Dear KPFA subscriber,
You’ll be receiving a ballot on Tuesday, Feb. 18 asking you to approve or reject a replacement set of bylaws for the Pacifica Foundation, KPFA’s parent organization.
Please vote, and vote NO on this poorly-thought-out plan!
After the infamous 1999 takeover attempt at KPFA, new bylaws were put in place providing for Local Station Board (LSBs), elected by subscribers and staff, at the five Pacifica stations.
Representatives from the five LSBs then constitute the Pacifica National Board (PNB),which sets network-wide policies.
The replacement bylaws would turn back the clock, by making most PNB seats filled by appointees, not elected representatives. And the Local Station Boards would disappear entirely.
Without a local station board, where will KPFA listeners take their concerns about programs or other issues? And who will hold local management to account?
So to maintain the right to elect Local Station Boards in the future, KPFA subscribers need to reject the replacement bylaws.
Your “no” vote protects your right to vote in the future.
At least one supporter of the replacement bylaws has been proclaiming “listener democracy has failed.”
We at Rescue-Pacifica believe instead that KPFA and Pacifica need more democracy and participation, not less. For example, we call for the restoration of a Program Council, so that management cannot unilaterally cancel valuable programs without explanation (as just happened to KPFA’s only labor show).
There’s also no doubt that the Pacifica stations, and the network as a whole, are confronting severe financial problems. But eliminating locally-based listener democracy won’t solve those problems.
Many KPFA staff members and local community activists, including Dennis Bernstein, Mary Ratcliff, Michael Parenti, Miguel Molina, Marilyn Langlois, Eduardo Martinez, Peter Phillips, Mickey Huff, and many others are urging a NO vote on the replacement bylaws; see the list at www.rescuepacifica.net
So please take a moment to vote, and vote against turning back the clock!
Keep KPFA and Pacifica moving forward.
Rescue Pacifica
If you would like to contribute to the Rescue Pacifica Voter Education Project to defeat these substitute bylaws, you can do so here.
