Pudgy Indian

Unless otherwise directed by people in the authority to take away whatever privileges I have at KBOO, I wish to write about a little incident involving a member of the KBOO board and a member of the staff. All of what I am about to talk about should be in the public record as it was not a meeting done in executive session.

When I was on the board, Justin Miller, the underwriting coordinator, was asked by Don McIntosh to, what were fellow board members understanding, give a report on his work. Instead, Don started grilling Justin on his job. It became increasingly clear that Don had something personal against Justin and that this was. In my opinion and the opinion of other board members at the time, it was indeed a personal attack on Justin Miller by Don McIntosh. I came to this opinion by the fact that Don mentioned that he helped get a couple of union underwriting contracts and that Justin, as underwriting coordinator and handler of the contracts, got a commission for this underwriting. This seemed to make Don very unhappy and his behavior at the particular board meeting made it obvious.

Don has continued this attack in the following months. When we figured that the attack was over, he tried to attach a rider onto another vote to cut Justin's pay in a board meeting several months later. In a discussion after this in what I beleive to be another personal attack on Justin, Don came up to me and told me that it wasn't a personal attack. He asked how I came to this conclusion. Again, in my opinion, Don is upset over the fact that Justin received a commission on union contracts that he helped get.

I've had many discussion with Justin and his co-workers. Justin does a fantastic job. He has a complete understanding of what KBOO's mission means and uses it accordingly to bring us underwriting from businesses that he believes fit within KBOO's mission statement. If he was a greedy bastard, he could easily sell out this station and make thousands of dollars for himself, but Justin is a good human being and loves this station (though, under the attacks he's been under by Don, I'm surprised he still hangs on).

Don McIntosh has told me and expressed openly at board meetings during this attack that he beleives "all staff positions should be volunteer." Where will KBOO find volunteers to work the hours that our staff puts in to maintain this wonderful station? Don does the Monday evening Labor Show and alleges to be a supporter and friend of labor, and yet has perpetuated this attack against Justin for at least the last year.

The underwriting done at KBOO is not designed to make KBOO money directly. It is designed to reach out to the businesses that KBOO would support so that we, as a community, can search out those businesses that support the greatest radio station on earth.

I had believed that this attack against Justin had finally come to an end, but have since discovered that the attack on the staff is again on the board agenda. In my opinion, because of his past behavior, this attack is being perpetuated by none other than alleged pro labor board member and executive committee member, Don McIntosh.

This commentary may be forcibly removed from my blog via the KBOO board and may not remain for long, so those of you who read this, please spread the word. Labor seems to be going after the labor that works at KBOO. Why these attacks are continuing, I can only speculate, and my speculation is allegations that Don is not going to let Justin continue his good work at this wonderful station without being harrassed for gettin a commission on the union contracts he helped bring into this station.

LET THE SPARKS FLY! I SMELL SMOKE AND AM FEELING HEAT FROM THE FIRE!