Question Eighteen: How do you think the election process for Local Station Board can be improved?

KPFA Listener-Sponsor candidates

Carl Bryant -

Steven Conley - A commitment to outreach into more diverse communities.

Bob English - More on air coverage, real debates that get into the issues.

Dianne Enriquez - I think it is important for there to be more interaction between the members and the candidates so that they can be better informed and enthusiastic voters. I also think that clearer, more organized and more open lines of communication between the candidates and the LSB election manager need to be established.

Sherry Gendelman - Not enough space to answer, but I think the Pacifica By-Laws should be followed and not flouted.

Mathew Hallinan –

Chandra Hauptman – By ensuring that the management follows Pacifica bylaws, allows the candidates to get air time, and on air publicity.

• By ensuring that the election process does not occur during fund drive time.

David Heller – The election process will be vastly improved if the station and board

can work together to make sure that listeners are more informed about governance issues and the roles played in governance by board members between elections so that the elections can be more meaningful. The station staff should also provide more airtime for candidate debates and discussion during the election season. In addition, the station should remind listeners during the fund drive that making a pledge gives them the right to vote. As it stands, this is rarely if ever mentioned.

Warren Mar – Make it less time consuming. This is important because activists involved in organizing don’t have much time. If they have a little time, they have to see that it fits into and builds on their other work – whether it is in the community, journalism, arts or labor. Any work that consists of mainly meetings leaves it only to people who don’t do much mass work. Some people also don’t have real jobs which don’t make them very representative of the working class. Non-professional workers can’t do things like take phone calls, use the internet at work or even read. I raise this because for much of my work life, I was in that situation so we should not take for granted that we can e-mail or call people at work. If KPFA wants the working class on the board as part of our diversity we have to deal with these questions.

Susan McDonough – The Board has to be a place where people can work positively together to advance the station’s reach which means we need to spend more time looking outward. That does not mean that we have to agree on each and every thing. We should strive for unity among the board that increasing our listenership in various communities and our financial base are our fundamental goals.

Antonio Medrano - Greater clarification as to the rules, and improve accessibility

Attila Nagy – More on-air promotion of the LSB elections; change time-frame to not coincide with fundraising and national elections.

Richard Phelps – We need to have more positive encouragement on the air all year and more information to our listeners about what is happening in governance. An interactive folio would help. For example, there will be no candidate information on the air once the fund drive starts for three weeks after voters get their ballots this year, similar to last year. There are some staff and management that don’t want a democratic process and it comes out in various ways and is negative energy. We need the development of our democratic process to be promoted as a very positive aspect of Pacifica and another important reason to support our Mission! We are breaking new ground outside the corporate box, just like many of our programs.

Mara Rivera - By promoting the ability to vote as a benefit of membership. By encouraging people to attend LSB meetings, reports to the listener, and other means of engaging them in governance and its issues.
How about reporting their public comments in the LSB minutes. I am doing that in the LSB meeting reports which are posted on peoplesradio.net.
KPFA should have a table at large community events & rallies so people can have contact and dialog with people in governance and staff.
When they are more familiar and engaged with the station, and when they are more informed about people and issues, they’ll be more motivated to vote.
Candidate statements should be longer, there should be more time for carts, they should be played even during fund drives, or elections and fund drives should not conflict, there should be more candidate events, there should be actual debates.

Paul Robins – Not enough subscribers vote even with the time and expense taken. Not sure what can be done about that. It just seems very expensive for not much subscriber interest. Perhaps there needs to be more on air discussion/panic about what the elections to the board could mean to the Station?

CC Campbell Rock – Subscribers should be informed of the candidates' position at least two months before an election.

Tracy Rosenberg – In time, Internet voting to prevent the huge expense of postal mailings.

Gerald Sanders – We need to have more positive encouragement on the air all year and more information to our listeners about what is happening in governance. An interactive folio would help. For example, there will be no candidate information on the air once the fund drive starts for three weeks after voters get their ballots this year, similar to last year. There are some staff and management that don’t want a democratic process and it comes out in various ways and is negative energy. We need the development of our democratic process to be promoted as a very positive aspect of Pacifica and another important reason to support our Mission! We are breaking new ground outside the corporate box, just like many of our programs.

Sureya Sayadi - Democracy during election without interference of management, both this year and last year the same slate name (Concerned Listeners) with help of their inside friends Bought again names and address of KPFA members and they sent advertising "Yellow Post Cards" of their slate on the same date as the Ballots go to the members while other candidates and slates Don't have the same exposure. I believe this biased and unfair way of campaigning need to be stopped because this type of procedure is against the Founding person's vision and Mission of KPFA, this is a community Station Not a US presidential elections where candidates with Money, and allies inside the station are tipping the election toward the rich or powerful. Equal and Just representation for all, Carts should be played on equal time, and daily moved around during high and low listener-ships for all candidates. The refusal of
management in the past and now to allow information about the election during the marathon has harmed the election process. Also last year the election supervisor reported that the radio carts were not properly played. Election events are organized weeks after the ballots have gone out instead of before the ballots are mailed. This is not a good way of running an election.

John Van Eyck - I’ll give that answer off the air.

Joe Wanzala – The election process will be vastly improved if the station and board can work together to make sure that listeners are more informed about governance issues and the roles played in governance by board members between elections so that the elections can be more meaningful. The station staff should also provide more airtime for candidate debates and discussion during the election season. In addition, the station should remind listeners during the fund drive that making a pledge gives them the right to vote. As it stands, this is rarely if ever mentioned.

Jim Weber - Improve the LSB elections by encouraging more listeners to vote, and making the elections honest with better management and oversight.

Stan Woods – The fact that as I write this on October 14 no candidates ‘s carts have been played on the air speaks volumes about the problems we face.
Once again a fundraising drive has been scheduled to conflict with a key time in the election process . Why? (The P.N.B. recently passed a motion prohibiting that but it doesn’t go in to effect until the 2009 election)
In the meantime there’s nothing to prevent promotion of the election and playing of the carts during this fund drive. It could be done in a way that would enhance not hinder fundraising.
But once again KPFA Management. And their allies throw up unnecessary barriers to our democratic process. Basta!

Steve Zeltzer - The refusal of management in the past to allow information about the election during the marathon has harmed the election process. Also last year the election supervisor reported that the radio carts were not properly played. Election events are organized weeks after the ballots have gone out instead of before the ballots are mailed. This is not a good way of running an election.

KPFA Staff candidates

Shahram Aghmir – The significance of Local Station Board is not clear to quite a number of KPFA’s listeners. Have more on the air discussions and debates on this subject, particularly at the election time, can lead to a better understanding of an elected governance structure.

Mary Berg - There are many things which have been put forth since a group of us spearheaded the first elections to the LAB back in 2000. perhaps the most important would be more concentrated in-person outreach and recruitment  of new subscribers on an on-going basis.

Chris Brown – It needs to be advertised better. I know of several people who would have been great to have on the LSB but didn't know about it at all.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert – You could save the network a bundle on printing and postage by setting up opt-in online balloting. Pacifica also needs to make a few more accommodations to make the elections process fully accessible to the disabled.

Jeannine Etter - As a programmer and long-time unpaid staff member, the LSB nominations and process only became clear to me once I joined the Unpaid Staff Organization. Before, there had just been murmurs, but never a concrete understanding of the process or its importance. There needs to be more outreach to the listeners and to programmers alike.

Mary Tilson –