Dear KPFA Member,
Some KPFA subscribers have said they’re unsure of the difference between the two competing “parties” (Rescue-Pacifica and the ‘KPFA Protectors’) in the Local Station Board (LSB) elections. To see some of the differences, let’s take a look at the recent (September 18) LSB meeting. Note that the faction now calling itself the “KPFA Protectors” (in the previous election they were “UIR”) presently holds the majority on the LSB, and so usually gets its way.
RUBBER-STAMPED BUDGET
One of the duties of the LSB is to review and approve KPFA’s budget for the year ahead. Pacifica radio stations begin their fiscal years on October 1, so management usually submits the budget for approval at the September LSB meetings. LSB members have complained in prior years about not receiving the proposed budget in time for a thorough review, but this year may have set a new record for tardiness. According to LSB member James McFadden, the proposed budget was not emailed to the full LSB until the evening before the meeting, obviously an absurdly-inadequate period of time for board members to study such an extensive and important financial document. Yet at the meeting, the ‘Protectors’ majority closed discussion in less than an hour and passed the $3 million-plus budget.
If you’d like to see the Board carry out careful oversight of KPFA’s finances, we invite you to use your LSB ballot to vote for the Rescue-Pacifica candidates.
“SHUT UP!”
The Protectors-majority LSB has ignored some of the LSB’s obligations as specified in the Bylaws, including the mandate to conduct annual performance reviews of the General Manager and the Program Director. One duty that it has maintained is to hear public comment at every meeting. Because the current manager does not do reports to the listeners, addressing the LSB is a rare opportunity for listeners to deliver feedback. But instead of hearing these comments respectfully, speakers are limited to two minutes apiece, a limit enforced stringently by timekeeper / LSB Treasurer Sharon Adams (who votes with the ‘Protectors’ faction). The first member of the public to speak at September’s meeting was Elizabeth Milos (a candidate on the Rescue ticket). At two-minutes, Adams broke in, shouting, “Time! Shut up!”
by candidate Elizabeth Milos
Yes, this was KPFA’s Treasurer in action at the September meeting:
by LSB Treasurer, Sharon Adams
If you’d rather have board members who’ll treat KPFA listeners respectfully, please vote for Rescue-Pacifica’s candidates.
DISHONEST RECORD KEEPING
At its September meeting, the LSB also got around to approving the minutes of several previous meetings. Surely there could be nothing shady about a minor matter like that? Yet there was.
Back at the March meeting, LSB Chair Christina Huggins had blocked an effort by another LSB member to have the LSB go on record condemning racist attacks against Asian-Americans.
Huggins said: “We don’t take positions on public issues, ’cause we’d be on them all the time.”
So the LSB did not pass a motion; instead it merely forwarded the issue to one of the committees of the Pacifica National Board (PNB). Days later, that committee did pass a brief to-the-point statement denouncing these crimes. Yet the LSB minutes of the March meeting incorporated the PNB committee’s motion, as if it was the work of the LSB. But in fact the LSB did not pass any motion about anti-Asian violence. It seems the Protectors majority wants to disguise the fact that they punted the issue rather than taking a stand themselves (also, the minutes from the March meeting made no mention of that meeting’s bizarre anti-Green-Party tirade by ‘Protectors’ Carol Wolfley and Donald Goldmacher; read about it at https://sfbayview.com/2021/05/march-madness-mccarthyism-at-kpfa)
The ‘Protectors’ majority approved the deceptive minutes.
If you’d prefer truthfulness from your KPFA Board,
please vote for the Rescue-Pacifica team for the 2023 election
The Rescue-Pacifica candidates are:
Stan Woods – ILWU Local 6 (retired)*
Steve Zeltzer – Pacifica Mediaworkers Guild
Elizabeth Milos – UPTE-CWA 9119,* Spanish language translator (re-election)
Cheryl Davila – Former Berkeley City Council member
Dr. Nayvin Gordon – Peace Activist
Pathma ¨No to Wars¨ Venasithamby – JVP Activist
Edward Escobar – Alliance for Independent Workers, Screen Actors Guild*
Rich Stone – APWU, San Francisco Labor Council delegate*
*For ID purposes only
Read more about the candidates, endorsements, and the RP platform, at RescuePacifica.net.
If you believe KPFA needs to change and grow, please do not divide your vote between the Rescue team and the status-quo ‘Protectors.’ Vote for all nine Rescue candidates.