Pacifica: putting the pieces back together

pacifica logoLast month, we reported on the dire state of the books at Pacifica, the nonprofit that owns KPFA. Pacifica’s new CFO Raul Salvador and board chair Margy Wilkinson (a member of SaveKPFA) found an operation in disarray, after being locked out of the network’s National Office next door to KPFA for two months by ousted executive Summer Reese. Bookkeeping entries had not been made for nine months, and there were unpaid bills lying in large, unorganized stacks, some of which were slated to be shredded until Wilkinson intervened.

After weeks spent reconstructing financial data, Pacifica’s new staff have now issued the most complete network financial statements since Pacifica’s 2012 audit.

Stiffing pension to pay consultants

moneyThere was massive overspending at the National Office, which, according to a report from Pacifica National Finance Committee chair Brian Edwards-Tiekert “produced the largest loss the Pacifica National Office has posted since the height of Pacifica’s civil war in 2001.”

Adding injury to injury: while last year’s leadership was running up large bills with temp agencies, consultants, and law firms, they were skipping payments to the pension fund for Pacifica workers, and holding on to payroll taxes that were supposed to go to the IRS.

The good news: the overspending and deficits appear to have leveled out. So far this year, the network is basically breaking even, and there are more savings on the horizon. If Pacifica is able to restore its eligibility for Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding, it should run a healthy surplus. (CPB funding was suspended in 2013 over compliance issues, cutting the network’s revenues by over $1 million per year). | READ financial report, Excel financial spreadsheets (balance sheets, income statements, consolidated monthly sheet)

Crisis management

The biggest challenge facing Pacifica’s new leadership are the angry creditors they have inherited from the Reese era — several of which have initiated lawsuits.

But there is progress on this front as well: new interim executive director Margy Wilkinson negotiated a 21-month interest-free payment plan with an attorney who had been suing Pacifica over unpaid bills. And in early September, the Pacifica National Board voted to approve a 0% interest loan of $156,000 to cover an unpaid tax bill it inherited and head off further penalties. The loan comes from Aris Anagnos, co-founder of the Los Angeles Peace Center and the Humanitarian Law Project, as well as a long-time supporter of Pacifica’s KPFK in Los Angeles. (You can learn more about Anagnos by listening to this interview with him on KPFK). Anagnos had asked that the discussion of the loan and his name both be made public — to inspire other major supporters to join him in helping Pacifica through its current difficulties.

Now that Pacifica’s financial records are getting cleaned up, Wilkinson reports that it’s getting easier to push back on some claims by creditors. Recently, she talked down a vendor threatening to sue over money Pacifica had already paid.

Still unresolved is the money owed to Pacifica’s pension fund, and lawsuits over unpaid bills, including one from a temp agency Pacifica used heavily last year, and another from Free Speech Radio News, which was forced off the air in mid-2013 after Pacifica stopped making payments for its daily newscast.

RELATED STORIES:  Fixing Pacifica (includes financial report) | Lawyer representing board minority jumps ship | Finally, local control at KPFA

Not again! Why can’t Pacifica stop trying to censor its staff?

If you thought the drive to censor KPFA’s workers was past, think again. Pacifica has released new versions of its “employee handbook” for both paid and volunteer workers, according to KPFAWorker.org, which threaten them with termination for posting criticism of the network on their personal social media pages or private websites, or even speaking to the press.

Free speech radio won’t be so free if the Pacifica board majority has its way: “It’s shamefully obvious,” one worker tells KPFAWorker, “that Pacifica’s board majority wants to remove its workers’ voices from the conversation about the network’s future,” continuing the pro-censorship agenda begun under former Pacifica director Arlene Engelhart. Even though the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that employees have the right to post criticism of their employers, Pacifica is “so out-of-touch that it is attempting to institute a policy that is illegal on its face,” says one of the blog’s sources.

Under pressure, Pacifica agreed to allow comments on the draft paid and unpaid handbooks until May 28. As a member of Pacifica’s community, you can send your response to: pacifica.handbook@hotmail.com; please cc votesavekpfa@gmail.com.

Jon Fromer, Presente!

Jon Fromer
Jon Fromer

Singer, labor activist, and award-winning TV producer Jon Fromer passed away the morning of January 2nd. For decades, he and his guitar were fixtures at pickets and demonstrations in the Bay Area. Among the many causes he took up in his incredible 66 years: KPFA.

Jon played a key role in the group that first started meeting to set up SaveKPFA; even after his diagnosis with stomach cancer, he still came, guitar in hand, to support KPFA’s workers at demonstrations in front of Pacifica’s offices. Here’s an audio tribute to Jon that Brian Edwards-Tiekert put together for the Pacifica Evening News. You can learn more about Jon’s work here.