Why the KPFA Recall Election Matters and Why a “No” Vote Is Recommended

Written by Ann Garrison. Posted in Labor, Media, Opinion

Tagged: , , , ,

Published on July 02, 2012 with 35 Comments

Media Alliance Executive Director Tracy Rosenberg. Photo via Facebook.

By Ann Garrison, guest commentary.

July 2, 2012

On Thursday, June 28, KPFA Radio mailed ballots to all KPFA subscribers. These aren’t actually ballots for the Local Station Board election, which will take place later this year.  Instead, they’re ballots for voting on whether or not to recall Media Alliance Executive Director Tracy Rosenberg from the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB), and thus, from the Pacifica National Board (PNB), which makes decisions regarding the Pacifica Network of 5 metropolitan stations: KPFA-Berkeley, KPFK-Los Angeles, KPFK-Houston, WBAI-Washington D.C. and WBAI-New York City. I’m often surprised at how many listeners don’t realize that KPFA is part of a network of five sister stations and somewhere between one and two hundred affiliate stations, co-founded by Lew Hill, a pacifist who served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II.

All Pacifica stations play a combination of local, national, and international programming, and collaborate, sometimes in programming across the network, like Democracy Now’s broadcast from the Supreme Court last week.  Some shows produced at KPFA, including Flashpoints and Letters and Politics, air on other sister stations and/or smaller affiliate stations all across the country.

Why do KPFA and the Pacifica Network matter?  Oakland media and entertainment lawyer and former Pacifica Foundation President Peter Franck says why Pacifica and all its sister and affiliate stations matter as eloquently as anyone:

“Pacifica is profoundly subversive because it breaks the media consensus; it’s the little boy who says that the emperor has no clothes. The little boy’s comment spreads beyond the castle, even if only a few people were actually in the room to hear it. Without Pacifica saying that Obama is killing innocents with drones, who would write about it in the NY Times?”

Arguably, this is best for Obama or whomever else commands and controls the most lethal arsenal on earth, and better for all those who voted for Obama in 2008 and who may do so again, still hoping for peace and more than spare change. The truth is the best starting point for all of us. There was a lot of talk, after the 2008 election, about the need to “hold Obama accountable,” but the corporate media rarely does so unless they’re pushed.

Assuming that some number of you reading this also listen to KPFA and have given $25 or three hours of your time to the station in the past year, and, have therefore received a recall ballot, why should you take the time to vote in this special election attempt to recall Tracy Rosenberg from the KPFA Local and Pacific National Boards?

Well, because the KPFA Local Station Board members vote on KPFA’s budget. They don’t vote on what goes on the air, but they vote on the budget, which of course, indirectly, has to do with programming, with the condition of the station’s equipment, and with social relations at the station and within the KPFA listener community. They also make recommendations to the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation about whom they would like to see hired as KPFA’s General Manager and Program Director, and those two managers, together, make final decisions about programming on KPFA airwaves and webstreams. The Pacifica National Board (PNB), which is made up of delegates elected by the Local Station Boards, plays a similar role throughout the network.

As a KPFA and WBAI programmer, and a listener subscriber for many years before I ever did any programming, I adamantly oppose recalling Tracy. I know Pacifica well enough to know that, as a KPFA LSB and PNB member, she does not have the authority to hire and fire, lay employees off, or make programming changes at KPFA, which is what the Recall Tracy Rosenberg campaign accuse her of, above all.  I also know that Tracy’s one of the most knowledgeable, vocal, committed, hardworking, and effective media activists in the country.  I recommend following her Huffington Post blog on media justice.

During the summer of 2011, I sat through a KPFA Local Station Board meeting in Berkeley, where the main subject was the presentation of a KPFA budget shortfall. Board members went back and forth about who and what to cut because of the shortfall, till Tracy was given a chance to point out two big mistakes in the budget.  Her corrections eliminated half the shortfall – over $50,000.  That is not the person to recall from the Local Station Board when it has to tackle the consequences of the most recent fund drive shortfall.

Another principle complaint of a vocal group of listeners, including those attempting to recall Tracy, has been Aimee Allison’s departure from KPFA airwaves, in lay-offs according to seniority, as stipulated in the Communications Workers of America (CWA) contract with KPFA.  Tracy herself has argued that a “last hired, first fired” seniority rule is damaging to a dynamic, media outlet, but that’s what the CWA contract stipulates now. And, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that KPFA honored the contract in every dispute arising from the 2010 lay-offs.

All that said, I hope that readers who are also KPFA subscribers will study the blogs of both campaigns: Recall Tracy Rosenberg and Stop the KPFA Recall, and whatever information comes with their ballots.  And, that they’ll listen to the archive of this on-air debate (6/29/12) between Tracy and KPFA Local Station Board Chair Margy Wilkinson, at this hot link: KPFA Archives LSB Recall Show.  The actual debate begins at roughly 5 minutes, 30 seconds in, after a musical break.

And, to any readers who have not given the minimum $25 or three hours that would make you eligible to vote in this special election, please consider contributing now, so as to be able to vote during the regular Local Station Board elections in the fall.

KPFA won’t be yours unless you take an interest, contribute what you can, and vote in your Local Station Board elections.

Ann Garrison

Ann Garrison also writes for the San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper and Global Research, reports for Pacifica stations KPFA, WBAI, and KMEC, and maintains a Youtube Channel, AnnieGetYourGang, and her own website, anngarrison.com. She is working on a book titled "Sodomy and Hypocrisy: American Evangelicals, LGBT Persecution, War Crimes and Sexual Atrocities in East/Central Africa." She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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35 Comments

Comments for Why the KPFA Recall Election Matters and Why a “No” Vote Is Recommended are now closed.

  1. I think even Tracy knows it mattered — which is why she used legal shenanigans to block the recall vote. BOOOO!

  2. Ms. Garrison is as intelligent as she is beautiful and she’s right on target with this ‘Save KPFA’ fraud of the LibDem establishment hacks who have been at KPFA for over 30 years and have helped to wreck the station. Vote NO on the Tracy Rosenberg recall.

    • Oh my, thank you. I just noticed all the traffic on this piece from almost half a year ago now, started scrolling through to read what’s new, and saw this. Thank you, thank you.

  3. Rosenberg sues over KPFA recall, ballot count delayed
    It’s been almost a year since SaveKPFA
    submitted over 800 signatures from KPFA listener-members seeking the
    removal of Pacifica Treasurer Tracy Rosenberg — the architect of
    Pacifica’s purge of the Morning Show. Against our wishes, and over our
    repeated protests, Pacifica delayed the recall election past December 31
    — which was the date called for in its own rules and bylaws. That
    bought Rosenberg’s supporters six months to raise money for a “no”
    campaign mailing.

    In a bizarre turn of events, Rosenberg has now sued
    Pacifica over that very delay. Her legal argument? That the gap between
    the voter eligibility deadline Pacifica set when it verified the recall
    petitions, and the date Pacifica actually mailed the ballots, is too
    long. Her suit asks for the recall election to be thrown out altogether,
    and asks the judge to make Pacifica pay her attorneys’ fees. Don’t
    expect Pacifica’s attorneys to defend this one too vigorously…

    On August 1, an Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a temporary
    order to place all recall ballots under seal until a hearing on
    Rosenberg’s lawsuit, now scheduled for September 10. On August 4,
    SaveKPFA observers documented the retrieval of recall ballots from a
    Berkeley PO box this weekend, and their sequestration in a nearby safe
    deposit box. They report what appears to be a VERY LARGE number of
    ballots waiting to be counted.

    See: http://www.savekpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ballotsatpostoffice.jpg

    SaveKPFA offers a few thoughts on these latest developments:

    Rosenberg could have raised her procedural concerns much sooner —
    perhaps even before ballots were mailed. The suit doesn’t appear to be
    the action of someone who wants a smooth election process, but rather
    that of someone seeking maximum delay.

    Rosenberg filed the suit
    just before ballots were to be counted, and sought an order to prevent
    the counting itself (rather than to prevent Pacifica from acting on
    whatever the count was). This indicates Rosenberg expected to lose the
    vote count.

    Any remedy likely to come from her lawsuit —
    including an entirely new election — is unlikely to produce a different
    result. So Rosenberg appears to be playing for time.

    Rosenberg
    told the East Bay Express that the vote was too expensive, but KPFA
    listener-member Mark Spindler told the Daily Californian that “the
    question should be why is Pacifica teaming with anti-union attorneys” to
    use donations to fight listeners and staff. He added that Rosenberg
    “needs to be held accountable for what she has done, and this recall is
    the vehicle for that.”

    • I voted YES, recall. My vote was blocked by Tracy’s shenanigans. This is democracy? No, this is corruption and dirty tactics.

    • We urge you to VOTE YES on the recall!
      (this is a partial list, see full list here:
      http://www.savekpfa.org/endorsements-2/kpfa-recall-endorsers)
      ACT UP EAST BAY
      AILEEN ALFANDARY, co-director, KPFA News
      EMILY ALMA, Chico Peace and Justice Center, Butte Environmental Council, Occupy
      Chico, Chico Palestine Action Group
      DR. NANCY ARVOLD, psychologist, social activist, feminist
      L. AYRES-FREDERICK, Artistic Director, Phoenix Arts Association Theatre
      TINA BACHEMIN, KPFA reporter
      DAVID BACON, labor correspondent, former KPFA Morning Show; TNG/ CWA Local
      39521
      BOB BALDOCK, KPFA Public Events Producer
      VIC BEDOIAN, Pacifica Evening News Central Valley reporter, Fresno
      JIM BENNETT, Former Interim General Manager, KPFA, Former Pacifica National
      Board Member, Former Operations Director, KPFA
      LARRY BENSKY, Pacifica National Affairs correspondent (1987-2007)
      LAYNA BERMAN, unpaid weekly programmer
      IAN BOAL, social historian of the commons
      SUMMER BRENNER, author, Richmond Tales, and community activist
      MALCOLM BURNSTEIN, KPFA board member and retired civil rights lawyer
      SCOTT CAMIL, Activist
      CATHY CAMPBELL, president, Berkeley Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1078
      CLAIRE CUMMINGS, former Food and Farming editor, KPFA
      LAWRENCE DAVIDSON, former co-host of KPFA’s Probabilities
      JIM DAVIS, filmmaker, Meeting Room
      JANE DICKSON, artist
      PAMELA DRAKE, Oakland activist, KPFA Local Station Board member
      ELLEN DUBROWIN, listener, former programmer & off-air staff (unpaid)
      STEVE EARLY, labor journalist (CounterPunch), TNG/ CWA Local 39521
      BRIAN EDWARDS-TIEKERT, KPFA News
      BARBARA EPSTEIN, professor, History of Consciousness, UCSC
      JAN ETRE, Crafts Fair Coordinator
      DANA FRANK, Professor, History, UC Santa Cruz, AFT 1299
      JULIANA FREDMAN, public interest attorney and activist
      JON FROMER, singer/songwriter, NABET/CWA Local 51 shop steward
      GLORIA FRYM, writer
      SASHA FUTRAN, member, KPFA local station board
      DAVID GANS, music programmer, KPFA board member
      SHERRY GENDELMAN, attorney, former chair, KPFA board; former chair, Pacifica
      National Board
      PAUL GEORGE, director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
      SUZANNE GORDON, journalist and author, NWU/UAW
      ANDREJ GRUBACIC, anarchist historian, author of Wobblies and Zapatistas
      MIGUEL GUERRERO, KPFA web producer, producer of Rock en Rebelion
      CONN HALLINAN, foreign policy analyst, Foreign Policy In Focus, Institute
      for Policy Study, columnist, LSB member
      MATTHEW HALLINAN, listener rep, KPFA Local Station Board
      JOHN HAMILTON, KPFA News anchor
      WILLIAM HARVEY, Retired Sec/Treas CWA Local 9415, Retired President Alameda
      County Labor Council AFL-CIO
      JANE HEAVEN, KPFA producer/host, field recording engineer
      JANE HIRSHFIELD, poet, author, listener-member
      JOHN IVERSON, health activist
      SHEILA JORDAN, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools
      RAMSEY KANAAN, KPFA unpaid staff, founder AK Press and PM Press, co-founder San
      Francisco Anarchist Bookfair
      CHRIS KAVANAGH, former elected Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner
      (2002-2008), former Green Party of Alameda County Central/County Council member
      LARRY KELP, KPFA producer and host, Sing Out!
      LISA KERMISH, Vice President, UPTE-CWA Local 9119
      SHELLEY KESSLER, Secretary-Treasurer, San Mateo Labor Council
      ROSE KETABCHI, KPFA News
      ERIC KLEIN, former FSRN tech producer; former KPFA News producer;
      former tech producer, Flashpoints
      HELENE KNOX, poet, editor, KPFA listener & volunteer
      JACK KURZWEIL, listener rep, KPFA board
      JAMES LAFFERTY, host, The Lawyers Guild Show (KPFK); Executive
      Director of the National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles
      JOHN LAVINE, activist, former Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner
      YING LEE, Asian-Americans for Peace and Justice
      SASHA LILLEY, KPFA’s Against the Grain; Shop Steward, CWA Local 9415
      LAURA LIVOTI, founder, Justice in Nigeria Now!
      ROBERT LONGER, Exec VP, CWA Local 9421
      TIM LYNCH, KPFA producer and host, unpaid staff
      PHILIP MALDARI, KPFA’s Sunday Show; Shop Steward, CWA Local 9415
      JOANNA MANQUEROS, Music of the World, unpaid staff
      DAVID MARTINEZ, radical filmmaker
      DIANA MARTINEZ, Letters & Politics, unpaid staff
      EMILY MCMILIN, Former KPFA Station Engineer
      PETER OLNEY, listener and ILWU organizing director
      ZEESE  PAPANIKOLAS, listener, Oakland CA
      EDDY PAY, KPFA music programmer
      SCOTT PHAM, Free Speech Radio News, Technical Producer
      SALLY PHILLIPS, KPFA Producer, Host, Engineer
      MAX PRINGLE, KPFA News Reporter
      LAURA PRIVES, former executive producer of the KPFA Morning Show;
      producer,Letters & Politics, KPFA board member, Pacifica National Board
      member
      GLENN REEDER, KPFA News anchor, unpaid staff
      BLANCHE RICHARDSON, owner, Marcus Books
      DERK RICHARDSON, host of KPFA’s The Hear and Now
      FRANCESCA ROSA, member SEIU 1021, delegate, SF Labor Council
      SUSAN SACHEN, Campaign Director, California Labor Federation
      CHARLOTTE SAENZ, community artist and educator
      LYNNE HOLLANDER SAVIO, Mario Savio Memorial Lecture & Young Activist Award
      LEWIS SAWYER, producer, Early Morning Music, former KPFA Receptionist
      DAN  SIEGEL, civil rights and labor attorney, former Pacifica General
      Counsel
      BONNIE SIMMONS, host, KPFA’s Bonnie Simmons Show; former LSB, Pacifica
      National Board member
      SARA STEFFENS, Newspaper Guild/CWA District 9
      SUSAN STONE, Former Director, KPFA’s Drama and Literature Department
      VANESSA TAIT, KPFA News; co-founder, FSRN; author Poor Workers’ Unions;
      TNG/ CWA Local 39521
      MARY TILSON, Host, America’s Back 40 (with Bette Beasley)
      ANDREA TURNER, cultural and community activist, LSB member
      SALLY VENABLE, president, CWA Local 9415
      RICHARD  WALKER, professor, radical geographer & author of The
      Country in the City
      KATHLEEN WEAVER, Author of Peruvian Rebel, listener/member
      KRIS WELCH, KPFA’s Living Room
      JOHN WHITING, KPFA Production Director and Program Producer (1960-1965);
      London Correspondent, Pacifica Radio (1966-1972)
      BARBARA WHIPPERMAN, treasurer, KPFA local station board
      MARGY WILKINSON, chair, KPFA Local Station Board
      CAL WINSLOW, labor historian, co-author of Rebel Rank and File
      RYCHARD WITHERS, Executive Director, Fresno Free College Foundation, General
      Manager, KFCF (Fresno)
      EDDIE YUEN, KPFA’s Against the Grain
      (Please note: all titles & organizations for ID only)

      This is a partial list, FULL LIST IS HERE:
      http://www.savekpfa.org/endorsements-2/kpfa-recall-endorsers

      • Can anyone explain why Aimee Allison hasn’t endorsed the recall?  Given the arguments put forth in favor, one would expect her to, if she agrees, no?

        • Why would that be relevant?

    • So
      most of the staff who oppose the recall got their on-air gigs via
      loyalty to Rosenberg and Engelhardt, who purged the young, diverse
      Morning Show programmers and took their places. 

      So we get lousy Steve Zeltzer on labor instead of the brilliant David
      Bacon. And Dennis Bernstein & Davey D (who are already on evening
      drive time) instead of Aimee and Brian. We have no food and farming from
      Claire Cummings, no film reviews, no wonderful, lively coverage of
      local events and books….

      And you think this is an improvement? 

      •  Steve Zeltzer is a huge improvement over David Bacon and the ‘Save KPFA’ hacks are the same folks, the Benskys, Mericles, Welches, Maldaris, ad nauseum, who have wrecked this station and caused a huge drop in listenership. Vote NO on the recall promoted by hacks who have been on the KPFA welfare rolls for decades.
        Dennis and Davey D far outshine Brian and Aimee, who by the way is not listed as a recall supporter.

  4. One really must wonder what SaveKPFA is trying to accomplish with actions that continuously drain the station’s funds, like this recall election, the lawsuitst, and even calling on people to boycott specific time slots during fundraising. And now they want to get rid of the one person who consistently has a handle on the financial situation at the station?

    Whatever the agenda, saving KPFA does not actually seem to be on it.

    Vote NO on the Recall! Tracy Stays!

    • You are making this stuff up – there is no “lawsuit” and no actions to drain the station’s funds from SaveKPFA.  Actually, SaveKPFA has been RAISING funds for KPFA by continually asking our supporters to donate. SaveKPFA raised $63,000 in pledges to put the Morning Show back on — Pacifica wasn’t even interested in it!  The agenda here is Tracy’s way or the highway. She wants her friends on the air, the station’s health be damned. 

      For background, see SaveKPFA.org, including the very very long list of RECALL ENDORSERS.

      • Letting independent listener groups select programming by fundraising for it seems like a dangerous precedent, arguably close to selling air time.

      • Also, $1 million now has to be cut from Pacifica’s budget, after $476,000 in legal expenses last year.  Most of those expenses were at KPFA, although one expensive suit, that of Maya Orozco, was brought long before the current troubles.

      •  The FACTS are on the NO side here, Save KPFA is a bogus group made up of hacks who originally opposed the real Save KPFA twenty years ago.

    • One needn’t wonder — Save KPFA & many listeners would like less manhandling of KPFA by bad management practices from Pacifica. Tracy has her hand in many of the bad decisions. And you say she has a handle on the financial situation? I don’t think so. She is spending donation money on lawyers who are blocking the will of the KPFA membership. Seems pretty whack (and anti-democratic to the core).

  5. Some
    of today’s NEW endorsers of YES on the KPFA recall: SHEILA JORDAN, Alameda
    County Superintendent of Schools, JANE HEAVEN, KPFA producer/host, field
    recording engineer, BARBARA EPSTEIN, professor, History of Consciousness, UCSC,
    EMILY MCMILIN, former KPFA station engineer, JOHN LAVINE, activist, former
    Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner, ZEESE  PAPANIKOLAS, listener,
    Oakland CA, and dozens of others…..see SaveKPFA.org for more.

    •  These names mean nothing as the facts are against them.

  6. Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg claims that she “saved” KPFA from bankruptcy, but as KPFA News co-director Aileen Alfandary writes in an open letter released today, “a close examination of that claim shows it doesn’t hold water.”

    Alfandary continues: “Virtually the entire reduction in staffing in
    2010 was from union members who took voluntary layoffs. When the dust
    settled, and Pacifica was forced to rehire Brian Edwards-Tiekert, the only involuntary layoff that occurred in 2010 was that of the other Morning Show
    co-host who had been paid for a grand total of 27 hours a week. It’s
    absurd to claim that this small salary saved KPFA from bankruptcy. It’s
    quite the contrary. The reduction in fundraising from purging the Morning Show cost us dearly and drove listeners away from KPFA.” 

    READ ALFANDARY’S ENTIRE LETTER HERE: 
    http://www.savekpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/AileenAlfandaryrecallendorse.pdf

    • Why hasn’t Aimee Allison endorsed the recall?  I can’t imagine she hasn’t been asked.

      • Who cares? Many people HAVE endorsed the recall, including myself. Don’t know why she hasn’t, don’t care. Is Aimee THE authority on the matter? Nope.

  7. Let me add the Ratcliffs’ hearty endorsement to the long list of folks urging KPFA members to VOTE NO on the Tracy Rosenberg recall. I hesitate to comment here; I’m not in your league. As a teenager, I aspired to witty repartee until I discovered and joined forces with people who aspired to change the world. KPFA broadcasts both sides of that looking glass, and Tracy embraces people at KPFA — programmers and listeners — who want both excellent journalism and revolutionary change.

    Tracy’s media expertise informs her determination to make KPFA the progressive powerhouse envisioned by its founders: Millions should and will, if we play it right, “keep it locked” on KPFA’s 59,000 watts that reach most of Northern and Central California. It wasn’t Tracy who put that sacred cow, The Morning Show, on the chopping block, but when KPFA was the only Pacifica station refusing to bring its expenses into line with its income, spent its million-dollar reserves and had to borrow payroll from KPFT, the smallest Pacifica station, she and many of us supported the emergency surgery that literally saved KPFA.

    Extraordinarily knowledgeable and passionate volunteers now filling the breach weekdays at 8-9 a.m. welcome us to worlds rarely explored by any media — labor by Steve Zeltzer and Sabrina Jacobs, Black movements and culture by JR Valrey, media freedom by Project Censored and tomorrow a pilot show by Poor News Network’s Tiny Gray-Garcia and crew that I hope will become a Morning Mix staple. Tuning in to KPFA at 8 a.m. is a Morning High, and tens of thousands are already addicted. In the last fund drive, the Morning Mix was already the sixth highest fundraiser of all KPFA shows, bringing in more per hour than Democracy Now!

    Your NO vote on the Tracy Rosenberg recall is a vote for the courage to believe in the power of the people to make the truly progressive media that can save KPFA and the world.

    • My dear friend, Mary, I hope you’re not accusing me of witty repartee.  The only thing close was my remark that Obama voters may still be hoping for peace and more than spare change this time.  Otherwise I was trying to explain why KPFA/Pacifica matters, why this election matters, and how the self-governance structure works, in the most readily understood terms possible.  

      Most arguments about this get into way too much obscure historical detail and make the combatants sound as nutty as sectarian Marxists bitterly arguing about who has betrayed whom and who has made the wrong decisions at this or that historical moment, costing them the revolution, ever since Marx penned the Communist Manifesto in 1848. 

      • No, no, Ann. Your article is clear and compelling, as is your Marxist analogy. I just meant that I feel way outclassed by the Fog City crowd. I admire you all but prefer to do so quietly from the back of the room … unless I’m tip-toeing in to snatch one of Luke’s magnificent photos. Back to the topic though: Please, all you very smart people, vote NO on the recall of Tracy Rosenberg so we really can save KPFA.

        • Mary, when you have TIME to do your own writing, instead of getting so many other people’s stories online, in the streets, and into America’s prison gulag, you’re as well-spoken as any of the FCJ dry wits, and look at what you’ve helped happen, on KPFA, during the past three years: Claude Gatebuke speaking the truth about U.S. involvement in Rwanda/Congo, the most lethal conflict in the world, on the Minister of Info’s Morning Mix yesterday.  Story wouldn’t have gotten that far without you and Willie.  

          Defending that ground, and the rest of the Mix, is one of the best reasons to vote no on Tracy’s recall.

  8. Thanx Ann, for the extensive work you’ve done in writing this story that makes it easier for me than previously thought in reaching my decision to vote against the recall: and that is the the fact that Tracy Rosenburg is behind many of my favorite shows, which ln my mind, are less sympathetic to mainstream politics, shows like ‘Guns and Butter” & “Flashpoints” that make no apology to American and Israeli hegemony..

  9. Thanks, Ann, for clearing up some questions about the recall.  I’m voting “No” because it’s not well
    understood, generally, that most of the members of the Pacifica National Board are very much against the recall, but most of them can’t vote and have no way of stopping the recall.  That’s why I’M RECOMMENDING A “NO” VOTE by those who appreciate that it’s VERY rare that the PNB gets someone to serve who’s as competent, reliable and generous as Tracy.  Also, if you look at the people voting “No” compared with those voting “Yes,” you’ll find there are many, many people of color voting “No” and very few, if any, voting “Yes.”  That says a LOT!

    Jean Pauline

  10. Vote YES on the KPFA recall!

    Thanks to a
    grassroots campaign to return local control to KPFA, Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg is facing a
    recall endorsed by a long list of community activists, writers,
    labor leaders, and KPFA listeners and staff |
    BREAKING NEWS: Layoffs  imminent at KPFA: details here

     

    We urge you to VOTE YES on
    the recall!
    (titles and organizations for ID only)
    ACT UP EAST BAY
    CRAIG ALDERSON, secretary, KPFA Local Station Board
    AILEEN ALFANDARY, News
    co-director
    TINA BACHEMIN, KPFA reporter
    DAVID BACON, labor
    correspondent, former KPFA Morning Show; TNG/ CWA Local 39521 
    BOB BALDOCK, KPFA public
    events producer
    MARGARET BANNERMAN, listener, San Francisco
    MICHAEL BARGLOW, listener, public school teacher
    VIC BEDOIAN, Pacifica
    Evening News Central Valley reporter, Fresno
    IAIN BOAL, social historian of the commons
    SUMMER BRENNER, author, Richmond Tales
    LARRY BENSKY, Pacifica National Affairs correspondent (1987-2007)
    MAL BURNSTEIN, KPFA board
    member and retired civil rights lawyer
    CATHY CAMPBELL, president,
    Berkeley Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1078
    YVONNE CAMPBELL, Martinez listener
    KAANII CLEAVER, listener, Fort
    Collins CO
    SHIELA COCKSHOTT, listener and
    supporter of every fund drive since 1980
    JOYCE  COLE, listener, San
    Anselmo
    ALISON DAVIS, listener, San
    Mateo 
    JIM DAVIS, filmmaker, “Meeting Room”
    JANE DICKSON, listener, Oakland
    PAMELA DRAKE, Oakland activist
    ELLEN DUBROWIN, listener, long-ago programmer (unpaid staff) and off-air
    staff (Pacifica Workers Union, then UE member)
    STEVE EARLY, labor
    journalist (CounterPunch), TNG/ CWA Local 39521
    BRIAN EDWARDS-TIEKERT, KPFA News
    BARBARA EPSTEIN, Professor, History of Consciousness,
    UCSC
    JAN ETRE, Crafts Fair Coordinator
    RUTH FALLENBAUM, listener, Oakland
    DEE FARLON, Oakland listener
    JOSEPH “JODY” FERGUSON, longtime
    listener, Menlo Park
    DANA FRANK, Professor of History, UCSC;
    correspondent, The Nation 
    JULIANA FREDMAN, public interest
    attorney and activist
    JON FROMER, singer/songwriter, NABET/CWA
    Local 51 shop steward
    MARY FROMER, organizing
    director, SEIU Local 707, Sonoma County (retired)
    GLORIA FRYM, writer

    DAVID GANS, music
    programmer, KPFA board member
    JANET GEIS, publisher, Open
    Exchange Magazine 

    SHERRY GENDELMAN, attorney,
    former chair, KPFA board; former chair, Pacifica National Board
    PAUL GEORGE, director,
    Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
    SUZANNE GORDON, journalist
    and author, NWU/UAW 
    KATE GOWEN, listener, Petaluma 
    ANDREJ GRUBACIC, anarchist
    historian, author of Wobblies and Zapatistas
    MIGUEL GUERRERO, KPFA web producer, producer of Rock en Rebelion
    CONN HALLINAN, columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, the Daily Planet, contributor to CounterPunch, former head of UCSC’s journalism program
    MATTHEW HALLINAN, Listener Rep, KPFA
    board
    SHAWN HAMILL, listener, Sebastopol
    JOHN HAMILTON, KPFA News anchor 
    JANE HEAVEN, KPFA
    producer/host, field recording engineer
    JANE HIRSHFIELD, poet, author,
    listener-member
    CHRISTINA HUGGINS, First Executive
    Vice President, CWA Local 9415
    JOHN TANGO IVERSON, health activist
    RICH JOHNSON, activist
    RAMSEY KANAAN, KPFA unpaid
    staff, founder AK Press and PM Press, co-founder San Francisco Anarchist
    Bookfair
    LARRY KELP, KPFA producer and host, Sing
    Out!
    DAVID KESSLER, longtime listener, UCB staff, CUE-Teamsters member
    SHELLEY KESSLER, Executive
    Secretary of the San Mateo Labor Council
    ROSE KETABCHI, KPFA News
    SANDY KING, listener

    ERIC KLEIN, former FSRN tech producer; former
    KPFA News producer; former tech producer, Flashpoints
    JACK KURZWEIL, Listener rep, KPFA
    board
    MARCIA LARIS, listener
    JIM LAFFERTY, host, KPFK’s Lawyers Guild Show;
    executive director, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles

    JOHN LAVINE, activist, former Berkeley Peace and Justice
    Commissioner 

    YING LEE, Asian-Americans
    for Peace and Justice
    CLYDE LELAND, listener

    ELIZABETH LEONE, PhD, applied linguist, activist, Fresno
    listener
    SANDRA LESSENDEN, listener
    ROBERT LEVERANT, longtime
    Sebastopol listener, psychotherapist
    ARTHUR LEVITT, listener, Belmont

    LAURA LIVOTI, Founder, Justice in
    Nigeria Now!
    SASHA LILLEY, KPFA’s
    Against the Grain; Shop Steward, CWA Local 9415
    TIM LYNCH, KPFA producer and host, unpaid
    staff
    KAREN MACLEOD, University Council-AFT
    PHILIP MALDARI, KPFA’s Sunday
    Show; Shop Steward, CWA Local 9415
    SHARON MALDONADO, listener

    JOANNA MANQUEROS, Music of the World,
    unpaid staff
    DAVID MARTINEZ, filmmaker
    DIANA MARTINEZ, Letters & Politics, unpaid staff
    BARRIE ANN MASON, listener and contributor for 25 years,
    Santa Rosa

    SUSAN MCDONOUGH, former KPFA Local Station Board member

    EMILY MCMILIN, former KPFA station engineer
    MARY MORTON, listener

    MEAVEEN O’CONNOR, listener 
    PETER OLNEY, listener and ILWU
    organizing director
    ZEESE  PAPANIKOLAS, listener,
    Oakland
    EDDY PAY, The Herbal Highway
    SCOTT PHAM, Free Speech Radio News,
    Technical Producer
    SALLY PHILLIPS, KPFA
    Producer, Host, Engineer
    MARY POWER, listener, Berkeley
    MAX PRINGLE, KPFA News
    Reporter
    LAURA PRIVES, former
    executive producer of the KPFA Morning Show; producer, Letters & Politics,
    KPFA board member, Pacifica National Board member
    GLENN REEDER, KPFA News anchor,
    unpaid staff
    HAYDN REISS, listener, San
    Anselmo
    BLANCHE RICHARDSON, listener, San
    Francisco
    DERK RICHARDSON, host of KPFA’s the
    Hear and Now
    SUSAN SACHEN, Campaign
    Director, California Labor Federation 
    CHARLOTTE SAENZ, community artist
    and educator
    CLARA SANTISO, listener, Somis
    CA
    LEWIS SAWYER, producer,
    Early Morning Music, former KPFA Receptionist
    LYN HOLLANDER SAVIO, Mario Savio
    Memorial Lecture & Young Activist Award
    LIBBY SAYRE, CWA District 9
    SONA SHAH, Clark University postgrad
    DAN SIEGEL, activist and KPFA board member
    BONNIE SIMMONS, host, KPFA’s
    Bonnie Simmon’s Show; former LSB, Pacifica National Board member

    JANINE SOPP, member of WBAI (NY), Grassroots Education
    Movement, Change the Stakes Campaign
    SARA STEFFENS, The Newspaper Guild/CWA District 9
    ROSALIE STEWARD, listener, Petaluma
    VANESSA TAIT, KPFA News;
    co-founder, FSRN; author, Poor Workers’ Unions
    ANDREA TURNER, cultural and
    community activist, LSB member
    JOHN VAN EYCK, former KPFA
    board member
    KIT VAQ, Oakland listener
    RICHARD WALKER, radical
    geographer & author, The Country in the City
    KATHLEEN WEAVER, biographer,
    poet, translator

    KRIS WELCH, KPFA’s
    Living Room

    ERMA WHEATLEY, Berkeley listener 

    BARBARA WHIPPERMAN, treasurer, KPFA Local Station Board

    MARGY WILKINSON, chair, KPFA Local Station Board

    CAL WINSLOW, labor historian, co-author of Rebel Rank and File

    RYCHARD WITHERS, KFCF general manager
    EDDIE YUEN, KPFA’s Against the Grain

    •  The above LibDem hacks are the very people who have destroyed KPFA. Vote NO on the recall.

      • Eh? LibDem hacks? Nope, that’d be an incorrect characterization.

  11. Scores of community allies and dozens of KPFA staff members urge a “NO” vote on the recall; they include Gray Brechin, Michael Parenti, George Coates, Noelle Hanrahan, Davey D, Leslie Stovall, Mesha Irizarry, David Barsamian, Maria Gilardin, Miguel Molina, Dennis Bernstein and Bonnie Faulkner.  So please don’t toss that ballot. Vote, and vote NO!

    • Here’s the list of those endorsing Stop the KPFA Recall:  http://www.stopthekpfarecall.org/?page_id=25  

      • Vote NO.