Building a Radical and Strong KPFA

How about including the US-Israeli brutality in Palestine and Lebanon? How about speaking out against KPFA's eliminating the promised Flashpoints' hire? How about supporting Dennis Bernstein's and Nora Barrows-Friedman tireless reporting on the atrocities in the Middle East? Radicalism? Or Conditional Liberalism? There is a difference!

The above list of shame slate is clearly sponsored by the Democratic Party, with the endorsement of the Wellstone Democratic Club, and this slate will continue the downward spiral of KPFA's finances with its reactionary politics. The supporters include the proud Democrats Larry Bensky, Kris Welch, Philip Maldari and Andrea Lewis. Larry Bensky's claim to fame is to attack the 9/11 Truth Movement, the shining star of the peace movement, while he cancels the programs for which we pay to have government hearings on KPFA, all of which are well summarized on the evening news which is all we need. Bensky, Welch and Maldari are clearly overdue for retirement and should do so immediately. It should be as unthinkable to be a Democrat at KPFA as it is to be a Republican as they are the twin parties of war and fascism, sponsored by the same capitalist class. The Democratic Party only exists to keep the Reds and Greens out of office, and once the Democrats are in office, they carry out the same agenda as the Republicans. The socialist Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party are the only 2 peace parties on the ballot and that is the voice we need at KPFA, but we rarely hear. Last night's (10/19) 6 p.m. news program was such an ad for the Democratic Party, starting with the "news" that the Republican Chronicle endorsed Schwarzenegger (the Chronicle always endorsed Republicans before Clinton, and endorsed Clinton only because he was so reactionary), that I turned off KPFA, and that is what I will continue to do until KPFA changes. The KPFA audience is not the Democratic Party; its listeners are Red and Green, and the young people among us always join one of these parties.

The Alliance for a Democratic KPFA speaks to the needs and interests of the workingclass who need and deserve a radio station that teaches workingclass radical politics, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in one form or another. Dennis Bernstein, one of the endorsers, has an outstanding program on KPFA, Flashpoints, that is an excellent example of what should be at KPFA 24 hours a day, bringing us the truth about Palestine, which destruction is actively supported by both the Democratic and Republican parties equally and totally. He and every else at Flashpoints also bring us a wide variety of other serious news stories that should be heard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at KPFA but are not. Another endorser is Bonnie Faulkner, producer of the 9/11 Truth Movement show, Guns & Butter, which sits in the 1 p.m. on Wednesdays slot because the Democrats at KPFA do not want the truth exposed during prime time: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weeknights or 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.

The Alliance demands the changes that the 2 station managers whom the paid staff (mostly Democrats) had fired were supposed to implement at the behest of the election Local Station Board, but could not due to the reactionary Democratic Party politics of the paid staff. The primary demand was to move Democracy Now to 7 a.m. and have the repeat broadcast at 7 p.m. The current 7 p.m. programs could be moved to 8 p.m. and, if there is no serious program like Guns & Butter to come after 8 p.m., then music can fill the rest of the evening time. Music is always a filler as KPFA is not a lowest common denominator station. The primary task of KPFA is to teach radical politics to Americans as it is deperately needed. Radical politics includes teaching socialism and environmental consciousness, labor organizing, supporting the Palestinian liberation struggle, and labor history. THE RESULT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S STRANGLEHOLD ON KPFA IS LOSS OF MONEY. The last fund drive fell $150,000 short precisely because KPFA listeners do not want to hear the Democratic Party on KPFA, and we turn KPFA off when we do. Democracy Now, Flashpoints and Guns & Butter are all big fundraisers and they are all outstanding programs. We also need a weekly labor hour program during prime time. and a weekly labor program is not only necessary for the information, it is a guaranteed big fundraiser by definition. IT IS OUTRAGEOUS THAT THE LABOR PROGRAM ON WEDNESDAY MORNINGS IS CANCELLED DURING THE FUNDRAISING PERIOD. Yet, that is exactly what happens and must be changed.
The candidates and endorsers of the Alliance may be found at http://www.allianceforademocratickpfa.org/Endorsers.htm

It's the Labor Collective again.

And if you haven't noticed, they want a weekly program on KPFA.

Please notice the Concerned Listener Candidates (Sarv Randhawa & Mark Hernandez) and endorsers (Brian Edwards-Tiekert. Sherry Gendelman, Bonnie Simmons) that kept an ex-employee on the LSB to keep off a Chicano activist. Is this the kind of unprincipled politics you want on a KPFA LSB? It is more like the two party system. Some of us are trying to develop a new political culture based on truth, fairness, due process and transparency. Politics based on principles not power. Power coming from principled practices. "Imagine."

STAFF SCANDAL ON KPFA LOCAL STATION BOARD!

For over a year there has been a controversy over the attendance of recently resigned Staff Local Station Board (LSB) Representative, Eric. (I am leaving off his last name since I believe he is also a victim.) In 2005 his attendance was 53%. At one time during 2005 he missed seven (7) meetings in a row. During this period there were evening as well as weekend meetings. In 2006 he attended the January meeting only, missing seven (7) more in a row bringing his attendance down to 41%. It should be noted that he did not participate on any LSB or Pacific National Board Committees unlike all the others. When he was present he voted consistently with the other staff representatives and their allies, who represent a certain group of staff at the station, sometimes referred to as the “entrenched staff”, those that want to ignore the democratic process in the Bylaws and run the station under the radar as before the hijacking. A topic discussed by the “entrenched” in a document that surfaced last year was “dismantling the LSB”.

During his first string of absences some of the Listener Representatives started asking why should they continue to excuse his absences. Under the Pacifica Bylaws three consecutive unexcused absences remove a member from the LSB. The response from the Staff Representatives was that he had a weekend job, not at KPFA, and needs the work. They claimed that he had requested that his absences be excused. As the number of his absences grew some Listener Representatives began to argue that if he has to work, they understand, and he should resign and let the next Staff Representative in line take the seat. They were accused of being insensitive and the struggle continued on the closely divided LSB. Despite missing so many meetings he showed up for the meetings when we elected officers and Pacific National Board Directors, December 2005 and January 2006.

Why were the Staff Representatives and their allies so concerned with protecting his seat on the LSB, given his attendance record and general lack of participation? The next person in line for the seat was Miguel Molina who works with Flashpoints and La Onda Bajita. Miguel Molina is a community activist who does radio work at KPFA. He is generally at odds politically with the “entrenched staff” in that he wants the station focused more on the community and less on the staff. A recent example demonstrates the differences. For the August demonstration against the invasion of Lebanon, Miguel Molina with other Flashpoints and La Onda Bajita people did the live broadcast as volunteers. They requested four (4) hours air time to cover the march and rally and the Interim General Manager, who is aligned with the “entrenched”, only allowed two hours. I recall none of the entrenched staff arguing for the four hour, full coverage of the demonstration. I saw no LSB Staff Representatives or their allies at the demonstration.

As the absences continued the struggle became sharper. The Listener Representatives stopped voting to excuse his absences and were accused of being racist by Annie Hallett, a Listener Representative that sides with the entrenched. Mark Hernandez, the LSB Secretary, another Listener Representative that sides with the “entrenched”, recorded Eric’s unexcused absence on June 17, 2006 as excused in the draft minutes. At the July meeting there was a major battle over the entry in the minutes. Mark Hernandez insisted that he was sure that Eric was excused and that the motion recorded with the web cast of the meeting would prove him correct. I pointed out that we would have to listen to the whole discussion since the motion was to excuse all those that someone had asked to be excused and that no one asked to have Eric’s absence excused. Mark Hernandez argued that we should only listen to the motion. During this discussion most of the Listener Representatives spoke out that they knew Eric was not excused since no one requested it and they all thought that was strange given the history of this issue. Mark Hernandez then said he would listen to the recording of the meeting on his lap top and get back to us in a few minutes to clarify the issue. The meeting went on for more than an hour and Mark Hernandez never reported back on what the recording showed?

A few days later I transcribed the meeting discussion off the recording and my recollection as stated above was proven to be correct. No one asked to have Eric excused. I sent a copy of the transcript out to all LSB members and there was no comment by Mark Hernandez or any of his allies or by Eric. As a matter of fact, Eric had not sent any messages on the LSB list for several months. During 2005 he often sent a message to the LSB list asking to be excused. I recall none in 2006.

Since no one had seen or heard of Eric working at the station for some months, and there was very old mail in his mail slot, his time cards were inspected and it was found that he last worked April 7, 2006 and that he only worked very part time since last October. The Bylaws state that a staff foundation member ceases to be one when she/he stops working. You are not eligible to be a Staff LSB member unless you are on staff. Eric was also not on the unpaid staff list and to my recollection never claimed to be part of the unpaid staff. He was a paid staff person and then left to work elsewhere when he was not given continued employment at KPFA. At that time, March/April 2006 he ceased to be eligible to be on the LSB. He may have been ineligible as early as last October.

At the July LSB meeting I reported this to the LSB and the Staff Representatives and their allies argued that they didn’t have the information to decide and that Eric could still appeal the unpaid staff list that didn’t have him on it. No word from Eric asking to be kept on the LSB, no word at all from Eric. At the August meeting having heard nothing from Eric and having confirmed that he had not filed an appeal for the unpaid staff list I ruled that he was no longer on the LSB. My ruling was challenged by the Staff LSB group and voted down since several Listener Representatives were absent on vacation.

On September 3, 2006 Eric sent his resignation to the LSB list. Prior to that he had e-mailed me telling me he was going to resolve the problem and just had to work out how he was going to do it. Eric told me he last worked for the Morning Show in February or March and that he hadn’t requested that his absences be excused. One of the Staff Representatives that continually voted for Eric to be excused is Lisa Rothman, Executive Producer of the Morning Show. Surely she knew when he stopped working for the Morning Show in March or April of 2006 and surely she knew that he didn’t work consistently in 2005?

It seems clear that the Staff Representatives and their allies on the LSB knowingly conspired to keep Miguel Molina from his seat on the LSB for at least five months and maybe longer. Their lack of respect for honesty, democratic process and fair play raises serious legal questions about every close vote over the last several months. It also raises the question of their moral qualifications to be on the LSB. Their behavior is more like ward politics than Pacifica values in my opinion.

Here are the people that consistently voted to excuse Eric’s absences long after he stopped working at the station. Sarv Randhawa (L), Mark Hernandez (L), (<Both up for reelection, please don’t vote for them or any candidate they endorse or indorses them!) Rosalinda Palacios (L), Annie Hallett (L), Sherry Gendelman (L), Lisa Rothman (S), Brian Edwards-Tiekert (S), William Walker (S), Bonnie Simmons (S), Mary Berg (S), Debbie Speer, KFCF Representative.

VOTE for real Listener Representation: Aki Tanaka (Oakland), Henry Norr (Berkeley), Bob English (Vallejo), Jane Jackson (Oakland), Vida Samiian (Fresno) and Dave Heller (Berkeley), Dave Welsh, (Berkeley)

Richard Phelps
Chair, KPFA LSB (for identification only)
Member, PNB Governance and Election Committees.
Member, LSB GM Hire, PD Hire, Personnel and Outreach Committees. 9-14-06 (labor donated)

Transcript by Richard Phelps, LSB Chair, for July, 06 part of meeting regarding correcting the minutes on Eric listed as an excused absence. Mark’s comments are substantially complete. Some irrelevant comments are left out since I am not a swift transcriber.

Marnie: There’s an error in the uh minutes regarding the absences from last, that meeting, Eric’s name was not even mentioned that day and he was not excused.

Mark: Mr. Chair.

Max: This is my recollection as well. I had him down as a zero. Not an excused person in my chart.

(Interruption by unidentified person.)

Chair: She doesn’t have the floor, Mark you are next.

Mark: The motion made was to excuse all absences.

(Several people then said no, that’s not true.)

Chair: I know, I made careful note of it. I’m going to call on myself for my recollection. I just want to say that I remember explicitly that nobody asked for him to be excused and I wondered why? Several other people were brought up and approved but Eric was never put up to be excused.

Max: To explain my chart, if you attend you get a 1, if you are absent and you are excused by a vote you get an E and if you are not excused you get a zero. That ‘s the way my chart is and that is very explicit.

Mark: Mr. Chair, I ask the indulgence of the board. I am going to play it back in a few moments, that we table this for about 10 minutes.

Chair: And then?

Mark: I can play the motion for the board.

Chair: You are going to have to play the whole discussion, because it has to be in context…if we are going to listen to that we have to listen to the whole discussion about excused absences.

Mark: Mr. Chair, the final motion is the motion that is made and that is what is voted on.

Chair: Well, No, we have to hear the context because Eric’s name was not mentioned.

Mark: Mr. Chair, the motion that is passed is the motion of record. It does not matter, we do not take notational transcripts. We do not have the Federalist Papers which we can go back to and take word for word examination of the details of the arguments.

Chair: That’s not my point Mark. My point is it might say they are all approved but the point is you have to go back and see who was mentioned as approved because Eric was not mentioned. That’s the distinction I want to make clear. Nobody, none of the people over here ever said that I want Eric excused. It was never raised. I have a memory that is very, very good and I was surprised that nobody did, so the fact that it might say that all those mentioned are excused is fine but then you gotta go back and listen to who was asked to be excused. That’s the context I am talking about.

(After some discussion we were about to vote on the amendment to the minutes regarding Eric’s absence)

Brian: Point of Information.

Chair: Yes

Brian: Did Mark Hernandez ask to table or was that informal?

Chair: All right, we’ll table. If he can get that up so we can hear it that is fine. But like I said, I want to hear the whole thing not just the last 30 seconds.

Brian: Mr. Chair, maybe we can take on the consent calendar.

Chair: Yes, why don’t we take on the consent calendar, any objection, while Mark is trying to find that let’s go to the consent calendar. (and we did)

(Mark never got back to us to play the prior meeting discussion.)


Here is a transcript, also by Richard Phelps, from the June 06 meeting, the section on excusing absences. First is the only part Mark wanted us to hear, followed by the discussion that proceeded the motion:


Chair: Anybody want to a make a motion regarding the peoples named?

Sarv: comments off mike

Chair: Sarv moved to excuse those people whose names have been mentioned, any second? ( it was seconded) any objections? No Objections. Ok.

(After the above motion Sepideh sought clarification.)


Sepideh: Who are the people named?

Chair: Sherry, Jane, Willie Radcliff, and Debbie and Rosalinda are on their way.

Sepideh: La Varn is on her way, she is 5 minutes away.

Here is the discussion from the beginning up to the motion:

Chair: And just another reminder for everybody out there, if you came in late the sign up sheet for public comment is right here, if anybody wants to sign up. Ok. Uh I have been advised by Willie Ratcliff that he will not be here because of a Juneteenth celebration….anybody know of anybody who is absent, Willie asked to be excused…

Max: Jane Jackson

Chair: Yes, she’s out of town I believe.

Bonnie: A, Sherry Gendelman is out of town this weekend. I believe Debbie is on her way here and Rosalinda had a meeting for her work this morning and should be here soon.

Chair: Anybody want to a make a motion regarding the peoples named?

And we are back to where we started. It is easy to see that if you just played back the motion:

“Chair: Sarv moved to excuse those people whose names have been mentioned, any second? ( it was seconded) any objections? No Objections. Ok.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You would not know who was excused without hearing the prior discussion to get the context of the motion, who was mentioned to be excused. One could try to construe this motion to mean that all absent would be excused, but only if you ignore the specific language:

“those people whose names have been mentioned”

and didn’t listen to the rest of the short discussion.

So why was Mark Hernandez so adamant that we only listen to the motion? Despite having the recording of the meeting Mark wrote in the minutes that Eric’s absence was excused. You can decide for yourself what you think this means about our Secretary’s trustworthiness to be the keeper of our records.

Other facts to consider: Mark Hernandez never asked to play the pertinent recorded part of the meeting for the LSB after he listened to it during our last meeting, after Mark asked to table the discussion so he could play it back for us. Mark had the June meeting recording available to him for review when he did the June minutes. Mark has always voted to excuse Eric and almost always votes with those that have fought to keep Eric on the LSB despite the fact that Eric’s attendance is around 40 % and he has not attended a meeting since January 7,2006. Eric has not been an active member on any committee of the LSB or PNB. Eric hasn’t worked at the station since early April 2006 and for several months prior to that he worked sporadically in a manner that would not qualify him as a staff member. He is not listed on the recently released Unpaid Staff list. Eric has not communicated with the LSB on the LSB list for some months and has not communicated to the LSB his intention to remain active on the board despite the controversy over his attendance and the facts supporting his being ineligible to be on the LSB.

The Bylaws state:
Article 3 MEMBERSHIP, SECTION 2. TERM.
A Listener-Sponsor membership term shall expire twelve (12) months from that date on which said Member: (A) contributed a minimum of $25 to any Foundation radio station, or such minimum amount as the Board of Directors may from time to time decide; or (B) volunteered a minimum of 3 hours of service to any Foundation radio station. A Staff membership term shall expire: (A) on that date on which s/he is no longer a member of a radio station Unpaid Staff Organization or Bargaining Unit, or if the radio station has no such organization, then on that date on which s/he failed to volunteer a minimum of 30 hours in the preceding 3-month period; or (B) upon termination of employment as a non-management employee of a Foundation radio station, as applicable.
The evidence is clear that Eric is not a staff member of KPFA/Pacifica and thus is not eligible to represent the staff on the LSB. The evidence is clear that he has not been eligible since April 2006 and probably prior to that.
Mark Hernandez recently tried to get out of his getting caught misreporting the vote in the minutes by saying that since Sarv Randhawa’s statement was inaudible on the recording that we don’t know what his motion was. That is wrong both factually and legally. I heard it clearly and repeated it over the mic and Sarv did not say “hey that is not what I said”. And Mark was sitting right next to him and did ask for a correction and Mark lives for the times he can correct me, as anyone who has been to a meeting of two knows. Also, when Sepideh asks for who was excused I didn’t mention Eric and neither Mark Hernandez or Sarv Randhawa said anything, not “what about Eric” or “my motion includes all absences.” So it is clear that this is a months old attempt to cover up Mark Hernandez’s being caught changing the minutes to benefit his faction, the entrenched staff.



Richard Phelps
Chair, KPFA LSB

If the LSB would develop past the point of dividing itself into sides and peer pressuring its members into automaton voting where each and every vote is predictable an hour in advance (count the folks present on each side and then watch) - and just PERHAPS start voting on the merits of an issue and not demonizing anyone who dares to vote with the other side occaisonally - then none of this bean counting would matter.

Is there some reason no one ever talks about the real problem on this LSB?

To the Alliance ranter who goes on about there being no room for Democrats at KPFA I have one question: why is a CANDIDATE for the Alliance for a Democratic KPFA right-wing Democratic Party operative Regina Carey???

She's a member of the central committee of the Marin County Democratic Party and a endorser of businessman Steve Westley. Your comments Richard Phelps?

I voted for the Alliance slate EXCEPT Regina, since she is obviously a Democratic Party stalwart according to the Alliance website. I do not know who Steve Westly is, but she states she has been active in the Democratic Party for decades, so that was enough for me to not vote for her. There are other good people listed in the pamphlet who are not on the Alliance slate. We are now receiving our ballots and booklets. THE MAIN ISSUE IS GETTING PEOPLE TO VOTE. If we do not have sufficient voters, the election is null and void. Believe it or not, KPFA subscribers, whom we would think are politically more advanced, are just as remiss when it comes to voting as the general population is in government elections. It will take a major effort to get 10% of the listeners to vote. There is scheduled a candidates forum on KPFA on Sunday, 10/29 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. if you need more information. Those of you who can should attend LSB meetings as audience. The KPFA website, http://www.kpfa.org, usually lists the meeting dates and they are announced a day or two in advance, usually before the 6 p.m. news and sometimes in the morning after Democracy Now Obviously, the main problem is lack of listener participation, which is how the Democratic Party reactionaries get away with all of the above-described progress-throttling games. By the way, this writer is not a member of the Labor Collective, although that is a worthy organization, nor a member of any other organization. Please remember there are 7 million people in the Bay Area and 11 million people in Northern California (which includes the Bay Area), all of whom are technically in KPFA's listener area by radio, and the entire world can hear KPFA online. I heard a day or two ago on KPFA that there are only 20,000 or so subscribers, so clearly programming changes as described above are urgently needed if KPFA is to survive. Another major program change needed is to have more news and political discussion programming from the counties in KPFA's radio audience outside of San Francisco and Alameda counties. This would include not only the Bay Area, but also the Central Valley.

Phelps says Eric's not a valid staffmember. Well, his name appears on the certified list of voting staff members posted on KPFA's wall.

Phelps attacks Eric for not coming to meetings. Miguel Molina's personal attendance record is hovering somewhere below 40%. Of the meetings he did attend, he frequently showed up to vote, and left in 30 minutes or less. Saturday's LSB meeting was set to be held in Santa Rosa, where Molina lives. How much of it did he actually attend, Richard?

Don't all these repeated crises at the station make anyone realize that duplicating the democratic system with unqualified candidates/candidates who have hidden motives, and having "democracy" as a way to run the station, doesn't work? all this electioneering and smearing of candidates makes me sick. it is hard for me to get through all the complaints to actually find out what any of the candidates stand for.

kpfa's election season is a really painful time for those of us who love the station and read this site-- we have to read you people air dirty laundry that should have been dealt with in your private or public or whatever they are meetings. get some fucking mediators and deal with it.

and figure out another way to run the station. obviously all this board/hierarchy shit doesn't work.

Actually, most of the conflict and disaster would end if candidates placed the survival and sustaining of KPFA were the first and foremost consideration.

Unfortunately, KPFA is not the primary purpose for many who have run for the LSB, past and present, and likely in the future.

The agenda should always be "KPFA", and never "how can I make KPFA into what I want it to be?" or "what can I do with KPFA?"

KPFA _is_ the agenda. Without it, how would we hear all the different voices that there are?

Mark Hernandez
Member/Candidate, KPFA Local Station Board

Eric last worked at the station in April 2006. He told me that he didn't ask to have his absences excused on the LSB. He has been working somewhere else for several months. He is not a Pacifica Foundation staff member when he stops working. But just on a common sense level, does it make any sense to have someone who doesn't work at KPFA, paid or unpaid, and works somewhere else, be a staff representative on the LSB? It is sorta like having a Nevada resident be a California Congress person or a shop steward for KPFA's union when one is no longer a member of the union.

WELLSTONE MEMBERS and others, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHO YOU HAVE ENDORSED FOR THE KPFA LOCAL STATION BOARD?

About three months ago, I and two other LSB members met with John Katz, Kathleen Lilley and Matthew Hallinan to discuss KPFA. We had heard that Sasha Lilley and others had come to you to build a slate to support some of the staff against the listener activists. During the discussion it became clear that much they had been told was not true. Our main concern was with your support of Sarv Randhawa and Mark Hernandez. We don’t know your other candidates.

Both of them vetoed a resolution on the consent calendar supporting the Berkeley Honda Strikers more than once. This was communicated to the trio we met with. Did they tell you this when they asked you to endorse them? At our meeting we were told in no uncertain terms that we would be allowed to speak to your organization prior to any endorsement. We never got a call? Seems more like DNC politics than Paul Wellstone or Pacifica, “Free Speech Radio”. Were they afraid of the facts, wouldn't get the endorsement if they heard from us?

Sarv Randhawa has a history of voting on the Pacifica National Board against transparency. Randhawa consistently voted to support the former Executive Director’s fight to stop Director’s Inspections, which is an “Absolute right” per the Bylaws and State law, Corporations Code section 6334. He was joined in these obstructions by the Justice & Unity faction that has control of the WBAI LSB and has almost destroyed WBAI, they need 90+ days of fund drive and they still don’t make their budget. After stalling for two years and threats of lawsuits to stop the obstruction, the former ED resigned and inspections discovered that over $65,000 worth of radio equipment was missing from WBAI. Democratic process and transparency or patronage and cronyism? Which side are you on? Randhawa consistently voted to delay Director’s Inspections. What “progressive” is against transparency?

On three separate occasions Randhawa has literally gotten in other board members faces at the end of meetings, nose to nose, and wouldn’t back off until several people yelled at him. The first was with La Varn Williams, a slender African-American, then I, and recently Max Blanchet. Max is from Haiti and during his response to Randhawa’s provocation the boy friend of one of Randhawa’s and Hernandez’s allies, Debbie Speer, KFCF Representative, yelled out at Max “are you Ton-Ton Macoute”, the secret police of Papa Doc. Max has lost relatives to them. The man who said it was white. Randhawa has never apologized for any of these provocations nor for the racist comment by his ally’s friend. Is this who progressive democrats want to support?

Randhawa and Hernandez both objected to having “one” listener activist, African-American Joe Wanzala, speak at a KPFA LSB Town Hall Meeting along with several entrenched staff (the people that came to you for help in forming a slate). How Pacifica is this. And apparently that is ok with the Wellstone Club since you didn’t want to hear the other side either before endorsing? Hernandez red baited me during that struggle: below is the e-mail copy from Hernandez. I have the original if anyone wants to see it. He also terrorist baited an Iranian-American during his first year on the LSB. This is not the only time Hernandez has red baited. Hernandez has never self-described as a “progressive”. Did anyone from your group talk to him about his Libertarian politics? The red baiting was reported to the trio we met with. Did they report this before you were asked to endorse?

“What's next? "Busloads of Commies" to keep regular listeners from
attending?” -mh-

Both Hernandez and Randhawa voted to excuse several absences of a staff LSB member long after he stopped working and they knew it. They did this to keep off a progressive Mexican-American activist who was entitled to the seat on the board and supports democratic process and transparency in opposition to them. When the absent member finally announced his resignation his attendance was 41%. He hadn’t been to a meeting since early January.

Hernandez, LSB Secretary, even went so far to protect that seat that he changed the minutes to give the missing member an excused absence when it was not excused. The altered minutes were discovered and changed back at a recent meeting. There is a motion pending before the LSB to remove Hernandez for this violation of trust and his duties as Secretary.


DO THE KPFA STAFF THAT CAME TO YOU WANT A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS?

The e-mail below was found at the station. It has been acknowledged as real by the author. I have contacted in person or by e-mail everyone but one on that strategy group to ask them if they were just recipients of an e-mail that discussed “dismantling the LSB” and other interesting topics or were they active participants and none of them have denied active involvement.

This e-mail was sent shortly after the LSB voted down a staff motion to fire the GM for sexual harassment. It was voted down 15-5. Four of the five votes for it were in this e-mail group. There was NO evidence of sexual harassment found after two separate investigations. It was a racist attempt to fire an African-American GM that wouldn’t toe their line. You will also notice that Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Bonnie Simmons, Rain Geesler and Sherry Gendelman are in this e-list. They are all endorsing the same slate you are endorsing! Their pushing for this unjust firing caused them to lose the majority on the LSB, thus the need for a strategic retreat. This e-mail gives one a view of what these folks really believe in and it isn’t democratic process. Sort of like a Pentagon Paper! Their view is “if we can’t run it let’s ruin it”


From:"Brian Edwards-Tiekert" <lsb.brian [at] gmail.com>
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by gmail.com. Learn more
To:"Lemlem Tekle" <lemvta [at] yahoo.com>, "Bonnie Simmons" <bon [at] bonzilla.com>,
LisaRothman [at] kpfa.org
CC:"Sasha Lilley" <sashalilley [at] yahoo.com>, "Lemlem Tekle" <lemyta [at] yahoo.com>,
mawu_mama37 [at] yahoo.com, "Amelia Gonzalez-Garcia" <ameliagg [at] yahoo.com>, Rain
Geesler" <rainjita [at] yahoo.com>, "Sherry Gendelman" <sherrygendelman [at] aol.com>, "Gary
Niederhoff" <lisangary [at] gmail.com>
Subject:Re: budget
Date:Thu, 1 Sep 2005 20:58:28 -0700

I'm up for coffee Saturday—Lisa and I can still meet Tuesday afternoon. Also, we need a general strategy session. How about Tuesday night?

Issues include:

How should we be handling the expiration of the union contract—is a strike in order, or is it a really terrible idea?

What's the best way to deal with these layoffs?

Coming up with, and presenting, an alternative budget.

Getting the Roy issue to the national board.

Propping up staff morale.

Strategic retreat on the LSB—how do we make our enemies own the problems that are to come? Alternatively, should we be recalling LSB members/dismantling the LSB?

Dealing with the grievances underway.

Building community support—formation of a labor-community coalition.



--
Brian Edwards-Tiekert
Staff Representative, Local Station Board
KPFA 94.1FM
1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley CA 94704



I challenge any of your candidates or supporters to a public debate on these issues, for your members, or the general public.



Richard Phelps, Chair KPFA LSB (for identification only), 9-21-06, labor donated.

Tempting as it is to endorse what Luci is saying: the reality is that KPFA didn't do any better when it had a self-selecting board: a feeding frenzy on Indymedia is bad - but not as bad as piped in music from Houston and a lock on the door.

But .... this is a non-profit board election - that's all it is. I belong to several that do this regularly (the ACLU, the National Women's Health Network. Media Alliance etc) and all any of them do is take a statement from each candidate, print them and send them to their members. That's it. All this schmatta about publicity and events and forums is just silly and all it appeals to is people who need attention - not people who want to work and build an organization.

My opinion - take the whole thing down a notch - or several notches. None of this is necessary to have a board election. You'd think no one ever had one before prior to Pacifica. Then you'll bore to death all of these people who are just looking for a platform and start attacting people who are utterly turned off by having to wage a political campaign to sit on a non-profit board.

What you have now attracts every lunatic in Berkeley and that's about all it attracts.

"Tempting as it is to endorse what Luci is saying: the reality is that KPFA didn't do any better when it had a self-selecting board: a feeding frenzy on Indymedia is bad..."

Hey, now, I didn't advocate for a self-selecting board. I said that there's got to be another way to run the station. Something more creative than democracy or autocracy. Someday we anarchists will figure out something better than consensus as a way of running collectives, and that will be it.

While it is true that there in not a veto per se on the LSB, in practical terms any member can object to an item on the consent calendar and that puts it into New Business. Given the fillibustering and other tactics designed to "dismantle the LSB" by Hernandez and his voting block, sending a consent calendar item to New Business is like a veto for that meeting and many more.

Now to Mark's BS about wanting to know about the Berkeley Honda Strike. Mark is very good with a computer and if he had wanted to know about the strike he could have Googled it and found out much info. He didn't do that or ask any of us about it, he just objected to it on the consent calendar month after month, along with Sarv Randhawa, who lives in the East Bay and is in Berkeley often at the station,(NO FRESNO EXCUSE FOR HIM). And now we get the cover story, if you buy that I have a couple of bridges for sale!! If Mark was progressive, which to my knowledge he has never called himself, what is there to know past the class reality that an employer dumped the union. Let's see "Which side are you on?" "Employer or union members, I will have to investigate and give it some thought?" How thin can a cover story be??? The real story is why are the Wellstone Club and other "progressives" pushing such an class unconscious cover story?????? Looks like power before principles, smells like DNC?? What happened to Paul Wellstone 's legacy?

Re: kpfa is in a crisis and democracy should be thrown out

by luci
“Don't all these repeated crises at the station make anyone realize that duplicating the democratic system with unqualified candidates/candidates who have hidden motives, and having "democracy" as a way to run the station, doesn't work? all this electioneering and smearing of candidates makes me sick. it is hard for me to get through all the complaints to actually find out what any of the candidates stand for.

"kpfa's election season is a really painful time for those of us who love the station and read this site-- we have to read you people air dirty laundry that should have been dealt with in your private or public or whatever they are meetings. get some fucking mediators and deal with it.

and figure out another way to run the station. obviously all this board/hierarchy shit doesn't work."

and RE:
by Mark Hernandez
Sunday Oct 22nd, 2006 4:27 AM
"Actually, most of the conflict and disaster would end if candidates placed the survival and sustaining of KPFA were the first and foremost consideration...

"KPFA _is_ the agenda. Without it, how would we hear all the different voices that there are?"

and below, by me, Virginia:
I, too, have thought something should be done to improve the wasted time filibustering on the LSB. I could also do without imputing motives and name-calling. Perhaps ways of accomplishing this will be goals for next year. However, hidden amongst what luci criticizes are some actual huge accomplishments in the past year. Also, unfortunately, though it tends to look the same as useless name-calling, especially when those pointing out the facts add the name-calling to the facts, there are some true underhanded behaviors that should be pointed out. Saying it’s ALL just mud-slinging is like saying we should never criticize our president. Here are some things I think are important about this LSB, post-1999, post self-selected:

To those who say board members should be doing outreach and raising money, not making resolutions:

Some would consider it outreach to support a whole group of longterm workers who've been fired "laid off" and instantly replaced. Ever been on strike or know someone who was? Sacrificing your livihood, your living income for a greater good is not easy. (Yes, this is always a sacrifice to do this rather than to take some other job, etc. Even if you are able to find a temporary job...many many hard things...). Strikers are almost always very grateful for and in need of any support they can get. I don't just mean financial, though of course that too. This is only the beginning of the outrach story this kind of resolution would mean, but let's let people who don't already understand this take baby steps in building their imaginations at first.

As for financial matters, as has been said elsewhere, despite all the filibustering on the listener board by mostly the Hernandez side in the year-plus I've been watching, LaVarn Williams and others from People's radio finally got Pacifica's financial records for the first time at least since 1999. This saved Pacifica at least $65,000, probably much more in the long run. It is extremely a-typical for a non-profit board NOT to have this information.

If some of the explanation for fighting against this really is staff members' fear of threatened job loss and job pestering, I can appreciate that. No one would want that. I don't think that is LaVarn's way; I don't think that is what she was doing. There is such a thing as dialog..

More accomplishments:

Despite one of the ugliest stupidest meetings of all the LSB meetings, at the end of the one in San Jose, with seconds to spare and despite Brian Edwards-Tiekert's almost NOT allowing this, or another way to say this would be because Richard overrode Brian's slick authoritative-sounding objection to voting on it, the LSB unanimously and, amazingly ELOQUENTLY and movingly (and strangely cutely under the infuriating circumstances), voted unanimously to say FUCK YOU to the CPB if it meant APPOINTING 2 national board members rather than the stations' choosing them democratically.

I’ve said elsewhere that I have often disputed Richard Phelps (chair of the LSB and People’s Radio member.) The disputes are mostly about his way of what I could broadly call name-calling. Unproductive and frankly embarrassing as I do think this is, he isn’t much worse about doing it than many on the other side. Some have more subtle techniques. ( Larry Bensky, for those who don’t know it, isn't one of them. He stood up in a crowded room when LSB meetings still drew crowds and called board members “Stalinists.” Respected as Larry Bensky is, that, in addition to his damned snide comments on-air about this experiment have probably done much to close off sources of nourishment for a democratic process.) I hate all of it, but we have Richard doing this volunteer board chair gig, and we don’t have someone else doing it. On balance, he’s doing better than I can imagine anyone else on that board doing. In addition, he has a very strong conscience, and deeply wants to do things democratically. He can think clearly, remember a lot, etc.

This is your list of accomplishments?

Objecting to a bylaws amendment that later passed the National Board and was supported by Dave
Adelson (that famous hater of democracy).

And nobody saved $65,000 (which come to think of it is about the cost of the nationwide 1st class postage made necessary by the inability of Pacifica boards to make a timely bylaws adjustment to the election schedule).

Face it Virginia, the tactics being used by both sides on this board are accomplishing absolutely nothing. Time to end the contention and find people who can work with others collabiratively to GET THINGS DONE. This group ain't it. People's radio got their candidates onto the board in the 2004 election and there ain't much to show for it. It's getting increasingly hard to make a case for trying that one again, especially with the way parts of that slate are making a spectacle of themselves here on Indymedia.

Arrogant people just leave me a little fearful is all. People who don't want to try to work things out HASH things out with others. "Collaborative" can mean thinking they know best cause they're super articulate and not encouraging less-accomplished speakers to have a say. And those less-accomplished soon give up. I see I have a lot more to learn. How about you?

DON'T MIS THIS ONE! DENNIS BERNSTEIN TO TALK ABOUT KPFA'S INTERNAL DYNAMICS VIS A VIS THE CURRENT BOARD ELECTION!!!@#$%^&*()_!!!


!!!! Alliance for a democratic KPFA !!!!!
FUN-RAISER

Join Dennis Bernstein and members of the Flashpoints team
at a Fun-Raiser for the Alliance for a democratic KPFA candidates!

Regina Carey
Bob English
Sasha Futran
Dave Heller
Henry Norr
Akio Tanaka
Steve Zeltzer*
Maxine Doogan (Staff representative, to be elected by KPFA staff)

The KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) election currently underway is a
watershed event that may define the direction of station and the
network for years to come. Dennis and Miguel Molina will discuss
their perspective on internal dynamics at KPFA in relation to the LSB election.

Tell all your friends!

Enjoy surprise guests, chamber music and food.

BRING YOUR BALLOT AND WE'LL HELP YOU FILL IT OUT!

October 28, 2006
7:30pm (until the wine runs out)
$15-25 sliding scale
corner of Third Street and Filbert Street (watch for the signs)
Oakland
RSVP 510 832-7999 or 510 326-3268

*Steve Zeltzer's name will not be on the KPFA listener ballot. Details will be discussed.

So this slate is promulgating six actual listener candidates - 3 old white men, 1 Democratic Central Committee member who endorsed multimillionaire Steve Westly for Governor, and 1 Lynn Chadwick buddy - and they are the forces for true progressivism. They are against the "entrenched staff" but supported by Bernstein - whose central argument in any KPFA-related discussion is how his show needs more resources and more paid employees - despite Flashpoints having as much or more paid staff than any other show on KPFA.

And they will "help you fill out your ballot" because of course, KPFA listeners are apparently too dumb to fill out their own ballots without their "help".

While a slate that contains 5/8 people of color and believe it or not, a candidate or two under the 45, (Concerned Listeners) is the oppressor.

Let's open our eyes. "Bring your ballot and we'll help you fill it out" is the language of people you might not want to trust with the keys to your house.

I started this election cycle pretty agnostic about which, if any, candidates to support. But the Alliance for a Democratic KPFA has not earned any thinking person's support with antics like this.

"Democracy means, 'We won; you lost.' Deal with it." = Gerald Sanders, Peoples Radio member

"They voted against it, which means that they are anti-democracy and transparency."
= Richard Phelps, Peoples Radio member

From what the recordings and minutes indicate, the Peoples Radio members have collaborated or found common cause with their opponents on seven occasions, four of which were resolutions that had nothing to do with KPFA or Pacifica, discounting procedural motions.

Non-Peoples Radio LSB members have been quite the opposite; offering substitute motions or amendments that address concerns on the main motion on thirty-five motions. Of these, I find eleven were substitute motions that ended up passing, replacing the original motion, after addressing the stated concerns.

No Peoples Radio member has ever offered or allowed a sticky issue to be referred to committee, where it can be dealt with so as not to waste time developing the motion during the LSB meeting.
In fact, Peoples Radio has actually blocked referring motions to committee, wasting hours and hours of time unnecessarily.

The record is quite clear; it is Peoples Radio that has the "my way or the highway" agenda, while everyone else has tried to find middle ground or compromise in order to deal with the item.

Seems that you've got a little too much hero-worship blocking your eyes and ears to see or hear the plain truth and reality.

''Re '' Anoymous ' post , ''great'' .First he/she/whomever conveniently obmits mentioning Akio Tanaka , a Japanese immigrant . Also nothing about friendly independents who are also immigrants like Nazreen Kadir (Guyana ) or Vida Samiian (Iran ) . On the board for at least another year are LaVarn Williams , a African-American, and Joe Wanzala a immigrant from Uganda . Unfortunely leaving in Dec. are Sepideh Khosrowjah(iran ) and Max Blanchet (Haiti ) . Despite whatever differences that we may have from time to time , they and Attila Nagy (Hungary ) , Richard Phelps , Riva Enteen, Chandra Hauptman, Jane Jackson and myself have been a consistent voting bloc for Listener democracy(.Hopefully those leaving us will be replaced by like minded advocates and we will finally have a clear majority ). So even on it's own terms '' Anoymous '''s race baiting falls flat .Racism and National oppression are very real in this country . Thus the need for real diversity . But it's not race or nationality that divides us on the board . It's profoundly different views of KPFA/ Pacifca 's current reality and what it's direction should be . But the ''concerned listener ''slate doesn't really want to talk about the real divisions in a serious debate . That's a pity. Voters might learn more about them than they ever could in their 13, 000 plus mailing .

How can it be race-baiting to observe that Bob English, Henry Norr, Dave Heller, Steve Zeltzer, and Dave Welsh are all old, white men and that that is a pretty big component of this nine person endorsement?

(More than half and 50% of the remaining 4 are older, white women).

It's just called counting.

Dave Heller is in his 40's . That ain't old !

There is nothing radical about Concerned Listeners. They were formed by the Wellstone Democratic Club and some staff members of KPFA.

The Democratic Party -- even a liberal wing -- has no business running the board of director's of a radio station and setting its policies.

KPFA staff have their own seats on the board and have no business putting together a so-called listener's slate.

Here is our line: http://www.allianceforademocratickpfa.org/

Here is a partial list of our endorsers:

Terry Baum, playwright • Nora Barrows-Friedman, Sr. producer, FlashPoints• Amanda Bellerby, volunteer environmental producer • FlashPoints• Dan Berman, author, Who Owns the Sun• Dennis Bernstein, exec. producer, FlashPoints• Gray Brechin, historian and author • Carol Brouillet, 9/11 activist • Bill Carpenter, media activist • Mary Ann Churchill, New College of CA • Todd Davies, Stanford University, Bd. of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility • Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author • Riva Enteen, KPFA LSB member • Bonnie Faulkner, producer, Guns and Butter• Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet • Lotus Fong, media activist • Maria Gilardin, TUC Radio, co-founder KPFA’s Women’s Dept. • Dr. Nayvin Gordon, medical rights activist • Jack Heyman, ILWU, Local 10 • Jack Hirschman, Poet Laureate, SF • Krissy Keefer, Green Party candidate for Congress • Sepideh Khosrowjah, KPFA LSB member • Robert Knight, contrib. producer, FlashPoints• Henry Kroll, Fndr, Committee to Save KQED; Pierre Labossiere, Bay Area Haitian American Council • Brian McWilliams, fmr Pres., ILWU • Miguel Molina, roving producer, FlashPoints; Attila Nagy, KPFA LSB member • Michael Parenti, author • Peter Phillips, Project Censored • Mary Ann Ring, Pres. Local 6, CUE, UCSF • Eric Mar, Cmsr., Bd. of Educ., SF • Dr. Larry Rose, fmr. Cal-OSHA dr.; delegate to SFLC for UAPD • Renee Saucedo, attorney, Civil Rights activist • Ralph Schoenman,Taking Aim; • Mya Shone, Taking Aim• Larry Shoup, steering cmte NWU (UAW 1981) • Carol Spooner, fmr KPFA LSB and PNB member • Marnie Tattersall, KPFA LSB member • James Vann, affordable housing activist • Joe Wanzala, KPFA LSB member • LaVarn Williams, KPFA LSB and PNB member • Beth Youhn, Exec. Director, Women in the Trades