Time to vote in the KPFA station board election
And by that, I mean that I am asking you to vote for me.
If you are a member of KPFA you can vote for me now.
Your ballot should have arrived either via email or a post card.
If you are not a member, please become one.
The community radio part of the progressive community needs all of our engagement. It is too late to register to vote for me, but it is not too late to join and help build this local radio station and our national network.
A lot of friends have let me know that they are concerned with the age group that KPFA seems to center on. I am concerned too, that is why I am on the board and running for a full term. It takes board members to advocate policy changes. The biggest change that I am standing up for is a change in generations. We need new and younger people on the air, in the production studio and on the board. That way we make needed steps forward and older people like myself can step aside.
My other concerns are membership recruitment in general, our spending and fundraising, and better coordination of our news resources, especially local news.
Most people have heard of the faction fighting at KPFA. As a current board member, I have to say that it looks worse from the inside than it appears in public. I am extremely disappointed and offended by the antics of the “New Day Pacifica” group even though I know some of them personally and have respect for their work in other parts of the radio station and around town generally.
There is a difference between having alternative opinions and being on a warpath to be in charge. Everyone should put their ideas out there; that is what a board is for. There are a few tendencies around KPFA. They are currently called New Day Pacifica. When it comes to fighting for power, there is just one faction who is fighting for control any way they can. There have been attempts to change the rules. There has been a lawsuit. There have been underhanded attempts to close a station (in New York). Meetings are not respected. There are farfetched motions of censure.
Members of this faction have some very good ideas and important points to raise. But they need to stop trying to be the only people with a say in the present and future of KPFA and Pacifica. Please do not vote for anyone that they recommend until they agree to stop abusing the system.
I personally have thrown in my lot with Rescue Pacifica and I recommend that you vote for the same people that they endorse. Rescue Pacifica is not a faction, it is an alliance of people who want to run the station together with everyone. There are Democrats, Greens and others in this group. For more information visit https://rescuepacifica.net/ There are some independents running worth a listen. Vicente Cruz is an old friend and a very ethical person who I endorse. Thomas Lord I have never heard of, but I agree with his idea about bringing in youth and scrappy, innovative reporting.
Right now, California is going through a fire and water crisis of historic proportions. We need KPFA to be looking into the causes and solutions and keeping people informed. The corporate media gives us a view that they call balanced. That is a balance between agribusiness and real estate developers. Yet environmental biologists agree with the traditions of the native peoples on land management. Alternative media like KPFA should be our front on this issue.
Just as we should be out front on all other climate change issues, other environmental issues and be a main source of honest news on race relations, economic justice, military intervention and all the other things that matter to most of the public.
So, my message is to help us build our community radio, and its on-line counterpart, to represent the community and cover the news that our people need. You can do that by joining. You can do that by listening and sending feedback to the shows. And you can do that by electing people who want to make something better out of what we have.
And I hope to be that person you trust to elect.
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Over the past weeks there have been some questionnaires and debates.
We were also asked to make our case in a 1-minute spot.
You can see the debates and other information here:
