WBAI Finances:Pacifica Seizes Control of WBAI Cash Accounts, Additional Research Continues(1577 words)
In the last issue of the Folio, we described the Coalition for a Democratic Pacifica - New York chapter, or CdP-NY, and its series of protests and informational rallies held last year that expressed strong support for the staff at KPFA and for the staff at WBAI. Email discussions on the "freepacifica list" during the summer of 1999 described how Valerie Van Isler, General Manager at WBAI for the past 10 years or so, had failed to provide the station's financial documentation (as required by Corporation for Public Broadcasting guidelines) to LAB meeting attendees in September 1999. This article presents the follow-up efforts of a concerned listener-sponsor regarding the unexplained, six-figure deficits that are claimed by GM Van Isler to persist year after year at WBAI.
WBAI General Manager Van Isler responded in a letter dated 25 July 2000, and claimed that the "WBAI-Pacifica Radio monthly financial report which is prepared by the national finance office is posted in a case in our office area where it is visible to the public." [Editor's Note: all grammar and punctuation is reprinted here as written.]
The veracity of that statement depends on how one defines "office area." One CdP-NY member went to WBAI's office and found that the "WBAI-Pacifica Radio monthly financial report" is kept in 2 glass cases in the back of the office, by the copier machine, where public access requires the permission of the person at the front desk. "Visible to the public"? We'll leave that to the reader to decide. Watch this space for CdP-NY's analysis of the financial statements so "readily available to the public."
GM Van Isler's response went on to describe "the summary fiscal report for the Pacifica Foundation itself," which "has always been available from the Pacifica Foundation national office upon request, and added "that same financial statement for the year is posted on the Pacifica Foundation web site which is at <www.pacifica.org>."
We took Ms. Van Isler's challenge, and went to the website of the Pacifica National Foundation. We used their "Site Search" function (look in the left hand margin of the opening page), and entered "financial." The first search item returned (with the impressive score of "1000" -- hmm, this ought to be good) was a link labeled "Pacifica Foundation Financial Statement." We clicked that link, and wound up at the page, <http://www.pacifica.org/financial/finafmst.html>, which had as its title "Pacifica Foundation Financial Statement." For technical reasons we can't reproduce that page here, but it consists of multiple impressions of a single graphic file that repeats in a geometric pattern to the size of the browser window on your computer. To be explicit: despite its impressive score, and its impressive title, the document that came up was a graphic file, and it has no, repeat, no financial information in it.
Heck, this new technology is full of problems, so we checked the next item, which had the same impressive title and score as the first item, with virtually identical results. One difference: a line of text that was halfway obscured by one of the rows of graphics read, "News Advisory Concerning a Decision by the California Superior Court of Alameda County." Since that sounded so enticing, we went to the Site Search engine again, entered that phrase, and came to this page: <http://www.pacifica.org/financial/finabot.html>, which contains the full title -- "News Advisory Concerning a Decision by the California Superior Court of Alameda County Regarding The Pacifica Foundation, And Local Advisory Board Members." Immediately below that was a link to a downloadable Acrobat document, which we downloaded and opened with an air of anticipation.
It was merely a press release entitled "PACIFICA WINS BATTLE IN "WAR" TO CONTROL RADIO NETWORK," dated 21 July 2000, issued by Angela Jones, an employee (at least in July she was an employee) at the Pacifica Foundation (202- 588-0999, ext. 352) and Brian Levitt, of Levick Strategic Communications, whose phone number was shown as 732-761-1156. (You may remember this document from a past Folio report. The above PR firm has CIA ties.)
After additional searching, we finally found this page: <http://www.pacifica.org/board/docs/fnaud_98.html>, which is the most recent audit available of Pacifica's financial statements, dated 30 September 1998. Note that no required annual audits are available on the site that review the outrageous actions of Mary Frances Berry, then-Chair of the national board, during 1999's historically unprecedented armed seizure of the KPFA radio station. Bottom line: Our review of that 1998 audit turned up no evidence of the year-in, year-out "deficit" attested to annually by GM Van Isler. We found instead that WBAI had an "Increase in net assets" of $54,513 <http://www.pacifica.org/board/docs/fn09_98.html>.
The only reference we found consistent with GM Van Isler's claim that the year-end summary report, called the Pacifica Foundation Financial Statement for 1999, is "available for all to see" on the "Pacifica Foundation web site" was at this link: <http://www.pacifica.org/board/docs/financ90.html>, entitled "Public Information." However, instead of seeing the financial statement for 1999, "available for all to see," we read instead the following: "If you would like a personal copy of the current Pacifica Foundation's 990s with attached schedules, please forward a 10 x 12 self- addressed stamped envelope with $3.00 in return postage to:..."
We then see the now-defunct address of the Pacifica Foundation. Berry & Co. vacated the Berkley office in order to relocate the national offices of the multi-million dollar Pacifica Foundation to the home of Lynn Chadwick's mother in D.C. GM Van Isler's description of the financial statement as "available for all to see" on "Pacifica Foundation web site" is accurate only for who choose to send in the $7.15 fee for each set ordered and then wait for the U.S. Mail. GM Van Isler's suggestion, made in her response to our concerned listener-sponsor, that the report may be "printed out as you wish" is not only wishful thinking, but poppycock.
But enough picking of nits, eh? So what if the deficit that GM Van Isler has claimed to exist since 1995 doesn't show up in Pacifica's most recent audited financial statements? So what if the most important financial documents, which would enable researchers to study the financial manipulations used to pay for the only armed seizure of an American radio station in modern history, aren't on the web? There's hard news to gather, and we're gathering it.
CdP-NY staffers have been pounding their newsbeats, and we have a late-breaking development to share: a high-ranking official at WBAI, who provided this information on the basis of anonymity, told CdP-NY that Pacifica's national offices had siezed control of the cash and expense accounts at WBAI. This has now been confirmed by Van Isler at the WBAI LAB meeting that CdP-NY attended on August 23. All LAB members in attendance were taken by surprise. It was even news to Beth Lyons, who was in attendance, a National Board member on the finance committee. The announcement went like this: Van Isler announced that Pacifica had consolidated the finances of WBAI. Translation, Pacifica seized the bank account and took over financial control of the station including those little daily needed disbursements. (Van Isler claims she has been paying these out of her own pocket lately). We asked how she was informed of this development and if there were any documents to show how the board achieved this. She said that no documents existed. She also claimed that she was notified by phone and that there was a visit pending. She then admitted that a Fed-Ex had arrived. (It must have been empty since she earlier claimed there were no documents.)
A board member and a listener both asked VVI what was in the Fed-Ex letter and she evaded the question. When pressed as to how she was notified she said Bessie Wash, Sandra Rhosa and Joanne Meredith, all from the Pacifica offices, paid her a visit the same day she found out Paul Wunder, the operations manager at WBAI, had died. This was on June 29, 2 months ago!! She must have been so distraught over the sudden death that she forgot to mention this little detail until now. She claims KPFT is next to be "consolidated" and KPFA which is the only station to put up resistance will follow.
The implications of Pacifica's seizure of WBAI's cash accounts are serious: this means that expenditures by WBAI staffers won't be reimbursed until employees at the national office approve those expenses, and that daily operations, news shows, and local morning programming will experience severe financial constraints (already less than $1000 a month budgeted in audio supplies for a 50,000 watt station is a very sad story indeed). On a slightly different note, that same official at WBAI tells us that Democracy Now host Amy Goodman’s press credentials were lifted by the interim Executive Director of Pacifica, Garland Ganter, and that the IndyMediaCenter organization banned Pacifica Network News reporters and KPFK news staff from the Los Angeles IndyMedia Center, in solidarity with the PNN stringers' strike, now entering its seventh month.
Watch the Folio for more news about the efforts of WBAI listeners to stop the theft of one of the jewels in Pacifica's network.
Indira Hardat is the financial officer responsible for the budget at WBAI. If you would like to see a copy of the budget, or the latest Report to the Listener, call her (212-209-2841) or General Manager Valerie Van Isler (212-209-2830). Or write to either of them at WBAI, 120 Wall Street, 10th Floor, NYC 10005.
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