elections and governance

Anti-dissent measure on Pacifica’s Jan 10 agenda

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Tell Pacifica: Don't Ban Dissent!On less than four days’ notice, the lame-duck Pacifica National Board has scheduled a vote on a resolution designed to prevent people who dissent from the current majority from serving on local or national boards.

After we alerted SaveKPFA supporters to this, hundreds wrote, calling the measure what it is: a political witchhunt.

“I’m stunned that a measure about ‘loyalty’ should even be considered by a Pacifica board,” wrote listener Alan Snitow. “Please stop this measure and repudiate its intent. The loyalty measure is the kind of pseudo-leftwing idea that merges Stalinism and McCarthyism.”

“How can you dare to try to turn Pacifica into a grotesque caricature of the reactionary tendencies KPFA was founded to oppose?” wrote listener Stephanie Reader. “This Orwellian ‘loyalty measure’ is yet more appalling evidence of how far over to the dark side some on the Pacifica board have drifted in their determination to run it without input from those who do the work, and those who pay the bills.”

The Pacifica’s board referred the matter to legal counsel for an opinion. That opinion has not been made public, but the “loyalty” proposal has reappeared on the agenda on the next Pacifica National Board phone meeting this Thursday, January 10, starting at 5:30 PM Pacific time. Anyone may listen to the live web-broadcast of the meeting at this link or this link.

ACTION ALERT: Please take a moment to send an email to Pacifica’s board demanding they reject this “loyalty” measure. Use our sample message, or write your own. | CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL

“This is about KPFA’s foundational principles of free speech and political dissent,” noted Local Station Board vice chair Sasha Futran. “If a measure like this actually ends up being adopted, Pacifica’s founder Lew Hill would not even recognize the radio network he created,” she said.

Although Pacifica’s Bylaws require the incumbent national board be replaced by newly-elected members this month, the incumbent boardmembers have unilaterally extended their own terms by delaying the first meeting of the incoming PNB until February. They may be hoping that buys them time to do more damage: the anti-dissent resolution appears at the top of a 10-page agenda stacked with items that promise to eviscerate local control at Pacifica’s stations and place massive bureaucratic constraints on the work of the network’s rank-and-file staff.

KPFA election results: a landslide for SaveKPFA

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KPFA on the air
Art by Bob Baldock for the film "KPFA on the Air"

The results in KPFA’s 2012 Local Station Board election are in and certified. SaveKPFA candidates took 6 of the 9 listener-elected seats, plus the top alternate position. KPFA’s elections use a proportional representation system, so taking two-thirds of the open seats means SaveKPFA won roughly two-thirds of the vote — a strong mandate from KPFA’s listeners, who had by far the highest turnout rate in the 5-station Pacifica network.

The winning candidates from SaveKPFA are Dan Siegel, Craig Alderson, Mark Hernandez, Jose Luis Fuentes, Carole Travis and Burton White. The first alternative is SaveKPFA‘s Barbara Whipperman.

“This vote was a referendum on Pacifica’s direction,” said Alderson. “KPFA’s listeners spoke loud and clear for local control, high-quality programming, and against Pacifica’s attacks on KPFA’s union.”

The election was the first held at KPFA since Pacifica’s former Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt ran out KPFA’s local management, purged the station’s popular Morning Show, replaced it with an all-volunteer lineup, and then put notorious union-busting law firm Jackson Lewis on retainer to deal with the backlash. In 2012, the Pacifica National Board decided to let Engelhardt’s employment contract expire.

Three listeners from the competing United for Community Radio slate were also elected: Andrea Pritchett, Ramses Teon Nichols and Laurence Shoup.

“Although we have differences of vision, everyone in this campaign ran because they care about KPFA,” said SaveKPFA member Margy Wilkinson, who is currently serving as chair of the Local Station Board. “KPFA’s listeners have made clear which vision they prefer; now it’s up to all of us to find common ground to move forward.”

In the staff portion of the Local Station Board election, former Morning Show co-host (and current UpFront co-host) Brian Edwards-Tiekert took first place, followed by Joy Moore and Frank Sterling.

Thanks, voters, for delivering the strongest mandate possible for local autonomy, respect for listeners and staff, and transparency and accountability! We congratulate those who won, as well as those who ran — including SaveKPFA candidates Paula Erkkila, Kate Gowen and Barbara Whipperman — all of whom dedicated significant time and energy to the process.

What’s next? Elections at other Pacifica stations are still underway — their outcomes will determine whether or not SaveKPFA can join a majority coalition on the Pacifica National Board (PNB), whose members are elected by each of its stations’ local boards. The composition of the incoming PNB will be determined over the next two weeks.

The stakes are high: the departure of Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt and Chief Financial Officer LaVarn Williams leaves the network’s top two management positions open, to be filled by the incoming board. We’ll keep you posted once we know what that board looks like.

Banning dissent at Pacifica?

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Before votes in KPFA’s local board election are even counted, Tracy Rosenberg and her allies at the national level continue to do damage to Pacifica’s structure and mission. Earlier this week, the Pacifica National Board, which is dominated by Rosenberg and her allies, passed a measure that prohibits those who dissent from Rosenberg’s agenda from serving on local or national boards.

“The resolution banning those deemed ‘disloyal’ which was presented to the board by Tracy is pure McCarthy era,” noted Sasha Futran, KPFA’s former Local Station Board vice chair. “The appeal process is a sham, as any appeals would go to the very people who took after them for political reasons in the first place. This is the kind of divisiveness that is tearing Pacifica apart. Tracy has a big hand, perhaps the biggest, in that process,” added Futran, who was a member of Rosenberg’s slate at one time, before leaving it to join SaveKPFA.

Listeners pledging for KPFA Morning Show
A few of the hundreds of KPFA listeners who pledged to help bring back the Morning Show in 2011.

The measure is aimed squarely at 4 SaveKPFA members — Margy Wilkinson, Dan Siegel, Mal Burnstein and Conn Hallinan — for their role in collecting over $60,000 in pledges to restore the KPFA Morning Show and rehire its laid off co-hosts back in 2010-2011. They raised only pledges of support, not actual money. Nevertheless, the “Morning Show 4” were slapped with a lawsuit by Rosenberg allies Richard Phelps and Daniel Borgstrom, who allege such fundraising activity was “disloyal” to Pacifica. Phelps and Borgstrom are demanding these four listeners pay Pacifica “damages” of $800,000.

The proposal from Pacifica’s governance committee would ban anyone whose actions have been declared by a court of law to be breaches of “loyalty,” “fiduciary duty,” or “duty of care” from holding any office in Pacifica. Rosenberg has been publicly predicting victory in the Morning Show 4 case, and it’s transparent her intent is to get rid of her political opponents.

“Do you have any conscience?” wrote one KFPA listener to Rosenberg recently when the lawsuit came up for public discussion recently. “You’re supporting a horrendous attack on 4 KPFA listeners who were simply trying, like generations before them, to support KPFA in a time of crisis.”

Rosenberg’s allies have been issuing gag rules against KPFA’s unpaid and paid staff; now they are going after listeners too. “Banning people, gag rules, anti-union law firms eating up the station’s cash — where have we heard this before?” asked KPFA listener Alison Davis. “In 1999, the last time the network was taken over.”

ACTION ALERT: IT’S TIME TO SPEAK UP! Please take a minute to send an email to Pacifica’s board members demanding they rescind this “loyalty” measure immediately. CLICK HERE to send a sample email (or write your own): “Branding dedicated KPFA members as ‘disloyal’ because they asked for pledges of support for KPFA programming is truly appalling. For the 10 PNB members who opposed this measure: thank you for upholding the spirit of Pacifica. For those who voted for it: I demand that you rescind this McCarthyite loyalty measure immediately and stop trying to punish dedicated members simply because you disagree with them.”

This is about KPFA’s foundational principles of free speech and political dissent. “If a measure like this actually ends up being adopted, Pacifica’s founder Lew Hill would not even recognize the radio network he created,” added Futran.

KPFA’s Tracy Rosenberg promoted and voted for the “disloyalty” measure, which was written by WBAI delegates Kathy Davis and Alex Steinberg and KPFT delegate Bill Crosier.