1 Who's
running?
People’s Radio
---------------------
Richard Phelps - incumbent
Stan Woods - incumbent
Attila Nagy - incumbent
Gerald Sanders
David Heller
Bob English
Mara Rivera
I Team
--------------------
Joe Wanzala - incumbent
Chandra Hauptman - incumbent
Tracy Rosenberg
Steve Conley -
Voices for Justice
--------------------------
CC Campbell-Rock
Carl Bryant
Sureya Sayadi
Steve Zeltzer -
Concerned Listeners - NO NO !
------------------------------
Sherry Gendelman - incumbent NO NO!
Matthew Hallinan
Susan McDonough
Warren Mar
Antonio Medrano
Dianne Enriquez
Paul Robins
John Van Eyck
Jim Weber - NO NO!
There
were many election violations & other tainted procedures associated
with this election. Please see the new "Election
to be Voided ?" page for more information
2 Voting
recommendations
First, do not vote for any of the Concerned Listeners.
That slate does not believe in an empowered LSB which holds and acts
on different positions than insider staff and current management. We
know this from their sponsors, their literature, their allies, and their
participation in the LSB this past year.
In their literature are the buzzwords "micromanaging", "professionalism",
"civility".
Micromanaging and professionalism refer to not getting involved in
programming, but leaving it to staff! Two misconceptions here are that
the LSB gets involved in programming details, which it does not - that
is for the Program Council - and that it should not concern itself with
programming - but it it has a mandate in the Bylaws to oversee it. The
station is about programming, and the staff can't be the only ones making
these decisions, because they have a conflict of interest. We will never
be the "voice for the voiceless" without a strong and democratic
program council with listener representatives and a collaborative Program
Director.
The station is not the staff, it is the entire community! [See
On civility -we are accused of being rude, disruptive, etc, but in fact
disruption comes mostly from the "other side", which tries
to block the LSB from making any decisions.We are also for civility,
but think of the phrase "No justice, no peace" - and not as
a threat, but as a statement of fact! Those in favor of the status quo
would like us silent and non-challenging, as they are, but we are struggling
to make democratic decisions.
Some of CR's support comes from the Wellstone Democratic Party, which
believes in the formation of a progressive force within the Democratic
Party - a worthy project, perhaps, but we have been characterized by
them as crazy radicals who are about to take over the station. A statement
from one Wellstoner that we who backed the Greens & Peace &
Freedom were responsible for the reelection of Bush!- a charge deconstructed
by Jim Hightower, after the 2000 elections. However, not until recently
has the station given air time to third parties such as the Greens and
the Peace & Freedom Party. We must give a voice to other movements
on the left.
Most of their candidates are not conversant with KPFA politics and
have little perspective on it, and that seems deliberate. Those of us
who know our station's recent history, and recent issues. understand
what is going on below the radar, but we have been called the "greyhaired"
and "new faces" have been called for - and we need them and
have some in some roles, but we definitely need our memory, understanding,
and committment!
Also, many of their endorsers are similarly ignorant about what they
are endorsing!
Jim Weber is an associate of theirs, but not running on their slate
- he makes scurrilous attacks on our side, totally non-factual, and
continually reverses who is for democracy and who did what.
Of the 3 other slates of course we recommend ours,
believing that we have the best balance between adherence to the defense
of democracy, transparency, and accountability on the one hand, born
of an informed analysis of the situation, and effective strategies on
the other.
Please vote for all our candidates,
but we recommend you vote for our candidates roughly in the order shown
above, favoring the incumbents, because in our STV voting the
order is of key importance.
Our incumbents are very experienced in LSB governance and we'd like
them to continue their work.
The other 2 slates are our allies and we don't wish
to discourage votes for them, as we are mostly in agreement and we share
the urgent objective to defeat the Concerned Listeners, who lack concern
for the listeners.
Of course we have opinions about their different members, but in the
interests of unity, need to deemphasize these.
.
3 WHY A
SLATE?
We formed a slate so that voters could identify those candidates who
support democratic governance and progressive programming at KPFA. As
in local and national elections, people need to know what candidates
stand for, besides "who they are". A slate has a platform,
so you know what we stand for. See our Ten Points on our Home
page. Personal qualifications are useful only in the service
of appropriate goals..
Why then do some people look upon slates as a bad thing?
*Fear that candidates will be puppets of a slate rather than people
using their native judgement for deciding what to support, what to oppose?
We who are affiliated with People's Radio are doing so because
we have thought out our positions. As people who are against the the
status quo, we're not currying favor with authorities, nor are we looking
for a predetermined agenda or free ride support for our campaigns.
We have used our long and direct experience with KPFA governance to
arrive at our opinions and will continue to use our own individual intelligence
and powers of observation to arrive at our positions.
We joined this slate because we believe KPFA cannot be viable and committed
without shared decision making which includes listeners and their representatives.
This has been a hard struggle at KPFA and we know that in unity there
is strength.
*Are slates divisive? Uncompromising?
We want open, truthful, civil discussions among differing points of
view. We have found that those protecting their privilege try to obstruct
this.
Of course in a democracy we all will have to make compromises, but we
do not compromise our station's mission or democratic functioning away!
We hope you won't either.
A
few of the articles currently circulating - keep checking back for more,
plus more commentary!
*Gregory
Wonderwheel condemns the interin Executive Director's partisan statement
against People's Radio candidates, and follows it with the iED's original
letter. Skip down from his blog comment to see it. wonderwheels.blogspot.com/2007/10/0pen-letter-to-dan-siegel-re-kpfa.htm
This article is now posted to the Election
to be Voided page.
*Carol Spooner
condemns it also, and recommends voting for People's Radio candidates
after her favorites (we are asking for you to vote for us first, as
first votes carry much more weight).
> Hello Again,
>
. . . . . . . . We fought a long hard fight to win democratic elections
for KPFA's station board. One of the most important reasons for that
was so that listeners could be informed by the candidates of the issues
and problems and their proposed solutions. Imagine, if back in 1999
we had had the ability to communicate with all the members and to elect
-- and recall -- the board of directors (through our elected delegates
on the LSB).
In 1999 Pacifica silenced its critics, fired them, took them off the
air, arrested them, put in armed guards at KPFA, boarded up the station
and piped in music from Houston.
Today, * supposedly *, the candidate's have the right to lay it out
as they see it, and the voters have the ability to contact the candidates
(those who give contact information) and ask questions and make up their
minds who to vote for. This isn't perfect, but it is a hell of a lot
more than we had back in 1999 when we had to ask the California Attorney
General for permission to sue to remove the Pacifica board of directors.
I say * supposedly * because Pacifica's current interim Executive Director
is now trying to silence a group of candidates for the KPFA LSB and
to prejudice the election against them for their revelation of certain
issues of real interest to the KPFA membership. Based on complaints
from KPFA's interim management and members of the "Concerned Listeners"
slate of candidates for the KPFA LSB, all of the KPFA listener candidates'
statements have been removed from the"official" Pacifica elections
web page at www.pacificaelections.org
[I have just learned that they will soon be reposted with the names
of persons mentioned in the statements deleted. That will certainly
make them far less helpful to voters in deciding how to vote.] In addition,
the interim Executive Director has posted an "Open Letter to the
Pacifica Community" on the KPFA Elections web page at http://lsb.kpfa.org/lsb-elections/2007-lsb-elections/lsb-elections-2007
in which he characterizes as "abusive" and "hateful speech"
the statements of "a group of candidates running for the KPFA local
board" whose statements, Siegel says, "contain little more
than personal attacks on their opponents and station staff." He
has also conflated the KPFA "Peoples Radio" candidates statements
with a racially inflammatory statement made by a WBAI candidate, and
has wrapped them all up in the same stinky fish-wrap.
[In addition, and on a related note, the interim Executive Director
has delayed a mailer from going out in support of a group of candidates
at WBAI in New York so that the mailing will not reach the voters until
a week after the ballots have arrived -- contrary to the requirements
of California non-profit law that the Foundation must make the mailing
list available in a timely manner for such communications with the membership.]
* First *, Pacifica management and staff are not permitted to make prejudicial
statements about the candidates. They are not permitted to use Pacifica
resources (including web pages) to the advantage or disadvantage of
any candidate or group of candidates.
* Secondly *, the "Peoples" Radio" slate candidates'
statements cannot by any standard be characterized as "hate speech"
or "abusive" or "personal attacks." They are not
attacks on anyone's character. They and actions of other candidates
and the station manager and program director with regard to the station
and the LSB. Vigorous debate about these things is a proper purpose
of the elections forum, so that the membership can make informed decisions
when you vote.
It is true that in September 2005 Brian Edwards-Tiekert (a staff LSB
member currently running for reelection) sent an email to a group of
people to schedule a meeting to discuss, among other things, * "dismantling
the LSB." * Among those people was Sherry Gendleman (a listener
LSB member currently running for re-election on the "Concerned
Listeners" slate), Lemlem Rijio (who was then KPFA's Development
Director and is now KPFA's interim Station Manager), Sasha Lilley (who
was then a producer for "Against The Grain" and is now KPFA's
interim Program Director), and Bonnie Simmons (who is a staff LSB member,
the current LSB Chair, and an endorser of the "Concerned Listeners"
slate of candidates).
This is a matter that should be of concern to the voters. Dismantling
the LSB is not the way to get good governance for KPFA and Pacifica.
I am glad that the "Peoples Radio" slate chose to publish
it in their joint candidates' statements. That email was widely circulated
among those close to the station when it first came out, and the fact
that it is now a campaign issue should be a surprise to nobody.
It is an outrage that the interim Executive Director is issuing prejudicial
statements and taking candidates' statements off the web page. (Apparently
he didn't know what was in the candidates' statements before the voter-pamphlets
were mailed or he would presumably have tried to censor them and embroiled
Pacifica in a costly legal battle that it would have lost).
So, while * I believe more strongly than ever that it is essential that
the "I-Team" candidates be elected to serve as a core of civility
and sanity on the LSB and a "buffer zone" between the opposing
factions *, I also believe it is important to rebuke the Executive Director
for his outrageous acts. That can be done by ranking Peoples' Radio
slate members after the "I-Team" candidates. This will also
preserve some balance on the LSB, as the "Concerned Listeners"
hold a majority of the seats that were filled last year and are not
up for re-election this year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
No matter how you vote, please do be sure to vote so the election
makes its 10% quorum. The ballots must be received (not postmarked)
by November 15th.
Thanks, and best regards,
Carol Spooner
KPFA Local Board Member (March 2000-March 2005
Pacifica National Board Member (January 2002-January 2005)
Lead Plaintiff - Listeners Lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board
(1999-December 2001)"
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=10-30-07&storyID=28351
