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, 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 photo at above). 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.”

This is what democracy looks like? Really?

Three-and-a-half months, and counting. That’s how long KPFA listeners have been waiting to vote on the recall of Pacifica board treasurer Tracy Rosenberg. As readers may remember, Rosenberg was one of the chief architects of the elimination of KPFA’s highly-successful Morning Show, and led efforts to illegally deny duly-elected KPFA representatives, who opposed her, their seats on the Pacifica National Board.

Listeners submitted a recall petition on September 1 and, according to Pacifica’s bylaws, ballots should have been mailed between December 15 and 30.

After months of stalling, Pacifica informed SaveKPFA last week that it has finally hired an election supervisor — but it hasn’t told us who that is, or what the long-overdue ballot schedule will be.

A cynical observer would point out that Rosenberg’s allies on the national board have deliberately delayed the election to give Rosenberg time to organize her campaign, which she had not been able to do by the ballot deadline of December 30. Whether that, or incompetence, or a disdain for the democratic process, Pacifica’s clear violation of its own bylaws led listeners on Feb. 28 to file a charge with the California Attorney General’s office, which oversees California non-profits. | LISTEN to 2 min audio clip from KPFA News | READ board rep Jack Kurzweil‘s YES on recall essay

KPFA donors file complaint against Pacifica with Attorney General over recall vote

Charging that the Pacifica Foundation has failed to follow its own rules in holding a listener-prompted recall election, a group of KPFA listeners has filed a formal complaint with the state Attorney General‘s office, which oversees California nonprofits.

“It’s ironic and disturbing to see these tactics from a network founded to uphold progressive values of free speech and participatory democracy,” said Ying Lee, a longtime Berkeley activist and KPFA supporter. “Whatever their views on station politics, listeners should be outraged by Pacifica’s flagrant violation of its own bylaws.”

In September, hundreds of KPFA members signed petitions calling for the recall of Tracy Rosenberg, who serves as treasurer of the Pacifica National Board. Among other things, Rosenberg was the architect of Pacifica’s destruction of what was the station’s top fundraiser — the KPFA Morning Show.  She also pushed through measures that denied KPFA’s elected representatives their seats on the Pacifica National Board until they were overturned by court injunction. Read KPFA Local Station Board chair Margy Wilkinson‘s YES on KPFA recall, as delivered to the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition.

KPFA management certified the signatures as valid on November 1, triggering a December 31 deadline — under Pacifica’s own rules — to mail recall ballots to all KPFA listener-members. But no ballots were ever sent.

That may change soon:  SaveKPFA filed its complaint with the Attorney General on Tuesday, February 28. By Wednesday, Pacifica National Board chair Summer Reese indicated she was prepared to hire someone to run the election, and that ballots would be mailed soon — but she did not specify when.