David Janda

Josue Lopez

Evelina Molina

P.O. Box 4923

Santa Rosa, CA. 95402

October 27, 2008

Mr. Kenneth A. Konz

Inspector General

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

401 Ninth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004-2121

Re: Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting

Foundation, Inc. Report No. EPR803-804

Dear Mr. Konz:

This letter is in response to the Draft of the Special Review of BBFI/KBBF-FM dated July 3,

2008, the final report of the Special Review dated September 22, 2008, and the response to

your report by BBFI Board President Joseph Slali dated August 21, 2008.

Introduction

You may be aware from previous communications that the three authors of this report,

members of a community group named Voces Cruzando Fronteras (“Voces”), were seated on

the Board of Directors of BBFI by a ruling of the Honorable Mark Tansil in the case of our

lawsuit against the Foundation. A complete copy of his ruling is enclosed (Attachment 1).

The process that resulted in the lawsuit began more than two years ago, when we and other

community members perceived serious shortcomings in the ability or willingness of the

KBBF manager and the BBFI Board to follow established guidelines for CPB grant recipients

and FCC non-commercial licensees. As Voces, we were given a painfully clear view of the

BBFI’s lack of ethical standards when they unlawfully disenfranchised over 110 of our

supporters in the 2006 election. This view was repeated twice more in subsequent election

attempts that failed due to the incompetence and ill will of the incumbent group. During this

time we also witnessed many lapses that we believed endangered the integrity of the station,

but our urgent warnings went unheeded.

The most significant outcome of Judge Tansil’s order was that there be a new Board of

Directors election with serious continued involvement from him through a Court-appointed

Referee. The order also required that the incumbent Board of Directors and Voces establish

ground rules for carrying out the election, and the assignment of three plaintiffs to fill

vacancies on the Board.

October 27, 2008

Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.

Report No. EPR803-804

Page 2

Despite the many obstructions and delays presented by the incumbent Board, the ballots are to

be counted on October 29, 2008. Although we cannot be certain of the outcome of the

election, we have reason to hope that a majority of the status quo Board will be turned out of

office and more responsible and capable members will be seated.

While much of the damage done to a fair and open election process by the incumbent Board

cannot be repaired, their more egregious actions are noticed by the Referee and appropriate

consequences applied. The decision by the Referee of October 22, 2008 (Attachment 2),

emailed to our counselor, removes the current Board President, Joseph Slali, as a candidate

for this election cycle. The “interim General Manager,” Jesus Lozano, who was identified by

Judge Tansil as “an overly sensitive troublemaker,” and by Voces as the principal instigator of

many of the problems facing KBBF, including those enumerated in the CPB Special Review

of BBFI, also opted not to run for a seat on the Board.

As a group of concerned community members, the goals of Voces have been, and continue to

be, to help the Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation to fulfill its founding principles and serve

the Latino community’s informational and educational needs, and the needs of all

communities to understand and connect with one another. We recognize that this cannot be

done if the BBFI does not meet its obligations to the various regulatory, oversight and funding

agencies that have such impact on its ability to survive, thrive and succeed.

Special Review of BBFI: A Minority Response

As we come to the end of the brief term on the BBFI Board of Directors so thoughtfully

afforded to us by Judge Tansil, we feel that we must contribute to setting the official record as

straight as we can.

In this section we will deal with those Special Review recommendations where we have some

knowledge or ability to respond. We will also comment on the responses to the Preliminary

Report submitted by Board President Joseph Slali.

General Overview

The majority of the incumbent Board of Directors has shown little interest in participating

actively in the governance of the Foundation or of the station, being content to rubber stamp

any position taken by the interim General Manager or the Board President, and consistently

opposing any proposal or suggestion by Voces or any other interested party. This has

extended to quashing discussion on any issue that the incumbents find against their interests,

and misrepresenting such information that is presented, if it serves their purposes.

One unfortunate outcome of this situation, and a cruel irony, is that most, if not all, of the

organization’s information to which the public is entitled is completely denied to them; the

public has been left out of this public radio station’s operation by the incumbent Board and

October 27, 2008

Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.

Report No. EPR803-804

Page 3

management. A second unwelcome effect of information control is that neither the CPB

Special Review nor the response drafted by Mr. Slali were discussed in any detail by the

Board or Directors. As far as we know, the Slali response has never even been seen by the

majority of the Board, despite our clear insistence on being provided a copy before it was

submitted to the Inspector General’s office.

Therefore, as we have done with other documents, we propose to make this response available

to the general public on our website,

www.VozFuerte.info

. It will also be distributed to all

current Board members, as well as to the newly elected cadre.

In general, we concur in great part with the findings in the CPB Special Review and its

recommendations. They confirm the validity of assertions we have made about the

negligence of the majority Board. As stated earlier, it is our earnest purpose to reform the

governance of the station under the new Board, and drive toward resolving the many issues

presented in the Special Review.

A Note about Subpoena for Documents

Although some unsigned documents were included among the Exhibits in Mr. Slali’s response

to the Preliminary Report, we did not see the records you requested from the Board Secretary,

Ms. Irma Ramirez. We only obtained a copy of Mr. Slali’s response after repeated requests

and much delay, and have never been given copies of those supporting documents. We do not

know if the Secretary complied with your request since no report has been made to the

general Board.

We have a deep concern about accurately documenting the history of KBBF. The documents

listed in your subpoena are of interest to us as well. If they were provided to you we would

appreciate receiving copies.

Recommendations and Responses

Unresolved Recommendations 1) – 5)

Fundraising for public radio stations presents a well-known and severe problem: it is

compounded in the case of a station like KBBF that strives to serve a community plagued

with low incomes, poor grasp of English and U.S. cultural practices such as public

broadcasting, and high mobility. It is no surprise that the management and accounting of

funds has also been a problem for KBBF, especially in the light of few trained and

experienced resources within the station’s community of service.

Despite all this, KBBF can access resources if it chooses to do so. Voces has pointed out that

there is local help available: one of us, Josué López, also sits on the Board of Directors of

KRCB TV and FM, a well-managed public broadcast organization, which has always been

willing to lend a hand to the struggling sister radio station. This help has consistently been

refused by the current KBBF management and Board.

October 27, 2008

Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.

Report No. EPR803-804

Page 4

In fact, the response submitted by Mr. Slali is an example of the hostility expressed by the

incumbents toward people who try to contribute. In his description of the dire financial straits

KBBF faced, he attempts to impugn the abilities and qualifications of any individual who

tried to put into practice reasonable and honest operations:

A “GM was hired who had minimal qualifications… proved inadequate to the

position… and resigned… before being terminated.” This refers to a highly

experienced union organizer who resigned in protest after being demanded by Jesus

Lozano to pay expenses that were not authorized by the Board.

Individuals who were appointed “… as officers of the Board… had self-serving

agendas that caused more harm than benefit to the Foundation…” In every case, the

unnamed individuals were vocal in their demands for accountability and adherence to

the requirements of CPB, FCC and honest accounting principles. The individual

against whom Jesus Lozano made the false accusation of having “…removed, and

never returned, several records” was in fact the person most responsible for the effort

to renew the license of KBBF. The license renewal is later cynically claimed as an

accomplishment by the incumbent Board.

In a stunning example of “double-speak”, his “Constructive Results” paragraph is a

broadside of false accusations against Voces, culminating in a charge that “To

respond to … these individuals substantial KBBF resources have been dedicated…”

The substantial resources consist of a single memo by the corporate counsel about a

single misunderstanding by Voces of the requirements of California’s Brown Act.

In his “Four Areas of Focus” section, Mr. Slali attempts yet another of the defenses of

the incompetent and irresponsible with regards to the accounting requirements of

CPB: “I didn’t know, nobody told me.” This in spite of the fact that the “IGM”

Lozano claimed in his testimony to Judge Tansil that he is a business owner and

spends at least 30 hours weekly “managing” the affairs of KBBF. It should also be

noted that Corporation Attorney Gregory Wonderwheel has worked on the local

Pacifica station’s past elections and claims noncommercial radio as his area of

expertise.

Last in this section, we note that the claim that BBFI is in negotiation with NPR and Pacifica

for the acquisition of national programming is a surprise to us. We have made repeated

requests during Board meetings to have written reports of any programming policy or grant-

seeking activities and have never received one.

Unresolved Recommendations 13) – 17)

In this group, number 13 is the most critical in the entire report, asking that CPB management

evaluate KBBF’s fitness to continue receiving CSG funding. The response offered by Mr.

Slali is telling in its lack of self-awareness: “BBFI/KBBF is unclear as what is meant by the

recommendation…” Any organization that does not have the willingness and ability to look at

itself with a positively critical eye, and amend obvious deficiencies, will not long survive.

October 27, 2008

Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.

Report No. EPR803-804

Page 5

Voces believes that if the upcoming election results in the replacement of the complacent

contingent with individuals oriented toward responsible involvement, KBBF stands a good

chance of making a change for the better. Its place in the heart of the Latino community is

unchallenged – it remains to be seen if enough commitment can be found to restore it to

competence and integrity.

Resolved but Open Recommendations 6) – 12)

Despite Mr. Slali’s claims in many of these areas, close attention will be required to ensure

compliance, which will have to be provided by the newly elected Board members.

In Voces’ view, the shallowness of the manager’s and the current Board’s commitment to

responsible action is evident in several facts:

The suggested written policies regarding financial recordkeeping and documentation,

open meetings, and the sharing of financial information with the public have amounted

to copies taken from other organizations, in English, and distributed to only the

minority of Board members who have email. None have been translated into Spanish,

nor have any been discussed at any Board meeting, again despite repeated requests by

Voces members.

The claim that the Community Advisory Board members appointed in 2006 “never

met” is an unqualified falsehood. In fact, the majority of the people who originally

comprised Voces Cruzando Fronteras were the members of the CAB (refer to page

thirteen of OIG Special Review of BBFI-KBBF 89.1-Community Advisory Board not

Functioning – states, “However, KBBF did establish written policies governing the

operations of their CAB in 2006. Board Resolution 2006-5, titled “Establishment of

the Community Advisory Board, that outlined CAB responsibilities and appointed

eight persons to the CAB” five of those persons that were appointed to the CAB and

are also currently Voces are Evelina Molina, Alfredo Sanchez, Omar Malfavon, Jose

Gonzalez, Ellen Licht and Antonio Lara (four of these ex-CAB members are plaintiffs

in the current law suit.) After being assigned to the CAB, they met on a weekly basis

for at least three months, they attended Board meetings and made written and verbal

requests to be given time to present the results of their discussions. They requested

financial and programming policy information to use in their deliberations, all of

which were ignored by the Board and IGM Lozano. No report has ever been given of

the dissolution of the former CAB or the establishment of a new one. None of the

listed “new” CAB members are known to us. We were appointed to the Board in April

’08 before the new 2008 appointments to the CAB would have been made and

attended those meetings: none of those appointments were made in our presence.

The IPA has repeatedly made many recommendations that if followed, could have

prevented problems or improved the governance of the organization. When Board

officials and members seeking to act responsibly requested many of the same items,

they were vehemently opposed by Jesus Lozano and his supporters. They were

eventually exhausted into resigning by the unrelenting harassment and demoralizing

mistreatment.

October 27, 2008

Minority Report Response to Special Review of Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.

Report No. EPR803-804

Page 6

Conclusion

Many more of the claims made in the response to the Preliminary report can be questioned,

and as the unofficial gadfly and loyal opposition of the BBFI, Voces will continue to raise

those questions.

It is Voces’ sincere belief that open, above-board management and cooperation with

community and industry resources can bring huge improvements in the capacity of KBBF to

understand and adhere to the financial accounting requirements of CPB. Observing the

restrictions on expending grant funds is a matter of devoting time and attention to

understanding those guidelines. Observing the operational requirements expected of any CSG

grant recipient is a matter of accepting and implementing guidelines that can only result in

better contact with the community and improvements in service. However, none of this will

be possible without a manager who understands and appreciates the value of these changes. In

addition, the new Board must be closely monitored and assisted in developing and

implementing these activities.

We request that CPB management take into account the results of this Board of Directors

election when issuing a final determination on your findings. We feel that the BBFI has lost

its bearings, but we fervently hope its course can be corrected. A major change in the

composition of the Board of Directors could go a long way toward resetting the BBFI’s

direction on a path of ethical and competent operations. A new Board may be able to effect

the change implied by the Special Review’s very crucial recommendation 13), as it strives to

redesign KBBF’s management to ensure that the new “…governance structure is adequate

and sufficiently responsible to continue as a CPB grant recipient.”

Sincerely,

David Janda Director of BBFI

Josué López Director of BBFI

Evelina Molina Director of BBFI