California Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Pacifica Foundation

[Ravens]

I hate to sound like Fred here, but just because you don't like them

Wrong. It has nothing to do with me. They aren't following the law. Any other broadcaster that did what they have been doing for the last several years would be out of business. You should know this. Why should they get an exception?

There's a reason I keep using the example of an owner that doesn't pay employees and lets the equipment decay to the point of no return. Most of us have seen stations like that. If allowed to go on for long enough, that sort of behavior is also grounds for losing a license. Many of those stations play music that I like. Doesn't matter. They still are undeserving of a license. We've seen it happen before. Again, why does Pacifica get a pass?

 

[FredLeonard]

Wrong. It has nothing to do with me. They aren't following the law. Any other broadcaster that did what they have been doing for the last several years would be out of business. You should know this. Why should they get an exception?

There's a reason I keep using the example of an owner that doesn't pay employees and lets the equipment decay to the point of no return. Most of us have seen stations like that. If allowed to go on for long enough, that sort of behavior is also grounds for losing a license. Many of those stations play music that I like. Doesn't matter. They still are undeserving of a license. We've seen it happen before. Again, why does Pacifica get a pass?

Yes, I have seen stations like that. I've even worked at stations like that. Those stations didn't lose their license. Eventually, those owners sold out. Often, things got even worse when somebody like Clear Channel or some religious broadcaster took over. Everybody gets a pass. I don't see how Pacifica is any different than those others.

The solution would have been to auction off licenses - with no automatic renewal. But it's way too late for that.

 

[TheBigA]

Wrong. It has nothing to do with me. They aren't following the law. Any other broadcaster that did what they have been doing for the last several years would be out of business. You should know this. Why should they get an exception?

Because we live in a free country. Thank God for that. We don't know for a fact that they aren't following the law. That's what the investigation is for. Even then, it's a state investigation, and the license is federal. So the only thing the State of California can do is say they broke certain accounting laws for a non-profit. They can't lose their license for that. Now if the FCC or the IRS gets involved, that's a different story.

That said, and with all due respect to Frank's role as moderator, much of the criticism of and attacks on Pacifica (and Air America Radio previously) has been motivated by political disagreement and intolerance.

But as the facts clearly show, the investigation is NOT political. Even the bullet points in post #78 aren't political. Three of the four are financial. That's what this investigation is about. But the state has no authority to shut down a federally licensed radio station because of bad accounting.

 

[FredLeonard]

But as the facts clearly show, the investigation is NOT political. Even the bullet points in post #78 aren't political. Three of the four are financial. That's what this investigation is about. But the state has no authority to shut down a federally licensed radio station because of bad accounting.

Maybe not the investigation but most of the comments here are very political. The right-wing double standard at work.

 

[Avid Listener]

But as the facts clearly show, the investigation is NOT political. Even the bullet points in post #78 aren't political. Three of the four are financial. That's what this investigation is about. But the state has no authority to shut down a federally licensed radio station because of bad accounting.

No, the facts do NOT show that. Only the select few facts that you, in your naive wisdom, deem as admissible lean towards that conclusion. There are circumstance that create a reasonable shadow of a doubt that the fact that this organization was selected for investigation while others that were equally as suspect were not because of the influence of powerful people who are engaged in the political process. That fact that you are either too blind or are deliberately blindfolding yourself is not proof of anything. Just because those who engage in behind-the-scenes influencing of the political process are skillful at covering their tracks, especially to the sight of the naive who want to believe in fairy tales, doesn't mean they aren't working behind-the-scenes. The evidence that there is something going on, and that someone is doing it is clear. The identity of specifically who it is remains well hidden, for now.

The fact that Pacifica is a left-wing advocacy group isn't why I am convinced that there are powerful political forces at work. If similar evidence pointed to it being a right-wing advocacy enterprise, the evidence would still point to the hand of political manipulators at work.

 

[TheBigA]

No, the facts do NOT show that. Only the select few facts that you, in your naive wisdom, deem as admissible lean towards that conclusion.

I posted everything I found. If you have anything else specific to this investigation to share, post it. Otherwise keep your politics to yourself.

The rest of your post is not supported by the facts. Pacifica was "selected" because 8 former employees complained. That's all.

 

[davideduardo]

No, the facts do NOT show that.

The facts "show" that California has a Franchise Tax Board (the state income tax / tax exemption folks) whistleblower operation:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/Fraud_Referral/

They encourage reporting suspicion of fraud, and will investigate if there appears to be sufficient evidence on which to base an audit. In the Pacifica case, some former management employees submitted specifics, making an audit obligatory.

In the state that gives power to Berkeley politics, Jerry Brown and expansive social and welfare programs, Pacifica is conceptually rather mainstream. Pacifica's main problem is that its concept of short block programs with little continuity from one to another is obsolete and generates little if any listening.

In fact, using LA as an example, where it's huge signal and translators have 18 million people in its 60 dbu coverage area, KPFK has trouble getting even 100,000 listeners each week.

If they were auditing The Huffington Post, I'd be willing to consider politics as a motiviation. But Pacifica, which has no influence any more... nah!

 

[Ravens]

Everybody gets a pass. I don't see how Pacifica is any different than those others.

Not everyone gets a pass, but you're right that too many do.

Pacifica is different because people in the radio community will defend them while bashing commercial operators that do the same sort of stuff.

 

[TheBigA]

Not everyone gets a pass, but you're right that too many do.

I don't see how being audited can be called a "pass." They haven't been cleared of anything. My bet is their books are a mess, and this will take a long time.

Pacifica is different because people in the radio community will defend them while bashing commercial operators that do the same sort of stuff.

I don't see anyone "defending" them. I'm certainly not. I'm explaining why a state can't take away a federal broadcasting license. That should be pretty easy to understand. As I said earlier in this thread, the same AG's office investigated Harold Camping's Family Radio for pretty much the same thing, and no one shut them down either.

 

[FredLeonard]

The facts "show" that California has a Franchise Tax Board (the state income tax / tax exemption folks) whistleblower operation:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/Fraud_Referral/

They encourage reporting suspicion of fraud, and will investigate if there appears to be sufficient evidence on which to base an audit. In the Pacifica case, some former management employees submitted specifics, making an audit obligatory.

In the state that gives power to Berkeley politics, Jerry Brown and expansive social and welfare programs, Pacifica is conceptually rather mainstream. Pacifica's main problem is that its concept of short block programs with little continuity from one to another is obsolete and generates little if any listening.

In fact, using LA as an example, where it's huge signal and translators have 18 million people in its 60 dbu coverage area, KPFK has trouble getting even 100,000 listeners each week.

If they were auditing The Huffington Post, I'd be willing to consider politics as a motiviation. But Pacifica, which has no influence any more... nah!

Pacifica is mainstream because California elected Jerry Brown? This is to the same office, in the same state as Ahnold and Ronnie?

 

[davideduardo]

Pacifica is mainstream because California elected Jerry Brown? This is to the same office, in the same state as Ahnold and Ronnie?

Arnold got in because he was a viable alternative to a recalled Gray Davis and it is, after all, California. His only strong opponent, Cruz Bustamante, was not as well perceived by Democrats as was the "need for change" caused by the general rejection of Gray Davis.

CA is defined by Brown, Boxer, Pelosi and Villaraigosa. Reagan was elected a third of a decade ago and nearly all areas of the state are so Democrat that the Republicans did not even give national money last November to their own gubernatorial race challenger.

 

[landtuna]

CA is defined by Brown, Boxer, Pelosi and Villaraigosa.

Kiss Boxer goodbye.

 

[FredLeonard]

Arnold got in because he was a viable alternative to a recalled Gray Davis and it is, after all, California. His only strong opponent, Cruz Bustamante, was not as well perceived by Democrats as was the "need for change" caused by the general rejection of Gray Davis.

CA is defined by Brown, Boxer, Pelosi and Villaraigosa. Reagan was elected a third of a decade ago and nearly all areas of the state are so Democrat that the Republicans did not even give national money last November to their own gubernatorial race challenger.

A third of a decade ago, Ronnie had been dead for two-thirds of a decade.

You right-wingers seem to look at the world (and Kahlee-fornyah) through red colored glasses. Yes, there are some enclaves of progressivism but even more wide-spread hot beds of reactionaries, authoritarians, religious rights and tea trash. San Diego County. Orange County, Kern County. ... California gave us Tricky Dick. California gave us right-wing talk radio: Joe Pyne. Wally George. Bob Grant. Frank Merriam, early tool of the right-wing corporate elite media.

 

[TheBigA]

None of this has anything to do with this topic. The investigation was motivated by one thing: Complaints from 8 former employees.

 

[Avid Listener]

None of this has anything to do with this topic. The investigation was motivated by one thing: Complaints from 8 former employees.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. This was not the only enterprise that former employees complained about. There is never a shortage of complaints from former employees of any enterprise. Someone still had to make a decision about which of the "too many to investigate them all" complaints were received to review, and which to dismiss. And that decision was not made in a political vacuum.

 

[TheBigA]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. This was not the only enterprise that former employees complained about.

Really? So give us a few examples. Be specific, and they have to be non-profits, because that's who is investigating them.

When you have 8 ex-employees complaining about the accounting of a non-profit, you can't ignore it for any reason.

 

[Avid Listener]

Really? So give us a few examples. Be specific, and they have to be non-profits, because that's who is investigating them.

When you have 8 ex-employees complaining about the accounting of a non-profit, you can't ignore it for any reason.

Such complaints are not matters of public record. Details are not available to the general public. That doesn't mean that the details do not exist.

 

[TheBigA]

Such complaints are not matters of public record. Details are not available to the general public. That doesn't mean that the details do not exist.

So you have no facts....just a conspiracy theory. Keep them to yourself and off this board.

 

[davideduardo]

A third of a decade ago, Ronnie had been dead for two-thirds of a decade.

Sorry, meant "century".

You right-wingers seem to look at the world (and Kahlee-fornyah) through red colored glasses. Yes, there are some enclaves of progressivism but even more wide-spread hot beds of reactionaries, authoritarians, religious rights and tea trash. San Diego County. Orange County, Kern County. ... California gave us Tricky Dick. California gave us right-wing talk radio: Joe Pyne. Wally George. Bob Grant. Frank Merriam, early tool of the right-wing corporate elite media.

You are now going back two-thirds of a century to when Nixon came on the national scene in the 50's.

And, simply because I mentioned that CA is overwhelmingly Democratic, I get slammed as a "right winger" and "tea trash". The fact is that the state is, overall, quite progressive politically.

Save a couple of counties, where Republican candidates win by ever-slimmer margins, the state is solidly Democratic. And the Democrats tend to be more progressive than centrists.

Registered Democrats are 43% of all registered voters, and Republicans are 28%. The independents vote over 70% Democratic based on the elections of the new Millenium. The CA Assembly has 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans, an absolute majority. And areas that were long-term Republican strongholds, like the Coachella Valley, are now solidly Democratic.

So, in that context, there is likely nothing political in looking into Pacifica's tax exempt status and the filings they have made.

Obviously, when a group of key staffers who would be assumed to "be in the know" and who have presented detailed roadmaps of the alleged wrongdoings issues press releases about the complaint, it is even more likely that it will be investigated if only to prevent the FTB from being labeled "anti-liberal" when, in fact, all the relevant appointees in that area of state government are Democrats.

Oh, and bringing up Joe Pyne is even worse than bringing up Nixon.. we are talking about someone who died 45 years ago... practically back in the Dark Ages of CA politics. And Bob Grant, or Robert Gigante, was born in Chicago and spent a few years in LA in the 60's, partly as a sports director, before moving to New York and WMCA. Again, ancient history and nothing to do with any suspicion that the Pacifica audit is politically motivated.

 

[Ravens]

A third of a decade ago, Ronnie had been dead for two-thirds of a decade.

You right-wingers seem to look at the world (and Kahlee-fornyah) through red colored glasses. Yes, there are some enclaves of progressivism but even more wide-spread hot beds of reactionaries, authoritarians, religious rights and tea trash. San Diego County. Orange County, Kern County. ... California gave us Tricky Dick. California gave us right-wing talk radio: Joe Pyne. Wally George. Bob Grant. Frank Merriam, early tool of the right-wing corporate elite media.

1. Stop with the name calling.
2. You mention Wally George. You do know that was a character, right?