As you may have noticed from on-air announcements on KPFT, plus emails and text messages from the Pacifica Foundation, Pacifca’s election process has started for this year. The nomination/qualification period has now ended, and we have a great group of well-qualified candidates who deserve your vote when ballots are available in August.
The new Pacifica Bylaws (approved last year) give the members of KPFT and other Pacifica stations more control over what happens to our station:
- Members directly elect Pacifica National Board (PNB) members, making the process more democratic.
- Both the PNB and the Local Station Boards (LSBs) are smaller and more functional, plus members vote for who to fill specific positions, so you can help choose people with experience and interest in the roles they’ll be filling.
- Important issues like finances will be more obvious – such as how KPFT’s new building (just like our previous one) is collateral for a big loan the PNB approved several years ago, and so it’s still vulnerable if Pacifica can’t make the payments.
- Board members you elect can help to ensure that all stations pay their own expenses and don’t rely on the other stations (like KPFT) that pay our own, to cover what those other stations don’t.
- With smaller/less cumbersome boards, there are fewer positions to fill on the PNB and LSB, and elections only once every 3 years (instead of twice every 3 years as in the past), it’s less complicated to vote.