(From: Winograd-blog)

Tell KPFK & Pacifica Board Members to Put Lila Garrett Back on the Air!

Why did KPFK Management suspend Lila’s outstanding show Connect the Dots?

Lila refused to participate in the recent KPFK fundraiser because a lot of the money, hundreds of thousands of dollars, will be spent to defend a sexual harassment lawsuit against General Manager Eva Georgia. (For more details on the suit, read the LA Weekly article below.) Lila could not, in good conscience, ask listeners to foot the bill for sexual harassment charges reportedly long ignored at the station.

Please contact the following key players: Local KPFK Board Members, Pacifica National Board Members,
and KPFK Management.

Ask them to bring back Connect the Dots. Return Lila Garrett to the airwaves!

Lila’s hard-hitting Monday morning show covers urgent concerns regarding nuclear weapons production, Blackwater outsourcing of occupation soldiers, corporate and congressional collusion to block universal health care, and efforts to protect our coastline from dangerous liquefied natural gas terminals.

We can’t afford to lose Lila’s show, nor can we afford to jeopardize the future of KPFK, an independent non-commercial radio station that celebrates diverse voices, empowers the disenfranchised, and dedicates itself to social justice. It’s time for an independent investigation of sexual harassment charges at KPFK.

Protect the journalists now!

Here are the phone #s and e-mail addresses for General Manager Eva Georgia and Asst. Manager Armando Gudino. Please e-mail right away, and then call KPFK management during business hours. Put Lila Garrett back on the air. Conduct an independent investigation of the sexual harassment charges. Be sure to contact the board members, too.

KPFK General # 818-985-2711

Armando (Asst. Mgr.) - ext. # 202 e-mail pd@kpfk.org

Eva (Mgr.) - ext. #503 email gm@kpfk.org

Contact Local KPK Board Members (partial list of KPFK web site is down. Note, some of the board members may already be sympathetic, while others may not be convinced that the station's future is in jeopardy.)

Lydia Brazon
socalada@earthlink.net

Dave Adelson
dave@dave4lsb.org

Margaret Prescod
Margaretprescod@kpfk.org

Don Bustany
dbustany@att.net

Don White
donwhite4justice@hotmail.com

Contact the Pacifica National Board at http://www.pacificafoundation.org/pnb/contact/pacifica-national-board/


LA Weekly Article

"Turning the Tables"

Lesbian, African-immigrant general manager of KPFK is accused of sexually harassing the station’s white news chief

By DANIEL HERNANDEZ
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 6:00 pm

See: http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/turning-the-tables/16159/

How sad that KPFK would suspend one of their better news programmers for standing on her principles. Had I, a listener and supporter, been aware of the allegations against Ms. Georgia, both past and present, along with the efforts made to suppress them rather than air them and prove or disprove them, I would have withheld my most recent contribution to the station in solidarity with Ms. Garrett. KPFK is doing damage control in the truest Bush/Cheney spirit, condemning a programmer for their mistake in searching for the perfect universal token as a station manager. Damning the victim while elevating the accused perpetrator. It would be refreshing to see KPFK management practice what it preaches, something rare since the advent of Ms. Georgia's tenure. May this serve as a reminder that those things which seem too good to be true usually are. How very sad for us all.

How sad that KPFK would suspend one of their better news programmers for standing on her principles. Had I, a listener and supporter, been aware of the allegations against Ms. Georgia, both past and present, along with the efforts made to suppress them rather than air them and prove or disprove them, I would have withheld my most recent contribution to the station in solidarity with Ms. Garrett. KPFK is doing damage control in the truest Bush/Cheney spirit, condemning a programmer for their mistake in searching for the perfect universal token as a station manager rather than searching for the best station manager. Damning the victim while elevating the accused perpetrator. It would be refreshing to see KPFK management practice what it preaches, something rare since the advent of Ms. Georgia's tenure. May this serve as a reminder that those things which seem too good to be true usually are. How very sad for us all.

KPFK is a corporation. One of its employees has been accused of sexual harassment, and the corporation has been named in the suit. What should the corp do--not defend her? Hang her out to dry? I wouldn't work for a company that did that.

How is Lila's refusal to pitch helpful? Maybe Lila's heart is in the right place, but her solution is to do what? She doesn't want the corp to settle, she doesn't want them to go to court--either one would cost Pacifica $$$. What's left? Withholding $$ is going to tell the corp what?

No one has kept the show hosts from talking about dissidents. The same crap has been circulating since before (yes, *before*) the current manager was hired. The accusations in the Weekly were made by precisely the same people five years ago. All the old charges were checked out and dismissed, but this same crew keeps coming back, raising the same stinking fish in new wrappers. Anyone who's spent any time volunteering at KPFK knows the whole story . . . it's long and disgusting.

I'm guessing that Lila will be back soon. Suspended isn't canned. But there has to be a penalty for refusing to fundraise. None of the hosts like to do it--it's difficult, unpleasant, exhausting--and I'm sure Lila understands that hosts need to know that refusing to pitch comes with a penalty. Hosting a show isn't a right, even for Lila Garrett, and pitching is an obligation.

I just learned something about Garrett: she convicts even before the trial begins. And it seems some KPFK listeners do, too.

If you want to know what it's like being a Black lesbian in the real world, check out what happens to you in NYC. Then you can tell me how justice works when you start with three strikes in the good ol' US of A.

Garrett and her supporters wanna do NYC one better and just skip the judge--can't have all that expense and bad publicity. Just can't have that around the station, now can we? And Garrett will do her best to bring the station down before it pays to defend its employees or gets tagged with another hit piece in the Weakkneeded.

The only good thing to come out of this is that, if I ever pay any attention to Garrett again, I'll know who I'm listening to. Thanks to the poster for cluing me in.

Only at KPFK, an old story witha brand new twist. Black sexually assaults white woman. Only this time it's a Black woman--got to be really progressive to dream up that one.

We get the story of the oversexed, out of control Black man mixed up with the insatiable, perverted lesbian. And the pure deflowered shiny frigid white woman. Jezzuz Christe. Its the 21st centruy recipe for hanging Blacks, courtesy of Lila (lily white) Garrett and Daniel (never saw a white person he didn't like) Hernandez.

In my humble view, Eva Georgia is a command freak who will tolerate little if any dissent.
Pacifica Radio has a few good shows and they are very important.
Taking Aim on WBAI @ 2:00 PST Tuesday
and Guns n Butter on KPFA @ 1:00 PST Wednesday
Most of the other programs are too tame and pusillanimous as cowards and moles take up the rest of the programing, in my own humble opinion.

Lila is on air right now. Good! Let's not set a dangerous precedent at KPFK by suspending programmers or other workers for speaking out to power when there is a perceived problem. It's wrong when they do it on the other side of the aisle, it's probably wrong when we punish whistle-blowers, too. Of course, Lila's being on air right now may indicate the original article to be a hoax. Hard to tell, with the rigidity introduced by Ms. George, just what is true or not. I think it's a good idea to lift up this rock and see what, if anything, is under it.

KPFK is loaded with moles and CIA informers posing as "activists", programmers, and talk-show "hosts".

IMO, Eva Georgia is more than likely not one of them, but sh*t like this (sexual harassment) only tarnishes the station further and makes it easier for the government to kill the station.

If Georgia refuses to resign over this, listeners should refuse to donate one more dime!

Of course KPFK isn't perfect being that's its full of egos who are overworked and overly paranoid with good reason given the station's content. I've heard all the stories about power-tripper Eva Georgia before, but I wouldn't trust all of it given that many of the allegations come from the white liberal faction that is uncomfortable with minorities in power and has in the past expressed their anti-immigrant mentality and fear of a Spanish-language planet. Beside, Lila's just the resident agent of the democractic party anyways and I would suspect that her cronies are behind this just like they're behind discrediting anybody who exposes the democrats pathetic attempts to silence true progressives. The democrats are going to eat themselves just like the republicans are doing right now. Lila's show didn't take any hits anyways so this is just a bunch of hot air, further fueled by the pseudo-liberal losers at the L.A. weakings.

"uncomfortable with minorities in power"
bull sh*t.
This is a thin defense as we can always find a person of color to betray the concepts of justice. This is not about race but is about autocratic manipulation.

The poster who identifies himself or herself as Gotta luv it seems to have an overheated brain, to say the least. A staff member complains that her boss is sexually harassing her at KPFK and the only possible explanation is that she is trying to raise the spectre of "the oversexed out of control Black man mixed up with the insatiable, perverted lesbian"? And that all this can only be part of a "21st century recipe for hanging Blacks"? What group home are you posting from? Maybe you need some soothing tea, a cat to pet, or a combination of therapy and meds for your condition. The same goes for the alleged "veteran KPFK listener" who thinks that only someone "uncomfortable with minorities in power" would think of complaining about something like that or be against using the listeners' pledge money for the alleged harasser's legal expenses. Power? Is that what you think KPFK is all about - giving power to careerists, including perhaps the power to sexually harass the staff? That is sick. The role of the KPFK general manager is to serve the listeners and the staff, not to exercise power ala corporate ceos or Marine Corps officers.
By the way, I heard L.G. on the air this morning. Or was that a repeat?

wow, I guess I touched a nerve. funny how liberals overact even more than conservatives when race becomes an issue. very telling...

funny how liberals overreact more than conservatives when race becomes an issue. very telling...

posters who use words like liberals / conservatives seem to be touching themselves a lot in a self indulgent simple sort of way. Dey tink dey so intellectual it gives them purchase to assign labels of their own simple understanding.

It's obvious that Eva Georgia abused her power. The attorney should seek a settlement and a resignation from Georgia. (I suspect the accusations are true. A few little birds told me this.) She's been there a long time, anyway. The station is getting stale.

Lila Garrett's show is kinda stale, too. Still, it would be good to have a progressive Democrat voice on the air through the 2008 election cycle.

That other show, Strategy Session, fills the same gap, but it's pretty lame. That Southwest Voter Reg Project, an explicitly ethnic political group, was founded in 1974, and 33 years later, still can't control the Latino vote in the Brown Power capital of the USA. It must rank up there with the Asian 80/20 "swing vote" group for vision and effectiveness.

Eva Georgia's situation doesn't have anything to do with the women in New York who are getting hung out to dry by the system. She's not a "victim". Maybe if she were a white hetero male, she'd be GM at a station like KFI or KGO, but she isn't, and she isn't. Maybe she could be making three times as much money if she were a SWM. Hitting the glass ceiling's a kind of oppression, definitely, but it's not the same as being black, gay, young, and just starting out in life, and she has a few dozen people directly "below" her, and a several million people in LA Count alone who have less social status and power than she has.

Someone on IMC said KPFK should announce ICE raids. That's the best idea that's come by in a long time. It would sure as heck make KPFK a must-listen-to station again, if only because there'd be some scary news to freak out over.

Only the orig guy agrees w mz Garrett to boycott. Couple ppl want the mgr out because she's 2 bossy, but that's not Mz Garrett's gripe. One is talking 2 birds for the truth, can't wait 4 the court date, judgment pronounced, thus spake the birdies.

But whatever it is, it's 4 sure not that ppl r uncomfortable w an Afrikan lesbian in charge. No whte wmn has ever screamed rape for the cause, right? Anything but that, right?

Only the orig guy agrees w mz Garrett to boycott. Couple ppl want the mgr out because she's 2 bossy, but that's not Mz Garrett's gripe. One is talking 2 birds for the truth, can't wait 4 the court date, judgment pronounced, thus spake the birdies.

But whatever it is, it's 4 sure not that ppl r uncomfortable w an Afrikan lesbian in charge. No whte wmn has ever screamed rape for the cause, right? Anything but that, right?

I agree with her right to boycott. KPFK struggles with funding, and Ms. Georgia is going to cost KPFK (you and me) some big dollars in what I think may be her swan song at the station. Georgia is and has been a tyrant at KPFK. A petty, micromanaging tyrant. I personally think she was a poor choice for GM, and would be happy to see her go. I would prefer that she didn't oblige the station to flush a bag of money down the toilet for her. It's a sad thing as well, to see people try so hard to make this about race and/or sexual orientation in order to avoid discussing Georgia's merits or lack thereof. It is my opinion that that is precisely how we got saddled with Georgia in the first place.

I don't recall ever hearing Lila Garrett doing fundraising. Has anybody else her her do it? Not all the KPFK hosts participate in the fund drives, and I've assumed that Lila was one of them.

In past fund drives, I recall Ian Master filling in for her.

I wonder where the Winograd blog got the info. that Connect the Dots had been pre-empted? I heard announcements for it over the weekend that it was going to be on, and of course it did go on.

As far as Eva Georgia, I've heard that the atmosphere at KPFK is too politicized and difficult, but until now, I've never heard anyone point to Georgia.

The L.A. Weekly has made accusations against her, but I don't necessarily consider them a reliable source.

Last year they did a one-sided story about the South Central Farm that wasn't helpful to the cause.

I would appreciate it if anyone could point to something concrete.

I'm starting to wonder if this debate is hurting our cause more than it's helping it. One of the biggest weaknesses in activism in the U.S. is fighting amongst ourselves.

Some posters seem to be afraid this "internal" discussion of whats really going on at KPFK will "weaken" the "movement".

What f*cking movement?!?!

Sh*t! You guys sound like the minutemen!

You think the right-wing gangster regime dont know whats up with the "inner workings" at KPFK?!

Check yourself and your egos, Eva Georgia can leave Now, or when martial law is declared in 2009 and the station is sh*t-canned for good!

Either way, the listeners get screwed but we could at least have a year and a half left for our money!

I sounds like I am the one who touched a raw nerve - for daring to suggest that there might be some reason to complain of sexual harrassment on the job at KPFK other than a desire to restore the days of KKK lynching or a desire to limit minorities at KPFK to jobs emptying waste baskets or dusting off portraits of Marc Cooper and Mark Schubb. Why are you afraid of the truth coming out in court? You sound like the flunkies of Nixon or GW Bush, frantically spinning public relations fables and hoping that the public buys them.
LIsten, no one tells me what to think or what to say, and relying upon race baiting is particularly clumsy and stupid way to try to shut me up. Experts have tried to shut me up in the past, and where they failed you two losers are not going to succeed.
If I find out that any significant portion of the money I gave to KPFK to going to pay for Eva's legal expenses I am going to blow my stack. And, more importantly, I and a lot of other KPFK supporters are not going to be sending in any money at all to the station until Eva is gone and replaced by someone with more integrity and less of an obsession with bossing other human beings around.
We should have known from the beginning that the people at the Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Center and the employees at that South African radio station were onto something when they canned Her Magesty.

Why all the name-calling? I was just suggesting that maybe a person should not be assumed guilty until proven so. I'm neither defending nor attacking Eva Georgia, and I know KPFK has internal problems that have to be addressed. I think I made all this clear.

This "peace" movement seems to know more about preaching peace than practicing peace.

We Americans can't do anything right.

No one has assumed that she is guilty. On the other hand, a number of people have assumed that the person complaining of sexual harrassment is guilty of encouraging the spectre of the black sexual preditor or attempting to limit job advancement opportunities at the station for minorities by making false charges against Eva. There is no basis for either assumption. The best course of action is to let the truth come out in court - without our pledge money being used to pay the legal espenses of one of the parties involved.
I hope that you are not so naive as to think that instances of sexual harrassment can never take place inside a "progressive" organization or that careerists cannot talk their way into leadership positions in such organizations and then abuse their so-called authority with mistreatment of others or even illegal sexual harassment.

No boycott, money raised, ship afloat. Seems most kpfk ppl aren't getting behind that pre-emptive boycott sh*t. Good 4 thm.

I'd be all 4 talking, esp if we all had facts. Including the stupid*ss, unverified, blindsiding attacks and smears spread around. Seems like nun of these boycotters objected to $$ going for Schubb in his settlement. If they'd gone there, I might b w thm now.

Schubb had to paid off to get him out of our hair; he might have gotten more money if the case had gone to court. And I'd like to remind you that one of the many reasons why the coupsters were ousted from KPFK and Pacifica was their practice of using pledge money for ridiculous security measures, legal fees, and other nonsense while the stations were falling apart. We are not going down that route again, with Eva replacing Schubb and his co-conspiritors. The pledge money is for the station and the network, not for Eva and her lawyer.
If Eva is still here during the next pledge drive and still sucking up pledge money to defend herself against sexual harassment charges, you may see a real boycott.

Schubb had to paid off to get him out of our hair; he might have gotten more money if the case had gone to court. And I'd like to remind you that one of the many reasons why the coupsters were ousted from KPFK and Pacifica was their practice of using pledge money for ridiculous security measures, legal fees, and other nonsense while the stations were falling apart. We are not going down that route again, with Eva replacing Schubb and his co-conspiritors. The pledge money is for the station and the network, not for Eva and her lawyer.
If Eva is still here during the next pledge drive and still sucking up pledge money to defend herself against sexual harassment charges, you may see a real boycott.

So Pacifica shouldn't defend itself (it's a defendent), & just shell out whatever the plaintiff demands, bc u think the gm did it? How is that good 4 the sta or Pac?

& if they don't pay out to the plaintiff, u'll boycott. Come on, dude, think this one thru.

But u have, haven't u. If Pacifica falls on its knees, "admits guilt," then you got your case against the gm. gd knows, if Pacifica keels over, how many other folks across the network will start filing--a little settlement is a quick way to a savings acct. But that doesn't bug u, does it. And if they fight it, the gm prolly wins and stays, her opp has mud on their faces, end of the "get Eva" camp. So no wonder u'll only boycott if Pacifica defends itself. Gr8t plan, exc it's transparent as glass.

But $$ing off Schubb was right & cool, bc why? Sad 2 say, but bc they did Pac got a big blk eye, like Schubb was right.

She's a lesbian, but has that benefitted that community? For that matter, has it really benefitted Africans, or even New Afrikans? Just a little, little bit.

She's been a decent GM. Look at Schubb/Cooper. But there's been a decline over time, and the old energy isn't there.

About the energy, I agree w --K--. But the question is, what happened? Has the whiteside worn hr down, have those out 2 get hr in the station sapped hr time/energy? I don't want 2 c hr gone until she's had a free hand 2 do what she was hired 4. If she doesn't live up 2 her billing then, u cn put me on the list 2 wave goodbye

If it takes a payoff to Eva to get rid of her, I would be in favor of it, just like I was in favor of getting rid of Schubb in the same fashion. In the long run it may be cheaper, because I'd bet my last dime that there are going to be more lawsuits agains Eva and Pacifica in the future. The KPFK Fund Drive would have to be changed to the Eva Legal Defense Drive.

Hey Folks,

KPFA's audited budget for 2006 had a 392K legal line item, the 3rd highest line item.

And that is not including at least 180K in outstanding legal bills-- and way way more to come. Most if not all of this money was spent trying to cover up sexual harrassment and gender discrimination.

In the last 18 months KPFA has spent

over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.

We must put an end to the coverups and the victimization of women.

Pacifica has to start living up to its mission.

toward justice and freedom,

Noelle Hanrahan

PS Yes, I sued KPFA and yes I won a judgement against KPFA. KPFA and Pacifica must immediately end its policies and practices of discrmination and covering up for and protecting perpetrators.

I also still produce for the network, and I ran for the KPFA LSB and won.

I ran because - Pacifica can not continue to discriminate and it must be transparent- and accountable.

I refuse to remain a silent victim to discrimination.
I am speaking up for all the women who have come before me, who were victimized and fired, and I am speaking for the women who were victimized after me.

The violence, harrassment and discrimination that is rampant at KPFA and throughout the network must end.

This is about KPFK not KPFA.

But it is the same issue - ignoring alleged sexual harrassment at Pacifica stations and using pledge money to defend the alleged harrasser without mentioning it during fund drives.