Illegal Bylaws Change Threatens Democracy, Diversity at Pacifica Radio
by Michael Novick, former interim General Manager, KPFK-90.7 FM Pacifica radio in Los Angeles
What is one of the most critical aspects of these new bylaws, (which we consider an illegal substitution, because they were not adopted by any of the methods within the bylaws for changing the bylaws; they were adopted in secrecy)? The main aim of it, and the same thing that was in the New Day proposal and in the predecessor Pacifica Restructuring Project bylaws proposal, both of which were rejected and defeated by the members in foundation-wide votes, is to centralize power and authority in the national board and the manager they hire, the executive director. They dis-empower the local station boards, and eliminate local oversight of the management and the budget of the finances. The long-term goal is to control the programming and marginalize or eliminate radical community voices from the airwaves.
They do this by eliminating the provisions for the elected local delegates to choose the Pacifica National Board (PNB) directors. They also have removed the Local Station Board (LSB) treasurers as a position. Since there are still treasurers, they’re allowing them for now to sit on the National Finance Committee (NFC) for observation purposes, but they no longer have a vote on the NFC, considering the budgets of the stations and the foundation.
They end the election of delegates from each station to the various committees of the PNB. They have already ended all involvement of LSBs in the selection process for managers and the evaluation of the station managers and the program directors.
There’s a deceitful bait and switch going on. The New Day faction put out a little spreadsheet with a comparison, but they left out some of the most important things. For example, the original bylaws provide for the recall or removal of a local station board member, also known as a delegate, and if that delegate is serving as the director of the Pacifica Foundation on the National Board, they would be removed from that director position as well, as a consequence of a vote by the members at their station.
In the original bylaws, it says a delegate can be removed “upon the majority vote of the class of members associated with the radio station who originally elected a delegate, voting by written ballot in an election to remove said delegates.” The election is held if the Secretary has received a petition signed by at least 2% of the appropriate class of members affiliated with that radio station. If that delegate is removed as a delegate, they’re also removed from the national board if they had become a director.
The illegal substitute bylaws remove this provision for removal of LSB members by the general membership electorate and they provide no comparable method for removal of the members of the Pacifica National Board by the base membership.
They disguise various realities of the illegal substitute bylaws. For example, the table of contents that they put out shows the members as: A) listeners, and B) staff. But the actual body of the document is different. It says A) listeners, and B) paid staff members, and then C) Volunteer staff members. This is because originally they planned to separate the staff into two separate voting constituencies. They dropped that in the so-called settlement, because they realized it was one of the most vulnerable parts, but they still have this aspect of dividing the staff in two in the actual language, even though the table of contents tries to disguise that.
Similarly, in the new illegal bylaws, they state “All members shall have all rights granted to them by law, or by these bylaws, including without limit, the right to vote on the terms and in the manner set forth in these bylaws, on the election and removal of directors.” But this is another deception, because there is no provision for removal of directors by a vote of the members. Not for the so-called board officers, not for the station representative directors. Not for the staff representative directors. None of them have a provision that the people who elected people can remove them.
Similarly, Article 15 on voting methods in the new bylaws defines two methods of voting, as the current one does, single transferable vote (STV) and instant runoff vote (IRV). But the reality of the voting methods used in the illegal substitute bylaws repeatedly diverge from those methods. Those methods were designed in the original bylaws to assure that a single majority cannot control all the seats or offices, and that minorities get some amount of representation.
Instead, the illegal substitute bylaws repeatedly provide for methods where the same majority controls all the seats, by electing the directors as single-seat national officers, a national chair, a national vice chair, a national treasurer, et cetera. They assure that the same faction and ticket will control all those seats. In providing only a single station representative from each station, they assure that only the majority faction from each station will take the seat from that station. The local station board officers are elected in the same manner. Each election is for a single officer position, guaranteeing that the same majority can fill all the seats. Once they’re on the PNB, they get to elect two at-large members, and in that vote each member gets two votes. So, the same majority can name both at-large directors.
This consistent pattern makes it clear that the language retaining STV and IRV is a sham. It’s just propaganda to disguise the winner-take-all, first-past-the-post reality, which, as in governmental elections, essentially disenfranchises and discounts minorities.
The new illegal substitute bylaws don’t provide any mechanism for keeping money out of Pacifica politics. On the contrary. Through all those provisions that eliminate minority voices and opinions, they ensure that the faction with the deepest pockets will dominate every aspect of governance with no recourse or voice for all the other elements of membership.
What’s their reasoning for this? They expressed in several places they want to remove the power of the local boards to have any oversight over finances, over management.
They have adopted a measure that says any and all actions resolutions and policies taken or adopted by a Local Station Board may be overridden by a majority vote of the directors if said action, resolution, or policy is found by the Board of Directors to be adverse to the mission or purposes of the Foundation, or exceed the power or authority granted to said LSB.
It’s also spelled out most clearly in the transition section, and that transition has already begun, according to them, despite the continuing court proceedings under which they came up with their settlement. The illegal Bylaws state: “during the transition period and under the provisions of the revised bylaws and thereafter, the powers and duties of local station boards change to a focus on fundraising, membership drives. Community Outreach and assessing the needs of the station in regard to their communities.
“During the transition period under the provisions of the revised bylaws and thereafter, LSBs no longer elect directors to the National Board, no longer recommend budgets to the National Board, no longer approve bylaws or articles of incorporation amendments, will no longer be elected as delegates to national committees, nor have direct involvement in personnel matters.”
These changes, disempowering the members and the delegates we elect, and eliminating local oversight and evaluation of managers and station finances, make it clear why the New Day majority on the PNB is seeking to impose these, illegal substitute bylaws in the manner they are, without any public discussion or any member vote.
They know the bylaws do not pass the smell test. And in the light of day, with a fully informed electorate voting on the changes, they would be defeated by the members again.
What’s the background and reasoning behind this? It’s because Pacific has always been contested terrain.
The democratization of the bylaws and of the organization that took place at the beginning of this century came after years of struggle. There’s continued to be struggle about what voices are allowed on the air.
When I was general manager of KPFK, we added many additional Black radical voices, Indigenous voices, environmental programs, a labor show, a hip-hop show, anarchist interviews, more Spanish language programming, local news. Almost all of those, after they removed me, were cut or reduced, moved to different times, or eliminated completely. Morning and evening drive time has been devoted to programs from KPFA or nationally syndicated liberal programming. And that’s really what’s behind this, is to sterilize what goes over the airwaves, and to restrict it.
We won the struggle to democratize the bylaws, and we can’t afford to lose it. Because the democratic bylaws are what has kept Pacific in existence. Air America’s gone, MSNBC got rid of all the anti-war voices. NPR censored Mumia Abu Jamal. Pacifica is here to continue the fight because of the democratization.
If we lose that, we’ll lose everything. These illegal substitute Bylaws are the Pacifica equivalent of corporate media complying with Trump’s attacks on freedom of speech and of the press.
What you can do
Sign the petition to defend democracy here: https://www.change.org/p/defend-democracy-at-pacifica
Read a summary of the significant changes and a point by point comparison of the original and the illegal substitute Pacifica Bylaws here: https://pacificafightback.org/pacificas-bylaws-changed-your-vote-discarded/
Read an analysis of the historic roots of the Bylaws struggle: https://change-links.org/pacifica-radio-imperiled-by-maga-and-from-within/
Contribute to cover the legal expenses to challenge the illegal substitute Bylaws. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-democracy-at-pacifica-radio
Sign up for Pacifica Fightback’s low-frequency e-newsletter here: https://pacificafightback.org/sign-up-for-our-newsletter/
To join the Defend Media campaign, and help plan an upcoming teach-in, email [email protected]
To join the Defend DEI, Overcome Racism & Sexism in Progressive Media working group, email [email protected]