Carol Spooner's endorsements for WBAI local station board
[Carol Spooner was lead plaintiff in the "listener's lawsuit" that successfully led to the removal of Pacifica's old national board and to the adoption of the new democratic bylaws.]
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Hello All,
If you haven't already received it, you soon will receive your ballot for the WBAI Local Station Board (LSB) 2007 election. Please don't lose your ballot -- vote!
I'm endorsing --
#1 - James Ross
#2 - Seth Goldberg
and, in alphabetical order,
Carla Cubit, Robert Gold, Jennifer Jager, Ken Laufer, Pat Logan, Don Mathiesen, Lee McClure, Stefan Neustatder, Bernardo Palombo.
I hope you will rank James #1 and Seth #2 on your ballot, and then go on to rank the others listed above in order of your preference. James Ross is the only encumbent who deserves re-election this year. He has worked diligently to uncover and understand the station finances and to make recommendations to deal with the problems. Unfortunately, his efforts have been blocked by the current majority on the LSB (the "Justice & Unity" faction). Seth Goldberg has the financial and business skills that WBAI so desperately needs at this time. All of the above-named candidates are sincerely committed to helping to right the station by hiring station management that will strengthen & revitalize programming, restore the listener-base and rebuild financial stability. They can be the seeds of sanity at a very troubled institution if you elect them to serve this very important community resource.
This is a critical election for WBAI. I believe it is absolutely essential that NON "Justice & Unity" slate candidates take a majority of the seats on the Local Board if WBAI is to survive, and perhaps even Pacifica itself. As I wrote to you a few weeks ago, WBAI is bankrupt. It is paying its bills by borrowing money from the Pacifica National Office which is borrowing the money from other Pacifica stations. This whole house of cards could come down if the problems at WBAI are not solved quickly. There have been very serious financial irregularities at WBAI, including use of "restricted" grant monies for unauthorized purposes. In addition, when WBAI terminated Gary Null's program it also terminated a major source of listener-support for the station. Regardless of what you think of Gary Null's program, the station needed a realistic plan to replace that income or to reduce its expenses to live within its reduced income. It did neither, and that is one of the causes of the current bankruptcy. Other causes are overall mis-management, waste, poor staff morale, not enough good programming, and competition from other alternative media sources, both on the radio and on the internet.
The "Justice & Unity" faction has held the majority on the LSB for the past three years and has been blocking necessary management changes and other changes at the station. In addition, the LSB majority elects 3 of the 4 WBAI seats on the Pacifica National Board and they have been blocking necessary action by the Pacifica Executive Director and National Board. For this to change, at least 5 of the 9 listener seats , and 2 of the 3 staff seats on the LSB must be won by independents who are not part of the "Justice & Unity" slate. I honestly don't know why the "Justice & Unity" slate has been so destructive to WBAI, they have good "political" credentials and you would think they would want the station to grow and thrive. However, they have not acted that way, and if they are permitted to continue to control the Local board and to confuse and mislead the national board, then I am very very pessimistic about the future of WBAI and Pacifica. This is tragic in a time of national crisis where EVERY form of alternative media is vitally necessary to preserve our civil rights and liberties from the fascistic & totalitarian forces in our government, and perhaps even to preserve our world from endless wars and global warming.
Again, please vote -- Every vote matters. With "ranked choice" voting just one vote can determine who wins the last seat on the board.
Thanks, and best regards,
Carol Spooner
Pacifica National Board Member - Jan 2002-Jan 2005
Lead Plaintiff - Listeners' Lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board - 1999-Dec 2001
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Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace.
~ Yehuda Amichai (1924 - 2000)