Pat Logan Candidate Statement
Who am I? I'm a proud socialist/feminist, atheist and active member of School of the Americas Watch, the National Federation of The Blind, the Juanita Young Support Committee and the NYC Labor Chorus.
I have been a WBAI listener since 1966. During the mid-'90's I supported the UE affiliated staff Union. I was outraged when WBAI General Manager Valerie Van Isler successfully appealed the inclusion of unpaid staff to the NLRB. I understood quite early the extent of the problems which led to the listener law suits and the December, 2000 coup.
I was enraged by the bannings and the red bating which characterized the Leid administration. When the first elected Board took its' seats I was excited and optimistic. Since then I have attended almost all the LSB meetings which have become increasingly unproductive and hostile.
For several years I have participated in the Program Committee, observing its wrangling and lack of accomplishment. This year I joined the Radio Committee charged with putting together the LSB Reports To The Listener. The split in the Board which Justice And Unity erroneously claims is caused by racial animosity, a smoke screen designed to intimidate dissenters, results only partially from the extent to which members believe that identity politics should or should not be the dominant paradigm in determining programming and the makeup of the audience the LSB and management aspire to reach.
At bottom each meeting as well as this election are confrontations between those who want to maintain the status quo, i.e. current management, at almost any cost and those who recognize the need for fiscal responsibility, greater transparency, meaningful listener input and closer adherence to the Pacifica mission.
The current Board has accomplished so little because its J&U majority prevents the LSB from carrying out its mandated oversight and fiduciary responsibilities. If they remain the majority will WBAI survive? I fear that it will not.
Thousands of former listeners now seek information elsewhere. Disgruntled listeners withhold their dollars. They have given up on the potential of WBAI/Pacifica. You, on the other hand, can nurture WBAI by changing the balance of power on the Local Board and its Committees, ensuring that management will be thoroughly evaluated and that balanced budgets, based on realistic assessments of station income and expenses, will be submitted to the National Finance Committee; you who can determine the kind of folks the LSB elects to the National Board which, among other things, hires Pacifica's CEO, who, in turn, hires WBAI's General Manager.
So please vote for me, James Ross, Robert Gold, Bernardo Palumbo, Carla Cubit, Albert Solomon and Jennifer Jager.
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Show/Hide commentsSpooner 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
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