PacificaWatch

. . . Jim tells Jim it’s all over – WBAI Community Advisory Board, Su27June2021 . . .

At this afternoon’s WBAI Community Advisory Board, Director James Sagurton (WBAI listener-delegate) was oblivious to the world, talking on the phone as if he was in a private conversation with Jim Dingeman (WBAI stalwart). Thing is, Jim still had the Zoom room open.

In the first hour of the CAB there was just Jim & the WBAI Local Elections Supervisor, Renata Sago (les-wbai2021@pacifica.org). Nattering away, about dis n dat, as Mansoor would say.

Then Director James (also Chair of the PNB Finance Cttee) came onto the call. Niceties exchanged, then down to business. James had a lot to say. NETA, Pacifica’s bookkeeper & accountant, had given stuff to the auditors, only to have it rubbished – and returned. Like a drug deal gone wrong. No way will it get done by 30June.

Making things worse, opined James, is Chief Financial Officer Anita Sims protecting KPFK’s business manager, Barry Brooks.

Plus the palaver about KPFK’s new station manager, Moe Thomas, not getting the codes he needed. And the hullabaloo at KPFT, about the wide-ranging programming changes being seen as whitewash.

Then James dropped a bombshell: National Elections Supervisor Renée Asteria Peñaloza had told him that quora had been made in both the listeners & staff by-laws referendum. He didn’t note that this was a lil inaccurate: as the NES can neither open the ballot envelopes nor check individual online votes, she can’t know the number of valid ballots received, only the number of apparent ballots.

But anyway, oh.

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With quora coming in less than 20 days, with more than 10 to go, the die is cast. Why? Only one side has been putting in the work.

The breakers have been focused on the referenda; the anti-breakers on the LSB elections.

The breakers have been mobilising their constituency for months and months and months; the anti-breakers have been preoccupied with manoeuvring on the PNB & the LSB’s.

The breakers have been beavering away getting the vote out; the anti-breakers from April started talking about talking about what to do & how.

The breakers, motivated; the anti-breakers, just going thru the motions.

Men against boyz.

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Unless the anti-breakers can scare peeps to vote by W7July, & with turnout down, one can expect the breakers to win the listeners referendum. And maybe even win the staff referendum at three of the stations, but lose the staff referendum itself coz of the turnout at WPFW & WBAI. That would mean the breakers fail – this time.

But it would mark a sea change. Then all the breakers have to do is come back again, but with a proposed constitution that doesn’t require a staff referendum: all they have to do is word it so that a class of members isn’t materially adversely affected compared with the other class.

It’s a wonder they didn’t do that this time round. But then this is PacificaWorld.

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[NES Peñaloza has publicly given no progress reports, either before voting or since it has started. She hasn’t disclosed the size of the 10 elector rolls, either as initially given to her by station managers or as they have been amended. Nor revealed how turnout has proceeded – but not being a humble member, a Pacifica director is able to . . . – Animal Farm lives on. https://elections.pacifica.org/]

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