elections and governance

KPFA listeners deliver petitions demanding recall vote

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Listeners Sharon Maldonado, Kim Waldron, Ying Lee & Barrie Mason (l to r) delivering petitions.

A delegation of listeners delivered a huge stack of petitions containing signatures of over 800 KPFA members during the September 10 meeting of the station’s elected Local Station Board. | KPFA News coverage (audio mp3) | Public comment (7 min audio clip)

Listeners are upset with the loss of local control at KPFA Radio 94.1 FM in Berkeley. The Pacifica network, which owns KPFA’s license, has made controversial changes to programming, including canceling the popular Morning Show at 7-9 AM, severely affecting fundraising during the station’s morning drive time. The petitions demand a vote among KPFA listener-members on the question of recalling board member Tracy Rosenberg, who has been a key ally of Pacifica’s heavy-handed management of KPFA.

“We fought — and won — a similar battle for KPFA back in 1999 when Pacifica tried to take over our station,” recalls listener-activist Barrie Mason. “Tracy Rosenberg has consistently used unethical means to undermine local control,” she added. “Removing her is the first step in saving KPFA.”

“Thousands of listeners have written, called and picketed at KPFA in recent months, demanding a return of the Morning Show and an end to Pacifica’s meddling in the station’s autonomy, but the network’s management refuses to listen,” said KPFA local board member Pamela Drake.

The charges against Rosenberg, who sits on both KPFA’s local board and Pacifica’s national board, include drawing up a secret layoff list that was used to cancel the Morning Show, pressuring Pacifica management to mount legal challenges to seating her opponents on the board (all of which were later overturned in the courts), and falsely obtaining and using KPFA listener-subscribers’ personal emails.

Local station management must review the petitions to insure that the signatures are those of actual KPFA members (people who have given at least $25 in the last year). The Pacifica bylaws simply state that a recall election will be triggered by petitions from 2% of the station’s members — in this case, less than 400 valid signatures are needed.

Audio of the entire September 10 Local Station Board meeting is available here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 [note: sounds quality improves after first few minutes].

See also: No confidence in Pacifica-appointed manager, says local board.

KPFA recall campaign: almost there!

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Supporters listening to a talk by Larry Bensky.
Supporters listening to a talk by Larry Bensky.

Signatures continue to roll in on the petition drive to recall KPFA board member Tracy Rosenberg, who also sits on the Pacifica National Board. We are close to meeting our goal, but we need your help TODAY to put us over the top.

Please PRINT & SIGN the recall petition here:
http://www.SaveKPFA.org/recall/petition.pdf
(If you have any trouble with the link, copy and paste it directly into your web browser, or contact us at votesavekpfa@gmail.com.)

Tracy Rosenberg is the architect of the destruction of KPFA’s Morning Show, a key ally of Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt, and a prime mover behind efforts to illegally keep KPFA’s local representatives from taking their elected seats on Pacifica’s national board.

Recall Tracy Rosenberg
CLICK IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD & SIGN PETITION

To trigger a recall election, we need over 400 valid signatures from current KPFA listener-members — meaning people who’ve given at least $25 to KPFA in the past year. If you’re not sure if your KPFA membership is up to date, please give now at kpfa.org before you sign the petition.

We are required to turn in the signatures on paper — the old-fashioned way — so you need to print the petition, sign it and mail it. If you’ve already signed, then print a copy and sign up friends at meetings, events, and farmers’ markets.

Also, if you’re sitting on a signed petition, please mail it in now. We’ll be turning in our petitions shortly, and when we do, we want to have as strong a showing as possible. | MORE HERE

Another legal victory for SaveKPFA; court rejects Spooner action

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A last-ditch attempt by Pacifica management ally Carol Spooner to keep KPFA Local Station Board members Dan Siegel and Laura Prives from their elected Pacifica National Board seats has gone down to defeat, only a week after being filed.

It all started last December, when Tracy Rosenberg pushed an illegal motion through the national board to unseat elected KPFA reps Dan Siegel and Laura Prives. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch issued an injunction requiring they be seated.

The Pacifica National Board appealed the injunction and threw Siegel and Prives off the board for a second time. But Judge Roesch stepped in again, threatening to hold Pacifica National Board officers in contempt of court for their actions, and ordering Siegel and Prives to be seated. As part of the settlement, KPFA board member Richard Phelps, who had been acting as Pacifica’s attorney in the matter, paid SaveKPFA‘s legal expenses out of his own pocket and resigned from KPFA’s local board.

So did it end there? Nope. From the sidelines, Spooner filed a petition with the Court of Appeal, trying to intervene and knock Dan and Laura off the national board a third time. The Court of Appeals quickly shot that down last Friday.

Pacifica’s frivolous legal maneuvers have gotten nowhere in court, but they have managed to run up the foundation’s legal bills and keep two of our locally elected representatives from assuming their seats on the national board for nearly half their one-year terms. Accountability comes from the ballot box — send in your recall petition today!