Jennifer Jager Candidate Statement
WBAI is part of my life. For years Wake Up Call has lured me from sleep with vital stories and information on history, politics, art, health and science. WBAI was insightful, provocative and diverse. As an activist, I depended on it for news and coverage of events. I looked forward to my favorite programs.
AND THEN CAME THE COUP.
During that time I listened with pain and agitation as one programmer after another was thrown off the air. I joined the fight against the coup. I went to and helped organize demonstrations, raised money, and conducted other actions in an attempt to save WBAI. It was a tough fight.
But we won. WBAI was restored. I was elated and went back to listening again. And then a strange thing happened. Producers were being thrown off the air without due process again. People who had struggled together were now being accused of racism. A hostile and secretive veil was thrown up around the station and its business, including finances and budget.
Déjà Vous (all over again)?
I almost stopped listening to WBAI the moment that they fired Robert Knight and Gary Null. Instead, I decided to run for the Local Station Board to fight to make WBAI what it should be -- an open-minded progressive radio station that treats its listeners and its staff with respect.
We need to restore sanity to WBAI, as the means for regaining financial integrity. This month, there isn’t enough money to pay rent and salaries. Management is trying to cover the shortfall by endlessly fundraising, further alienating listeners. Marketing expensive premiums to a smaller and smaller group of listeners is a recipe for failure. We must act creatively to bring in a wider audience to help finance the station, but without dumbing down WBAI’s political voice.
Meanwhile, the budget process is a joke. It is so politicized that every item becomes a war. Instead of grappling with big concepts, like "Do we want WBAI to be dominated by expensive premiums, becoming the Home Shopping Network of the Left?" and"How can we strengthen the News department?,” nothing of substance is actually discussed.
I know something about budgets. I've run a small business for years, and I’m the Treasurer of the No Spray Coalition, which fights against NYC’s toxic pesticides spraying.
If elected, I pledge to be a truly independent voice on the Board, help elect constructive people to the Pacifica National Board, and return WBAI to the principles outlined in the Pacifica Mission Statement. I will work with all individuals on the LSB to bring transparency to governance of the station, especially concerning budget and finance.
This country is fast sliding into overt fascism, and we need WBAI to be our voice -- ALL of our voices – in opposition. As a devoted listener to WBAI, I pledge to do all in my power to keep the station on the air as the strong and independent voice we need it to be.
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Show/Hide commentsIn actuality, he is Edwin Johnston, living in TEXAS, not New York, and is a harasser on many Pacifica forums and bulletin boards.
Note that he knows nothing about Jennifer Jager and doesn't even TRY to respond to anything that Jennifer actually said in her statement. This is Edwin's Modus Operandi -- to smear, to divert, to harass, and to drive people away.
I know it is tempting for many people to say "A plague on both your houses" as a result. but the reality is, the station and the board have been run by ONE authoritarian grouping for the past 3 years and now there's hell to pay. No one ever said that the fight against fascism, including race-baiting authoritarians within our own progressive movements, was going to be easy.
However, progressive WBAI listeners of all races, religions, and orientations now have the opportunity to take back the station from the thugs who have almost succeeded in destroying it. I'll be glad to talk to anyone in person about this who has questions. You can contact me at mitchelcohen(at)mindspring.com.
I'm sure Edwin Johnston wouldn't mind if you give him a call in Texas to find out what's happening at WBAI either. Edwin, feel free to post your contact info, so people can call you.
And, please don't forget to vote for the Independent candidates like Jennifer Jager, James Ross, Patricia Logan, Ken Laufer, Carla Cubit, Robert Gold and the rest .....
Stay strong, and pay close attention.
Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party
Spooner made sure, in a nasty offensive, that bylaws at Pacifica would not include affirmative action remedies in election results, which opened the foundation to control by whites majorities.
Spooner is angry that WBAI is not controlled by whites yet, so she is sticking her nose in at WBAI.
Her husband, Gregory Wonderwheel, regularly attacked many African Americans at WBAI in various attempts to force them out using lies, hyperbole and standard Republican-style put-downs. Make no mistake about it, Carol Spooner and her California cohorts want to control WBAI.
I'm endorsing --
#1 - James Ross
#2 - Seth Goldberg
and, in alphabetical order,
Carla Cubit, Robert Gold, Jennifer Jager, Ken Laufer, Pat Logan, Don Mathiesen,
Lee McClure, Stefan Neustatder, Bernardo Palombo.
I hope you will rank James #1 and Seth #2 on your ballot, and then go on to rank the others listed above in order of your preference. James Ross is the only encumbent who deserves re-election this year. He has worked diligently to uncover and understand the station finances and to make recommendations to deal with the problems. Unfortunately, his efforts have been blocked by the current majority on the LSB (the "Justice & Unity" faction). Seth Goldberg has the financial and business skills that WBAI so desperately needs at this time. All of the above-named candidates are sincerely committed to helping to right the station by hiring station management that will strengthen & revitalize programming, restore the listener-base and rebuild financial stability. They can be the seeds of sanity at a very troubled institution if you elect them to serve this very important community resource.
This is a critical election for WBAI. I believe it is absolutely essential that NON "Justice & Unity" slate candidates take a majority of the seats on the Local Board if WBAI is to survive, and perhaps even Pacifica itself. As I wrote to you a few weeks ago, WBAI is bankrupt. It is paying its bills by borrowing money from the Pacifica National Office which is borrowing the money from other Pacifica stations. This whole house of cards could come down if the problems at WBAI are not solved quickly. There have been very serious financial irregularities at WBAI, including use of "restricted" grant monies for unauthorized purposes. In addition, when WBAI terminated Gary Null's program it also terminated a major source of listener-support for the station. Regardless of what you think of Gary Null's program, the station needed a realistic plan to replace that income or to reduce its expenses to live within its reduced income. It did neither, and that is one of the causes of the current bankruptcy. Other causes are overall mis-management, waste, poor staff morale, not enough good programming, and competition from other alternative media sources, both on the radio and on the internet.
The "Justice & Unity" faction has held the majority on the LSB for the past three years and has been blocking necessary management changes and other changes at the station. In addition, the LSB majority elects 3 of the 4 WBAI seats on the Pacifica National Board and they have been blocking necessary action by the Pacifica Executive Director and National Board. For this to change, at least 5 of the 9 listener seats , and 2 of the 3 staff seats on the LSB must be won by independents who are not part of the "Justice & Unity" slate. I honestly don't know why the "Justice & Unity" slate has been so destructive to WBAI, they have good "political" credentials and you would think they would want the station to grow and thrive. However, they have not acted that way, and if they are permitted to continue to control the Local board and to confuse and mislead the national board, then I am very very pessimistic about the future of WBAI and Pacifica. This is tragic in a time of national crisis where EVERY form of alternative media
Again, please vote -- Every vote matters. With "ranked choice" voting just one vote can determine who wins the last seat on the board.
Thanks, and best regards,
Carol Spooner
Pacifica National Board Member - Jan 2002-Jan 2005
Lead Plaintiff - Listeners' Lawsuit to remove the old Pacifica Board - 1999-Dec 2001
JENNIFER JAGER is the Treasurer of the No Spray Coalition, which as you know has been fighting for the last 8 years against the indiscriminate spraying of toxic pesticides in New York. She knows finances, and she knows politics. She will help the board tremendously in terms of reviewing budgets and proposing solutions, while maintaining her strong political commitment to social and environmental justice.
She was a founding member of the Manhattan Greens / Green Party, and is a stalwart antiwar and freedom for political prisoners activist. Jennifer is also one of three people who actually saved my life in January 2001, when I had a heart attack at a statewide Green Party meeting, racing me on the gurney through the emergency room at St. Luke's screaming at the staff to put down their magazines and to "get moving!" Very Hollywood, but this was real life, and it made all the difference.
I think the world of Jennifer Jager's sense, her skills, and her politics; she'll be a tremendous asset on the WBAI Local Station Board -- vote for her!
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