The petition below refers to a lawsuit filed on July 16, 1999 alleging violations of law in the February 1999 by-laws change that disenfranchised local boards and made the Pacifica Foundation Board a totally self-selecting body completely unaccountable to anyone but themselves, and, in the words of former Pacifica spin doctor Elan Fabbri "the CPB, the FCC and the IRS." The suit also asks the court to enjoin the board from selling any Pacifica station or other assets of Pacifica, and also that the Pacifica Board be prevented from spending subscriber funds on armed private police agencies, public relations firms and other inappropriate activities. One must assume that Marc Cooper and his staff allies, Marcos Frommer, Roy Hurst, Heidi Pickman, and Stacey Fancher to name a few, approve of these actions and expenditures by Pacifica's Board of Directors. (If not, they should state that they disapprove, and we will apologize for listing them in this hall of shame)
Futhermore, other staff members are being intimidated into signing this letter. Staff members had the draft of the letter below distributed in their mailboxes this week. They were notified by Marc Cooper's producer Heidi Pickman that if they disagreed with the petition, they would have to sign the letter stating that they disagree and return it to her, otherwise they would be considered "in compliance." Yes, her words, IN COMPLIANCE. With whom?
Aside from the obvious position taken that local advisory boards have no right to serve the public interest, and must be boosters of whatever the management wants, the letter contains outright inaccuracies. Barbara Perkins, the former Chair of the KPFK LAB resigned more than two months before the lawsuit was filed. Barbara Perkins was invited to become a party to the lawsuit and chose not to. Barbara Perkins had been Chair, as well as a member of the KPFK Lab for less than a year, and had not been present for a large portion of that time as she was running (unsuccessfully) for election to the Los Angeles City Council.
(typographical errors have been replicated
from the original)
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Mary Frances Berry Address Dear Dr. Berry:
At our previous two staff meetings held
on August 4 and 11, 1999, the
Attached is a memorandum that the KPFK
staff presented to the LAB at an
We are asking you to remove the members
of the LAB that are parties to a
1. They have violated the trust against
their own chairperson who
2. They are in violation of
their limits of authority according to the
3. David Adelson, Acting Board Chair,
is party to negative publicity
4. This negative publicity is costing
the station money. Already, a
Please use your authority to immediately
remove these board members from
Sincerely,
The KPFK Staff *Note: the staff isnot unanimous on this,
but these actions have the
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