THE MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY RECONVENES

(A report from the June 9-11 Pacifica Board Meeting)

By Carol Spooner

"I'm really glad I came," said C.S. Soong, "because no one could describe this."

(2336 Words)

Once again the Pacifica board met in Washington, D.C., this time at the pricey Washington Hilton & Towers. My shuttle driver from the airport said, "Oh, THE TOWERS, that's one of 'THE FIVE' hotels in Washington. It's expensive but you can expect the best service there." My flight back to SFO was to leave at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, before the regularly scheduled airport shuttles begin, but "don't worry," said my driver, "we'll make a special early trip to THE TOWERS for you, no extra charge." So it began, this crude and silly display of money Pacifica cannot afford -- to impress whom? My shuttle driver? There was no one at the meeting but board members and a couple dozen diehard dissident listeners -- oh yes, and Bessie Wash's new PR Aide, former White House Office of Foreign Trade liaison, Phyllis Shearer Jones.

The Governance Committee Meeting on Saturday 6/10

Committee Chair, David Acosta, began the meeting with this statement: "I'm going to read to you what's going to happen, and that's the way it's gonna be. Okay?"

Tomas Moran presented himself at the beginning of the meeting, but committee chair, David Acosta, refused to recognize him. Tomas had the minutes of the October '99 meeting when he was appointed to that committee and demanded to know "When did you vote to remove me from the governance committee?" Acosta shouted that he wasn't going to talk about it. Tomas persisted. Mary Berry, who is a governance committee member, shouted "He's not a member," and it devolved from there. Tomas went and took a seat at the table, anyway, whereupon Bessie Wash (Pacifica's new Executive Director) began arguing with him and telling him to leave. According to Mary Berry, her assignments to the Governance Committee are: David Acosta (Chair), Mary Berry, Andrea Cisco, Robert Farrell, Beth Lyons, John Murdock, Micheal Palmer, and Rob Robinson. Nevermind that both the Pacifica bylaws and California nonprofit corporations law require committee members to be elected and removed by a vote of the full board.

David Acosta announced that the Governance Committee had met several times by telephone conference since February (in closed meetings contrary to the open meetings requirement for CPB funding) and read the minutes of those meetings. The committee had considered the proposed "no sale" bylaws amendments submitted by Tomas Moran and Frank Millspaugh and a third one prepared by Pacifica's lawyer. They had voted not to forward the Moran or Millspaugh proposals to the full board for a vote, but only the lawyer's proposed amendment. However, they had failed to send the lawyer's proposal out to the full board in time for a vote on it at this meeting. (Committee members, Beth Lyons and Rob Robinson had voted to submit all three proposed bylaws amendments to the full board.)

The Bylaws amendment proposed by Pacifica's lawyer reads as follows:

Presumably, it will be voted upon by the full board at the next board meeting. Under the current bylaws, a bylaws amendment requires a 2/3rds vote of approval by all members of the board present and voting at the meeting and a copy of the proposed amendment must be sent seven days in advance of the meeting to all directors along with the notice of the meeting.

Tomas Moran pointed out that the Governance Committee does not have the authority to refuse to submit any proposed bylaws amendment to the full board, and is required under the bylaws to submit all such proposals for a full vote of the board. But, again, committee chair Acosta, refused to recognize him, shouting "Stand Down." An argument followed and eventually, the two "security" guys walked over and threatened to remove Tomas. But, when he wouldn't leave quietly, they backed down or were called off. ("The Dobermans" said Dawud Khalil-Ullah, newly elected board member from KPFK, who also was denied his seat at the board meeting.)

I do not have a copy of Frank Millspaugh's proposed bylaws amendment, but Tomas Moran's proposal reads as follows:

Rob Robinson raised the issue of a set of proposals for corrective actions to deal with the board's and procedural irregularities and dysfunction that he and Rabbi Kriegel had submitted for the agenda, together with a set of supporting documents. The proposals included: the dissolution of the Executive committee, the conduct of elections in accordance with the bylaws, the commission of a comprehensive management audit, an update of the governance and structure of the Pacifica Foundation, and formal attempts to resolve the outstanding civil lawsuits. However, David Acosta refused to place the matter on the agenda and said it would be discussed at future meetings.

The Governance Committee discussed that the Chairs of 4 of the 5 station LABs are litigants in the LAB lawsuit against Pacifica, and that, therefore, the National Board Chair refuses to speak with them. As a result the Council of Chairs (of the LABs) does not meet with the Chair of the Pacifica Board. Beth Lyons proposed that for the time being the LAB Chairs delegate someone else (a non-litigant) to carry out that function in order that there can be some channel of communication. This proposal was approved by the committee.

Under the topic of "Board Duties and Responsibilities," the Governance Committee discussed "enforcement mechanisms" to remove directors for "breach of confidentiality," "jeopardizing lawsuits," or "racist or sexist behavior." No action was taken on this item at this meeting.

Beth Lyons raised the issue of the PNN stringer strikers and the fact that they have not received a response from the board. Mary Berry responded that she has "been advised by the Executive Director that there is no strike by Pacifica employees." Beth Lyons asked Dr. Berry if she did not recognize that there is an issue and the need for "civility and respectfulness" in addressing it. Mary Berry replied that she saw no need for civility and respectfulness. The meeting was adjourned at that point.

Technical Committee Meeting, Saturday 6/10

A venture capital company called "AudioBasket.com" made a disturbing presentation to the Technical Committee on Sunday, proposing to enter into a "Content Partnership with Pacifica" -- a licensing agreement or revenue sharing agreement to make Democracy Now! and the Pacifica Network News available to their users, bundled with other news and information programs. According to AudioBasket's written materials their revenue comes from "5-7 minutes of advertising every hour of audio content, sold based on user demographics." As Pacifica makes the transition to new technologies and moves up onto the web, the allure of abandoning Pacifica's commitment to listener-sponsorship and independence from commercial influence on program content will be insidious.

Full Board Meeting, Sunday 6/11

Mary Berry chaired the meeting but left about half way through and was not present for the public comments at the end of the meeting.

The theme of Executive Director Bessie Wash's "vision statement" to the board, repeated several times, was "LET'S DO GREAT RADIO!" I was hard pressed to find any vision in her statement -- but she does want Pacifica to "get our share of CPB Future Fund money." This is the money CPB might provide for new national programming, provided Pacifica "tones down" its "radical bias" and does more "balanced programming."

The Chair called for a report from the LABs, asking if Maryalice Williams (WPFW LAB Chair) was present. She was not present, so there was no LAB report. I visited Maryalice at her home later in the day and she was shocked. She said that the WPFW LAB had not been informed and did not know that the Pacifica board was meeting in Washington that weekend, nor did she know that she would be called upon to make any report to the board.

There followed reports from each of the five station managers, the board Executive Committee, Development Committee, Technical Committee, Program Committee, Governance Committee and Finance Committee. Liam Kirsher taped the meetings and is posting the audio at his website at http://www.freespeechnow.org. I recommend that you listen to the full reports there.

Tomas Moran asked for clarification of the note on the auditor's report showing a $110,000/year charge to KPFA over the next four years to pay for "unbudgeted expenses" last summer. Tomas noted that the board had adopted a resolution last October that none of these charges would be paid from listener funds. Chair Berry announced that none of the money would come from listener funds. When asked what funds KPFA has available that are NOT listener funds that could be used to make these payments, she merely reiterated that "these are not listener funds." (Does the CPB give grants to pay for armed guards? Is there an endowment, a foundation grant, or a slush fund for such expenses? Where will the money come from if not from listener funds?)

The two new board members from New York, Beth Lyons and Leslie Cagan, are both feisty women who have their acts together and were solid sanity in an insane setting. The circus on Saturday had the normal affect on them -- they were shocked and outraged. At Sunday's meeting, both of them, along with Tomas Moran, Pete Bramson and Rob Robinson, all sat together at one end of the table -- moving place cards around to accomplish that. At every opportunity during the meeting this group of five asked reasonable questions, made points of clarification, put motions on the table, and generally "disrupted" the meeting by behaving like they were normal people at a normal board meeting where people are permitted to do such ordinary things! It was pretty funny, really, to see Berry and Acosta reacting to all this with flustered, hamfisted suppression -- all pretense of parliamentary conduct and Roberts Rules has long been forgotten.

Pete Bramson stated for the record that he had not been given notice of the Executive Committee meeting on Friday evening. David Acosta replied that, "you know we always meet on Friday evening," and that Bramson knew he could not attend because he is collaborating with the LAB lawsuit. (Bramson signed a declaration in support of the LAB motion for injunctions now pending before the court.)

John Murdock (HMO defense attorney appointed in February) made a very bad impression on me. He and Micheal Palmer acted in concert many times to deflect substantive discussion -- in a condescending manner that seemed calculated to intimidate and embarrass other board members for having the temerity to speak at all. (This is board training in action.)

My sense was that Valrie Chambers, the new Texas director, came prepared to fall in line with the board majority, but was very disturbed by what she saw. She spoke to me after the meeting and thanked me for my remarks during the public comment period. She said she was troubled, didn't know how to respond, and would have to take some time to "find peace" for herself before she could know what to do.

Bertram Lee was not there for any of the Saturday meetings, but did come on Sunday. It was clear the man is very ill and in excruciating pain. Aaron Kriegel (Rabbi) was not there -- Dave Adelson (KPFK LAB Chair) said he had some services he had to perform on Saturday.

Barbara Lubin, during the public comment session, said that the board should stop dragging the KPFA crisis out forever and deal with it. She said the KPFA Steering Committee remains willing to mediate with the board, based on "The 13 Demands" delivered to the Board last October. She said the board should appoint some of its members, and that the Steering Committee would appoint an equal number, and both sides should sit down and deal with substantive issues to resolve the conflict.

At the close of public comments, Leslie Cagan responded by moving that the board do what Barbara had suggested and appoint board members to meet and mediate with the Steering Committee. Beth Lyons seconded the motion. (Acting) Chair David Acosta said the board does not respond to public comments and abruptly adjourned the meeting leaving the seconded motion on the table.

The next board meeting is scheduled for the last weekend in September, in New York.