RECENT BACKGROUND
There are serious problems with the execution of these elections and with the behavior of the Pacifica National Board (PNB). The PNB majority has violated several bylaws and distorted others in an effort to try to maintain its dominance. Having sold one piece of Pacifica property and hocked the rest, a year since they took a very problematic loan — whose lender they now say cannot be publicly named — they have yet to come up with a repayment plan, except the possibility of selling a frequency.
No station's sale is acceptable to us, but guess where they'd be aiming?
As we write, some election candidates on the PNB are trying to block a special public PNB meeting called for Thurs., Feb. 21, with the National Election Supervisor (NES). The preposterous claim is that it is against the bylaws for the NES to speak with the PNB. Since 2003, when members began to elect board members, most if not all NES appointees have worked with a PNB Elections Committee and met with the PNB. And since August 2018, each of the three people who've cycled through the NES job has been in frequent contact with the PNB. So it seems the objection is only to open and transparent communication with all candidates and voters.
Listen to the live-stream on Thurs., Feb. 21 at 8:30pm, on www.kpftx.org, by clicking the grey arrow under the meeting name "Pacifica National Board Emergency Meeting."
On his program "Any Saturday," longtime host and Fortune Society co-founder David Rothenberg criticized listener-candidate Randy Credico for his involvement with Roger Stone, whom Credico repeatedly hosted on his now-cancelled WBAI show. Stone has recently been indicted for witness tampering, obstruction, and false statements in the Robert Mueller-led investigation of the 2016 U.S. election, and it has been alleged that Credico served as his intermediary with Wikileaks.
As a result of David's comments, this past Saturday two men* running for the board with Credico on the Indy Caucus / ACE slate (led by junk-mail marketer Steve Brown), were given time to rebut David, but instead engaged in a vicious, false, and wide-ranging attack on Justice & Unity, which had no role in the criticisms of Credico.
This cannot stand.
Please visit justiceunity.org for the facts, for more about candidates who really work for the best interests of WBAI, and for our Voting Guide. The conduct and lies of the Indy/ACE majority have been so outrageous and violative of fair play norms that for the first time, J&U is asking outright that no rankings be given to anyone on that slate.
* Alex Steinberg: After the Empire State Realty Trust won its rent case in 2017, he pushed for bankruptcy authorization before the board could even speak to its lawyer. He's the chair of the PNB Strategic Planning Committee, which has offered no repayment plan for the $3 million loan. And when, after 6 months+ of blocked Local Station Board meetings, we attempted to have the PNB authorize one, Steinberg argued that your elected representatives didn't need to meet. This contradicts the practice around the network, including the boards on which those hypocritical representatives who voted to allow the Indy/ACE majority to continue to block your meetings sit. Of course, it also violates the Bylaws, but there's scarcely a PNB meeting at which violating the Bylaws does not occur.
Mitchel Cohen: Among other things, when he was an LSB officer he regularly disappeared agenda items brought by minority members. He also applied his "rules" with bias, limiting informational access for some members while privileging others, and pressured staff to offer his "writings" as premiums.
