James Ross Candidate Statement
Dear listeners,
WBAI is in trouble, financially and otherwise. It’s serious.
And the controlling faction on the LSB abets the station's
decline by ignoring the very oversight of station affairs the
Board is mandated to perform.
I'm a parent, environmental scientist, and WBAI listener. My concern for WBAI has led me to be active in station governance since 2000. For over three years I've warned of the threat posed by WBAI’s deteriorating finances. I’ve used my scientific skills to analyze available financial information in order to understand this problem (see http://radioactivist.net). But changes have not been made, and now we face consequences. WBAI will be forced to cut staff and/or payroll this year, just like it was two years ago. Membership has dropped about twenty percent - despite our fundraising three months a year. WBAI is in debt to the Pacifica Foundation by about $200,000. Audits show that WBAI’s financial position falls by about $100,000 every year – we can’t make ends meet. Management's response - big premiums and longer drives - has not addressed the root of the problem.
Under the control of the so-called "Justice and Unity" faction, the LSB has not effectively monitored finances, management or programming. We don’t even have minutes of our meetings. Instead, the LSB has focused on vendettas, grandstanding, and keeping listeners in the dark. There is little sharing of ideas, as the "Justice and Unity" listener representatives, several of whom seek air time, say little, but vote obediently with their leaders. To bring WBAI back to health, we need LSB members that do the job – station governance – mandated in the bylaws. If elected, that’s what I’ll do:
- Financial: I’ll continue to focus on fundraising and budget issues, and work with management to use our MEMSYS database for better fundraising.
- Management oversight: I’ll push for thorough and fair evaluation of station management so we can understand their role in the station's decline, and in righting it. And I’ll see that we find the best management possible.
- Programming: It’s the heart of WBAI. Is it good enough? How are programming decisions made? Why do people get pulled off the air? Currently the LSB doesn’t know. We need to find out.
- Planning: WBAI needs a strategy for success in the new media environment in which FM radio competes with satellite, podcasts, etc.
- Common ground: I’ll work with anyone serious about helping WBAI. I’m confident that WBAI, with proper board oversight, can continue what it does right and improve what needs changing.
Please vote for me, James Ross, and the other independent candidates: Pat Logan, Ken Laufer, Jennifer Jager, Carla Cubit, Robert Gold, Albert Solomon, Stefan Neustadter, Seth Goldberg, Bernardo Palombo, Lee McClure, Gerald Sider, and Don Mathisen.
Service in WBAI governance:
- LSB, 2006-present
- WBAI finance committee, 2004-present
- Pacifica's national audit committee, secretary, 2007-present
- WBAI bylaws committee, 2002
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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
A statement isn't racist unless its intention is racist. Assuming someones intention based on one word is fascist and is racist. You must love the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Pacifica zero-tolerance word policy and every other kind of witch hunt.
Justice and Unity is a fascist black-on-white racist campaign and you know it! You're hypocritical to deny it.
Worse than anything else, it's just so predictable and so boring. Can't you think of anything better to occupy your time, Edix?
But - based on reading Albert's candidate statement, now posted on the web - I have to withdraw my endorsement of him. His statement's reliance on racist rhetoric makes him unsuited to be a WBAI board member.
The first time I read Albert's statement was around 10-18, when it was posted on the web, long after I sent my statement in.
James Ross
WBAI LSB
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