The Alameda Superior Court today allowed the renegade Pacifica executive leadership to restack the board. Please contact the following prospective Pacifica Board members and ask them not to join the network at this time.
REMINDER BE THERE TOMORROW:
WHAT: Demonstration "No New Board Members and We Need Democracy Now! More
Than Ever"
WHEN: Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 19, 2001 7-10 AM
WHERE: KPFK, 3729 Cahuenga Blvd., North Hollywood
Just So. of Lankershim
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September 18, 2001
Pacifica Campaign Urgent Action Alert
No New Board Members!
Make a Phone Call, Send an E-mail
The Alameda Superior Court today allowed the renegade Pacifica executive leadership to restack the board. Please contact the following prospective Pacifica Board members and ask them not to join the network at this time. Please be polite, but firm.
Your action is urgently needed. Please try to contact these individuals before Wednesday, September 19th, at 2:00 pm Eastern. But even after that time, your phone call, e-mail and fax still counts.
Via e-mail, please go to: http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/pacifica/nominees/
1) George Barnstone. 713-524-9131, fax 713-524-9132 gbarnstone@pdq.net Former board member of Texas ACLU, Houston Real Estate broker and former lawyer.
2) Marion Barry. 202-562-7564 He garnered national attention when he mounted a political comeback in 1994, winning the Washington DC Mayor's race after serving six months in prison on a federal cocaine conviction. In April, pleaded out on a second-degree charge of assault on a female janitor at Baltimore-Washington Airport. In return, prosecutors dropped an indecent exposure charge.
3) James Ferguson. 202-371-1091 voterparticipate@netscape.net or voterparticipate@netscape.com Former executive director of the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation in 1996, which received indirect funding from the Democratic National Committee and was in effect, an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party. He has made it clear that he is firmly in Ken Ford's camp.
4) Dick Gregory 323-296-1760, Celebrity, comedian, activist. Has a sympathetic history with Pacifica.
5) Krishna Roy (no confirmed phone number) PR and marketing professional from DC.
NATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS TO CONTACT
MESSAGE: NO NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Wendell Johns. 202-752-5355 (w) 202-244-6934 (h) wendell_L_johns@fanniemae.com Employed at Fannie Mae. His wife is an executive at Verizon and sits in many DC boards. John has been refraining from being in communication with either Ken Ford's camp or the dissidents.
Bob Farrell. 310-514-2052, alfigo@aol.com Former LA City Council member and involved with African American issues. Betrayed his constituents in Los Angeles; was elected by the KPFK LAB under promise to vote against
the 1999 bylaw changes, then voted for these changes. He has been trying to become Chair of the board.
Valrie Chambers 281-655-0266, valrie.chambers@mail.tamucc.edu Accountant and economics professor in Houston. Wrote a letter with Leslie Cagan telling Bessie Wash to put Democracy Now! back on the air.
Let her know that if she votes for negotiations and an interim board instead of this election, Texas will be represented and she will receive our support. Be supportive of the moves she has made toward our side and refrain from hostilities. But tell her she's accountable for the debacle if she participates in this election.
BACKGROUND
We are headed for a watershed moment tomorrow (Wednesday), one that will determine whether we resolve the crisis at Pacifica through reason and negotiation or whether we plunge into even more costly and debilitating escalation of the conflict. The Pacifica National Board will be meeting by conference call on September 19th. On the agenda will be the election of five new board members, a virtual stacking of the board.
The reform movement is not going away. But if the battle that has engulfed Pacifica for many years does not end soon, the entire network may soon be permanently crippled, perhaps even destroyed. And we need Pacifica now more than ever. We must try to prevent this.
* Ask the nominees and board members to look into their hearts and find the decency to refrain from these drastic, illegal, and devastating actions, especially during this difficult time when two of the listening areas have been attacked. Tell them that it will be a shameful moment when they try to take advantage of this time of crisis for their benefit.
* Ask the board members to decide in favor of negotiations with the dissidents for the establishment of an interim board to hammer out democratic processes, instead of keeping this fight going for another two or three years.
* Tell board members and nominees that during perhaps the greatest domestic and international crisis our nation has confronted in 100 years, Pacifica management has failed its listeners, censoring Amy Goodman's coverage from "Ground Zero" in New York and literally allowing WBAI to go off the air demonstrating their great failure of management. Demand the return of Democracy Now! to our airwaves.
* Tell the board members and nominees that sexism (if their nominees are elected it will result in 13 men and only three women) and regionalism (9 board members out of 16 would be representing the Washington DC signal area) are shameful and against Pacifica's tradition.
* Tell the board members and nominees that it is shameful to insist on meeting during a Jewish high holy day, thus eliminating the dissident board member Rabbi Kriegel.
It is important that we make our voices heard before the meeting is held on Wednesday, 2pm Eastern.
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The Pacifica Campaign is a grass-roots organization representing listeners and staff alike, fighting to preserve Pacifica's 50-year tradition of progressive, community-based radio. For more info go to: http://www.pacificacampaign.org
Pacifica Campaign
51 MacDougal St., #80
New York, NY 10012
(646) 230-9588
Original: Urgent Action on Pacifica Crisis!