RadioPoetics.org

It is no surprise that KPFA ( 94.1 FM) listeners elected five Bay Area
notables in the recent Local Station Board election (Sherry Gendelman,
Warren Mar, Matthew Hallinan, Susan McDonough and Dianne Enriquez, all
Concerned Listeners) who ran positive campaigns focussed on the
strength of their experience and their vision for KPFA. Four
candidates from other slates were also elected. Perhaps it also
should not be a surprise that candidates who have lost, such as Steve
Zeltzer, are now contesting the election. What is alarming is that
Pacifica Election Supervisor Casey Peters has indulged in partisan
behavior throughout the election process and is now threatening not to
certify the election on grounds that can only be described as
politically motivated.

We would be the first to point out the problems with this election.
The most egregious violation of Pacifica's Fair Campaign rules was the
serial defamation by one slate, personally attacking Concerned Listener
candidates as well as KPFA staff and board members, which was
published with Pacifica resources and sent to the tens of thousands of
KPFA subscribers with their ballots. Despite the fact that Peters
allowed this to happen, we feel that it is in KPFA's best interest for
the election to be certified rather than going to the expense of
another election, which has cost the station $70,000 of the listeners'
money, although we are confident if it were done over, our slate would
win again.

Zeltzer is challenging the election based on specious grounds,
claiming that commentaries written by KPFA staff in the Planet
violated the Fair Campaign rules. Those rules state that no station
resources may be used to advocate in favor or against any candidate,
but staff clearly have First Amendment rights and are allowed to state
their opinions in non-Pacifica public fora. Zeltzer even argues that
an email written in 2005 by radical journalist Doug Henwood about Bob
English, who ran for the board this fall, was a violation of this
election's Fair Campaign rules!

Zeltzer also argues that the elections should be overturned because of
an email Larry Bensky sent endorsing Concerned Listeners. Bensky, who
is no longer a KPFA employee, emailed listeners who had asked to stay
in touch with him following his retirement. He contacted the Local
Elections Supervisor beforehand to see if it was okay for him to do
this and was never told he should not send it. Pacifica Election
Supervisor Peters now refuses to certify the elections until Larry
Bensky makes a public statement in favor of listener-elected boards
and vows to never endorse candidates in any future election -- which
Pacifica does not ask of any staff or listener and which is a
violation of his free speech rights. Peters has already punished
Bensky by banning him from Pacifica's airwaves until Peters' term is
over, extended into 2008.

It is time for Peters to move beyond partisanship and act in KPFA's
best interest by certifying this election, which had record listener
turnout, so that the Local Station Board can get to work to improving
that wonderful and priceless resource.

Mary and Jon Fromer
Warren Mar
Susan McDonough
PhoeBe Sorgen John VanEyck Sherry Gendelman Conn Hallinan