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KPFA election, democracy by Randy Shaw
The tragedy at KPFA and Pacifica is another chapter in the ongoing story of organizational dysfunction on the left. Internal struggles at Pacifica Radio have gone on for years, but now they have placed the Network’s survival is at risk. A governance structure created in hasty response to the planned corporate takeover of the station in 1999 has proved utterly unworkable, with a small minority of listeners now controlling decision-making while the voices of most paid and unionized staff are ignored. [WRITTEN MARCH 2010, WORTH READING AGAIN BEFORE YOU VOTE]
New Crisis at KPFA Could Push Pacifica Over the Edge
by Randy Shaw‚ (REPOST FROM Mar. 29‚ 2010)
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/New_Crisis_at_KPFA_Could_Push_Pacifica_Over_the_Edge_7957.html
A decade after KPFA supporters took to the streets to prevent a corporate takeover, the station’s future – and that of the Pacifica Radio Network it financially supports – is at risk. A dysfunctional governance structure created in the wake of the 1999 struggle has resulted in the recent firing of KPFA’s General Manager Lemlem Rijio’s following a 12-11 vote. The discharge fulfilled an October campaign promise by those running for KPFA’s Local Station Board, and the narrow vote highlights the intensifying civil war that has plunged the entire Pacifica Network into a deep financial crisis.
The vast majority of KPFA’s unionized staff has signed a letter opposing Rijio’s firing (which management deems a resignation), as an alternative network that Lew Hill founded as a workers collective now finds paid staffers and volunteers hosting shows with virtually no say in governance. The tragedy at KPFA and Pacifica is another chapter in the ongoing story of organizational dysfunction on the left.
Internal struggles at Pacifica Radio have gone on for years, but now they have placed the Network’s survival is at risk. A governance structure created in hasty response to the planned corporate takeover of the station in 1999 has proved utterly unworkable, with a small minority of listeners now controlling decision-making while the voices of most paid and unionized staff are ignored.
From Sawaya to Rijio: The KPFA-Pacifica Conflict
A longstanding problem at Pacifica is that KPFA effectively subsidizes the entire network. Officially, Pacifica stations are required to pay 20% of their income to the national office, but New York City’s WBAI – which has run up massive deficits – has been exempt from paying anything. KPFA listeners are subsidizing a broad range of national Pacifica operations beyond the 20%, and the national leadership has frozen $150,000 in KPFA donations to support its own line of credit.
In 1999, KPFA General Manager Nicole Sawaya was fired for raising questions about the amount of money donated to the station by listeners that was being siphoned off by the national Pacifica network. Now General Manager Lemlen Rijio has been forced to resign after raising similar concerns, and after a recent election where the ultimately winning slate pledged to terminate her upon taking power.
So rather than address the serious financial problems besetting both KPFA and Pacifica, the Local Station Board has succeeded in forcing out the most successful General Manager both programmatically and financially – and Pacifica’s only female station manager – that it has had since Sawaya’s departure.
Only a truly dysfunctional organization could take such action.
And this dysfunction is part of a governance structure whereby an elected Board controls virtually all decision-making. An elected Board where, in KPFA’s case, a candidate receiving 300 votes out of 140,000 listeners and 20,000 members – has more say in running the station than longtime paid and unpaid staff.
Recall how the political left justifiably denounces the credibility of elections in countries where only a small percentage of the potential electorate votes. KPFA hosts routinely condemn such false pretenses of real democracy, and the U.S. government’s frequent claims that “this is what democracy looks like.”
Well, that’s exactly how most KPFA program staff sees the “democratic” governance process at the station. But their opinions no longer matter, as the narrow majority elected by the small turnout now has been powered to make all decisions, including the firing of the popular and effective Lemlem Rijio.
The $$$ Cost of Dysfunctional Governance
The financial cost of Pacifica’s maintaining a dysfunctional governance system that allows a small minority to control the network is staggering. At a time when donations are down, costs are up, and radio must battle the Internet for its audience, one would like to think that Pacifica would spend all available money to maintain listener loyalty.
Instead, Pacifica has spent an estimated $2million since 2002 just on governance and holding elections for the 128 seats on local and national boards under the system it created in 2002. This massive investment has not only created an electoral process that continually produces few voters and small turnouts, but it has spawned personal attacks, internecine warfare, and the undermining of Rijio and other program managers.
Rijio is the fifth Pacifica manager who has been fired or forced out in recent years. One wonders why any highly qualified candidate would take a position when any decision they make can cost them their job by a 12-11 vote.
Pacifica’s expensive and undemocratic governance structure now threatens to bring down the entire network. A network that brought Amy Goodman to the national airwaves, and that has long covered activist struggles and promoted progressive events otherwise ignored by the mainstream media.
Pacifica either gets a new governing structure – which requires a vote by 10% of the membership – or continues toward insolvency.
Organizational Dysfunction on the Left
The internal conflicts that threaten Pacifica’s survival are all too typical on the left.
Consider the demise of San Francisco’s long established New College, which provided undergraduates with a progressive education, law students with a non-corporate alternative law school, and the entire progressive community with meeting and event facilities. While under attack from the right, New College dissolved due to internal conflicts among its progressive staff and administration.
Or recall the deep split within the Green Party over its 2004 Presidential nomination process, a division from which the Party never recovered. Greens readily find fault with the Democratic Party, but have proved incapable of surmounting their own internal divisions to create a viable alternative.
And then we have SEIU.
SEIU ushered in the Barack Obama presidency by placing its third largest local, SEIU-UHW, in “trusteeship” (the legalistic term international unions use when they oust leaders that workers elected.) Like the Pacifica Board that “democratically” ousted Rijios, SEIU insisted that the decision to impose trusteeship against UHW was made through the democratic processes of its Executive Board.
Progressive organizations love to criticize others, but many do not like internal debate. Because SEIU could not accept that one of its large locals had a different approach to bargaining and toward worker input in union decision-making, the union has spent tens of millions of dollars battling its former UHW leadership (now operating as NUHW) rather than spending such massive sums on organizing new workers.
SEIU even found reason to declare war on UNITE HERE, its closest ally in the Change to Win labor federation it formed in 2005. Since last April, SEIU has spent millions of dollars in member dues trying to steal members from UNITE HERE, and even many SEIU staff remain unclear why they are fighting a union that until 2009 was SEIU’s closest labor ally.
So what’s happening at Pacifica is not unique to the left, but it remains a tragedy. The threat to KPFA’s future is as grave as in 1999, and this struggle can only be won if those who have not been involved to date start taking action now, before it is too late.
BIO: Randy Shaw is a longtime KPFA listener and the author of Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
by Randy Shaw‚ (REPOST FROM Mar. 29‚ 2010)
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/New_Crisis_at_KPFA_Could_Push_Pacifica_Over_the_Edge_7957.html
A decade after KPFA supporters took to the streets to prevent a corporate takeover, the station’s future – and that of the Pacifica Radio Network it financially supports – is at risk. A dysfunctional governance structure created in the wake of the 1999 struggle has resulted in the recent firing of KPFA’s General Manager Lemlem Rijio’s following a 12-11 vote. The discharge fulfilled an October campaign promise by those running for KPFA’s Local Station Board, and the narrow vote highlights the intensifying civil war that has plunged the entire Pacifica Network into a deep financial crisis.
The vast majority of KPFA’s unionized staff has signed a letter opposing Rijio’s firing (which management deems a resignation), as an alternative network that Lew Hill founded as a workers collective now finds paid staffers and volunteers hosting shows with virtually no say in governance. The tragedy at KPFA and Pacifica is another chapter in the ongoing story of organizational dysfunction on the left.
Internal struggles at Pacifica Radio have gone on for years, but now they have placed the Network’s survival is at risk. A governance structure created in hasty response to the planned corporate takeover of the station in 1999 has proved utterly unworkable, with a small minority of listeners now controlling decision-making while the voices of most paid and unionized staff are ignored.
From Sawaya to Rijio: The KPFA-Pacifica Conflict
A longstanding problem at Pacifica is that KPFA effectively subsidizes the entire network. Officially, Pacifica stations are required to pay 20% of their income to the national office, but New York City’s WBAI – which has run up massive deficits – has been exempt from paying anything. KPFA listeners are subsidizing a broad range of national Pacifica operations beyond the 20%, and the national leadership has frozen $150,000 in KPFA donations to support its own line of credit.
In 1999, KPFA General Manager Nicole Sawaya was fired for raising questions about the amount of money donated to the station by listeners that was being siphoned off by the national Pacifica network. Now General Manager Lemlen Rijio has been forced to resign after raising similar concerns, and after a recent election where the ultimately winning slate pledged to terminate her upon taking power.
So rather than address the serious financial problems besetting both KPFA and Pacifica, the Local Station Board has succeeded in forcing out the most successful General Manager both programmatically and financially – and Pacifica’s only female station manager – that it has had since Sawaya’s departure.
Only a truly dysfunctional organization could take such action.
And this dysfunction is part of a governance structure whereby an elected Board controls virtually all decision-making. An elected Board where, in KPFA’s case, a candidate receiving 300 votes out of 140,000 listeners and 20,000 members – has more say in running the station than longtime paid and unpaid staff.
Recall how the political left justifiably denounces the credibility of elections in countries where only a small percentage of the potential electorate votes. KPFA hosts routinely condemn such false pretenses of real democracy, and the U.S. government’s frequent claims that “this is what democracy looks like.”
Well, that’s exactly how most KPFA program staff sees the “democratic” governance process at the station. But their opinions no longer matter, as the narrow majority elected by the small turnout now has been powered to make all decisions, including the firing of the popular and effective Lemlem Rijio.
The $$$ Cost of Dysfunctional Governance
The financial cost of Pacifica’s maintaining a dysfunctional governance system that allows a small minority to control the network is staggering. At a time when donations are down, costs are up, and radio must battle the Internet for its audience, one would like to think that Pacifica would spend all available money to maintain listener loyalty.
Instead, Pacifica has spent an estimated $2million since 2002 just on governance and holding elections for the 128 seats on local and national boards under the system it created in 2002. This massive investment has not only created an electoral process that continually produces few voters and small turnouts, but it has spawned personal attacks, internecine warfare, and the undermining of Rijio and other program managers.
Rijio is the fifth Pacifica manager who has been fired or forced out in recent years. One wonders why any highly qualified candidate would take a position when any decision they make can cost them their job by a 12-11 vote.
Pacifica’s expensive and undemocratic governance structure now threatens to bring down the entire network. A network that brought Amy Goodman to the national airwaves, and that has long covered activist struggles and promoted progressive events otherwise ignored by the mainstream media.
Pacifica either gets a new governing structure – which requires a vote by 10% of the membership – or continues toward insolvency.
Organizational Dysfunction on the Left
The internal conflicts that threaten Pacifica’s survival are all too typical on the left.
Consider the demise of San Francisco’s long established New College, which provided undergraduates with a progressive education, law students with a non-corporate alternative law school, and the entire progressive community with meeting and event facilities. While under attack from the right, New College dissolved due to internal conflicts among its progressive staff and administration.
Or recall the deep split within the Green Party over its 2004 Presidential nomination process, a division from which the Party never recovered. Greens readily find fault with the Democratic Party, but have proved incapable of surmounting their own internal divisions to create a viable alternative.
And then we have SEIU.
SEIU ushered in the Barack Obama presidency by placing its third largest local, SEIU-UHW, in “trusteeship” (the legalistic term international unions use when they oust leaders that workers elected.) Like the Pacifica Board that “democratically” ousted Rijios, SEIU insisted that the decision to impose trusteeship against UHW was made through the democratic processes of its Executive Board.
Progressive organizations love to criticize others, but many do not like internal debate. Because SEIU could not accept that one of its large locals had a different approach to bargaining and toward worker input in union decision-making, the union has spent tens of millions of dollars battling its former UHW leadership (now operating as NUHW) rather than spending such massive sums on organizing new workers.
SEIU even found reason to declare war on UNITE HERE, its closest ally in the Change to Win labor federation it formed in 2005. Since last April, SEIU has spent millions of dollars in member dues trying to steal members from UNITE HERE, and even many SEIU staff remain unclear why they are fighting a union that until 2009 was SEIU’s closest labor ally.
So what’s happening at Pacifica is not unique to the left, but it remains a tragedy. The threat to KPFA’s future is as grave as in 1999, and this struggle can only be won if those who have not been involved to date start taking action now, before it is too late.
BIO: Randy Shaw is a longtime KPFA listener and the author of Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
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I challenge Randy Shaw or ANY CLer To Debate These Issues In Public. I have made this challenge before for several years and none of them will step up. Why? Because they like to take their cheap shots from under cover where they can't be confronted with the facts.
Here are two articles from the recent past that show you clearly where the problem is coming from!
KPFA: Ten Years After The 1999 Hijack Attempt
by Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB
Wednesday Jul 15th, 2009 4:12 PM
As Pacifica embarked on its new democratic path it became clear that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! At KPFA some staff and their supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who/what gets air time and who gets the paid jobs.
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and Pacifica from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html .
Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
As Pacifica embarked on its new democratic path it became clear that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who/what gets air time and who gets the paid jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways.
The staff group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity. Their group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come”. This group has been supported by their electoral counter part, first called KPFAForward (2004) and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
In the 5+ years under this leadership group KPFA subscribers have gone from 28,000 in 2003 to 20,000 now! That is a 28% decrease while they increased the paid staff by 50%. Bringing us a $300,000 deficit this year. At the same time they refused to do anything about the financial problems hurting Pacifica. Their conduct actually precipitated a major financial crisis at Pacifica. http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
Let’s see what these folks have done toward “dismantling the LSB”. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There was/is significant listener demand/support for this time change. It is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote. This has never been implemented. WHY?
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio, quietly ended the Program Council. The LSB’s CL majority ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the important issues of the Program Council, UPSO and the DN! move to prime time
In 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month, instead of every month as all the other stations do and KPFA had done for 5 years. They ignored the backlog of work to be done and how it delayed the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees.
Over a year ago they took the link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB? Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was a fund drive in progress despite election information being broadcast during fund drives at other Pacifica stations. In 2006 and 2007 CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election information black out, imposed by their ally GM Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once, with CL candidate Sherry Gendelman’s first.
After the 2007 KPFA election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed. Why is there a FOX in our newsroom?
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons, a CL/Rijio group member, recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. Does an open inclusive election scare them?
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”, Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters, page 28. If democracy matters to you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Please do not vote for any CL endorsed candidates if you want a democratic, financially sound KPFA/Pacifica.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer.
The Pacifica Financial Crisis: Who is Responsible?
By Richard Phelps
Thursday May 14, 2009
Recently WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20 percent of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director . The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belong to all of us and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained power.
Richard Phelps is a former chair of KPFA’s Listener Station Board.
Here are two articles from the recent past that show you clearly where the problem is coming from!
KPFA: Ten Years After The 1999 Hijack Attempt
by Richard Phelps, former Chair KPFA LSB
Wednesday Jul 15th, 2009 4:12 PM
As Pacifica embarked on its new democratic path it became clear that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! At KPFA some staff and their supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who/what gets air time and who gets the paid jobs.
After mass listener support rescued KPFA and Pacifica from a self appointed Pacifica National Board (PNB) that was planning to sell KPFA or one of the other stations and take the “community” out of the network, new democratic Bylaws were written and adopted. You can read the Bylaws at http://www.pacifica.org/governance/PacificaBylaws-new.html .
Pacifica’s Bylaws state a commitment for peace and social justice, Article One, Section 3. It seems inconceivable that peace and social justice can even be approached with out a democratic process with transparency and accountability. As Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
As Pacifica embarked on its new democratic path it became clear that everyone that fought the Hijackers didn’t do so for the same reason! Most listener activists and some staff supported the new democratic process and welcomed the involvement and input of the listener/subscribers who are the regular audience and the financial supporters of the station and Pacifica.
At KPFA some staff and their supporters sought to defeat the Hijackers so that they could control KPFA and make the decisions about who/what gets air time and who gets the paid jobs. This latter group has used the power of the stations progressive reputation and the power of the microphone to maintain control and frustrate the new Bylaws in many ways.
The staff group I am referring to was identified by an e-mail from Brian Edwards-Tiekert to the other “insiders” that became public in 2005. You can read the e-mail at http://peoplesradio.net/Dismantle.htm. The author acknowledged its authenticity. Their group now claims that it never met to discuss “dismantling the Local Station Board (LSB)”, aka the democratic process, or “how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come”. This group has been supported by their electoral counter part, first called KPFAForward (2004) and now Concerned Listeners (CL).
In the 5+ years under this leadership group KPFA subscribers have gone from 28,000 in 2003 to 20,000 now! That is a 28% decrease while they increased the paid staff by 50%. Bringing us a $300,000 deficit this year. At the same time they refused to do anything about the financial problems hurting Pacifica. Their conduct actually precipitated a major financial crisis at Pacifica. http://berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32873?headline=The-Pacifica-Financial-Crisis-Who-is-Responsible- .
Let’s see what these folks have done toward “dismantling the LSB”. In 2003 the KPFA Program Council, made up of paid and unpaid staff and listeners, voted to move Democracy Now! (DN!) to Prime time, 7-8am and move the morning show to 8-10am. There was/is significant listener demand/support for this time change. It is common practice and common sense to put your most popular/dynamic program in prime time. In May 2004 the LSB voted to move DN! to prime time as per the Program Council’s prior vote. This has never been implemented. WHY?
In 2007 GM Lemlem Rijio, quietly ended the Program Council. The LSB’s CL majority ignored the previous Resolution codifying the Program Council and did nothing to save the Program Council.
In 2007 GM Rijio took away the official status of the Unpaid Staff Organization (UPSO). UPSO existed to represent the unpaid staff at KPFA, more than 200 people. These are the people who do the majority of the work that goes on the air.
The CL slate literature for the 2006 and 2007 LSB elections was silent on the important issues of the Program Council, UPSO and the DN! move to prime time
In 2009 the CL LSB majority voted to meet only once every other month, instead of every month as all the other stations do and KPFA had done for 5 years. They ignored the backlog of work to be done and how it delayed the selection of LSB members to important PNB committees.
Over a year ago they took the link to the LSB page off the front page of the KPFA web site. They don’t announce the LSB meetings on the front page of the web site and often don’t announce them on the air as required by the Bylaws.
How has the CL maintained its slim majority on the LSB? Here are some of the dirty tricks they have used to dominate the elections. In 2006 and 2007 GM Rijio refused to allow any election information to be broadcast when the ballots were sent out. Rijio’s justification was that there was a fund drive in progress despite election information being broadcast during fund drives at other Pacifica stations. In 2006 and 2007 CL spent thousands of dollars and sent out a slate mailer to arrive with the ballots during the election information black out, imposed by their ally GM Rijio. To top that off, in 2007 when they finally did run some candidate carts, they ran all 22 at once, with CL candidate Sherry Gendelman’s first.
After the 2007 KPFA election there was only one news story on KPFA about the election. Interviewed were Sherry Gendelman, Matthew Lasar, a CL endorser, and Dan Siegel and Larry Bensky both CL allies and supporters and both guilty of using station or Foundation resources to support CL or attack their opponents in violation of election ethics. No listener activist candidates were interviewed. Why is there a FOX in our newsroom?
In the upcoming election there will be ample airtime for the election since the new PNB majority has resolved that it will be so. Bonnie Simmons, a CL/Rijio group member, recently made a motion to rescind the Resolution to require ample airtime for the election. Does an open inclusive election scare them?
“Our leadership elite may still want to believe in democratic principles-they certainly profess that they do-but in practice they have shown themselves all too willing to violate those principles in order to gain or retain power”, Cornel West from his book Democracy Matters, page 28. If democracy matters to you, it is time for a new majority on the KPFA LSB.
Please do not vote for any CL endorsed candidates if you want a democratic, financially sound KPFA/Pacifica.
Richard Phelps, former Chair, KPFA LSB, 35 year listener/subscriber, former AM & FM radio announcer.
The Pacifica Financial Crisis: Who is Responsible?
By Richard Phelps
Thursday May 14, 2009
Recently WBAI management did not pay their rent for four months and received a Three Day Notice to pay or be subject to eviction. This was not promptly communicated to the financial or executive management of Pacifica. WBAI has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for several years and currently owes Pacifica over $1,000,000.00 in back central services contributions. Each station contributes 20 percent of its listener-generated revenue to run the Foundation. When one station isn’t making its contribution the results are that the Foundation is short on money or the other stations have to pay more. This several year problem at WBAI and the current economic downturn has caused serious financial problems for Pacifica. The current Pacifica National Board (PNB), elected in January, gives hope for the survival of Pacifica.
Why didn’t Pacifica correct this problem early on? There was collusion among some PNB members from various stations to allow WBAI to do what they wanted to do with no oversight or accountability to the Bylaws or the listener/subscribers. The major players in this collusion were from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW, with a vote or two from KPFK and KPFT and the affiliate Reps on the PNB.
The Local Station Board (LSB) majorities at KPFA and WBAI generally elected three PNB members that supported this collusion and WPFW, until recently, often sent four. There are 22 members of the PNB, four from each station and two Affiliate Representatives. An LSB majority can elect three of the four PNB members for their station. With ten votes from KPFA, WBAI and WPFW it only takes three votes from the ten from the other two stations and affiliate reps to have a majority to control the PNB and continue this collusion. Until this last January the Colluders had the majority for several years.
Who are the Colluders and why did they do this? Local tyrannical majorities wanted to run their stations without regard to the Bylaws and with no oversight from the Foundation. At KPFA the “KPFAForward” (2004) and “Concerned Listener” (CL) (2006 & 2007) slates represented the same management/staff faction and generally endorsed majorities that sent three PNB members who consistently voted to protect and continue the collusion. This group included William Walker, Sarv Randhawa, Rosalinda Palacios, Mary Berg, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons and Andrea Turner. They consistently vote/voted with the Justice & Unity majority from WBAI and the WPFW majority. They generally sit together at the PNB meetings and are regularly seen privately caucusing together at lunch and before and after meetings sometimes, with GM Lemlem Rijio when in Berkeley.
Prior to this year’s PNB, Bob Lederer was the Justice & Unity leader on the PNB. I have attended many PNB meetings and listened to most of the others on line. During those meetings if KPFA Colluder PNB members were not sure how to vote they often passed if Bob Lederer hadn’t voted or passed. When he voted they would follow. If you don’t believe me go to the archives of the meetings and listen. Rosalinda Palacios (2006) was especially consistent with following Lederer’s votes.
Whenever there was a move to correct the problems at WBAI the KPFA Colluders always voted with the others to protect the LSB majority at WBAI. Patty Heffley, the minority PNB Rep from WBAI, made a motion to have the PNB order the WBAI LSB to do a performance review of the general manager (GM) and the program director . The Bylaws require these to be done annually. At WBAI they had never been done, despite complaints from the LSB minority. The PNB Colluder majority refused to order the WBAI LSB to follow the Bylaws. Many others complained about WBAI being out of control and losing money and the Colluder PNB majority did NOTHING as the red ink continued to flow.
At KPFA the CL slate and the Rijio/Lilley management work together to make sure they maintain a majority on the LSB to elect three PNB members from their group. One of their methods was to have no election information on the air when the ballots went out and at the same time the CL sent a slate mailer. After the first time this happened I wrote a motion on the PNB Election Committee requiring election information to be on the air during the election. It passed out of the election committee by a 10-2 vote. The Colluder majority on the PNB voted it down. When they finally ran some candidate information they ran 22 candidate statements in a row, always with Sherry Gendelman first! At the April 2009 PNB meeting in Berkeley the new non-Colluder PNB majority passed a motion requiring broad election coverage on the air.
The Colluder majority was consistently against transparency. The Bylaws and California law allow Directors, PNB members, the “absolute right” to inspect all documents and facilities at any reasonable time. For years the Colluders fought to stop or hinder Directors’ Inspections. When inspections were finally allowed due to potential lawsuits it was discovered that $65,000 worth of equipment had been sent to a WBAI former GM’s father’s house and was not accounted for. As recently as 2008 a Director was ordered out of WBAI in the middle of a lawful inspection without any justification. Who gave the order? Dan Siegel, interim Executive Director, hired by the Colluder majority.
So when you hear Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons, Warren Mar or any of the CL allies complain about KPFA money going to shore up WBAI, they and their allies are responsible for this crisis for trading fiscal responsibility for their power to ignore the Bylaws, transparency and accountability.
To save Pacifica we must vote out the CL Colluders in the next election so they will not be able to send three Colluders to the PNB to ignore the Bylaws and progressive principles in favor of uncontrolled tyranny of the local majorities. KPFA is a Commons that belong to all of us and it must be protected and preserved above the CL/Rijio group’s desire for unrestrained power.
Richard Phelps is a former chair of KPFA’s Listener Station Board.
Union Buster Randy Shaw who gets more than $22 million a year from the City of San Francisco and is engaged in union busting with the firing of SEIU 1021 Shop Steward Nathaniel Holmes and is seeking to take away healthcare benefits from the SEIU 1021 members has now backed the Concerned Listeners CL "Save KPFA Grouping".
It is no surprise since despite a long going dispute over racism at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic that Shaw runs there has been NO story by KPFA Concerned Listeners CL/"Save KPFA" staff. This includes David Bacon and KPFA labor news reporter Max Pringle. Apparently Shaw wants to keep the story about his union busting out being covered by KPFA. It is interesting that one of the supporters of the Concerned Listeners "Save KPFA" labor supporters in SEIU 1021 leader Maria Guillen. She should be asking why a union buster against her brothers and sisters is supporting the same slate she is supporting?
For more information about a recent picket at Randy Shaw's THC go to
YouTube - SEIU 1021 THC Protest Attacks On Healthcare-Petition ED Randy Shaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svK5RwNFGQ0
It is no surprise since despite a long going dispute over racism at the Tenderloin Housing Clinic that Shaw runs there has been NO story by KPFA Concerned Listeners CL/"Save KPFA" staff. This includes David Bacon and KPFA labor news reporter Max Pringle. Apparently Shaw wants to keep the story about his union busting out being covered by KPFA. It is interesting that one of the supporters of the Concerned Listeners "Save KPFA" labor supporters in SEIU 1021 leader Maria Guillen. She should be asking why a union buster against her brothers and sisters is supporting the same slate she is supporting?
For more information about a recent picket at Randy Shaw's THC go to
YouTube - SEIU 1021 THC Protest Attacks On Healthcare-Petition ED Randy Shaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svK5RwNFGQ0
For more information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svK5RwNFGQ0
The Thug Hallinan Gang has yet another hit piece above in its almost daily parade on this website where it does not belong as the Democratic Party and the capitalist class which it serves are rejected here. You can meet all the candidates in person or on air at the following:
For transit info or carpool to any forum call 510.332.7181 or email les_kpfa [at] pacifica.org
Saturday, August 28th Ship Clerks ILWU Local 344 Berry Street - (corner of 2nd and King).San Francisco, 12-4pm parking behind building, Buses 30 and 45 run every 5 minutes on Third-Townsend-Fourth Streets, Bus 10, T and N trains, near Southern Pacific station.
Thursday Sept.9 Black Dot Cafe 924 Pine St., West Oakland 6:30-9pm Hosted by JR Ministry of Information from blockreportradio.org and Hardknock radio
Monday Sept. 13 First United Methodist Church San Rafael (basement) 9 Ross Valley Drive ( Greenfield and Ross Valley Dr.) just off the Miracle Mile (Fourth St.) across from Bedrock Music near Cafe Gratitude). Potluck at 6:15pm / Forum at 7:15pm Sponsored by: Marin Peace and Justice
Tuesday, Sept. 14 Berkeley Community Media Public Access TV2239 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley 5-7pm
Sunday, Sept. 19 Sonoma Peace and Justice Center 467 Sebastapol Ave, Santa Rosa 2-5pm
Monday, September 20th Richmond Public LibraryCommunity Room/patio325 Civic Center Plaza (at MacDonald ) Richmond lots of parking co-sponsored byRichmond Progressive Alliance 6:30-9pm
O N A I R F O R U M S:
First Round:
Tuesday, August 31st 2-4pm
Wednesday Sept. 1st 2-4pm
Thursday Sept 2nd 2-4pm
Second Round:
Friday Sept. 10th- 7-8pm
Saturday Sept.11: 9-12noon
Wednesday Sept. 15: 7-8pm
Thursday Sept. 16: 7-8pm
Third Round:
Monday Sept. 27th: 8-10pm
Tuesday Sept. 28th: 8-10pm
Wednesday Sept.29: 8-10pm
As to those who want to put an end to the till tapping by the promoters of Lemlem Rijio, namely the Thug Hallinan Gang, as well as the bourgeois Babbitt pabulum, replacing the programming with labor and socialist programs, a 6 p.m. daily evening news hour that focuses on local stuggles reported by local news bureaus and election programs that interview all the Peace & Freedom and Green Party candidates, here are the 2 main candidate slates worth considering:
The Voice for Justice for Radio slate:
Steve Zeltzer, Dr. Sureya Sayadi, Jaime Cader and Felipe Messina.
The Endorsers of the Voices for Justice Radio slate:
From: http://www.voicesforjusticeradio.org/endorsers.htm
Cindy Sheehan, Anti-war activist
Cynthia McKinney, Former Congresswoman
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of City of Richmond, California
Peace and Freedom Party California
Green Party of Contra Costa County Council
San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Mary And Willie Radcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Gray Brechin, UCB Geography Department and Author "Imperial San Francisco"
Genoveva Calloway, Vice-Mayor, City of San Pablo
Jovanka Beckles, The Richmond Planning Commission
Education Not Incarceration, SF Chapter
Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC)
Trent Willis, Vice President ILWU Local 10
Clarence Thomas, Former ILWU Local 10 Secretary Treasurer
Francisco De Costa, Executive Director of Enviromental Justice Advocacy San Francisco
Roger Scott, Past President AFT 2121, Professor San Francisco City College
Bill Carpenter, Professor, San Francisco City College, Videographer
Todd Davies, Lecturer, Stanford University (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Rick Hauptman, Chair, North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
Mary Ellen Churchill, Videographer and media activist
Lotus Fong, Community Activist
Philip Santos, Muscian, member of American Federation of Musicians
Ralph Schoenman, Co-Producer Taking Aim
Cynthia Servetnick, Member IFPTE Local 21, Save the Laguna Street Campus
Lisa Milos, UCSF CWA-UPTE Member
Mary Ann Ring, UCSF CUE 9 Delegate
Russ Miyashiro, ILWU Local 34 Assistant Dispatcher
Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU UHW, Architectural Historian, 113 Steuart St. Labor Center Project
Jemahl Ämen
Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, Phyisican, Environmental Activist
Charles Smith, AFSCME 444 Chief Steward
Diane Brown, Member of United Teachers of Richmond, CTA/NEA and Progressive Teachers Caucus of Richmond
Riva Enteen, former Chair KPFA Local Station Board
JR Valery, Producer of the Black Report (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Skip Charbonneau, member SEIU 1000
Regina Carey, Community Activist Marin County
Lynda Carson, Freelance journalist & tenant activist
Peter Philipps, Founder of Project Censored and Professor Sonoma State University
John Mifsud, Artistic Director of Diversity Productions
Anore Shaw, Green Party member
Organizations after the names are identification only
The ICR slate is:
Listener Category:
Stephen Astourian
Naeem Deskins
Georgia Frazier
Monadel Herzallah
Cynthia Johnson
Hyun-Mi Kim
Janet Kobren
Tracy Rosenberg
Gina Szeto
Kate Tanaka
Staff Category:
Shahram Aghamir
Gabrielle Wilson
Endorsers of the ICR slate are:
From http://voteindyradio.org/node/4
Endorsments of ICR candates so far
Community Members
Alan Benjamin
Delegate to SF Labor Council, Editor of "The Organizer
Anuradha Mittal
Executive Director of Oakland Institute; author of "America Needs Human Rights," co-author of "10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF & World Bank"
Attila Nagy
Community activist, former KPFA LSB member, former Program Council member
Barbara Lubin
Founder, Middle East Children's Alliance and Co-founder, Friends of Free Speech Radio
Beshara Doumani
Professor of History, UC Berkeley
Carol Brouillet
Green Party candidate, US House of Representatives
Carol Spooner
Lead Plaintiff - 1999 KPFA Listeners Lawsuit
Christine Ahn
Korean activist, fellow at *Korean Policy Institute and *Oakland Institute, policy analyst at *Global Fund for Women, columnist for *Foreign Policy In Focus.
Cindy Sheehan
Anti-war activist
Dan Berman
public-power organizer; author of "Who Owns the Sun?" and "Death on the Job"
Dave Welsh
Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council, and member, Haiti Action Committee
David Barsamian
host of "Alternative Radio;" prolific author
Fadi Saba
South Bay Mobilization
Green Party of Alameda County
Greta Berlin
Co-Founder, *Free Gaza Movement
Henry Norr
*San Francisco Chronicle, *International Solidarity Movement, Listener Rep on KPFA Board
James Vann
Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union
Karen Pickett
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Oakland community activist, *Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union
Maria Gilardin
TUC Radio, Save KPFA
Malkia Cyril
Executive Director, *Center for Media Justice
Max J. Blanchet
Free Speech Radio News
Meshe Monge-Irizarry
Education Not Incarceration
Noelle Hanrahan
Producer, Prison Radio, Former KPFA LSB member
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Former Flashpoints co-host, writer and reporter
Peter Phillips Ph.D
Professor Sociology—Sonoma State University
President—Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Per Fagerang
Radio Free Ireland, KBOO-FM
Peter Franck
Media Action Marin, Social Justice Center of Marin, former President of Pacifica Foundation, Legal advisor to Mario Savio and Free Speech Movement
Sam Husseini
Communications director at *Institute for Public Accuracy and long time Palestinian anti-war and media activist.
Samera Esmeir
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley
Vida Samiian
Professor of Linguistics, CSU-Fresno
KPFA Workers
Adrienne Lauby
Producer, Pushing Limits, KPFA-FM
Anthony Fest
KPFA Weekend News, KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization Council, Staff Rep on KPFA Board
Ann Garrison
Weekend News, KPFA-FM
Bonnie Faulkner
Producer, Guns and Butter, KPFA-Radio
Dennis Bernstein
Host and Producer, Flashpoints, KPFA-FM
Khalil Bendib
Political Cartoonist, Host, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, KPFA-FM
Lisa Dettmer
Producer, Women's Magazine, KPFA-FM
Malihe Razazan
Your Call, *KALW-FM, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, KPFA-FM
Preeti Mangla Shekar
*Global Fund for Women and Womens Magazine, KPFA-FM
Renee Yang Geesler
Co-director, First Voice Apprenticeship and Host, Apex Express, KPFA-FM
Robbie Osman
Across The Great Divide, KPFA-FM
Ruthanne Sphiner
KPFA News Reporter
* for identification purposes only
You can read all the candidate statements at:
http://pacificafoundation.org/cand_list.php?sta=kpfa
For transit info or carpool to any forum call 510.332.7181 or email les_kpfa [at] pacifica.org
Saturday, August 28th Ship Clerks ILWU Local 344 Berry Street - (corner of 2nd and King).San Francisco, 12-4pm parking behind building, Buses 30 and 45 run every 5 minutes on Third-Townsend-Fourth Streets, Bus 10, T and N trains, near Southern Pacific station.
Thursday Sept.9 Black Dot Cafe 924 Pine St., West Oakland 6:30-9pm Hosted by JR Ministry of Information from blockreportradio.org and Hardknock radio
Monday Sept. 13 First United Methodist Church San Rafael (basement) 9 Ross Valley Drive ( Greenfield and Ross Valley Dr.) just off the Miracle Mile (Fourth St.) across from Bedrock Music near Cafe Gratitude). Potluck at 6:15pm / Forum at 7:15pm Sponsored by: Marin Peace and Justice
Tuesday, Sept. 14 Berkeley Community Media Public Access TV2239 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley 5-7pm
Sunday, Sept. 19 Sonoma Peace and Justice Center 467 Sebastapol Ave, Santa Rosa 2-5pm
Monday, September 20th Richmond Public LibraryCommunity Room/patio325 Civic Center Plaza (at MacDonald ) Richmond lots of parking co-sponsored byRichmond Progressive Alliance 6:30-9pm
O N A I R F O R U M S:
First Round:
Tuesday, August 31st 2-4pm
Wednesday Sept. 1st 2-4pm
Thursday Sept 2nd 2-4pm
Second Round:
Friday Sept. 10th- 7-8pm
Saturday Sept.11: 9-12noon
Wednesday Sept. 15: 7-8pm
Thursday Sept. 16: 7-8pm
Third Round:
Monday Sept. 27th: 8-10pm
Tuesday Sept. 28th: 8-10pm
Wednesday Sept.29: 8-10pm
As to those who want to put an end to the till tapping by the promoters of Lemlem Rijio, namely the Thug Hallinan Gang, as well as the bourgeois Babbitt pabulum, replacing the programming with labor and socialist programs, a 6 p.m. daily evening news hour that focuses on local stuggles reported by local news bureaus and election programs that interview all the Peace & Freedom and Green Party candidates, here are the 2 main candidate slates worth considering:
The Voice for Justice for Radio slate:
Steve Zeltzer, Dr. Sureya Sayadi, Jaime Cader and Felipe Messina.
The Endorsers of the Voices for Justice Radio slate:
From: http://www.voicesforjusticeradio.org/endorsers.htm
Cindy Sheehan, Anti-war activist
Cynthia McKinney, Former Congresswoman
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of City of Richmond, California
Peace and Freedom Party California
Green Party of Contra Costa County Council
San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Mary And Willie Radcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
Gray Brechin, UCB Geography Department and Author "Imperial San Francisco"
Genoveva Calloway, Vice-Mayor, City of San Pablo
Jovanka Beckles, The Richmond Planning Commission
Education Not Incarceration, SF Chapter
Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC)
Trent Willis, Vice President ILWU Local 10
Clarence Thomas, Former ILWU Local 10 Secretary Treasurer
Francisco De Costa, Executive Director of Enviromental Justice Advocacy San Francisco
Roger Scott, Past President AFT 2121, Professor San Francisco City College
Bill Carpenter, Professor, San Francisco City College, Videographer
Todd Davies, Lecturer, Stanford University (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Rick Hauptman, Chair, North Mission Neighborhood Alliance
Mary Ellen Churchill, Videographer and media activist
Lotus Fong, Community Activist
Philip Santos, Muscian, member of American Federation of Musicians
Ralph Schoenman, Co-Producer Taking Aim
Cynthia Servetnick, Member IFPTE Local 21, Save the Laguna Street Campus
Lisa Milos, UCSF CWA-UPTE Member
Mary Ann Ring, UCSF CUE 9 Delegate
Russ Miyashiro, ILWU Local 34 Assistant Dispatcher
Brad Wiedmaier, SEIU UHW, Architectural Historian, 113 Steuart St. Labor Center Project
Jemahl Ämen
Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, Phyisican, Environmental Activist
Charles Smith, AFSCME 444 Chief Steward
Diane Brown, Member of United Teachers of Richmond, CTA/NEA and Progressive Teachers Caucus of Richmond
Riva Enteen, former Chair KPFA Local Station Board
JR Valery, Producer of the Black Report (endorsing Steve Zeltzer only)
Skip Charbonneau, member SEIU 1000
Regina Carey, Community Activist Marin County
Lynda Carson, Freelance journalist & tenant activist
Peter Philipps, Founder of Project Censored and Professor Sonoma State University
John Mifsud, Artistic Director of Diversity Productions
Anore Shaw, Green Party member
Organizations after the names are identification only
The ICR slate is:
Listener Category:
Stephen Astourian
Naeem Deskins
Georgia Frazier
Monadel Herzallah
Cynthia Johnson
Hyun-Mi Kim
Janet Kobren
Tracy Rosenberg
Gina Szeto
Kate Tanaka
Staff Category:
Shahram Aghamir
Gabrielle Wilson
Endorsers of the ICR slate are:
From http://voteindyradio.org/node/4
Endorsments of ICR candates so far
Community Members
Alan Benjamin
Delegate to SF Labor Council, Editor of "The Organizer
Anuradha Mittal
Executive Director of Oakland Institute; author of "America Needs Human Rights," co-author of "10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF & World Bank"
Attila Nagy
Community activist, former KPFA LSB member, former Program Council member
Barbara Lubin
Founder, Middle East Children's Alliance and Co-founder, Friends of Free Speech Radio
Beshara Doumani
Professor of History, UC Berkeley
Carol Brouillet
Green Party candidate, US House of Representatives
Carol Spooner
Lead Plaintiff - 1999 KPFA Listeners Lawsuit
Christine Ahn
Korean activist, fellow at *Korean Policy Institute and *Oakland Institute, policy analyst at *Global Fund for Women, columnist for *Foreign Policy In Focus.
Cindy Sheehan
Anti-war activist
Dan Berman
public-power organizer; author of "Who Owns the Sun?" and "Death on the Job"
Dave Welsh
Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council, and member, Haiti Action Committee
David Barsamian
host of "Alternative Radio;" prolific author
Fadi Saba
South Bay Mobilization
Green Party of Alameda County
Greta Berlin
Co-Founder, *Free Gaza Movement
Henry Norr
*San Francisco Chronicle, *International Solidarity Movement, Listener Rep on KPFA Board
James Vann
Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union
Karen Pickett
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Oakland community activist, *Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union
Maria Gilardin
TUC Radio, Save KPFA
Malkia Cyril
Executive Director, *Center for Media Justice
Max J. Blanchet
Free Speech Radio News
Meshe Monge-Irizarry
Education Not Incarceration
Noelle Hanrahan
Producer, Prison Radio, Former KPFA LSB member
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Former Flashpoints co-host, writer and reporter
Peter Phillips Ph.D
Professor Sociology—Sonoma State University
President—Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
Per Fagerang
Radio Free Ireland, KBOO-FM
Peter Franck
Media Action Marin, Social Justice Center of Marin, former President of Pacifica Foundation, Legal advisor to Mario Savio and Free Speech Movement
Sam Husseini
Communications director at *Institute for Public Accuracy and long time Palestinian anti-war and media activist.
Samera Esmeir
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley
Vida Samiian
Professor of Linguistics, CSU-Fresno
KPFA Workers
Adrienne Lauby
Producer, Pushing Limits, KPFA-FM
Anthony Fest
KPFA Weekend News, KPFA Unpaid Staff Organization Council, Staff Rep on KPFA Board
Ann Garrison
Weekend News, KPFA-FM
Bonnie Faulkner
Producer, Guns and Butter, KPFA-Radio
Dennis Bernstein
Host and Producer, Flashpoints, KPFA-FM
Khalil Bendib
Political Cartoonist, Host, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, KPFA-FM
Lisa Dettmer
Producer, Women's Magazine, KPFA-FM
Malihe Razazan
Your Call, *KALW-FM, Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, KPFA-FM
Preeti Mangla Shekar
*Global Fund for Women and Womens Magazine, KPFA-FM
Renee Yang Geesler
Co-director, First Voice Apprenticeship and Host, Apex Express, KPFA-FM
Robbie Osman
Across The Great Divide, KPFA-FM
Ruthanne Sphiner
KPFA News Reporter
* for identification purposes only
You can read all the candidate statements at:
http://pacificafoundation.org/cand_list.php?sta=kpfa
It's unfortunate that those who have the access and those who want it, in the absence of strong balanced listener oversight on the board, will go so far to get and keep it. Stir in a few facts and a lot of seasoned-writer sleight-of-hand, and it's pretty hard to find reality. HOWEVER, Robbie Osman, who was there from before the beginning, does an excellent and readable job of covering the bases and answering those gnawing questions that these pieces by Randy Shaw and others seem to leave somewhere in the back of the logical if sleepy mind after exiting the smoke and mirrors museum of their work.
Please see http://www.robbie.org/ for the real very full scoop .
Please see http://www.robbie.org/ for the real very full scoop .
For more information:
http://www.robbie.org/
Why did Randy Shaw support Newsom's Care Not Cash?
The Real Story of Care Not Cash
by Randy Shaw‚ May. 05‚ 2009
CNC involves much more. First, it represents the triumph of a nearly two-decades long campaign by grassroots activists to upgrade SROs against the real estate interests promoting their demolition or conversion to tourist hotels. Second, CNC added over $13 million in general fund dollars annually for housing the very poor -- an unprecedented amount. Third, CNC’s success might encourage politicians and the electorate to break from the failed policies of the past.
....
In light of the set-aside initiative’s defeat, and the city’s massive budget deficit, CNC’s $13.5 guaranteed annual low-income housing appropriation is a godsend. This is one of CNC’s greatest, but least appreciated, accomplishments.
===============
The Real Story of Care Not Cash
by Randy Shaw‚ May. 05‚ 2009
CNC involves much more. First, it represents the triumph of a nearly two-decades long campaign by grassroots activists to upgrade SROs against the real estate interests promoting their demolition or conversion to tourist hotels. Second, CNC added over $13 million in general fund dollars annually for housing the very poor -- an unprecedented amount. Third, CNC’s success might encourage politicians and the electorate to break from the failed policies of the past.
....
In light of the set-aside initiative’s defeat, and the city’s massive budget deficit, CNC’s $13.5 guaranteed annual low-income housing appropriation is a godsend. This is one of CNC’s greatest, but least appreciated, accomplishments.
===============
For more information:
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?...
See also Randy Shaw's latest article here:
KPFA Election Will Decide Progressive Network’s Future
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8153
He endorses the SaveKPFA slate (http://www.savekpfa.org) of candidates.
KPFA Election Will Decide Progressive Network’s Future
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8153
He endorses the SaveKPFA slate (http://www.savekpfa.org) of candidates.
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