The KPFK election appears to be rigged; it seems the fix was in before the ballots ever went out.  If that's the case, the only hope to keep KPFK in the hands of the people of Southern California is a mass vote against the Committee To Strengthen KPFK and the corruption that's enabled them to steal the election.  Reports are now circulating that the election deadline may be extended to December 26 to achieve the 10% quorum necessary to certify the election.  That delay will give those who haven't voted a chance to do so and those who want to change their vote that opportunity.

It now seems likely that the Committee, with anonymous financial backing, negotiated with election officials to delay the date for mailing ballots to coordinate with the mailing of their $6-$7,000 mailer promoting their slate of candidates.  Meanwhile, unfinanced independent candidates began their campaign on schedule, unaware of the backroom maneuverings.  The collusion may have gone so far that the National Election Supervisor and interim Executive Director for the Pacifica Radio Foundation violated the Foundation's own bylaws requirement of an October 15 deadline for mailing ballots in order that the Committee's glossy endorsements would reach voters before or simultaneous with the ballot, maximizing the endorsement's influence on voters.

Meanwhile, without notice of the new date, independent candidates began their campaign on the "mandated" start date of October 15, with flyers, emails, endorsements from supporters, and public notices.  It was eight days later, long enough for effect of the independents' initial push to wane, that ballots were finally released.  While the Committee To Strengthen KPFK has engaged in behind-the-scenes organization with the National Elections Supervisor, the independent candidates fumed over the silence from the NES to their questions and concerns about election violations. 

The head of Pacifica's election campaign committee, Terry Goodman, first let the cat out of the bag in an email on a private listserv.  Goodman revealed that the Committee To Strengthen KPFK was determining when the ballots should go out.  According to Goodman, "the mailing of ballots was delayed because the mailing of the slate promo was delayed."

The collusion at KPFK echoed the maneuverings by The Committee To Strengthen KPFK's allies, the ACE slate at KPFK's sister sister WBAI.  An email exchange between ACE members and the National Elections Supervisor, Casey Peters, revealed the collusion there.  Another member of the Pacifica elections committee, Carolyn Birden, posted emails between Mitch Cohen of ACE and Peters in which they discuss openly that they had agreed to delay the ballots to coordinate with the ACE mailer. 

From: Mitchel Cohen [mitchelco...@mindspring.com]
Sent: 10/25/2007 4:38:22 PM
To: pacif...@mail2casey.com
Subject: Re: When were ballots mailed?

Hi Casey,

As a few folks in Manhattan began receiving their ballots already today (Thursday), I am curious as to when, exactly, the ballots were mailed out.

Were they in the mail already while we were speaking on the phone on Wednesday afternoon, discussing options for what to do about WBAI's booklet?

Please let me know.

Thanx.

Mitchel

From: "Casey Peters"
To:
Subject: Re: When were ballots mailed?
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:05:41 -0700

Hi Mitchell.
If the ballots were mailed when we spoke, it was without my knowledge or permission. I have heard some other reports along this line, and we are looking into it.
-- Casey

Two days later, Cohen discussed with another ACE member that Pacifica's Interim Executive Director, Dan Siegel, had defied the Peters' autonomy to manage the elections and ordered the ballots to be mailed, perhaps out of frustration with the delay.  Cohen orders, "We also need to unscramble Dan Siegel's relationship to this particular mailing house. Did he have personal access? (It appears that he personally directed them to mail out ballots, over Casey's decision not to do so yet."

Birden arrogantly demands that the elections committee investigate Siegel's "interference" in the dealmaking between the ACE slate and Peters.  And Birden suggests that the premature mailing has affronted Carol Spooner, a former Pacifica National Board member from Berkeley, who has helped organize slates for past elections in New York and Los Angeles.  Spooner has been mentioned as the attorney prepared to bring a lawsuit against Pacifica on behalf of the Committee To Strengthen KPFK.  Birden argues to the Elections Committee that, "Siegel violated the agreement he and Casey had made with Spooner not to release ballots until the ACE mailing was ready."

So, to all appearances, the Pacifica bylaws were violated to accommodate The Committee To Strengthen KPFK's mail schedule, as it was for their New York allies.

But the story doesn't end there.  The independent candidates, still unaware of the manipulations behind the ballot delay, complained to the Pacifica National Board that they were not informed that they had a right to the station's mailing list and, presumably, to its much less expensive email list.  The "remediation" they got for the acknowledged inequities was revealed by Goodman to be a placating ruse.  According to Goodman, "The 'faction' for whom remedy was granted at KPFK is the 'faction' consisting of all those candidates who didn't carefully plan an election campaign, but the remedy will actually have minimal effect on the results."

So the Pacifica elections committee chair mocks the "disorganized" candidates, those who had no notice that they had to re-organize their campaigns, and implicitly applauds the "organized" candidates, who were secretly working with the National Election Supervisor to both advantage themselves and disadvantage those candidates who didn't have high-level access to violate published timetables and the Pacifica Bylaws.

The PNB acknowledged that the all candidates did not have equal access to the mailing list and that the election financing was discriminatory, and responded with a resolution for remediation for those candidates.  The PNB left the particulars of the remediation to a group including the National Elections Supervisor, the Pacifica legal counsel, the interim General Manager at KPFK, and the PNB board members from KPFK.

If the remediation group met, the meeting was not noticed, so aggrieved candidates could not participate in the remediation process.  Goodman reveals that two actions were undertaken to "remediate" the inequity, but he does not explain who made the decisions.  The first was an extension of the voting deadline to December 11, and the second was the opportunity to replace an original ballot with a changed ballot, according to Goodman.  Goodman tells the private list that both were a sham, a political trick to placate complaining candidates.  Of the extension, Goodman says that "the deadline was extended at KPFK in response to a PNB motion demanding remedy for the mailing of a campaign promo by a slate" but "the extension would very likely have occurred regardless" because of the delayed ballot mailing."  Of course, any extension of time benefits all parties equally.

Even the opportunity to file a changed ballot was standard election policy and not a remediation, according to Goodman: "Actually, anyone can change their votes in any Pacifica election simply by reporting before a deadline that they didn't receive a ballot. Their prior ballot submission is then voided as if intercepted even if it wasn't. We don't normally point this out because replacing ballots is expensive."  But again, allowing universal changes to ballots is not remediation to any party.

Goodman sums up the fraud: "Some complainers imagine that it can make a difference and so feel better thinking that the advantage obtained by those who actually planned a campaign has somehow been equalized by this ruling. Rationales don't have to be reasonable to have political validity."

So both the mailing of the ballots and the "remediation" promised to independent candidates were designed to make sure the Committee To Strengthen KPFK wins election to the Local Station Board.  The only solution is to ensure that independent candidates take control of the LSB and can elect their representatives to the Pacifica National Board.  From there, they can use their own experience in this election to guarantee that future Pacifica elections are free of false promises and insider collusion with election officials. 

If you are a member of KPFK, you can get information on getting a replacement ballot and voting by calling 818-985-2711.  Take over the station.