As foes slam Pacifica, their targets cry foul

Originally published in Current, Aug. 20, 2001 By Mike Janssen A converted fishing boat left a pier on Manhattan's west side and sped along the Hudson River into a beautiful July evening. The 13 people on board, however, weren't heading out to enjoy the weather. After a half-hour of pursuit, they reached their quarry: a chartered boat loaded with 150 housing industry workers. Their cruise, a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, was interrupted by the arrival of the smaller craft, which pulled up parallel and followed it for a half-hour around the tip of Manhattan. The fishing boat's passengers brandished signs and banners, chanting through a bullhorn: "Get Ken Ford off Pacifica's board!" Howard Wolfe of the Community Builders Association, a group on the cruise ship that night, guesses few passengers knew anything about Pacifica, the embattled public radio network with a history of left-leaning political programming. Nor did they know Ford, vice chair of the network's board. The tenuous connection with the cruise was that Ford, an engineer, works for the National Association of Home Builders, and affiliates of the association sponsored the cruise. "They're misdirected in trying to get people from this association to do anything about Ford," says Wolfe, who already knew about the protesters — they had filled his e-mail inbox with thousands of form letters. He says the influx crowded unread business-related messages out of his mailbox. "I have no interest, and I'm not a listener to Pacifica," he says. "If they have a gripe with one of the directors they should take it up with the Pacifica board of directors." Denis Moynihan, the activist behind the stunt, says protesters still got a reaction from the cruisers despite their indifference and ignorance: various obscene hand gestures. Familiar differences The July 13 picket was a lively episode in the escalating conflict between Pacifica's leadership and the activists fighting for its derailment. It was organized by the Pacifica Campaign, a group coordinating protests around the country to dismantle Pacifica's board and discourage listener contributions. Based in New York, the campaign is led by Juan Gonzales, who left his job as co-host of Pacifica's Democracy Now! in protest. At the core of the debate lie questions that have divided Pacifica for decades. Who dictates its mission and programming? How should its leaders be selected? And should the network commit itself to increasing its audience? Or should it advocate progressive politics, even if that drives away listeners? Pacifica management has set its sights on attracting listeners and centralizing its board's power to make decisions. Two years ago it stopped allowing station-based Local Advisory Boards (LABs) to appoint national board members. That angered activists who want Pacifica to govern itself in the open and democratic manner that it espouses for other institutions. "It's clear that attempting to reform this organization using traditional command and control, top-down methods has utterly failed," says Pacifica historian Matthew Lasar, who has often criticized management. "We have to step back and question whether making the board self-appointing did anything but de-legitimize it. I think that's all it did." Pacifica's critics also fear that as the network tries to attract listeners, it will dilute its political programming. Frustrated with Pacifica's refusal to change its course, activists have resorted to lawsuits and the tactics of the Pacifica Campaign. In exchange, Pacifica management is trying to discredit its opponents. The activists are "stuck in a time warp" and represent "the most fringe elements of our society," says spokesman Michael Powell. "Opening a new front of battle" It's hard to know how many people agree with the core of vocal protesters. But fringe or no, they are indeed undercutting the Pacifica board majority that backs network management. They single out board members who promote Pacifica's mission and, one by one, hit them with thousands of faxes, phone calls and e-mails. The so-called "corporate campaign" tactics stem from organized labor protests of the '70s. Activists formerly focused their protesting on Pacifica's board meetings and stations. Now any aspect of a board member's life is fair game. Protesters follow board members to their homes and workplaces, even pressuring their bosses and co-workers, as in the case of the housing industry cruise. Four board members have resigned, saying they could no longer tolerate the campaign's tactics. Board members sympathetic to Pacifica's direction still hold a majority, but a smaller one. "My life was becoming increasingly complicated by the intrusions of these protesters into all aspects of it — work, home, artistic life," says former board member Karolyn Van Putten, who resigned in June. She says activists went to conferences she attended and interfered with meetings to hand out statements of protest and demand her resignation. Powell alleges that campaigners picketed a business that had contracted with former board member Andrea Cisco, causing her consulting company to lose the contract. Cisco did not return calls seeking comment. In another case, the campaign accused board member and Houston accountant Valerie Chambers of giving an award to a tax assessor who subsequently lowered her tax payments. Alleging a conflict of interest, the campaign picketed her house and sent accusing e-mails to other Houston accountants. Ford, their latest target, has been the focus of several national "days of action." In the early dawn hours of Saturday, June 9, an activist hung an anti-Ford banner on the façade of the NAHB's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Construction workers removed it two hours later. Campaigners have also attended industry conferences to denounce Ford in front of his colleagues. Among other complaints, they allege his term on the board has expired and that he has reported his critics to the FBI. He denies both claims. Ford says protesters have told him he'll be "pushing up daisies" or will be pushed in front of a car. He also charges that protesters have told Bessie Wash, Pacifica's executive director, that there's "a bullet with her name on it." Pacifica argues such threats and other tactics amount to illegal blackmail, extortion and intimidation, but the network has not pressed charges. Lawyers fighting Pacifica in court respond that harmless e-mails, phone calls and faxes constitute the bulk of the protests. Gonzales, for his part, encourages protesters to be polite and nonviolent. He defends the aggressive corporate campaign. "It's a classic method of opening up a new front of battle," he says. "You fight them where they never expected that you would. You open up new battlefields that will end up creating pressures on them that they never expected." He admits to internal disagreements about how far protests should go. "There's been debate within the movement about it," he says. "I go back and forth about whether it's the most appropriate tactic. We prefer to picket people's offices, but then there are some people like Andrea Cisco whose homes are their offices." Gonzales says he started the campaign because activists feared the lawsuits against Pacifica would take too long to unravel the board. Four lawsuits challenging the board's legitimacy go to trial in January. At times, the campaign and the court proceedings intersect. The judge overseeing the lawsuits required Pacifica to give him a month's notice before appointing new board members. After the four board resignations, Pacifica tried to hasten the appointment of five new directors, including former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. But the judge denied their request. Since then, one would-be appointee has backed out. Pacifica now hopes to fill the seats at a Sept. 19 board meeting held by phone, but plaintiffs in the suit are planning to request an injunction barring all appointments until after trial. "Nothing to do with NAHB" Pacifica's management has no interest in reconciling with its opponents. It recently hired Westhill Partners, Powell's employer and a public relations firm known for a hardball "crisis management" approach.* "The agenda ought to be to maximize the potential of these five radio stations, and that is the clear intention of Executive Director Bessie Wash. That's the mission the board will advance," Powell says. What if the lawsuits or the corporate campaign manage to wrest power from Pacifica's management? Gonzales and others talk of establishing a so-called transitional board between the current board and a new one that would return more power to local advisory boards. Complicating that, though, is disagreement over how the LABs are formed in the first place. Will more board members resign? Ford says he will not. The NAHB says it will not pressure him. Donna Reichle of the NAHB told real estate website GlobeSt.com that Ford's involvement in Pacifica is a "free-speech issue." "It is his right outside the NAHB to do and say as he sees fit, as long as it has no negative impact on the NAHB," she said. "This issue has absolutely nothing to do with the NAHB."

Picketers take to the water in New York Harbor, denouncing Ken Ford, vice chair of Pacifica's board. (Photo: The Pacifica Campaign.) Later story Pacifica elects Dick Gregory, Marion Barry to board; Yasko quits Originally published in Current, Sept. 24, 2001 Comings and goings continue at Pacifica, where Director of National Programming Steve Yasko resigned Sept. 15 and five new board members were appointed Sept. 19. The board also voted to have an emergency meeting to discuss the future of its flagship morning show, Democracy Now! The board appointed five new members in a meeting held by conference call. They are: George Barnstone, a Houston attorney and realtor, and a board member of the ACLU's Houston chapter; Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, D.C.; James Ferguson, a director with the Congress of National Black Churches; comedian and activist Dick Gregory; and Krishna Roy, a development and communications consultant for nonprofits. The so-called dissidents on the board, who want to democratize Pacifica's governance, opposed all of the new appointments. The board also elected Bob Farrell as chair, Wendell Johns as treasurer and John Murdoch as secretary. Ken Ford remains as vice chair. Dissidents and non-dissidents joined to approve an emergency board meeting Oct. 3 to determine the future of Pacifica's Democracy Now! For more than a month, host Amy Goodman and her staff have refused to produce the show from WBAI, their usual workplace and Pacifica's station in New York, claiming that their colleagues have harassed them. Pacifica has refused to air their shows produced off-site, and has fed repeats instead. Also last week, Pacifica appointed Utrice Leid, formerly interim g.m. at WBAI in New York, to replace Yasko. Robert Daughtry, who most recently directed operations at WPFW in Washington, D.C., replaced Leid as permanent g.m. in New York. Yasko said he resigned because he was the target of a "smear campaign" that invaded his personal life. The Pacifica Campaign, a group of activists who oppose Pacifica's management, accused Yasko of running pornographic websites and pointed to two sites created by Yasko that are now offline. Neither site highlighted pornography, but one did link to a porn site. Yasko said he abandoned the site five years ago, and that he would have deleted the link if he had known it linked to pornography.

* The print edition of Current erroneously reported that tobacco company Brown & Williamson used Westhill in its battle with whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand. It was actually an original Westhill partner, John Scanlon (now deceased), who had B&W as a client, before Westhill was founded.

	.	To Current's home page
	.	Earlier news: Opponents of Pacifica leadership are pursuing their objectives in court as well.
	.	Outside link: Pacifica Foundation.

Web page revised Sept. 27, 2001
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