Remember those folks who tried to overturn our democratic bylaws and were defeated in a referendum in 2021? They called themselves “New Day Pacifica” and wanted to replace our democratic bylaws with a top down structure around a self-selecting Board of Directors. Exactly what listeners fought against 25 years ago!
Well guess what? Behind the scenes, a leader of the New Day campaign, Jan Goodman, has been prosecuting a case in the California courts for the last 4 years and now thanks to some back-door double-dealing between Ms. Goodman and a group on the Pacifica National Board sympathetic to New Day, they are about to force the New Day bylaws down our throat through a “court order”.
How did Ms. Goodman snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat? With a great deal of help from a group of Directors who were supposed to defend Pacifica against the attempted takeover by New Day. The group meeting with Jan Goodman and her legal representative consisted of the Chair of the PNB, Susan Young, the Vice Chair of the PNB, Minerva Sanders, the Secretary of the PNB, Julie Hewitt, and the Executive Director of Pacifica, Stephanie Wells. This group came back with a so-called “Settlement Agreement” that gives New Day pretty much all they wanted behind the backs of the membership who has been kept in the dark about all these dealings. They are trying to force this bylaws rewrite on us through a Court Order.
The Pacifica Democracy Coalition is dedicating to preserving Pacifica’s democratic structure and beat back this hostile takeover. We need your help. We need to defeat this hijacking of Pacifica in the Courts and among our listeners and staff. Please DONATE NOW to our legal expenses fund drive!!
What are some of the New Day bylaws about to be shoved down our throat?
1 Top-down centralized Pacifica National Board
2 PNB will be effectively self-perpetuating and self-selecting.
3 PNB composition heavily favoring West Coast
4 LSB’s and listeners lose all input into programming, management evaluation and station finances.
5. Smaller staff representation on new PNB.
6. Individual stations lose all local autonomy.
7. Current Directors have given themselves an extra year on the Board without an election.
8. New bylaws planned in secret by PNB officers with Jan Goodman without any input from members or the LSB’s or other Directors.
Pacifica Democracy Coalition is pursuing legal avenues to redress these issues.
So we are seeking donations to help resolve these issues.
All donations will be used for preparation and research to support a legal challenge to this takeover on behalf of retaining a democratic listener-run structure for America’s first public media. Media Alliance will provide us with an administrative umbrella and we thank them for their assistance with our effort
– Pacifica Democracy Coalition