Month: June 2012

Layoffs imminent at KPFA: vote YES on KPFA recall to stop the next purge

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This is a message from Brian Edwards-Tiekert, who hosts UpFront on KPFA.

Hi everyone,

If you’re a KPFA member, you should have just received what may be the most important KPFA ballot you ever get. It asks whether or not to recall Pacifica Treasurer Tracy Rosenberg. At stake is whether KPFA survives as we know it. That’s why I’m urging you to vote “yes” on the recall. | SEE RECALL ENDORSERS

Some background: Rosenberg was the chief architect of a political purge that killed KPFA’s biggest fundraiser—The Morning Show. That purge was a watershed: it was the first time the factionalism of KPFA’s board (where I served as a worker-elected representative) penetrated the station’s day-to-day operations (where I worked as a program host). Rosenberg and Pacifica used a real financial crisis as a pretext to fire  their political enemies, throw us off the air, and replace us with their own supporters.

That move cost KPFA tens of thousands of listeners, and hundreds of thousands of pledge dollars. It also violated the station’s union contract – which is why Pacifica had to reverse most of the layoffs (including my own) it made in that purge.

Inside KPFA, we’ve been slowly re-building. Thanks to heroic fundraising efforts, excruciatingly long fund drives, and a windfall estate gift, we’ve managed to keep the station solvent — KPFA’s April financial statements show us almost exactly on-budget (within 0.75% of budget goals), which means we’re on track to finish the year with an operating surplus of over $150,000.

We’re moving forward: in late May, KPFA launched UpFront — a program I co-host at 7:AM. We launched on three days’ notice, with no publicity, in the final week of a fund drive. But in that first week, we still became the station’s top fundraiser, clocking $40,000 raised in the seven days we were on the air. If we can keep it up, KPFA can start shortening its fund drives and try to win back some of the listeners who’ve left.

Unfortunately, we’re poised to lose it all.

Yesterday, Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt sent a letter to KPFA’s union (and copied to Tracy Rosenberg), giving formal notice that there will be a new round of layoffs in 30 days. As long as Engelhardt is in charge of Pacifica, and taking her cues from Rosenberg, any such cuts will come in the form of another political purge. I doubt KPFA’s ability to recover from this one.

But if Tracy Rosenberg is recalled, it will send a strong message about what KPFA’s listeners will and will not stand for – it may back Pacifica off from making these unnecessary cuts, or at least from making them into a political purge. Most importantly, recalling and replacing Tracy Rosenberg should tip the balance on the Pacifica National Board, and lead to the swift departure of Pacifica’s Executive Director, Arlene Engelhardt–the most aggressively anti-union manager I’ve seen in my nine years at KPFA.

They are killing our network. The Rosenberg/Engelhardt regime has racked up massive bills from $400- to $500-per-hour law firms that Pacifica’s used to fight its unions, its dissident board members, and the organizers of this recall election. Meanwhile, Pacifica’s been routinely shorting paychecks for union members at KPFA, and fallen so far behind on payments to Free Speech Radio News that the program may cease broadcasting within a month. (And yet, somehow, Pacifica’s board majority has found tens of thousands of dollars with which to fly 22 board members from across the country to a four-day meeting in a Hotel in Berkeley next month.)

The best defense Rosenberg’s supporters have mustered is a tepid appeal to “stop the infighting”. But Rosenberg is actually one of the worst purveyors of infighting — she just happens to be doing it from a position of power, from which infighting comes in the form of politically-targeted layoffs and program changes.

Help get out the vote. KPFA elections have low turnout, and tend to be decided by relatively small margins—which is why your actions are so important.  Please:

  • Pass this email on to people you know who might be KPFA members.
  • Go to the website www.savekpfa.org to learn more about the recall campaign.
  • Most importantly, return your ballot now so you don’t forget.

In solidarity,
Brian Edwards-Tiekert
Co-Host, “UpFront”, KPFA 94.1 FM
Former staff representative (2004-2010), KPFA Local Station Board

Recall ballots mailing 6/28, says Pacifica

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At long last, ballots which should have mailed in December 2011 are finally being mailed in the grassroots, listener-prompted recall election on Pacifica treasurer Tracy Rosenberg. According to the election supervisor Pacifica hired, ballots were scheduled to mail 6/26 but he has pushed that back to 6/28. Ballots are due back August 3.

“The waste of scarce resources that has resulted from Rosenberg’s role on the KPFA and Pacifica boards is really tragic,” writes labor journalist Steve Early, one of many new endorsers in the VOTE YES on the KPFA recall campaign. He adds that Rosenberg has played a central role in gutting the station’s finances and its most popular programming, and in many of the attacks on KPFA’s union workers, such as supporting Pacifica’s hiring of infamous union-busters Jackson Lewis.

Support for a YES vote has been flooding in. Here are just a few of the most recent endorsers: Paul George, director, Peninsula Peace & Justice Center; Andrej Grubacic, anarchist historian, author of “Wobblies and Zapatistas”; Charlotte Sáenz, community artist and educator; Iain Boal, social historian of the commons; Eric Klein, former tech producer for Free Speech Radio News & Flashpoints; Andrea Turner, KPFA Local Station Board member, cultural and community activist; David Martinez, filmmaker; Summer Brenner, author of “Richmond Tales”; Barbara Epstein, Professor of History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz; Peter Olney, ILWU organizing director (titles and organizations for ID only) | SEE MORE ENDORSERS

Your participation is critical to saving KPFA

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The coming days are crucial to the struggle to retain local control of KPFA — your efforts have never been more important. Here’s what you can do to help ensure the recall succeeds:

  • Look for your ballot and VOTE YES to RECALL ROSENBERG.
  • Help us MONITOR THE ELECTION to be sure Pacifica conducts it fairly and impartially by sending an e-mail to  votesavekpfa@gmail.com once you’ve mailed your ballot in.
  • CALL THREE FRIENDS who listen to KPFA. Ask them to watch for their ballots, and explain why the recall is so important. Talking points are here, or print out some flyers to distribute.
  • If you use Twitter, alert your followers that the ballots are out. Here’s a sample tweet: Recall ballots were mailed to #KPFA members today. Vote YES to recall Tracy Rosenberg & restore local control! www.SaveKPFA.org
  • POST A STATUS UPDATE on Facebook, alerting KPFA members to watch for their ballots. Or just share this link: http://www.savekpfa.org/kpfa-listeners-look-for-your-recall-ballot-then-vote-yes
  • ENDORSE the YES campaign. Just send us a note at  votesavekpfa@gmail.com or call us at 510-969-9373.
  • VOLUNTEER to help Get Out the Vote. Contact us for details.

VOTING YES on the recall, which is endorsed by a long list of KPFA listeners and workers, is the first step toward regaining a Pacifica National Board that is responsive to listeners and local autonomy for KPFA.

You’re supposed to get a ballot if you’re a KPFA listener-member — meaning you gave $25 or more in a one-year period. Pacifica’s election supervisor writes: “If any listener-member fails to receive a ballot, or if it is lost or damaged, please contact kpfarecall@gmail.com or (323) 375-4126 during standard business hours PST for a replacement.”