Pacifica National Board Overturns Rigged KPFA PNB Election & Slaps Down "Save KPFA" &"UCR"

The Pacifica National Board by a large vote overturned the KPFA Local Station Board vote for a new LSB member Susan da Silva and also their effort to place her on the PNB even though she was not eligible.
Both the "Save KPFA" and "United For Community Radio UCR" grouping publicly conspired to manipulate the election and also to place a new member on the KFPA LSB without going back to the last election list. This slap down of the KPFA LSB majority is an indication that their flagrant grab for total power has backfired and exposed their tactics to people throughout the Pacifica network.

This is the motion that passed at the meeting and also the audio from the meeting which includes the arguments for and against the resolution.

Motion regarding the KPFA Delegate replacement and PNB Listener Directors election – by Alex Steinberg

Resolved that the PNB does not recognize the process (or lack thereof) used on Saturday, January 6, 2018 for appointing Susan da Silva to a KPFA Listener seat vacated by Yuri Gottesman and considers the seat vacant.
(KPFA followed the Pacifica Bylaws in conducting the 2018 Directors Election. If there were infractions, the maker of the motion should cite the Bylaws sections where the election was not in compliance.)

Be it also resolved that the KPFA LSB shall contact candidates on the recount runners up list, including the write-in candidates, to find the first one who is available and willing to serve and seat that individual.
(At the November 2017 KPFA LSB meeting, a motion to use the recount results for filing Delegate seats was defeated. The filling of Delegate vacancy on January 6, 2018 followed the resolutions that were in place.)

Be it further resolved that if no runner up candidates are available, a call should go out to the KPFA membership on KPFA’s website and on the air inviting listener members to apply for the vacancy and giving a deadline, that the applicants shall be interviewed by the Delegates at an LSB meeting, and the LSB shall conduct an IRV vote to determine the winner of the seat.
(Bylaws states that " ..the Delegates for that radio station shall appoint a Member of the appropriate class to serve as Delegate and fill the seat for the remainder of the term."
- Yuri Gottesman resigned on December 26, 2017. On December 30, 2017, KPFA LSB Secretary sent out the Agenda for the January 6, 2018 KPFA LSB meeting, which noticed an Item 9: “Appointment to fill vacancy for Yuri Gottesman’s seat on the KPFA LSB. “ At the January 6 meeting, the Chair asked for nominations to fill Yuri’s seat. One candidate was nominated, Susan da Silva. The body then appointed her to fill the vacancy. The appointment procedure complies with the Bylaws.)

Furthermore, given that KPFA has four current Directors on the PNB until January 25, 2018 when the 2018 PNB is seated, and given that all Delegates who were elected in the KPFA Directors elections on January 6, 2018 are actually Directors-elect and become full-fledged Directors on January 25, 2018 when they are seated, when Bill Campisi “resigned” immediately following the announcement of the results of the Listener Directors election he was not actually resigning as a Director for which Article 5, Section 8 of the bylaws would apply but rather he was withdrawing his acceptance as a Director-elect for which a Director replacement election per the above bylaw would be out of order. Therefore be it resolved that the third KPFA Listener Director-elect position goes to the fourth place candidate Tom Voorhees who shall be seated on the 2018 PNB on January 25, 2018.
(The Bylaws says that Delegate vacancy shall be replaced by a runner up, whereas Director vacancy shall be filled by the vote of the Directors.
The reason for the difference is logical: reconvening the Delegate Electors (the listeners) is difficult, whereas reconvening the Director Electors (the Delegates) is not difficult.
Although the Bylaws does not address the replacement of Director-elect, it makes more sense to follow the process for replacing a seated Director, rather than using the process for replacing a seated Delegate, especially since the Director Electors (the Delegates) were already assembled at the meeting.)
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Effect of Alex Steinberg’s Motion.
The will of the KPFA LSB was to elect Carole Travis, Chris Cory, and Susan da Silva to the PNB Board.
To accommodate Janet Kobren’s objection, another provision of the Bylaws was followed, even though it turned out that Janet’ Kobren’s objection, that Susan da Silva was not eligible to run, was incorrect.
Alex Steinberg’s motion is using the extra step that was taken, to seat a candidate who was not elected to the Board.
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Following are the chronology of the election and the pertinent Bylaws.
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The Chronology:
- Yuri Gottesman resigned from LSB on a December 26, 2017. January LSB agenda was sent out on December 30, noticing the opening in the LSB.
- At the January 6, 2018 KPFA LSB meeting, there was call for nominations for the open seat. Susan da Silva was the only nominee and she was appointed by the LSB to be a Delegate to replace Yuri Gottesman.
- Susan da Silva's name was entered for the 2018 Directors election. She had previously served on the LSB.
- Delegate Janet Kobren, citing Article Five, Section 3, objected that Susan was not eligible for the new Directors election since she was not an LSB member before the December 31 deadline for nominations.
- It turns out that, Janet Kobren’s objection was incorrect. Votes can be cast for any person who is eligible for election, even if person has not been nominated.
- Susan da Silva could have run; however, since no one was versed enough to challenge Janet Kobren's objection, the Delegate Assembly followed the provision of Article Five, Section 8.
- Four candidates run for the Listener Director positions: Carole Travis, Chris Corey, Tom Voorhees, and Bill Campisi.
- The Delegate Assembly elected three new Listener Directors: Chris Corey, Carole Travis, and Bill Campisi. Tom Voorhees was not elected.
- After the election results were announced, Bill Campisi vacated his position as Director-elect.
- Susan da Silva and Tom Voorhees were nominated to fill the vacancy.
- The Delegate Assembly elected Susan da Silva to fill the vacancy.
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The Bylaws:

- Article Five, Section 3: A. Nomination: "Any current Delegate of any class of Members may nominate any other current Delegate of any class of Members serving the same radio station for the office of Director, provided that the nominee has served at least one year as a Delegate for that radio station. Said nominations shall be given in writing to the Recording Secretary for the radio station Local Station Board ("LSB") by December 31 prior to the election of Directors in January.",

- Article Five, Section 8: Filling Vacancies on the Board: "If a Director's seat previously held by a "Station Representative" Director becomes vacant for any reason, that seat shall be immediately filled for the remainder of the term by a Director elected by the Delegates from that radio station."