Coast files countersuit against Daystar

Marisa O’Neil

The Coast Community College District filed a counter lawsuit against

Christian broadcaster Daystar Television Network on Wednesday, asking

a judge to decide who should be allowed to buy KOCE-TV.

Attorneys for the district filed the cross complaint in response

to a suit filed last week by Daystar that claimed it, not the KOCE-TV

Foundation, should have been named the highest responsible bidder for

the station.

“We are denying we have done anything wrong and are asking the

court to decide if we did things right,” said Milford Dahl, attorney

for the district.

The district’s response also asks the court to decide if they

could restart the bidding process or take the station off the market

if the foundation is found not to be the highest responsible bidder.

At a news conference last week, Daystar attorney Richard Sherman said

the district couldn’t legally choose not to sell KOCE-TV.

Dahl responded by citing the district’s proposal for bids, which

stated: “... the district reserves the right to reject any and all

proposals.”

A hearing originally scheduled for March 26 will have to be

rescheduled because Sherman has asked the court to disqualify Judge

Dave Thompson from the case. Thompson used to work at Dahl’s firm,

Rutan & Tucker.

Daystar’s petition for a writ of mandate, filed last week, asked

the court to halt the sale of the station to its fundraising arm and

declare the Dallas-based religious broadcaster’s $25.1 million cash

bid the winner. KOCE-TV’s Foundation submitted an initial bid of $32

million, with $8 million cash and the rest on a long-term note.

The California Education Code states that community college

districts may sell property “for cash” and must sell to the highest

responsible bidder. A judge will also have to consider what

constitutes “cash” and a “responsible bidder.”

Coast Community College District’s response also names the KOCE-TV

Foundation and other bidders Proyecto Para Adelantar La Gente,

Almavision Hispanic Network, Community Educational Television, LeSea

Broadcasting Corporation, Community Television of Southern

California, KPBS San Diego State University, Hunter Wise Financial

Group and Bridgecreek Development Company. Dahl said that some

spurned bidders have threatened legal action against the district.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is also named in the suit.

It has threatened to sue the district for the return of grants and

equipment if it changes from its public broadcasting format, Dahl

said.

Daystar has said that it would retain an undetermined amount of

KOCE-TV’s airtime for local and educational programming. The

foundation promised to keep the station’s PBS format and expand it in

digital format to cover more local arts and culture.

“We made the decision to sell KOCE to the foundation with the best

interest of the district, its students and the community in mind,”

district board President George Brown said in a written statement.

“We have at all times sought to comply with the law and preserve KOCE

as an asset for the community at large. If we did something wrong, we

want to know about it immediately so that we can correct whatever

mistakes we might have made in the process. That is what our court

action is all about -- getting to the truth.”

Daystar’s attorney, Richard Lloyd Sherman, was out of the state on

business and had not yet seen the lawsuit on Wednesday. But based on

a press release from the district’s law firm, he said it sounded like

his client and the district wanted the same thing -- for the court to

decide who can buy KOCE-TV.

“They realize they’ve made an error [selling to the foundation]

and now they’re between a rock and a hard place,” Sherman said. “This

is probably the safest course of action for them to take.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.