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The general manager search charade

A revealing example of the "Justice and Unity" LSB's refusal to accept responsibility is its mishandling of the search for a new station manager. This is rightly the LSB's job under Pacifica's bylaws:

Each LSB, acting as a standing committee of the Foundation's Board of Directors, shall have the following powers, duties and responsibilities related to its specific radio station, under the direction and supervision of the Foundation's Board of Directors:

B. To screen and select a pool of candidates for the position of General Manager of its respective radio station, from which pool of approved candidates the Executive Director shall hire the station's General Manager. The LSB may appoint a special sub-committee for this purpose.

This is especially relevant at WBAI, since we have not had a permanent GM since Don Rojas departed in early 2005. One would think a responsible LSB would be proactive about filling the position, especially given WBAI's crisis.

But not "Justice and Unity." What they did instead, shortly after they took control of the LSB, was pass a motion (below) that took the job of selecting the general manager AWAY from the LSB and gave it to a group over which the LSB has no control and which does not answer to the LSB. This group, which they mistakenly call a "subcommittee," is made up of majority non-LSB members who are not selected by the LSB. The recommendations of the group are not sent to the LSB for review - instead they are sent directly to Pacifica's executive director, who makes the final hiring decision.

In effect, the "Justice and Unity" LSB renounced one of its key responsibilities. You have to ask, why do these people even want to be on the local station board, if they don't want to do what the board is supposed to do?

It is difficult to know what this so-called "general manager search subcommittee" is up to, since they don't report their activities to the LSB (the parent body). Word is that this group is active, and reviewing resumes.

However, the ONLY time this group's chair, intense JU partisan John Riley, spoke to the LSB at recent meetings, he did not deign to report the "subcommittee's" activities. Rather, he opined that the non-JU members of the LSB should be "removed from the board," even though we were elected by the membership, just as his factions's people were.

Completely disrespectful. And so the LSB still doesn't know what its own subcommittee is doing. How stupid is that? And naturally we still don't have a new GM, after almost THREE YEARS of this "subcommittee's" activity. Sheesh.

Below is video of Riley haranguing at the LSB at the 9-18-07 meeting. It's at the very end of this clip (taken and posted by Albert Solomon, http://pacvid1.com). Below that is a piece I wrote on this subject in early 2005, when the subject first arose. At the bottom is an extract of the minutes showing the "Justice and Unity" motion on the search subcommittee.

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1-25-05: Justice and Unity to listeners - "You don't count"

In an important vote at the 1/5/05 local station board (LSB) meeting, Justice and Unity again revealed itself as a staff-controlled organization opposed to oversight of WBAI by listeners.

The LSB voted to stack the search committee for the station's new general manager with representatives of the paid staff union (AFTRA) and the unpaid staff organization (USOC) at the expense of listener representatives.

The details: the LSB voted to constitute the GM search committee with 3 paid staff (elected by AFTRA), 3 unpaid staff (elected by USOC), and 5 listener members of the LSB (elected by the LSB). The kicker is that if either AFTRA or USOC can vote to reduce the number of listener-members to three. And USOC has already said that it prefers only 3. [note: AFTRA has also said it wants only 3 listener-members on the committee. So the final make-up is 6 reps of staff organizations, 3 of listener-members.]

Further, this motion states that the committee's recommendation should be sent to the Executive Director (who does the hiring) without review by the LSB as a whole.

All the Justice aad Unity LSB members - even those elected by listeners, including Evan Tobias, Sarah Flounders, Lisa Davis, Ray Laforest, etc. - voted for this motion. Everyone else voted against it. Since J&U has a majority, the motion passed.

In doing so, the JU controlled LSB overturned a much better plan passed by the previous LSB that had equal participation of listeners and staff and under which some staff were elected by the LSB, not the staff organizations. Under this (now rejected) plan, the staff organizations had a voice but did not dominate.

The upshot of the latest vote is that staff organizations, not listeners, will be the predominant voice on the search committee for the GM, the most important station employee.

Why is this a problem?

  1. It disenfranchises listener-members. WBAI/Pacifica went through a tremendous battle to make the foundation accountable to listener-members, who sustain the foundation with their money. In one vote, JI has made listener-members into junior participants in the LSB's most important decision. This leads us to the old system, under which listeners were cut out of station governance. That did not work.
  2. The GM candidates will reflect the concerns of entrenched staff, and the finalist will owe his/her job to the staff organizations. This does not augur well for effective management.
  3. This vote demonstrates that JU LSB listener reps do not take their job seriously. They effectively have said to the staff organizations, "you tell us who the GM should be, and we'll go along with it." Listener-members, who will pay the salary and listen to the radio of the new hire, deserve better representation than that. And if the JU LSB listener reps don't want to take the responsibility, why do they want to be on the board?
  4. This motion renders the staff elections to the LSB meaningless. LSB staff reps have ALREADY been elected by their fellow staff members to represent them in important matters such as GM selection. But JU apparently does not respect that election, and instead wants the staff organizations to do it all.

Listeners who are happy with the station as it stands now may agree with the Justice and Unity position. But listener-members who are troubled by the dysfunction that has characterized WBAI for the past several years, like me, and those who support real democratic governance, should be skeptical.

Why does Justice and Unity want to cut listeners out?

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Minutes – 1-5-05
Regular WBAI LSB Meeting
Community Church
New York City.
Announced on-air

Motion by Gaston, Motion on General Manager Search Committee
Seconded.
Whereas, Article 7, Section 3, subsection B of the Pacifica Bylaws provides that one of the powers of the Local Station Board is: "To screen and select a pool of candidates for the position of General Manager of its respective radio station, from which pool of approved candidates the Executive Director shall hire the station's General Manager. The LSB may appoint a special sub-committee for this purpose." and
Whereas, the current General Manager has submitted his resignation,
Therefore, be it resolved, that:

1. The WBAI Local Station Board shall establish an ad hoc committee known as the General Manager Search Committee (GMSSC) to screen and select a pool of candidates for the position of General Manager, and to submit that pool to the Pacifica Executive Director for a decision on hiring.

2. The GMSSC shall be composed of 11 members, appointed as follows:
… 3 unpaid staff members elected by the WBAI Unpaid Staff, under the auspices of the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee (USOC);
… 3 paid staff members elected by the WBAI Paid Staff, under the auspices of AFTRA; and
… 5 listener members of the WBAI Local Station Board elected by the LSB via single transferable voting.

Provided, however, that the LSB's final approval of this formula shall be contingent upon written approval by the AFTRA and USOC unions at WBAI by January 15, 2005. If the LSB Chair does not receive notice of approval from both unions by that date, the formula shall automatically be as follows, and elections shall proceed on this basis:
… 3 unpaid staff members elected by the WBAI Unpaid Staff, under the auspices of the Unpaid Staff Organizing Committee (USOC);
… 3 paid staff members elected by the WBAI Paid Staff, under the auspices of AFTRA; and
… 3 listener members of the WBAI Local Station Board elected by the LSB via single transferable voting.

3. The LSB's election of its members to the GMSSC shall occur at the next regular LSB meeting. The two unions' elections of their members to the GMSSC shall be concluded no later than February 15. The GMSC will not hold its first meeting until all members have been elected. The highest vote-getting LSB voting member shall convene the first meeting after consultation with the other members. In the case of a vacancy or an anticipated leave of absence for three or more meetings, the next highest vote-getter within the relevant category shall join the committee for the period of absence of the elected member.

4. All meetings concerning individual candidates for General Manager will be held in executive session (either in person or by conference call) and all information about such candidates kept confidential, unless the GMSSC votes, with the consent of the candidate, to make the meeting and/or information public. All other meetings of the GMSSC shall be held according to the open meetings rules in the Pacifica Bylaws. All GMSC members, voting and nonvoting, shall sign an agreement to maintain the confidentiality of all information discussed in executive session or made available on a confidential basis.

5. The final pool of candidates for General Manager voted by the GMSSC to be recommended to the Executive Director shall be sent directly to him/her, with a confidential copy also forwarded to the WBAI Local Station Board. All LSB members shall keep the names on the names in that pool confidential unless and until the GMSSC votes, with the consent of the candidate(s) involved, that the name(s) and any other information about the candidate(s) may be made public.

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