Report On The Rigging Of An Election At KPFA, KPFK and the Pacifica Network

Report On The Rigging Of An Election At KPFA, KPFK and the Pacifica Network

Friday Oct 2, 2026 10am pst/12pm cst/1pm est
 You can register for this event at here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/z9q3F3wERgiHJkgud8VIyQo


Litigation Initiated Against Unfair Pacifica Election Process

A legal process was begun this week against the just-concluded Pacifica elections for national and local board members under the new, improperly-imposed Bylaws. A motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent the certification of the election results, citing irreparable harm if the process proceeds, was denied by a judge in L.A. Superior Court. However, the underlying legal challenge, seeking an “order to show cause” and demand for documentation, as well as the preservation of all records related to disqualifications, the nominations process, and the apparent purging of the voter roles, still remains to be adjudicated.
The record of unfair and unfounded disqualifications is disturbing. This includes the removal from the ballot of the Pacifica Mission Coalition candidate for secretary of the Pacifica National Board (PNB) for speaking at a non-Pacifica protest outside Oracle over the proposed techno-fascist media monopolization in the Paramount/Skydance takeover of Warner Bros./Discovery. She was disqualified for not preventing another speaker, not a candidate, from criticizing Pacifica programming (as was the PMC candidate for chair of the KPFA Local Station Board [LSB]).
The Pacifica Mission Coalition candidate for treasurer of the PNB, Kamau Harris, a former member of the Pacifica National Finance Committee and chair of the WPFW LSB, was also  disqualified. The pretext in that case was that did not silence a listener caller on a “talkback” show he hosted on WPFW as chair of the LSB.
The confusing and disorganized nominations process resulted in no candidate being recognized for the position of listener representative on the PNB from either of the two east coast stations, WPFW or WBAI. The PNB intends to name a “listener rep” for those two stations.
The Pacifica Mission Coalition listener rep candidate from KPFK, former station interim General Manager Michael Novick (also a former LSB chair and treasurer, and a former member of the PNB and the national finance committee) was also disqualified in the middle of the election, with the votes he had amassed being discounted.
 
On the other hand, repeated violations by the dominant New Day Pacifica faction were repeatedly ignored by the national election supervisor, including a post card supporting its candidates that improperly bore the return address of the Pacifica Foundation Inc. Campaign violations against the New Day candidate for staff rep on the PNB, and the New Day candidate for chair of the KPFK LSB were also discounted. Listener candidates were prohibited from being on air, and staff were enjoined from airing them, but the chair candidate running for a listener-only position was repeatedly on-air and praised for his role as LSB chair by the host; and the producer and co-host who was supposed to prevent such occurrences allowed them to take place; both clear violations of the “fair campaign practices” that were simply ignored.
Another post card from the well-financed dominant faction was sent using the non-profit postal imprint of another non-profit, a clear violation of US postal regulations, that also resulted in no sanctions by the elections supervisor. Violations of the requirements for a prominent disclaimer by New Day leader Jan Goodman both on facebook posts and on an endorsement she posted to the LA Progressive were also left unenforced. Yet Novick was taken off the ballot for a YouTube video that did not have a disclaimer when watched, even though the PMC YouTube channel on which it was posted had clear, full-text disclaimers in several places and the name of the YouTube channel was “Pacifica Mission Coalition not an official Pacifica chan”.
 
The plaintiffs, including a number of the disqualified candidates and Alex Steinberg, a former member of the Pacifica National Board who was suspended over his objections to the improper Bylaws change, intend to pursue the legal challenge despite the setback of the request for a “temporary restraining order” TRO being denied. In the absence of the TRO, the national election supervisor is scheduled to certify the election results by October 15, although there is an additional controversy over the needed quorum. She is claiming 10% is sufficient; but the replacement Bylaws still clearly state that elections open only to the staff (which the staff seats on the PNB and LSBs require) must reach a quorum of 25% of the staff members.
Pacifica Mission Coalition candidates campaigned on a pledge to get money out of Pacifica politics. They pointed out that this would have eliminated the need for costly independent postal and email communication with members, and separate websites, and thus the issue over disclaimers. Pacifica Foundation should simply communicate with all its members via postal and electronic mail  about all the candidates for the boards and their platform It should have allowed live on-air candidate forums with the opportunity for listener call-ins with questions that the candidates could respond to and discuss (as still required even in the replacement Bylaws).
Donations to cover the substantial resulting costs of the campaign may be sent to: https://www.crowdfunder.com/p/pmc-election-fund