Lawmakers To Investigate KPFA Dispute
The state Legislature's chief investigative arm will convene a special hearing to probe the conflict between KPFA radio and its governing Pacifica Foundation, the committee chairman announced yesterday. SF Chron
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999 /08/05/MN66872.DTL
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Lawmakers To Investigate KPFA Dispute
Audit panel to focus on Pacifica's actions
Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, August 5, 1999
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The state Legislature's chief investigative arm will convene a special hearing to probe the conflict between KPFA radio and its governing Pacifica Foundation, the committee chairman announced yesterday.
KPFA workers, who were expected to resume broadcasting this morning after a three-week suspension of operations, welcomed the state's entry into a dispute that has provoked widespread criticism of Pacifica and filled Berkeley streets with more protest than at any time since the Vietnam War.
Pacifica's executive director, Lynn Chadwick, said that Pacifica officials ``feel we've done everything properly'' and that she hopes the hearing will not ``prolong the conflict,'' now that local broadcasting is resuming.
KPFA, the flagship of Pacifica's politically progressive five-station network, was locked down by Pacifica on July 13 after several clashes over local control. After continuous demonstrations in Berkeley and protests from some of Pacifica's traditional supporters around the nation, Pacifica reopened the listener-sponsored station Friday and allowed workers to return.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will discuss the matter at 10:30 a.m. August 20 at the Elihu Harris State Building in Oakland.
The committee's chairman, Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Burbank/Glendale), said the hearing is in response to ``a request from a fifth of the state legislature, 24 legislators, including the president pro tem of the Senate and the speaker of the Assembly.''
The July 15 request, organized by Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D- Berkeley/Richmond), praised KPFA and Pacifica for their ``50-year history of promoting free speech and community radio'' but focused on Pacifica's handling of the dispute, saying, ``When there are reasons to suspect that Pacifica is acting unethically or illegally, we believe a hearing is warranted.''
The end of the lockout did not remove the need for the hearing, said Aroner's legislative director, Hans Hemann. ``We still want to keep the spotlight on the problems that caused all of this,'' he said.
The hearing will examine the conflict as well as Pacifica's ``governance structure and representation of local stations,'' a key point of the dispute. It will also look at ``how the (Pacifica) Foundation is or is not meeting its mission.''