Committee to Remove the Pacifica Board Report February 28, 2000
Dear All --
I attended the Pacifica Directors' meeting in Arlington, Virginia, this past weekend and will attempt to report some of the "lowlights" of the proceedings. But the most stinking feature for me -- the outrageously contemptuous conduct of the chair & her utter disregard for parliamentary rules of civilized debate & her responsibilities as chair under the governing rules of order -- beggars description. You really had to be there.
The meeting was a disgrace, a scandal. It was nauseating to watch. The fact that the rest of the board sat there and let the Chair's disorderly conduct go on without once raising an objection was obsequiousness and complicity and spinelessness & villainy. The whole lot of them have to go! No one possessing a modicum of human decency could watch that spectacle without feeling utter disgust. I needed a long shower to get the slime off.
Horrifying as it is, I encourage everyone who can to attend Pacifica Board meetings in the future to bear witness for themselves. We also need to get the "progressive community" that signed Saul Landau's letter calling for an end to "Pacifica Bashing" to go to these meetings and see for themselves. Four of the plaintiffs in our Committee to Remove the Board lawsuit were there -- Rick Potthoff from Texas, Patty Heffley from New York, Leigh Hauter from D.C., and myself.
The Chair actively creates an atmosphere of contempt for Pacifica's loyal dissenters, for listeners generally, and for Tomas Moran (appointed to the board last October) in particular. My reaction to this hostility and contempt was visceral. I found it difficult to remain in the room. I had to stand near the door much of the time and go in and out. I found myself mentally and emotionally disoriented. I could not take notes. I can only describe it as a "wall of malevolence" directed from the Chair towards the audience that said, "Go Away. You do not belong here. You are not welcome here. These discussions are none of your business. If you don't like what we do here, then you are irrelevant."
"Irrelevance" indeed was the theme of the meeting. Friday afternoon there was a board "training session" not open to the public where a report from David Giovannoni (sp?) of AudioGraphics was presented. (I don't know if Giovannoni was there or not.) Giovannoni has been a consultant for Pacifica throughout the decade of the '90s and has consistently recommended that picking up "drive time" listeners with NPR-like shows, "less politics" and more music are the way to build audience numbers. The conclusion of Giovannoni's report was that Pacifica has failed in carrying out his recommendations and has "gone from being underutilized to irrelevant over the past 5 years." The basis for Giovannoni's conclusion is Pacifica's standing in commercial Arbitron ratings -- which indicate that there are approximately 800,000 regular listeners out of a "market" of 40 million within reach of its 5 stations. (I live in Sonoma County California which is not included in KPFA's Arbitron ratings. I understand that approximately 25% of KPFA's donors also live in Sonoma County. But we are not counted.)
At the Sunday Board meeting, there was some discussion that more than Arbitron ratings are needed to measure Pacifica's success -- that while audience growth is a good thing, Pacifica's success in carrying out its mission of providing news, information and cultural programming not commonly heard elsewhere is not easily quantified and measured -- that Pacifica's impact, particularly in news reporting, is larger than just audience numbers -- and, in addition, that Pacifica should not abandon its message in order to chase audience numbers. I believe it was Michael Palmer (director from KPFT) who said there is "no data" available to do that kind of evaluation and that a measurement system of such intangibles just "doesn't exist," and that the board had to go on the available data. Tomas Moran said that there are more "metrics" for evaluating Pacifica's success than just Arbitron ratings. Tomas said his professional expertise is developing "metrics" for evaluating "intangible" factors in the health care field and that he would be happy to lend his services to help develop such "metrics" for evaluating Pacifica. The Chair replied that "Mr. Moran can consider himself an expert if he wants to," but the fact is there is no data other than the numbers.
That is just one example of the Chair's treatment of Mr. Moran at the meeting. On Saturday the Board Governance and Structure Committee met. Tomas Moran had brought a proposed bylaw amendment for consideration – that would put the "no sale" resolution adopted at the October board meeting into the bylaws. David Acosta (from KPFT) is the chair of that committee. He said Tomas had not followed proper procedure. That proposed bylaws amendments had to be sent out with the Notice of the Meeting. Tomas said he had sent the proposed amendment to the executive director (Lynn Chadwick) and requested that she send it with the notice of meeting. Acosta said that the governance & structure had met by phone and decided not to include it with the notice. Tomas asked why the committee had met without including him, since he is a committee member. Acosta said that was a "mistake" and that Tomas should have been included. At that point Mary Berry said the "mistake" was that Tomas is not a member of that committee. Tomas pointed to the list of committee members the that showed that he is a member. She said that the list was a mistake. She then made a pushing away arm and hand gesture towards him and said loudly and vehemently "YOU ARE NOT ON THIS COMMITTEE." (Tomas joined the board of directors last October. The transcript of that meeting has mysteriously been "accidentally" destroyed according to Lynn Chadwick. Many people at the October meeting recorded in their notes that Tomas was appointed to the governance & structure committee at the October meeting.)
Well, I know I'm rambling on with disorganized anecdotes from memory. I'll just keep going on with it. Tomas brought with him a package of "trust building" resolutions related to Pacifica finances and budgeting that he had worked up with the KPFA interim station manager and community over the past three months. He had requested time to present them at the board "training session" on Friday but was not allowed to make his presentation there or the Finance Committee meeting on Saturday. At the full board meeting on Sunday the chair said that since he had brought them in resolution form, he would be allowed to present them as a motion, but that she couldn't just read them and vote on them without time to digest them. Tomas made his motion, but I don't believe he got a second. He also presented a "No Gag Rule" motion at the Sunday meeting. That one I know did not get a second and there was no vote on it.
Mary Berry's term expires in September. She announced that she is stepping down as Chair now and passing the Chair to David Acosta. She will remain on the board to assist in the transition until September. It is a good thing that Mary is leaving. She has been so destructive. But those who know David Acosta say he is worse -- just "slicker & not so obvious." The assault on Pacifica began before she came in '97 and will continue.
Lynn Chadwick's resignation was announced as of March 1st or 31st (?). Bessie Wash, WPFW station manager was appointed Executive Director for one year. A resignation letter from June Makela (board treasurer) was read. Her term expired some time ago anyway, but she had continued to act as a director. William Lucy (who wasn't there on Saturday) read a resignation letter at the Sunday meeting. (He is a high official with the AFL-CIO.)
Five new directors were "elected". Two were particularly alarming. Bertram Lee -- a Washington entrepreneur with background buying & selling radio stations & former part-owner of the Denver Nuggets basketball team. Mr. Lee said in an interview that he sees nothing wrong with Pacifica taking corporate underwriting. "Corporate donations don't bring with them any control of any kind," he said. John Murdock was also elected -- a Washington lawyer specializing in HMO defense law, who works for a Epstein, Becker & Green, a law firm whose website states that they assist employers in "maintaining a union free workplace". Dan Bartley, our attorney on the Committee to Remove the Board lawsuit, practices a lot of employment law representing employees. Dan is quite familiar with this law firm and said they are a nation-wide firm vehemently anti-employee and pro-management that practices "hardball" union-busting legal tactics. (Dan recently litigated against them and beat them in the 9th Circuit.) John Murdock said that he is not a labor lawyer, his specialty is "health care" law working for "non-profits." A look at the Epstein firm website also shows they specialize in HMO defense law. When patients attempt to sue for malpractice when denied needed medical care, the Epstein firm, and presumably John Murdock, are there to defend the "non-profit" HMOs.
A third new director, Valerie Chambers from Texas, was to be elected & seated at this weekend's meeting. However, when the New York local advisory board (LAB) learned of these "nominees" last week they were up in arms. They had put forward directors at the October meeting but were told there was no room on the board. A contingent from the WBAI LAB, including Mimi Rosenberg and Ralph Engleman (sp?), came down and forcefully lobbied for their nominees.
A compromise was struck where Leslie Kagan (sp?) from New York and Lee & Murdock were elected & seated at this meeting. Valerie Chambers & another NY nominee were elected to be seated in June.
The whole "slate" of five directors was voted on, together, up or down. Because none of these nominees were presented ahead of time for consideration, with an information package about them, Tomas Moran & Rob Robinson voted NO, Aaron Kriegel abstained, the rest of the board members presented voted YES (Ken Ford, Wendell Johns, William Lucy, Andrea Cisco, Frank Millspaugh, Michael Palmer, David Acosta, Robert Farrell, Karolyn Van Putten.) I don't know if the chair voted. Pete Bramson was absent from the meeting.
The word from NY people is that Leslie Kagan is an activist with a long history and should an excellent board member. Let's hope so. We, on the West Coast had some wan hopes when Tomas Moran was put on the board last October. There was hope that he could make a difference & persuade the board to change its direction. However, two or three votes out of 18 or 19 board members can't carry or defeat any motion.
I am more than ever utterly convinced that our listeners' lawsuit is essential, is imperative. Even with the local advisory boards suit progressing and even if a directors' suit is filed, it is ESSENTIAL that listeners be represented in court, independently standing on our own feet representing our 50-year commitment to Free Speech Radio. We cannot be called IRRELEVANT by the Pacifica Board -- No way!
If you have not yet contributed to our legal fund, I hope you will do so now. This will be expensive -- if you have connections to large donors, possible funding grants, fundraising ideas, the ability to help us set up a non-profit litigation sponsor, or any other money ideas, please contact me. We must fight for the survival of RADICAL radio -- tooth and nail – our only access to the airwaves to fight the growing repression in this country are in grave peril.
I hope you will forgive me this disjointed ramble & rant. It's the best I can do today. I'd like to end this letter by quoting a message Barbara Dane sent out when she heard about the meeting -- she says what I couldn't find words to say:
Barbara wrote:
" In case this sounds like cheap talk, please indulge me any rhetorical excesses today. This is one of those times when reaching for one's simplest, most cherished truths seems necessary. I know the very word "rhetoric" has come to mean "empty speech" and as Shakespeare once said,
"Action is eloquence!" (not "Eloquence is action!) So go get 'em, everybody!"
Thank you,
Carol Spooner Committee to Remove the Pacifica Board wildrose@pon.net http://home.pon.net/wildrose/remove.htm (707) 526-2867 1136 Wild Rose Drive Santa Rosa, CA 95401