|
Feel free to forward:
WBAI Local Board Listener Candidate Gets Away with 4 Hours of Unauthorized Air Time
In Pacificaland, are some candidates more "equal" than others?
The bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation explicitly state that during the season when members are vying for seats on its stations' governing boards – no listener candidate may be given greater airtime than any other candidate. As candidates and station staff can be penalized for infractions of this and other rules both groups are required to sign statements acknowledging their awareness of this rule. Candidates were required to submit these statements with other mandatory documents by the date nominations closed – July 19, 2010.
When WBAI listener candidate, Teresa Palmer, hosted a 2-hour fundraising program on August 3, during which she announced her candidacy, the National Election Supervisor was provided with the audio files and asked how she planned to provide the other 20-plus listener candidates with equal time or whether she would disqualify Palmer. The NES responded that under the 3-strikes rule, Palmer would be notified that her official on-time would be "reduced."
To no avail, the complainant argued repeatedly that the "remedy" for someone who spontaneously called in during a program, perhaps before they'd decided to run and before nominations closed, could not reasonably be the same as that for a 2-time board candidate who each time has signed off on an understanding of the rules, and that further, a 2-minute conversation with a host could not be equated with 120 minutes of concentrated exposure.
Then 2 weeks after the initial complaint, Candidate Palmer was again given 2 hours of airtime by station staff and management. The complainant, who by this time had begun to include the organization's Executive Director and legal counsel in the exchange, again protested Palmer being retained as a candidate.
The response: The NES had told the listener candidate to stay off the air but felt she could not disqualify her as a candidate until a 3rd violation occurred.
The result: One listener candidate has had 4 hours of airtime.
The lesson: All candidates can abuse the rules twice, and for extended periods of time, without worrying about loss of anything other than a few rotations of their on-air candidate statements.
The significance: Well, it depends on what you equate to "equal"…
The Pacifica Foundation's National Election Supervisor (NES) is hired as an independent contractor to oversee the nationwide delegate-election process, to enforce the organization's Fair Campaign Provisions, and, at the end of the process to certify, that the fairness of the process as implemented by the local supervisors s/he hires.
Reports are coming in of listener candidates appearing on-air at other stations outside of an election forum, so a clear standard of accountability and sanctions at all five stations needs to be established immediately.
Please respectfully share your thoughts with the National Election Supervisor Renee Asteria at NES @ pacifica.org, with the national board at PNB @ pacifica.org, and with this list.
The entire email exchange referenced above will be available at www.justiceunity.org | 
