legal

“Loyalty” lawsuit against KPFA listener-activists dropped

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Some of the hundreds of listeners who pledged to restore the Morning Show
Some of the hundreds of listeners who pledged to restore the Morning Show

A lawsuit demanding over $800,000 in “damages” from four KPFA listeners who tried to raise money for KPFA has been dropped, with its initiator agreeing to pay all costs for SaveKPFA‘s legal defense team.

The SLAPP suit had been filed against the Morning Show 4 — elected KPFA board members Margy Wilkinson, Dan Siegel, Mal Burnstein and Conn Hallinan — who led a 2011 SaveKPFA campaign that collected over $60,000 in pledges to restore the KPFA Morning Show, after Pacifica claimed it had cancelled the show for financial reasons.

Hundreds of listeners made financial pledges in that campaign, but Pacifica refused to accept them. Shortly thereafter, KPFA partisan Daniel Borgstrom and his lawyer, former LSB rep Richard Phelps, slapped the four SaveKPFA board members with a lawsuit demanding $800,000 in “damages” for the fundraising activity, which they claimed was “disloyal” to Pacifica.

While Pacifica formally took no position on the suit, national board members such as treasurer Tracy Rosenberg had been publicly proclaiming the existence of the lawsuit as a “win” for her side. In January 2013, she and her allies on the PNB even passed an Orwellian anti-dissent “loyalty” measure targeting the SaveKPFA‘s activists, threatening to boot them from the board should Borgstrom win his lawsuit. Outraged listeners and staff wrote to the PNB when the measure was introduced earlier this year (a sampling of the letters is here.)

Thanks for your support, and congratulations to everyone who has worked to support KPFA through these difficult times!  Please renew that support by making your pledge to KPFA during this week’s fund drive.

Democracy when? Still no ballots and paychecks bouncing

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Still nothing from Pacifica on when ballots will go out in the  recall of Tracy Rosenberg. As a reminder: Pacifica’s own rules for recall elections required it to send out ballots no later than December 30, 2011. That’s nearly 6 weeks ago!

One thing Pacifica’s delay has accomplished (probably by design): it’s bought Rosenberg time to build a campaign machine, and for the Pacifica-imposed interim manager at KPFA to start using station resources to support her efforts.

Thank you to those who have signed the online petition (over 1100 currently) or written letters to Pacifica demanding an impartial recall supervisor. SaveKPFA is also considering legal options for forcing Pacifica to comply with its own rules.

Now Pacifica’s bouncing paychecks, too
KPFAWorker.org has published an email from KPFA’s union, CWA Local 9415, sent to Pacifica management. The message spoke to two issues: bounced paychecks and the network’s illegal withholding of retirement contributions. Several employees across Pacifica’s stations — including one at KPFA — took their paychecks to the bank in January and got nothing to show for it but a bounced check fee. There’s been no explanation from management to staff about why it happened, or what Pacifica is doing to prevent a recurrence. Bouncing paychecks is a criminal offense.

This comes on the heels of revelations by KPFA’s union last fall that Pacifica had been diverting workers’ contributions to their retirement plans in order to pay other bills. At the time, Pacifica promised workers it would 1) catch up on payments to their accounts — which it eventually did, 2) pay them the legal minimum interest rate on the catch up payments — which it hasn’t yet, and 3) make timely contributions in the future. On that last point, KPFA workers report that their retirement accounts should have had two deposits from Pacifica in January — they’ve had none.

Another legal victory for SaveKPFA; court rejects Spooner action

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A last-ditch attempt by Pacifica management ally Carol Spooner to keep KPFA Local Station Board members Dan Siegel and Laura Prives from their elected Pacifica National Board seats has gone down to defeat, only a week after being filed.

It all started last December, when Tracy Rosenberg pushed an illegal motion through the national board to unseat elected KPFA reps Dan Siegel and Laura Prives. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch issued an injunction requiring they be seated.

The Pacifica National Board appealed the injunction and threw Siegel and Prives off the board for a second time. But Judge Roesch stepped in again, threatening to hold Pacifica National Board officers in contempt of court for their actions, and ordering Siegel and Prives to be seated. As part of the settlement, KPFA board member Richard Phelps, who had been acting as Pacifica’s attorney in the matter, paid SaveKPFA‘s legal expenses out of his own pocket and resigned from KPFA’s local board.

So did it end there? Nope. From the sidelines, Spooner filed a petition with the Court of Appeal, trying to intervene and knock Dan and Laura off the national board a third time. The Court of Appeals quickly shot that down last Friday.

Pacifica’s frivolous legal maneuvers have gotten nowhere in court, but they have managed to run up the foundation’s legal bills and keep two of our locally elected representatives from assuming their seats on the national board for nearly half their one-year terms. Accountability comes from the ballot box — send in your recall petition today!