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Why Pacifica Needs New Bylaws – Part 2
We have a window of opportunity to come together to finally fix our governance.
Part 1 is at: https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2020-09-25/article/48734
It is understandable that as factionalized as Pacifica is there will be opposition to the new Bylaws.
When I first came to Pacifica I noticed that the Board was divided into factions. I accepted that that was the natural order of things, so I aligned with one of the factions. But I began to see things differently after I did a stint as the Secretary of the Pacifica National Board in 2017. Pacifica is not in danger of being hijacked by one faction or another. Pacifica has been hijacked by factionalism, and all sides are at fault. The dazzling lack of cooperation is crippling.
Each side thinks that everything will be fine once their side prevails. Each side is caught in an endless cycle of demonizing and distrusting the other. But the main problem is the current governance structure which creates and perpetuates factionalism.
However, many people understandably are against changing the Bylaws. They warn of coup, corporate takeover, turning Pacifica into NPR, etc.
Disinterested and knowledgeable third parties have been saying for years that Pacifica needs to change its governance and have made many constructive suggestions. New Day Pacifica (NDP) Bylaws incorporates many of these suggestions.
Carol Spooner, who was the co-author of the current Bylaws said, “The New Day Pacifica Bylaws will correct excesses of the present bylaws by reducing the size of the board, getting the Local Station Boards out of station management, and having direct elections of National Board Members, rather than our present, baroque two stage voting process.”
Many listeners also have asked "How would the NDP Bylaw Reforms help Pacifica financially?" Listeners, donors and philanthropists want to donate to help stable, viable organizations grow. Pacifica's Boards have a well-known history of being chaotic and unstable, so efforts to make Pacifica more stable will encourage donors to step up to the plate, as a recent development shows.
Jan Goodman, NDP activist and current Pacifica National Board (PNB) member, recently contacted Pacifica’s lender, FJC, to discuss the possibility of Pacifica dealing directly with FJC, rather than going through an expensive loan broker (costing Pacifica $100,000 or more) as had previously been done. Jan called FJC after 2 1/2 years of the PNB creating three committees to deal with the loan, with no actual action taken. The $3.2 million balloon payment was due to FJC next April, and we had no reserves to pay it, with KPFA, KPFK, and KPFT buildings on the line.
As a result of Jan's conversation with FJC, which included updates on Pacifica's making progress towards getting its audits more current (we just finished 2018) and that Pacifica membership is seriously considering bylaw reform, FJC was encouraged enough to offer to extend the entire loan to Pacifica for another year, without any additional costs to Pacifica.
In its letter to Pacifica, FJC explained their motivation: "We hope this potential one year extension will allow Pacifica to financially stabilize, reorganize its structure, as well as hire professional, experienced management, so that it can grow its listenership and thus its donor base... we look forward to working with your team, including Ms. Goodman, to facilitate this."
We have a window of opportunity. Our historical enmity might prevent us from seizing it, or we can come together to finally fix our governance.
Over 3,000 Listeners and Staff have endorsed the New Day Pacifica Bylaws. Join them by signing the petition at: http://www.newdaypacifica.org
It is understandable that as factionalized as Pacifica is there will be opposition to the new Bylaws.
When I first came to Pacifica I noticed that the Board was divided into factions. I accepted that that was the natural order of things, so I aligned with one of the factions. But I began to see things differently after I did a stint as the Secretary of the Pacifica National Board in 2017. Pacifica is not in danger of being hijacked by one faction or another. Pacifica has been hijacked by factionalism, and all sides are at fault. The dazzling lack of cooperation is crippling.
Each side thinks that everything will be fine once their side prevails. Each side is caught in an endless cycle of demonizing and distrusting the other. But the main problem is the current governance structure which creates and perpetuates factionalism.
However, many people understandably are against changing the Bylaws. They warn of coup, corporate takeover, turning Pacifica into NPR, etc.
Disinterested and knowledgeable third parties have been saying for years that Pacifica needs to change its governance and have made many constructive suggestions. New Day Pacifica (NDP) Bylaws incorporates many of these suggestions.
Carol Spooner, who was the co-author of the current Bylaws said, “The New Day Pacifica Bylaws will correct excesses of the present bylaws by reducing the size of the board, getting the Local Station Boards out of station management, and having direct elections of National Board Members, rather than our present, baroque two stage voting process.”
Many listeners also have asked "How would the NDP Bylaw Reforms help Pacifica financially?" Listeners, donors and philanthropists want to donate to help stable, viable organizations grow. Pacifica's Boards have a well-known history of being chaotic and unstable, so efforts to make Pacifica more stable will encourage donors to step up to the plate, as a recent development shows.
Jan Goodman, NDP activist and current Pacifica National Board (PNB) member, recently contacted Pacifica’s lender, FJC, to discuss the possibility of Pacifica dealing directly with FJC, rather than going through an expensive loan broker (costing Pacifica $100,000 or more) as had previously been done. Jan called FJC after 2 1/2 years of the PNB creating three committees to deal with the loan, with no actual action taken. The $3.2 million balloon payment was due to FJC next April, and we had no reserves to pay it, with KPFA, KPFK, and KPFT buildings on the line.
As a result of Jan's conversation with FJC, which included updates on Pacifica's making progress towards getting its audits more current (we just finished 2018) and that Pacifica membership is seriously considering bylaw reform, FJC was encouraged enough to offer to extend the entire loan to Pacifica for another year, without any additional costs to Pacifica.
In its letter to Pacifica, FJC explained their motivation: "We hope this potential one year extension will allow Pacifica to financially stabilize, reorganize its structure, as well as hire professional, experienced management, so that it can grow its listenership and thus its donor base... we look forward to working with your team, including Ms. Goodman, to facilitate this."
We have a window of opportunity. Our historical enmity might prevent us from seizing it, or we can come together to finally fix our governance.
Over 3,000 Listeners and Staff have endorsed the New Day Pacifica Bylaws. Join them by signing the petition at: http://www.newdaypacifica.org
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
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Goodman is also supporting the bylaws to corporatize the foundation and eliminate any real democracy governance.
Tanaka also supported the action of his ally Bill Crosier to call the police at KPFT Houston on the Black manager and Black staff. The racist actions by Crosier again shows the methods of these characters.
Their illegal actions to shutdown WBAI in the middle of their fund driver with the support and collusion of KFPA manager Quincy McCoy and Sabrina Jacobs again show the real methods and character of their plans to "reform" Pacifica. Whey Crosier was in charge of Pacifica and had the power he did not use it to solve the problems at Pacifica but destroy the network and attack the Black staff at KPFT.
Pacifica members should not sign their petition and if they have they should remove their names.
Why is democracy under attack at Pacifica and in the US? Is the NDP Petition a Solution or Part of the Problem?
Trick: In the case of the Bylaws petition to restructure Pacifica that is circulating, signing it is tantamount to signing away your rights to elected representation and abolishing collective control of the Foundation’s destiny by Pacifica members. NDP, having tried to scare people into eliminating democracy and diversity at Pacifica by raising the specter of the loan that got us out of a costly contract and larger debt, is now claiming to be Pacifica's savior by making an end run around Pacifica's management and democratically elected governance to solicit an offer from the lender to extend the loan. Don't buy their BS and don't sign their petition!
Democracy is not a formality: it's essential to the struggle for justice and peace! In this extraordinary time, reject elitism and opportunism and instead, fight for democracy in the country AND in Pacifica. Withhold your signature on the Pacifica Restructure Bylaws petition! If you already signed and wish to unsign, send an email so stating to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN PETITION
More info on NDP's bait and switch proposals below.
National Town Hall Meeting – Sat., Oct. 31, 3pm PT / 5pm CT / 6pm ET: Where Do We Go From Here? Protecting Democracy, Fighting Racism - featuring Pacifica programmers, producers, listeners and board members.
Treat: Weigh in with your participation.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtf-ysrTssH9LArX3A6axEUJjDyvOTivZt
More info below
let's stand togeher
Weigh-in for Pacifica democracy by not signing the "New Day Pacifica" petition.
Weigh-in for democracy in the US by fighting voter suppression or intimidation and coup attempts.
THE LOCK 'EM OUT ACTORS ARE BACK...WITH NOTHING NEW
Nothing new except their name, proclaiming a "New Day" for Pacifica. This same basic crew first proposed an "amicable divorce", breaking apart the network. Then they wanted bankruptcy and judicial control so as to pick up the pieces of what they'd break. Now they're trying--for the second time in a year--to take over and restructure Pacifica with another massive bylaws rewrite petition. The key thing that hasn't changed: their push to sell WBAI, located in the center of the commercial dial in New York City at 99.5 FM.
A year ago on October 7, 2019, the "Pacifica Restructuring Project" now known as "New Day Pacifica" supporters tried to take over WBAI and Pacifica by force. With an East-West 1...2 punch they physically and electronically seized WBAI and filed a bylaws lawsuit in the Alameda County courts where their KPFA base in Berkeley, CA is located.
A month later, a NY judge made them return WBAI's radio signal and we restored local programming.
Five months later, in a membership referendum vote ordered at their behest by the CA judge in the bylaws lawsuit (who has recently been reprimanded by California’s judicial disciplinary agency), we members rejected the faction's exclusionary bylaws proposal by 2-to-1. Yet the fingerprints of Bill Crosier and others who colluded in the illegal shutdown and takeover of WBAI, the stealth Bylaws lawsuit, and previous efforts to bankrupt or break up Pacifica are all over this new attempt.
station membership
Make sure you can register your preference, or at least voice your opposition, in Pacifica and in the US.
Create/Renew Your Station Membership Now: Only those who have contributed $25 or volunteered 3 hours in the 12 months before the record date in a Pacifica election or referendum, can vote. Stay current.
KPFA
KPFK
KPFT
WBAI
WPFW
And in the governmental elections, check your state’s registration and voting options including early voting:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/millennial-guide-to-voting_b_1897607
Make sure you haven't been purged from the polls in some voter-suppression scheme!
don't be tricked
Having to secretly use $80K from KPFA revenue that could have been spent on operations to defend their illegal seizure of WBAI, paying police-security guards, needless referendum expenses, hundreds of thousands lost in the interrupted WBAI fund drive ... doesn't seem to have mattered to them. But perhaps repeated referenda are their alternative route to bankruptcy?
Wasting our donations and disrespecting our earlier referendum decision, the 2019 "Pacifica Restructuring Project," re-invented as the 2020 "New Day Pacifica", are circulating another petition, seeking your support with appeals to fear.
Don't be tricked! They tweaked their undemocratic bylaws changes, but the results are the same. They switched their graphic from a drowning white hand to a multi-ethnic array of connecting arms, but the end result of their proposal will be to undercut Pacifica's capacity to amplify grassroots voices for racial and economic justice, or to provide cutting edge community solutions and creative expressions. They oppose democratic governance because it's an obstacle to their efforts to sanitize and gentrify Pacifica's airwaves.
They proclaim that Pacifica is on the edge of extinction and that the primary cause is its democratic governance system – even though where and when they've been in control, they put in managers who failed to welcome burgeoning new movements and communities to be part of Pacifica on both sides of the microphone, failed to form strategic partnerships with like-minded media, and failed to find new ways to deliver program content via multi-media and social media platforms.
"New Day" emails have been inaccurately suggesting that their proposed bylaw replacement is desperately needed and essential to prevent default.
That's not true.
And here’s their latest trick...
Ironically, Jan Goodman, part of the crew shouting that the sky was falling, made our case that the loan is not the problem that they've been claiming.
In a recent propaganda piece being used by NDP to convince members that addressing Pacifica's 2018 FJC loan requires approval of her group's latest bylaw replacement plans, she blends the FACT – that Pacifica has substantially improved its financial presentation and the latest audit is only a few months late, with both cost-cutting and fundraising work in progress – with the "New Day" FANTASY: that well-informed Pacificans would endorse a massive Bylaws rewrite this time around after rejecting more-or-less the same thing a few months ago.
Their latest proposal actually would do nothing to pay off the loan; instead it would:
Turn Local Station Boards into toothless "advisory" boards without a real governance role.
Install, with no opposing candidates, "New Day Pacifica" Foundation Officers who would remain in power until 2024 – 3 of the 4 belong to the same minority faction that illegally seized WBAI in October 2019. It's the kind of "election" Trump would love to run.
Change the national board composition to set up multiple winner-take-all votes that would limit diversity and eliminate minority-voice representation.
Decrease staff participation in governance and create a permanent, discriminatory wall between paid and unpaid staff who work side-by-side.
Cut station representation by 75% and representation of our 200 affiliate stations by 50%.
Create a national board majority to easily marginalize, remove, and handpick replacements for member-elected representatives.
Impose a hierarchical chain of command within management, and of management over staff, with little to no board oversight.
cancel my signature
UN-SIGNING THE PETITION
If you already signed the NDP petition, here's how to UN-SIGN... Send an email stating that you want your name removed from the petition to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN PETITION
duty of loyalty
Goodman's role and purpose is highly suspect:
She's a long-time Pacifica National Board (PNB) member who claimed to oppose the last Bylaws replacement just long enough to get re-elected to the PNB, and then did a 180 and backed the replacement Bylaws.
She is term-limited on the local and national board, but in their latest scenario, she would become national board vice-chair for 3 full years with no opposition allowed.
She was the originator of the 2017-2018 "Supporters Loan" aka “Bridge Loan” whose interest rates climbed and fees increased during the processing of the deal...even as the offered amount plummeted.
Her individualistic grandstanding with FJC supplanted the role of Pacifica's iED and attorney, and may have undercut their ability to get a better deal on extending the loan.
Do these actions uphold a Director's Duty of Loyalty and Duty of Care to Pacifica?
We cannot know what was actually said in her exchange with the lender, or what was implied.
Stay tuned for updates on pacificafightback.org.
PLEASE KNOW THIS:
Pacifica Fightback listeners and staff – on and off our local and national boards – are working together, despite other differences, in order to ensure that Pacifica remains intact as a network and truly member-accessible.
It is not an overstatement to say that Pacifica is important to humanity. We must renew our mission and our commitment to peace, justice and diversity, and remain democratic. The small "d" here is very deliberate.
PACIFICA FIGHTBACK TOWN HALL MEETING
National Virtual Town Hall - Sat. Oct. 31: Where Do We Go From Here, Pacifica? Preserving Democracy & Defeating Racism
Since the pandemic precludes door-to-door trick or treating, join us on Halloween, And there’s a treat waiting for you.
Join us in the work on the eve of the scariest governmental election in several generations, as Pacifica Fightback holds another virtual national town hall for listeners and staff, on the threats to democracy and racial justice within Pacifica as well as the larger society, and on visions for Pacifica's future.
Share this facebook event or the zoom registration info below: https://www.facebook.com/events/436401540656373
Register in advance for this zoom meeting that will take place on Saturday, October 31 at 3 PM Pacific / 5 PM Central / 6 PM Eastern Daylight Time:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtf-ysrTssH9LArX3A6axEUJjDyvOTivZt
Meeting ID: 840 8543 0656
Passcode: 689611
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,84085430656#,,,,,,0#,,689611# US US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,84085430656#,,,,,,0#,,689611# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/krIKj8rT4
See you then! Tell your friends to join us, and "DON'T SIGN the NDP petition!" If they already signed it, please share how to UN-SIGN:
Send an email stating that you want your name removed from the petition to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN
Why is democracy under attack at Pacifica and in the US? Is the NDP Petition a Solution or Part of the Problem?
Trick: In the case of the Bylaws petition to restructure Pacifica that is circulating, signing it is tantamount to signing away your rights to elected representation and abolishing collective control of the Foundation’s destiny by Pacifica members. NDP, having tried to scare people into eliminating democracy and diversity at Pacifica by raising the specter of the loan that got us out of a costly contract and larger debt, is now claiming to be Pacifica's savior by making an end run around Pacifica's management and democratically elected governance to solicit an offer from the lender to extend the loan. Don't buy their BS and don't sign their petition!
This communication has not been paid for by the WBAI LSB or the Pacifica Foundation. It is a campaign communication distributed by or on behalf of Pacifica Fightback for Democracy. Otherwise, it has no affiliation with or endorsement by the WBAI LSB or the Pacifica Foundation. Please note that you are receiving this email because you are on the WBAI membership list.
Democracy is not a formality: it's essential to the struggle for justice and peace! In this extraordinary time, reject elitism and opportunism and instead, fight for democracy in the country AND in Pacifica. Withhold your signature on the Pacifica Restructure Bylaws petition! If you already signed and wish to unsign, send an email so stating to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN PETITION
More info on NDP's bait and switch proposals below.
National Town Hall Meeting – Sat., Oct. 31, 3pm PT / 5pm CT / 6pm ET: Where Do We Go From Here? Protecting Democracy, Fighting Racism - featuring Pacifica programmers, producers, listeners and board members.
Treat: Weigh in with your participation.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtf-ysrTssH9LArX3A6axEUJjDyvOTivZt
More info below
let's stand togeher
Weigh-in for Pacifica democracy by not signing the "New Day Pacifica" petition.
Weigh-in for democracy in the US by fighting voter suppression or intimidation and coup attempts.
THE LOCK 'EM OUT ACTORS ARE BACK...WITH NOTHING NEW
Nothing new except their name, proclaiming a "New Day" for Pacifica. This same basic crew first proposed an "amicable divorce", breaking apart the network. Then they wanted bankruptcy and judicial control so as to pick up the pieces of what they'd break. Now they're trying--for the second time in a year--to take over and restructure Pacifica with another massive bylaws rewrite petition. The key thing that hasn't changed: their push to sell WBAI, located in the center of the commercial dial in New York City at 99.5 FM.
A year ago on October 7, 2019, the "Pacifica Restructuring Project" now known as "New Day Pacifica" supporters tried to take over WBAI and Pacifica by force. With an East-West 1...2 punch they physically and electronically seized WBAI and filed a bylaws lawsuit in the Alameda County courts where their KPFA base in Berkeley, CA is located.
A month later, a NY judge made them return WBAI's radio signal and we restored local programming.
Five months later, in a membership referendum vote ordered at their behest by the CA judge in the bylaws lawsuit (who has recently been reprimanded by California’s judicial disciplinary agency), we members rejected the faction's exclusionary bylaws proposal by 2-to-1. Yet the fingerprints of Bill Crosier and others who colluded in the illegal shutdown and takeover of WBAI, the stealth Bylaws lawsuit, and previous efforts to bankrupt or break up Pacifica are all over this new attempt.
station membership
Make sure you can register your preference, or at least voice your opposition, in Pacifica and in the US.
Create/Renew Your Station Membership Now: Only those who have contributed $25 or volunteered 3 hours in the 12 months before the record date in a Pacifica election or referendum, can vote. Stay current.
KPFA
KPFK
KPFT
WBAI
WPFW
And in the governmental elections, check your state’s registration and voting options including early voting:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/millennial-guide-to-voting_b_1897607
Make sure you haven't been purged from the polls in some voter-suppression scheme!
don't be tricked
Having to secretly use $80K from KPFA revenue that could have been spent on operations to defend their illegal seizure of WBAI, paying police-security guards, needless referendum expenses, hundreds of thousands lost in the interrupted WBAI fund drive ... doesn't seem to have mattered to them. But perhaps repeated referenda are their alternative route to bankruptcy?
Wasting our donations and disrespecting our earlier referendum decision, the 2019 "Pacifica Restructuring Project," re-invented as the 2020 "New Day Pacifica", are circulating another petition, seeking your support with appeals to fear.
Don't be tricked! They tweaked their undemocratic bylaws changes, but the results are the same. They switched their graphic from a drowning white hand to a multi-ethnic array of connecting arms, but the end result of their proposal will be to undercut Pacifica's capacity to amplify grassroots voices for racial and economic justice, or to provide cutting edge community solutions and creative expressions. They oppose democratic governance because it's an obstacle to their efforts to sanitize and gentrify Pacifica's airwaves.
They proclaim that Pacifica is on the edge of extinction and that the primary cause is its democratic governance system – even though where and when they've been in control, they put in managers who failed to welcome burgeoning new movements and communities to be part of Pacifica on both sides of the microphone, failed to form strategic partnerships with like-minded media, and failed to find new ways to deliver program content via multi-media and social media platforms.
"New Day" emails have been inaccurately suggesting that their proposed bylaw replacement is desperately needed and essential to prevent default.
That's not true.
And here’s their latest trick...
Ironically, Jan Goodman, part of the crew shouting that the sky was falling, made our case that the loan is not the problem that they've been claiming.
In a recent propaganda piece being used by NDP to convince members that addressing Pacifica's 2018 FJC loan requires approval of her group's latest bylaw replacement plans, she blends the FACT – that Pacifica has substantially improved its financial presentation and the latest audit is only a few months late, with both cost-cutting and fundraising work in progress – with the "New Day" FANTASY: that well-informed Pacificans would endorse a massive Bylaws rewrite this time around after rejecting more-or-less the same thing a few months ago.
Their latest proposal actually would do nothing to pay off the loan; instead it would:
Turn Local Station Boards into toothless "advisory" boards without a real governance role.
Install, with no opposing candidates, "New Day Pacifica" Foundation Officers who would remain in power until 2024 – 3 of the 4 belong to the same minority faction that illegally seized WBAI in October 2019. It's the kind of "election" Trump would love to run.
Change the national board composition to set up multiple winner-take-all votes that would limit diversity and eliminate minority-voice representation.
Decrease staff participation in governance and create a permanent, discriminatory wall between paid and unpaid staff who work side-by-side.
Cut station representation by 75% and representation of our 200 affiliate stations by 50%.
Create a national board majority to easily marginalize, remove, and handpick replacements for member-elected representatives.
Impose a hierarchical chain of command within management, and of management over staff, with little to no board oversight.
cancel my signature
UN-SIGNING THE PETITION
If you already signed the NDP petition, here's how to UN-SIGN... Send an email stating that you want your name removed from the petition to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN PETITION
duty of loyalty
Goodman's role and purpose is highly suspect:
She's a long-time Pacifica National Board (PNB) member who claimed to oppose the last Bylaws replacement just long enough to get re-elected to the PNB, and then did a 180 and backed the replacement Bylaws.
She is term-limited on the local and national board, but in their latest scenario, she would become national board vice-chair for 3 full years with no opposition allowed.
She was the originator of the 2017-2018 "Supporters Loan" aka “Bridge Loan” whose interest rates climbed and fees increased during the processing of the deal...even as the offered amount plummeted.
Her individualistic grandstanding with FJC supplanted the role of Pacifica's iED and attorney, and may have undercut their ability to get a better deal on extending the loan.
Do these actions uphold a Director's Duty of Loyalty and Duty of Care to Pacifica?
We cannot know what was actually said in her exchange with the lender, or what was implied.
Stay tuned for updates on pacificafightback.org.
PLEASE KNOW THIS:
Pacifica Fightback listeners and staff – on and off our local and national boards – are working together, despite other differences, in order to ensure that Pacifica remains intact as a network and truly member-accessible.
It is not an overstatement to say that Pacifica is important to humanity. We must renew our mission and our commitment to peace, justice and diversity, and remain democratic. The small "d" here is very deliberate.
PACIFICA FIGHTBACK TOWN HALL MEETING
National Virtual Town Hall - Sat. Oct. 31: Where Do We Go From Here, Pacifica? Preserving Democracy & Defeating Racism
Since the pandemic precludes door-to-door trick or treating, join us on Halloween, And there’s a treat waiting for you.
Join us in the work on the eve of the scariest governmental election in several generations, as Pacifica Fightback holds another virtual national town hall for listeners and staff, on the threats to democracy and racial justice within Pacifica as well as the larger society, and on visions for Pacifica's future.
Share this facebook event or the zoom registration info below: https://www.facebook.com/events/436401540656373
Register in advance for this zoom meeting that will take place on Saturday, October 31 at 3 PM Pacific / 5 PM Central / 6 PM Eastern Daylight Time:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtf-ysrTssH9LArX3A6axEUJjDyvOTivZt
Meeting ID: 840 8543 0656
Passcode: 689611
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,84085430656#,,,,,,0#,,689611# US US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,84085430656#,,,,,,0#,,689611# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/krIKj8rT4
See you then! Tell your friends to join us, and "DON'T SIGN the NDP petition!" If they already signed it, please share how to UN-SIGN:
Send an email stating that you want your name removed from the petition to: New Day: info [at] newdaypacifica.org, National Election Supervisor: nes [at] pacifica.org, and CC us: pacificafightback [at] gmail.com
UN-SIGN
It could be that group of people are just trying to hold on to their position of power and influence even though Pacifica has a dysfunctional governance.
It could be that Jan and others are just trying to help fix the dysfunctional governance structure.
Which sounds more plausible?
Following is from the last meeting on 10/22/20.
https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/pnb201022/pnb201022b.mp3
She is using this cheap and pathetic political ploy to say that she is now "saving" Pacifica and telling Pacifica members to sign the corporate bylaw petitions.
KPFA manager Quincy McCoy with the support of Tanaka and others in the past have told the staff, listeners and supporters of Pacifica that if Pacifica did not declare voluntary bankruptcy it would have to liquidate and KPFA would have to shut down.
This was also the line of his fellow supporters on the KPFA LSB and KPFA's manager Quincy McCoy. This is the same Quincy McCoy who sent $80,000 to lawyers in NY with the support of Tanaka and the rest of his supporters on the board to keep WBAI shutdown.
Now Jan Goodman is saying she can get the loan extended putting off the financial crisis a year.
As Tanaka and everyone else knows yelling fire every time you want something done has now backfired.
They lied to KPFA members and listeners since after losing the fight for voluntary bankruptcy the Foundation received a loan and also cut it's expenses. This was by a new majority on the Pacifica Board that they now want to overthrow.
]
Now for the second time within a year they want to have another corporate bylaw election scheme which would take away the power of the members of KPFA and Pacifica in governance and hand it over to their "professionals" like Vernile and Quincy who fortunately botched an illegal attempt to shut down WBAI.
Their desperation is giving away their real intentions which is to destroy Pacifica and sell off the stations to supposedly solve the financial situation. This is what Tanaka and the Save KPFA lawyers argued for years at KPFA LSB meetings.
At KPFK and KPFA the membership and listeners are going down with the present strip programming that management and Tanaka are pushing.
The same management that Tanaka supports has removed local programming and shows without consulting the programmers or board but that is the kind of top down corporate management that Tanaka wants and supports.
In fact at KPFK there has been a precipitous drop in fund raising. This is with the KPFA news and other KPFA content on their station instead of local programming.
Their manager improperly blamed the financial crisis on Pacifica governance and called for listeners to sign their petition. This is a complete lie by the manager to save his own job.
There is a pattern here. They can't increase the listeners with their management and they blame the Pacifica Foundation for their own financial crisis. That is the what Tanaka and his supporters continue to do in response to this crisis.
Carol Spooner, the co-author of the current Bylaws, acknowledges the shortcomings of the current Bylaws.
She says, “The New Day Pacifica Bylaws will correct excesses of the present bylaws by reducing the size of the board, getting the Local Station Boards out of station management, and having direct elections of National Board Members, rather than our present, baroque two stage voting process.”
Here are the significant changes:
Lowers the standard for future membership petitions to change the bylaws to the signatures of 1% of the members, currently 500-600 people. This allows a small group to force a six figure outlay of charitable donations to entertain their ideas. Pacifica recently changed this bylaws clause to require 5% of the membership to sign on, so that the Foundation does not waste money on referendums that have no chance of passage. By changing it back, the New Day proponents suggest that further amendments are likely in the offing if these new bylaws are adopted. Pacifica has already lost $150,000 to their new bylaws proposals this year, with another $100,000 to come if this new “New Day” bylaws referendum is forced.
A new 15 member Pacifica National Board is 1/5 self appointed, with 4 nationally-elected officers, 3 self-appointed members, 1 national paid staff rep (representing 100 people), 1 national unpaid staff rep (representing 1,000 people), 1 affiliate rep (representing a portion of the 220 affiliates), and 1 elected rep for each station (giving each station 1/15 of the board to represent local interests). This is a cut of 60% of current staff representation, 10x greater influence for each member of the paid staff over each member of the unpaid staff, a 50% cut in affiliate representation, and a 75% cut in each station’s local representation on the national board. It ups the membership requirements for elected members of the national board to 2 years of current uninterrupted membership, making it more difficult for new faces to participate in Pacifica governance.
Sole station-elected directors are supposed to serve on *every* PNB committee, although nonprofit law disallows directors from serving at the same time on finance and audit committees. Station directors can nominally select someone to serve in their stead, but the national board can stop them from doing so by a 2/3 vote. This suggests that some stations may see their station representatives barred from crucial national board committees. No locally-elected director can ever be an officer of the national board.
Affiliates must join a new “Association of Affiliates” 501c3 organization. LPFM and small stations that do not pay annual fees to rebroadcast Pacifica programs are not members of the Pacifica Affiliates for the purpose of participation in governance.
Right of membership recall of elected representatives is eliminated. Only the boards can remove their own members, and should they do so, they can replace the removed members with anyone they choose to serve out the duration of a 3 year term. .
Local Station boards are transformed into Community Advisory Boards. Removes delegates from governance, and any local oversight of station budgets and management personnel. LSB (now CAB) officers directly elected are a chair, vice chair, secretary, membership coordinator and fundraising coordinator and 1 paid and 1 unpaid staff representative. These 7 people can appoint up to 6 other people or 45% of the new local boards. The five elected CAB members are a chair, vice chair, secretary, membership/fundraising coordinator and community outreach coordinator. The last two positions (membership/fundraising coordinator and community outreach coordinator) would likely cause this body to be ineligible as a CAB. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting requires that a CAB not play any role in station operations. Membership coordination, fundraising and arguably, community outreach are all a part of a station’s operations.
Removes local board review of whether “station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming”. This is replaced with administering a survey that is written by the executive director, which removes independence from the CAB’s survey activities and probably violates CPB rules.
Removes local board review of staff diversity and workplace discrimination issues; “To ensure that the station works diligently towards the goal of diversity in staffing at all levels and maintenance of a discrimination-free atmosphere in the workplace” and replaces it with a Committee of Inclusion which is granted the authority to “implement specific measures to improve the status of under-represented communities in their respective radio station areas”. Again, the CPB requires that CAB’s not participate in station operations so a CAB cannot “implement specific measures”.
A non-compliant CAB, as projected by these New Day bylaws, would likely prevent Pacifica from receiving Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant funding in the future.
Local and national boards removed from any input into the selection of station general managers. All general manager hiring, evaluation and termination is the sole unilateral perogative of the executive director of the Foundation.
Listener democracy suspended for 3 years. For the first three years, the officers of the new national board would be 4 specific people, two incumbent directors (Jan Goodman KPFK, Lynden Foley KPFT), one retired director (Akio Tanaka KPFA) and one publisher of an LA online blog (Sharon Kyle KPFK). Not s single officer representing the entire eastern half of the United States. These 4 would be the officers through 2023, with the power to select 3 additional at-large directors. No change in board officers could occur until 2024. The chosen 4 would be joined by station representative directors appointed by the current LSB’s, half of whose terms expire in 2021 and the rest which expire in 2022. Only the staff and dues paying affiliates would be permitted to choose their national representatives for the 2021-2023 period, representing only 3 members on a 15-person board of directors.
Pacifica would administer 41 different elections every 3 years. The New Day bylaws call for 7 distinct elections at all 5 stations for meaningless local positions, and 6 distinct national elections for national officer and staff positions. This would require 15 different ballot layouts (an increase of 50%), 18 distinct voter lists (an increase of 80%), and 41 distinct voting tallies (an increase of over 400%). This would greatly increase election costs, probably more than doubling them due to the increased administrative load.
Each election would be for a single position (including 35 local ones with no actual power to do anything) and would be strict majority rule requiring a majority of all votes cast. This makes it difficult for minority demographics or viewpoints to obtain any of the seats and given the current profile of Pacifica’s membership as overwhelmingly white, would likely lead to decreased diversity on the boards. Less arguments, to be sure, but at the cost of a full range of ideas, vigorous representation of minority interests, diversity and innovation.
For all of these reasons, Pacifica members should not sign the New Day petition and wait for a better bylaws amendment proposal on the 2021 ballot that will respect full democratic participation.
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/28/18837094.php#18837131
Information about the New Day Pacifica Bylaws:
https://newdaypacifica.org
"How could Pacifica ever be racist? It's against the Mission!" Folks who find this hard to fathom--or not--please come to Pacifica Fight Back's National Town Hall on Halloween, Saturday October 31, 2020 at 3pm PT. Speakers will include Dr. Brandon Mack and Kandice Webber, leaders of Black Lives Matter Houston, Dr. Johanna Fernandez of WBAI in NYC (author of "The Young Lords"), as well as local and national board members! For more info, and to Register, click here: https://pacificafightback.org/protecting-democracy-fighting-racism-town-hall-on-halloween-10-31-3p-pdt/ If you miss it, the Town Hall will be archived.
This letter is a response to Akio Tanaka's articles. (If "New Day Pacifica's" bylaws prevail, Mr. Tanaka will be their appointed Secretary of the National Board until 2024.) I'm a member of Pacifica Fight Back, but I'm writing as an individual.
I am very leery of Democrats. My grandfather died in a US concentration camp during World War II, in Poston, Arizona. Two-thirds of the 120,000 Japanese Americans thrown into prison camps, including my parents, were US citizens. Almost everyone knows that the President who signed Executive Order 9066 that imprisoned thousands without hearing or trial was a liberal Democrat, kind of like Bernie Sanders.
So when I see the Democratic Party in northern and southern California mobilizing to restructure Pacifica Radio, it gives me pause.
In case you didn't know, the Chair of Pacifica's "New Day" will be Sharon Kyle, the Los Angeles Democratic Party's "Woman of the Year." The Vice-Chair will be Jan Goodman, who is the Vice President of Americans for Democratic Action of Southern California. And the well-heeled Wellstone Democrats just endorsed the "New Day," urging their comfortable constituency to sign the "New Day" petition. And to join Pacifica en masse. (If you are a member and if there is a referendum, you can vote "Yes" or "No" for "New Day" bylaws.)
Mr. Tanaka is the token Green among the four unelected Officers. Think about the power of the Green Party compared to the Democratic Party. Mr. Tanaka would be the Pacifica Foundation Secretary, taking notes and calling the roll.
But right now, everyone is scared. Everyone is scared of Trump, the way everyone was scared of Hitler in World War II. So scared that only one chapter of the ACLU opposed putting Japanese Americans in concentration camps. People had to "unite" against the bigger threat. So they were silent.
Democrats were silent about the Japanese Americans.
Just like Jan Goodman is silent about the Palestinians. And Mt. Rushmore. And Venezuela.
I wrote and asked Jan Goodman. Twice. Because I couldn't see any reference to Palestine on her facebook page. And I like to know what my unelected leaders have to say about the rights of Indigenous peoples to their own land.
Goodman is a "New Day" shero right now. The Pacifica National Board (PNB) censured her for pulling a fast one and having her own personal meeting with FJC (Foundation for the Jewish Community), the lender of "the loan." The scary $3.2M loan that is due in April '21 and will most likely be extended for a year. According to Goodman, it was the promise of the "New Day" that did the trick. Not the actual accomplishments of the present day interim Executive Director, Lydia Brazon who is serving without pay. (See the "Good News" here:
https://www.pacifica.org/good_news_200824.php )
Yes, Jan Goodman--a woman of white privilege--refused to say what she thinks about Palestine. Please do your homework and see who else FJC, based in NYC, gives money to. My sources tell me the list includes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF), both 501(c)(3) organizations to which donations are tax-deductible.
Ready to UN-sign the "New Day" petition, if you have? Un-sign here: https://pacificafightback.org/how-to-un-sign-the-newday-petition/
"Oh, but 'New Day' progressives believe in Diversity and Freedom of Speech!"
Unless you have followed all five Pacifica stations for years you probably don't know about all the radical BIPOC programmers and managers who have been purged from Pacifica airwaves---in the name of money.
THE COUP: MUTED MICS & A NO-KNOCK RAID
But wait, you only have to look back one year, to the "Coup" at WBAI/NYC in October, 2019. Is anyone out there so naive that they actually believe that "New Day" is a new group that disapproves of the Coup? Back in September 2019, Carol Spooner of the Pacifica Restructure Project (PRP), which was reincarnated as "New Day Pacifica" (NDP), sent out an e-blast for which the subject line was "A New Day Is Coming For Pacifica!". These lovers of democracy--a minority faction on the PNB---literally muted the mics of WBAI Directors on the Pacifica National Board and said they could not vote on WBAI's future because it was a "conflict of interest." (On that basis, your Congressperson could never vote on legislation affecting your community!) Then they invaded WBAI, fired and locked out the entire staff, and piped in programming from KPFA/Berkeley.
A New York judge forced them to give the station back.
(Btw, in case "New Day" didn't tell you, it costs a lot of money to steal a station in the middle of its fund drive. Like, 200+ grand in lost WBAI revenues. Plus rent-a-cops, plus Wall Street lawyers, flying in co-conspirator Directors, etc.)
Next, members of Pacifica rejected their last set of bylaws revisions 2 to 1. "That wasn't us!" they cry. Please, do your homework and look up the names and faces. It's almost laughable. Jan Goodman was mum, too, when I asked if she supported the WBAI coup.
Now "New Day" has KPFA Berkeley and KPFK LA listeners and staff scared about losing their buildings. Scared about losing a few programmers because of "the loan." Even after Jan Goodman thinks she saved the day, "New Day" is relentless.
Billie Holiday sang, "Love will make you do things that you know is wrong."
Fear is like that. U.S. Americans are ready to give up democracy thanks to fear. Are you ready to give away Pacifica?
I have to admit. The "New Day" minority faction is pretty clever. I had to ask someone how "Instant Run-Off Voting" (IRV) is different from "Proportional Representation," the system we now use to elect our Local Station Boards. Here's the TRICK: With IRV, low vote getters are bumped off repeatedly until someone gets a MAJORITY. "New Day" will run all Director elections as single seat elections. Good for whoever controls the majority.
Not so good for underserved, underrepresented communities, a.k.a. "minorities." See FairVote's article, "Instant Runoff Voting: No Substitute for Proportional Representation"
https://www.fairvote.org/instant_runoff_voting_no_substitute_for_pr
IMAGINE...
It's 2024. Members finally get to vote for Pacifica's four Officers, our one station director (1 seat on a 15 seat PNB), and our now-toothless Local Station Boards. YAY! But, the machine-organized, well-heeled Democrats of northern and southern California have recruited more members and they will all vote for "New Day" candidates. Remember: each station Director would be elected in a separate IRV ballot, so the majority faction will capture EVERY seat. Too bad for you radicals, you minorities.
"But it's for your own good! No more factions!"
It's 2024. Somehow a minority faction that failed to pull off an armed invasion of a sister station (yes, they invaded WBAI with armed guards) has called in the Democratic Party and seized power "democratically." So they had a three year head start, with their four unelected Officers.
So what?
Now they can easily change the bylaws and instead of invading WBAI they simply sell it. Or change the bylaws and accept corporate money.
Is that a Doomsday scenario? The "New Day" faction that controls the Local Station Board (LSB) at KPFA scapegoated WBAI---even though KPFA had failed to pay its own property taxes for six years in a row, risking seizure by the state. (One might wonder why this went undetected for so long.) The "New Day" faction that controls the KPFT LSB (with its Pacifica Treasurer-in-waiting Lynden Foley) has never been able to raise enough money or members at the Houston station. And now the General Manager of KPFK, unable to rein in out-of-control expenses, is scaring listeners with "the loan" and urging members to support "New Day." Apparently hoping not to become targets themselves, 4 of the 5 station General Managers signed a letter supporting the Coup at WBAI.
BIPOC VOICES MATTER--OR DO THEY?
"Oh, but that's just board stuff. I hear lots of radicals and people of color and underrepresented communities on my station!"
Do you? You KPFA and KPFK listeners, do you know that 75% of youth in California are BIPOC? And that, nationally, over 50% of elementary students are now BIPOC? 75% is 18 hours a day.
Did you look at one of the big backers of "New Day" at KPFK? Roy of Hollywood. He's a white guy who has _20 hours_ a week to himself. LA is over 50% Latinx/Chicanx/Indigenous. But Spanish language programmers have to fight constantly for air time. And Spanish language programmers get even less at other stations. The Bay area is 15% Latinx (15% is 3.6 hours a day), but KPFA doesn't even play Informativo Pacifica, a top notch Spanish language news program produced at KPFK. Ditto for WBAI/NYC, which is 29% Latinx. KPFA does have an Asian show---in a listening area that is _38%_ Asian/Pacific Islander.
But there's no provision for affirmative action in the "New Day."
And there's another shameful story about "New Day" actions at KPFT Houston, where Pacifica croons Country and Western in the heartland of immigrant suffering. Racism runs longer and deeper than the Rio Grande in the Lone Star State.
If you care about real democracy on airwaves that belong to the people---who are the real "heart and soul" of Pacifica (not Jan Goodman), please check out our Town Hall on Halloween. And tell "New Day" to take off their masks. Register here: https://pacificafightback.org/protecting-democracy-fighting-racism-town-hall-on-halloween-10-31-3p-pdt/
Stay safe, save democracy.
Sheila Hamanaka
Listener-member, WBAI 99.5fm NYC