Fwd: URGENT: Proposed Pacifica By-Law Revision Permits Sale of Stations, Profiteering by Board Members, Weakening of Community Input

[Doug Millison]

Please forgive the off-topic post, but I know some of you care about 
maintaining an alternative to the U.S. corporate media. I urge you to 
inform yourself about Pacifica and the good work of KPFA and WBAI, 
then do what you can to help preserve these alternative, free-speech 
media channels in the face of an extremely serious threat.  The 
current issue of Time magazine contains, by the way, an essay that's 
quite favorable to Pacfica and clearly spells out the threat it 
faces, corroborating the views of the Save Pacifica activists.
Thanks,
Doug

>
>Subject: URGENT: Proposed Pacifica By-Law Revision Permits Sale of 
>Stations, Profiteering by Board Members, Weakening of Community Input
>
>
>A proposed by-law revision, drafted by John Murdock,
>a partner in an anti-union Washington law firm and
>Mary Frances Berry's designated legal
>representative on the national Pacifica board, is
>now being circulated for possible adoption at the
>upcoming March board meeting in Houston.
>The revision would...
>
>* Reduce to as few as five members the Pacifica
>Board of Directors (currently 19).
>
>* Allow hired Pacifica executives to be members
>of the board.
>
>* Allow key decisions to be made by as few as
>three board members.
>
>* Permit the sale of Pacifica assets (i.e. stations
>like KPFA and WBAI, estimated to be worth at least
>$250 million to commercial broadcasters) by a vote
>of the executive committee only, as long as the sale
>did not include "all or substantially all of the
>assets or or property of the Foundation."
>
>* Allow directors (such as Murdock, a partner in
>the law firm of Epstein, Becker and Green, currently
>handling many legal matters for Pacifica) "to receive
>reasonable compensation for services...in a
>professional capacity."
>
>*  Reduce meeting notice time to as little as 24
>hours, and meeting notice to consist of as little as
>a message on an answering machine.
>
>* Allow the national Pacifica board to appoint
>1/3 of local advisory boards, and ban membership
>on such boards of staff and volunteers.
>
>* Ban elected local advisory board members (as at
>KPFA) from serving on the national board.
>
>There are other centralizing, corporatizing measures
>as well, as may be seen in reading the proposed by-laws
>at http://www.savepacifica.net/bylaws_revise.html
>(a PDF version is also available at: 
>http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica/murdock/murdock-bylaws.pdf)
>
>IF THESE BY-LAWS, OR ANYTHING LIKE THEM, ARE
>PASSED, PACIFICA RADIO AS A FREE SPEECH, COMMUNITY-
>BASED INSTITUTION WILL BE DEFINITIVELY DESTROYED!
>
>You help is urgently needed in defeating these by-laws.
>
>Please do the following:
>
>1) Telephone Epstein, Becker, and Green if you object
>to the money you've donated to Pacifica being used to
>further the destruction of the organization.  (Ask to
>discuss this with John Murdock or any partner in the
>law firm!)
>
>In San Francisco: (415) 398-3500
>In Washington, D.C. (202) 851-0900
>In New York (212) 297-5600
>In Los Angeles (310) 398-3500
>
>2) There is a public comment period on these by-laws
>which ends February 8. Murdock has said that comments
>will be accepted only from board members. There are six
>board members who can be trusted to oppose these by-laws.
>PLEASE WRITE TO THEM TODAY at whatever length you
>choose so that they may collect opposing comments!
>
>Tomas Moran <tomasmoran at aol.com>, 
>Pete Bramson <prbram at aol.com>,
>Leslie Cagan <LeslieCagan at igc.org>,
>Beth Lyons <BethLyons at aol.com>,
>Rob Robinson <robrobin at erols.com>,
>Aaron Kriegel <HARAV1 at aol.com>
>
>3) Make a donation IMMEDIATELY to our legal defense fund,
>as we explore our options in opposing Pacifica's latest,
>and ultimate, power grab! Either send a check to:
>
>Siegel and Yee Trust/Pacifica Account
>499 14th St. #200
>Oakland, CA 94612
>
>For tax deductible donations:
>
>Free Pacifica Legal Action/Vanguard Foundation
>333 Rhode Island #301
>San Francisco, CA 94103
>
>And please keep following our daily reports at
>http://www.savepacifica.net
>
>Thank you!
>
>
>**********************************************************
>      website: http//www.savepacifica.net
>      email: savepacifica at peacenet.org
>       to subscribe/unsubscribe visit: 
>http://www.savepacifica.net/subscribe.html

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