The Ideological Struggles of Jose Luis Fuentes and Hank Lamb

The Ideological Struggles of Jose Luis Fuentes and Hank Lamb

 

 

Berkeley-Reply briefs were filed today in PDGG vs. Pacifica. The documents include declarations from plaintiff Heather Gray, one of 2 board members representing Pacifica's 180 affiliated stations (WRFG in Atlanta, Georgia,) and national employee Weiling Thai, the pension and benefits administrator. The final set of filings can be found here. The hearing for a preliminary injunction will be at 9:00am in Department 15 of the Alameda Superior Court. 

 

An open letter signed by hundreds of the network's staffers and supporters objecting to the breach of Reese's contract can be found here.

 

Another bizarre email from Siegel and Yee associate attorney Jose Luis Fuentes has surfaced.  Written in February, the email references attorneys "running away" and suggests they "stay out of the kitchen". The email incoherently warns people in glass houses should not throw "peddles" and references an unnamed ideological struggle Mr. Fuentes believes himself to be engaged in. In the interests of transparency to listener-members, the entire email is excerpted below.

 

Mr Fuente's employers, Dan Siegel and Alan Yee, claim to be representing the Pacifica Foundation in the PDGG vs Pacifica lawsuit, a TRO request for police to assault the national office the court did not grant, and a countersuit requesting financial damages.

 

Mr. Fuentes had previously replied to concern about a board meeting scheduled for the first day of Passover, by stating "he did not regret the bombing of the King David Hotel". (A 1946 bombing in Jerusalem by the right-wing Zionist militia, the Irgun). 

 

 

From: Jose Luis Fuentes [mailto:jlf499@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 8:33 PM
To: Carolyn Birden
Cc: Margy Wilkinson; H Lamb; Richard Uzzell; Luzette King; PNB
Subject: Re: PNB meeting on 2/20

I suggest that folks who want attorneys present donate 20,000 to Pacifica so we can hire attorneys that bring their A game to our meetings.  Ms. Virtue (of Garvey, Schubert and Barer - Pacifica's FCC attorneys) brought her A game to our meeting and did not run away.  Mr. Gross (Terry Gross of Belsky, Alonzo and Gross, Pacifica's former corporate counsel who resigned) did not bring his A game but he understood that it was best not to run away since he had clean hands. I expect attorneys that advise us to bring their A game.  I suggest that if people cannot stand the heat in the kitchen to stay out.  I suggest that people who live in glass house not to throw peddles {sic}. We are engaged in an ideological struggle and we must keep it there.  Anything less is libertarian indulgence that eats away at the collective life.

Sent from my iPhone  

 

 

Mr Fuentes is reported to have bullied and  threatened several attorneys at the meeting including Mr. Gross, Ms. Virtue and DC-based labor lawyer Cathy Harris. 

 

A FAQ about the events of the last 75 days can be found here. 

 

A forum held by the Berkeley Unitarian Universalists congregation on April 27th was captured on video and the video can be viewed here. The forum attracted 50-60 people and all but two expressed support for the on-going national office occupation. It can also be viewed on No Lies Radio and on Youtube.

Summer Reese provided this Report From The Executive Director for the month of April with lots of information about the state of the network.

 

All 5 Pacifica stations go into fundraising mode in May and Pacifica-In-Exile readers are strongly encouraged to donate to their local stations. If the May 6th preliminary injunction request is granted, there will be a need to settle out the new lawsuits and labor grievances, meet equipment needs, and repair the havoc of the past few months. All 5 station websites (wbai.org, kpfk.org, wpfw.org, kpft.org, kpfa.org) as well as pacifica.org, can process online donations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

Your support will help to avert a threatened break-up of the network and keep all 5 radio major-market licenses non-commercial and non-corporate for the long run.

 

A satirical look at the chaos at the radio stations and what the future holds amid rumors of a network breakup by the Twit Wits comedy troupe (produced by noted theatrical producer George Coates) can be found here.  

KPFA local station board member and Oakland community activist Samsarah Morgan sized up the situation here. 

Disputed chair Margy Wilkinson is reported to have said with regard to Reese's attempted firing; "it isn't illegal until someone says it is". 

 

Reese has continued to report to work at the national headquarters since March 17th.

Just a few minutes ago, KPFT listener representative Hank Lamb shared his views on gun control on a Pacifica discussion board. Lamb is a member of the rogue board majority and has expressed frequently his desire to break up the network by doing a commercial license swap in New York. (Printed with the author's spelling errors). 

H Lamb via yahoogroups.com	10:10 PM (13 minutes ago)
to PacificaRadiow.

I am pro-gun. The 2nd Amendment does not say guns, it says arms. Arms are anything used for offense or defense. Hpw cam people comtrol a government when the enforcers of that government (military and militia) have a tremendous advantage that mere firearms would be near impossible to overcome that advantage with. It is an invitation to abuse citizens, sent by citizens that allowed it. A military (well regulated regulars and militia) is necessary to maintain a free nation among other nations, so in order to maintain control of a government by its citizens they must have the right to keep and bear arms. It is the very reason for the Second Amendment.

Just to say a nation has a right to have an army which is the popular Leftist view is purely nonsense and would never need to be among our Amendments. We already had a long established army, a well regulated militia. It was pawful already amd most obviously necessary. If citizens were not allowed to have weapons, the British would still be here. They tried on many occasions to disarm the populace. Those folks, seeing theor weapoms as the only means of gaining and insuring freedom, once having acheived it, codified the right for all persons.

Hank

 

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Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica's storied history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George Carlin's incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation Radio operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180 affiliates. It invented listener-supported radio.

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Tracy Rosenberg
Executive Director
Media Alliance
1904 Franklin Street # 818
Oakland CA 94612
www.media-alliance.org
510-832-9000 x303
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tracy@media-alliance.org