Local board elects SaveKPFA reps to nearly all leadership positions

Return KPFA to us nowWhile Pacifica’s old guard is desperately clinging to its power at the national level, KPFA’s local board is moving forward.

The first new Local Station Board (LSB) in more than two years took office at its January 12 meeting. In December, SaveKPFA‘s candidates won a landslide in elections – a majority that was reflected in the local election of board officers and delegates to the Pacifica National Board (PNB).

Burton White was elected chair of the local board, and Carole Travis, vice-chair. Craig Alderson was elected secretary. Barbara Whipperman continued as the appointed treasurer. Margy Wilkinson, Dan Siegel, and Brian Edwards-Tiekert were elected as delegates to the Pacifica National Board. All 7 are SaveKPFA activists.

The proportional voting system gave local board members aligned with United for Community Radio the ability to elect a single delegate, and they did so by voting  Tracy Rosenberg into the fourth KPFA delegate position to the Pacifica board. Last fall, Rosenberg sued over a technicality to prevent votes in the recall against her from being counted. Her allies on the Pacifica board majority failed to remedy Pacifica’s error, so the ballots remain uncounted.

Last month’s election was the first held since Pacifica’s former executive director Arlene Engelhardt overrode 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 PNB decided to let Engelhardt’s employment contract expire. The board is currently considering how to move forward to find a new executive director.

Audio of the LSB meeting is available here: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

Rosenberg faction walks out of LSB meeting in attempt to spike budget

What’s Tracy Rosenberg doing with the extra time her lawsuit has bought her? While chairing Pacifica’s Finance Committee, she led a new charge to get Pacifica to impose massive staff cuts on  KPFA and other stations.

This Saturday, August 4, Rosenberg led her Independents for Community Radio faction in a quorum-busting walkout from KPFA’s Local Station Board (LSB) meeting, with the explicit goal of blocking the board from approving KPFA’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Without an approved budget, Rosenberg could use her position as Pacifica treasurer to draw a budget up for KPFA — and impose layoffs that way.

These 6 board members joined Rosenberg in walking out: Anthony Fest, Cynthia Johnson, Janet Kobren, Henry Norr, Akio Tanaka and Kate Tanaka.

KPFA is projected to end the current fiscal year with a surplus, so its 2012/2013 budget contained no staff cuts. The station’s budget was calculated according to guidelines in a resolution, authored by KPFA delegate Dan Siegel and overwhelmingly passed in late July at Pacifica‘s National Board meeting in Berkeley. The resolution directed general managers of all 5 Pacifica signals to assess their stations’ current financial situation within a week, and if a station were on budget, there would be no need for cuts.

Saturday’s LSB meeting was under-quorum by one vote, after Rosenberg and her 6 colleagues walked out. With the budget’s approval due that day, and no guarantee of further extensions, the remaining 12 board members voted unanimously to approve the budget. A provision of Roberts’ Rules of Order allowed the members present to act without a quorum on any urgent or important matter, and then seek ratification at a later meeting. | LISTEN to audio of the LSB meeting: PART A | PART B

KPFA local board to Pacifica: stop taking our funds unilaterally

At the same KPFA Local Station Board meeting, board members passed several important resolutions. One addressed Pacifica’s frequent raiding of KPFA’s accounts to meet the financial obligations of other Pacifica stations. Members passed a resolution directing KPFA’s delegates to the Pacifica National Board to bring a motion there that restricts Pacifica management’s ability to take KPFA’s money unilaterally. | LISTEN to the entire May 5 LSB meeting here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Mark your calendars: the next KPFA Local Station Board is June 2, from 11AM to 4PM, place to be arranged. The Pacifica National Board is planning an in-person meeting in the Berkeley in the last half of July. We’ll let you know when exact dates and locations are available. Also, KPFA’s Community Advisory Board meeting will be held on Sunday, May 20 at 11am in KPFA’s studios at 1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way (just north of University Ave in Berkeley).  This meeting is open to the public.