Letter to the PNB, 11-17-07
Dear members of the Pacifica board,
I am writing to object to the unfairness and cavalier disregard of members' voting rights in the current election. I'm a WBAI listener-member, candidate for LSB, and a current incumbent.
It is blatantly unfair for the the National Elections supervisor to order airplay of carts to "correct" errors in the ACE mailing to WBAI membership, but NOT to order such carts to correct errors in the mailing to membership from Justice and Unity.
These carts - broadcast with the authority of the local elections supervisor, Dale Ratner - will surely affect the election. I am listed on the ACE mailing (though I did not ask to be). My candidacy will suffer as a result of these carts, because of the implication that I am associated with people who lie and don't play fair.
Casey Peters' decision in this matter fails the standard of impartiality. The evidence of his bias is that there been no carts to correct the following factual errors and personal attacks by Justice and Unity made using station resources:
1. the JU mailing to the membership includes the following untrue statement: "J&U and its allies have raised thousands of dollars for WBAI, including the funds for the online audio archives, which have had 6 million downloads in a year from 72 countries". This claim is also made in Lisa Davis's candidate cart, which airs daily.
Pacifica's technical people scoff at the claim of "6 million downloads in a year." It is debunked here). But there has been no effort by the elections supervisors to "correct" it.
2. I was called a racist during an on-air candidate forum by candidate Omowale Clay. But no one bothered to make a cart correcting that.
3. And what about the absurd claims made on-air by candidates Sara Flounders and Marianella Trioche that "WBAI has 28,000 members?" (For reality, see here. No cart was ordered to correct it. In fact, our LES asked the non-JU candidates not to bring up the cluelessness of Flounders and Trioche.
In the interest of a fair election, I ask, why is it OK for some people to use station resources to lie, defame and mislead, and no sanction, but the ACE mailing warrants a cart to debunk it? Why do JU candidates get protection from the LES when they say something wrong, but not anybody else? This inconsistency is highly unfair.
Casey Peters needs to understand that it is NOT his job to arbitrarily "correct" certain untruthful statements made in the course of the election. What the elections supervisors SHOULD be doing is ensuring that all station members can vote. At WBAI there are many who can't, including a good number of staff, because we haven't received ballots.
I qualify as a listener member in three separate ways - I donated money, I volunteered during the fund drives, and I serve on the LSB. I have regularly received station mailings. I qualified to be a listener-member candidate this year, which means I must have been on a list as recently as 9-25-07. And I still didn't get a ballot.
The treatment of people in my situation has been shockingly cavalier. Our LES told us to contact him by email if we did not receive a ballot. Which I did, on 11-2-07. He responded that he would arrange to send me a replacement. On 11-8-07 I emailed back that I still had not received either the original or the replacement. Our LES responded: "I honestly have no idea what is happening with these replacement ballots. I gave your information (and the information of a lot of other people) to Casey and Les in California and some of them have received ballots or at least not talked to me. I have no idea why this is happening."
Great. And here it is 11-17 and still no ballot. Were replacements even sent out? Was the whole thing a ruse? Instead, we were given the opportunity to come to the station 11-16 and fill out a "provisional ballot." I could not make it (at least 2.5 hours round trip) because of job and family commitments.
Given the bias and carelessness shown by the NES, I have no confidence that even if I did come down that this ballot would be counted. In any event, the failure to send out replacements means some people who should be able to vote - and want to vote - won't be able to.
Casey Peters needs to improve his performance if this election is to have any legitimacy. I think our LES, Dale Ratner, is doing a decent job under difficult circumstances, but I can't say the same for Casey.
Somebody please do something.
Sincerely
James Ross WBAI LSB