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| Pacifica Campaign Action Alert - Get Epstein, Becker Out of Pacifica |
December 5, 2001 Pacifica Campaign Action Alert John Murdock of Epstein, Becker, &
Green: Phone, Fax, Email, Picket, Protest!! Pickets slated for Thursday, Dec. 6, in DC, LA, NY, SF When the Pacifica Radio National Board met in northern Virginia on Nov. 17-18th, board reformers and majority members voted unanimously to resign and to reconstitute themselves along more democratic lines. But the Pacifica Board majority is now backing out of the deal. This includes Pacifica Board Secretary John Murdock. With Pacifica's debt mounting to nearly $4 million, some of which is due to huge payments to Murdock's own anti-union law firm of Epstein, Becker & Green, the 52-year-old network is heading for disaster. It is now time for John Murdock and Epstein, Becker & Green to end -- once and for all -- their disastrous relationship with the network. 1) Call EB&G Partner Jack Campbell, a senior attorney in EB&G's Health Law Practice, where John Murdock works. Tell him that John Murdock should resign from the Pacifica Radio Board and that EB&G should end its relationship with Pacifica. Please be polite. Call, fax, and email EB&G partner Jack Campbell Let Jack Campbell know that years of earnest efforts to reach Mr. Murdock have failed. Tell him that John Murdock's poor judgement in hiring EB&G to represent Pacifica last year was a conflict of interest and a major mistake. EB&G was fired by Pacifica executives this past July. Now it's time for John Murdock to accept responsibility for EB&G's failure and for the chaos at Pacifica. He should do the right thing and resign today. 2) Feel free to call, write and fax John Murdock Epstein, Becker & Green Picket Locations New York City Los Angeles San Francisco Washington, DC Background John Murdock leads the embattled Pacifica Board majority as it continues its relentless drive to destroy Pacifica. With debt mounting to nearly $4 million, some of which is due to Murdock's own anti-union law firm of Epstein, Becker & Green, Pacifica's stations suffer under oppressive censorship and arbitrary firings and bannings. In a brazen act of self-dealing, John Murdock and EB&G charged the network some $272,000 in legal fees in 2000 alone. Earlier this year, John Murdock and EB&G rewrote the Pacifica by-laws to pave the way for the sale of one or more Pacifica stations and to allow board members to profit from such sales. EB&G represented the network in four separate legal actions that have been brought by listeners, local advisory board members, and national board members. Pacifica Executive Director Bessie Wash fired EB&G in July 2000 after the firm lost a crucial legal ruling. John Murdock took no responsibility for the failure. Instead, he engineered his promotion to Pacifica Board Secretary in a sham September phone meeting. In the press, John Murdock has called Amy Goodman's legitimate union grievances "garbage" and said "she should take her show and go somewhere else." The embattled and dysfunctional Board majority seem unable to implement their own decisions. The Pacifica National Board resolved when it met in northern Virginia on Nov. 18th to resign and to reconstitute themselves along democratic lines. They also resolved to return Democracy Now! to the airwaves at all five Pacifica stations. More than two weeks later, Democracy Now! remains banned and the board has still not been reconstituted. Murdock works for EBG's "health law practice", that primarily represent Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) in their efforts to deny coverage to health plan participants. Pacifica Campaign |