Siegel, who was Pacifica’s Interim Executive Director, intervened in the Local Station Board election with a letter attacking candidates of the People’s Radio slate for their collective statement which they published in the KPFA voter pamphlet. Responses from two KPFA listener-voters, Virginia Browning and Steve Gilmartin are here.

*** *** ***

Open Letter from the Committee on Fair Elections
Bylaws & Rules Violated in KPFA Board Election of 2007

*** *** ***

excerpts from Casey Peters’ report
Siegel also entered Peters’ home illegally according to Peters

Dan Siegel, former Foundation Counsel and interim Executive Director of Pacifica Radio network, placed statements on the Pacifica and KPFA websites attacking candidates whom he opposed politically. This is a violation of attorney ethics and the bylaws of Pacifica. He also fired National Election Supervisor Casey Peters who tried to keep the election honest.

The following are excerpts from a report by the National Election Supervisor Casey Peters on the Pacifica 2007 Elections:

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.

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

Excerpts from Casey Peters’ report.

*** *** ***

SIEGEL ATTEMPTS TO STOP EXAMINATION OF BOOKS

Siegel’s attempt to stop the examination of WBAI’s books by Carolyn Birden and Eve Moser.

This happened February 14 of 2008. Carolyn sent a notice the week before to WBAI’s General Manager and Business Manager that they were planning to inspect the financial records. While they were doing this Nia Bediako of the JUC called Dan Siegel, then the interim Executive Director and Corporate Counsel and he told Carolyn to cease the inspection, return all the copies she’d made, and that she was banned from the station.

See article by Carolyn Birden, with transcript of Siegel dialogue here.

Siegel later commented that he did this because it just didn’t seem right!

In fact, 2 1/2 years before that, in early 2005, PNB directors Patty Heffley and LaVarn Williams tried to inspect WBAI’s financial records, and were obstructed by the then Pacifica National Board and National Office. They enlisted the legal help of Richard Phelps to assert that the Pacifica bylaws and California Corporation law for non-profits gave board directors the absolute right to inspect the books.  See Analysis of Directors’ Inspection Rights here.

It took at least some weeks of obstructionism for them to be able to do this. When they did it, they discovered $65,000 worth of equipment had been given away to the WBAI General Manager’s father.

This established the already mandated right of directors to inspect, yet two and a half years later, on February 14 of 2008, Dan Siegel again tried to prevent it.

—  Mara Rivera

*** *** ***

SAVE KPFA (INCLUDING SIEGEL) IGNORE UNION CONTRACT

During the LSB of October 16, 2010 Shahram Aghamir moved to amend the intro language for the Budget Resolution to include that it would be implemented according to the union contract. This would mean that layoffs would be done by seniority.  However, every SaveKPFA person in attendance including Dan Siegel voted that amendment down.  Why would SaveKPFA be against that “pro union” sentiment being added to the budget resolution that included the need for some staff reductions? They were trying to protect the jobs of some of their “insider” group. Some would lose their jobs if seniority were followed.

Article here.
Minutes of Local Station Board Meeting of October 16, 2010 here.

*** *** ***
WITHOUT DUE PROCESS

At the April 16, 2011 LSB meeting the Save KPFA majority on the board passed a motion to censure Tracy Rosenberg for conduct outside of an LSB meeting. The procedural rules that our LSB must follow require any discipline for conduct outside a meeting requires reasonable notice for a hearing/trial where the person charged will be able to produce witnesses and present evidence in her defense. Tracy was not provided with this due process and was ambushed at the meeting.

See article by Richard Phelps here:
The minutes of that April 16, 2011 meeting show that Attorney Dan Siegel was present and voted in favor of the motion to censure Tracy Rosenberg without due process.  The minutes are here.

*** *** ***

SIEGEL ON MAYOR QUAN’S STAFF

Do the Bylaws apply to Dan Siegel?

On February 9, 2011, the Pacifica National Board (PNB) held a special session on this matter, and concluded in a vote of 10 to 7 that the bylaws do indeed apply, even to Dan Siegel. Siegel took this matter to court. (and the court ruled in Siegel’s favor.)

Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011
From: PhelpsMediation@aol.com

Pacifica Bylaws do not allow anyone with a political office or
political appointment or declared candidacy for a political office to
serve on its governance bodies.

Dan Siegel violated the Bylaws by taking a position on Mayor Quan’s staff.

*** *** ***

BRINGING POLICE INTO OAKLAND SCHOOLS

Dan Siegel was on the board of the Oakland Unified School District for 8 years, from 1999 to 2006. While on the school board, Siegel helped bring armed police into the Oakland schools. Later, in January 2011, one of the armed police killed Raheim Brown.

*** *** ***

LORD JIM’S BAR RAID in 1984

(Note: I was not in the Bay Area when this happened; here’s what I
could find and piece together)

In 1987 Dan Siegel joined the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office as chief of complex litigation. Siegel defended the cops who raided Lord Jim’s bar against a civil suit; Siegel won, the victims lost.

The raid took place on Aug. 31, 1984 when 20 shouting plainclothes officers charged into the ornately furnished bar at 1500 Broadway and arrested its owner. The bar’s patrons and employees were held for up to 90 minutes while they were searched and checked for warrants.

*** *** ***

May 9, 2014