Month: July 2011

KPFA recall campaign: almost there!

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Supporters listening to a talk by Larry Bensky.
Supporters listening to a talk by Larry Bensky.

Signatures continue to roll in on the petition drive to recall KPFA board member Tracy Rosenberg, who also sits on the Pacifica National Board. We are close to meeting our goal, but we need your help TODAY to put us over the top.

Please PRINT & SIGN the recall petition here:
http://www.SaveKPFA.org/recall/petition.pdf
(If you have any trouble with the link, copy and paste it directly into your web browser, or contact us at votesavekpfa@gmail.com.)

Tracy Rosenberg is the architect of the destruction of KPFA’s Morning Show, a key ally of Pacifica executive director Arlene Engelhardt, and a prime mover behind efforts to illegally keep KPFA’s local representatives from taking their elected seats on Pacifica’s national board.

Recall Tracy Rosenberg
CLICK IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD & SIGN PETITION

To trigger a recall election, we need over 400 valid signatures from current KPFA listener-members — meaning people who’ve given at least $25 to KPFA in the past year. If you’re not sure if your KPFA membership is up to date, please give now at kpfa.org before you sign the petition.

We are required to turn in the signatures on paper — the old-fashioned way — so you need to print the petition, sign it and mail it. If you’ve already signed, then print a copy and sign up friends at meetings, events, and farmers’ markets.

Also, if you’re sitting on a signed petition, please mail it in now. We’ll be turning in our petitions shortly, and when we do, we want to have as strong a showing as possible. | MORE HERE

Another legal victory for SaveKPFA; court rejects Spooner action

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A last-ditch attempt by Pacifica management ally Carol Spooner to keep KPFA Local Station Board members Dan Siegel and Laura Prives from their elected Pacifica National Board seats has gone down to defeat, only a week after being filed.

It all started last December, when Tracy Rosenberg pushed an illegal motion through the national board to unseat elected KPFA reps Dan Siegel and Laura Prives. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch issued an injunction requiring they be seated.

The Pacifica National Board appealed the injunction and threw Siegel and Prives off the board for a second time. But Judge Roesch stepped in again, threatening to hold Pacifica National Board officers in contempt of court for their actions, and ordering Siegel and Prives to be seated. As part of the settlement, KPFA board member Richard Phelps, who had been acting as Pacifica’s attorney in the matter, paid SaveKPFA‘s legal expenses out of his own pocket and resigned from KPFA’s local board.

So did it end there? Nope. From the sidelines, Spooner filed a petition with the Court of Appeal, trying to intervene and knock Dan and Laura off the national board a third time. The Court of Appeals quickly shot that down last Friday.

Pacifica’s frivolous legal maneuvers have gotten nowhere in court, but they have managed to run up the foundation’s legal bills and keep two of our locally elected representatives from assuming their seats on the national board for nearly half their one-year terms. Accountability comes from the ballot box — send in your recall petition today!

Pacifica takes another $18K from KPFA

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KPFA’s Local Station Board met July 16, and the main agenda item was a budget for the fiscal year that starts October 1. SaveKPFA-affiliated reps are pushing for a provision that Pacifica national lower the amount of money it extracts from KPFA, since Pacifica operates its offices rent-free out of a KPFA-owned building. However, this is not a popular proposal with those in control at Pacifica, including Rosenberg. | AUDIO OF LSB MEETING: part 1, part 2, part 3

If anything, Pacifica wants more of KPFA’s resources. Last month, Pacifica extracted an unbudgeted $18,000 from KPFA, a sum Pacifica is refusing to deduct from the amount it says KPFA owes it.

What’s more, Pacifica is now asking all of its stations to turn over their airwaves for two days of fundraising this fall, with all proceeds going to Pacifica. Those proceeds will be in addition to the 20% cut Pacifica keeps from KPFA’s fund drives, the 27% cut it takes from KPFA’s Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants, and the bills Pacifica sends KPFA for other “services” — such as the $51,000 Pacifica has already billed KPFA for the $400 per hour lawyers it hired to fight KPFA’s union workers.