dismantling a world empire.
liberating the people from the social control of brutality,
terror, surveillance, incarceration, and genocide.
defeating perpetual war.
rescuing the ecosystem.
overcoming euro-american cultural supremacism.
surviving technological, economic, and societal disintegration.

My name is Summer Reese and I’m a political activist, single mother, long-time vegetarian, and legal professional, from a political and artistic household where I was home-schooled and have listened to KPFK since childhood. Seeking election to the Local Station Board, I respectfully ask for your vote.

The future of community-based free-speech radio is at stake, as KPFK elects new LSB members and prepares to select new management. "Radio powered by the people" must be a call to action and community empowerment. KPFK must address survival issues of people who've been marginalized not only by the state and the wealthy, but also by those who cling to airtime like it's oxygen. Are you satisfied with what you hear on KPFK, or do you feel as I do that it's missing the boat on issues affecting your struggles, life and future?

My name is Ricco Ross and I am a candidate for the KPFK Local Station Board. I am a father, actor and activist. I have been acting for 20 yrs, starring in block buster movies such as Aliens and Mission Impossible and TV shows from Hills St. Blues, to The Practice and E. R. to name a few. I am a delegate for the 42nd Assembly District, a member of the African American Caucus and the Chair of the Education Board for the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party. I have a BA, from FAU and a Masters in Fine Arts from UCLA.

We in Los Angeles need KPFK radio to galvanize our opposition to commercially-driven poisons dumped by the corporate thoughtkillers. Artistically, culturally, socially and politically, KPFK is a light in media darkness that must be brightened and focused to illuminate the vitality of our communities and to educate the grassroots of the realities of our struggle.

“If my wife is not here everything will fall apart” he said, the naturalized U.S. citizen who escaped torture in his country and is now fighting against the forced return of his wife, the mother of their young children, to their country of origin. As a psychotherapist working with refugee, immigrant, and indigent families in community mental health I listen to stories like this every day. Stories of families being torn apart by heartless enforcement of immigration laws, stories of young people who are turned off and angry because of warehouse educational facilities and dangerous neighborhoods, stories of abused women who are more afraid of the police and social services than their abusive partners.

I'm Linda Sutton and I'd like to represent the listeners of KPFK on the Local Station Board to help ensure continued access to the progressive point of view. These last years have seen a narrowing of the media both nationally and locally. Monopolistic corporations allied with the defense industries have consolidated ownership so that there are now only a few who control all the mainstream media. The result has been to eliminate nearly all dissenting views and to replace serious issue analysis with distraction entertainment"journalism."

My name is Dan Wang, and I’m a candidate for the KPFK Local Station Board.

As fellow listener-sponsors, you all know how valuable KPFK is to us in the Southern California progressive community, but these are challenging times for the station. Corporate media has become increasingly consolidated and has marginalized legitimate viewpoints. At the same time people who choose to seek out independent media have more choices than ever including political blogs, online news sites, and two competing progressive public radio stations. I welcome all these voices, and I look forward to helping KPFK stay relevant and healthy in this increasingly competitive environment.

In full recognition of the long and painful struggle to restore the democratic principles of the Pacifica Mission, I stand for election to the Local Station Board. We have an opportunity after years of slipping into corporate malaise to restore Pacifica to its original intent – a station of tremendous promise -- giving media empowerment to the disempowered, helping the growth of grassroots movements and ensuring the voice of the voiceless is heard.

I want to help KPFK better fulfill its tremendous promise. I am well qualified because I can solve challenging problems. I have grantwriting skills; extensive experience developing the Pacifica bylaws; two years experience on the KPFK Finance Committee; and seven years phone-room experience. I am expert in election protection, and expert in Information Technology. I am a co-chair of the LA County Green Party, and am studying ways to fight global warming. I am a trained researcher with a Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology from the University of Washington, where I learned grant-writing skills, which I would like to use to help KPFK. Pacifica Network is chartered as an educational non-profit corporation and is therefore eligible to apply for educational grants.

There are several factors motivating me to seek election to the Station Board, foremost among these is my belief that it is my civic and community responsibility to be of service in helping this institution preserve and advance the principles on which the station was founded. I am an Associate Professor of History at California State University Los Angeles, and I believe I can bring a wealth of experience and insight in helping the station sustain its objectives, namely contribute to the maintenance of an open, free and democratic society through the medium of public communication. Helping the station advance a strong, progressive, multicultural and international programming while at the same time honoring and respecting the differences in ethnicities, life styles, gender, cultural and class positions is central to my purpose for running.

Let’s improve KPFK so it can be an even more powerful positive force. How?

• Rigorous compliance with labor laws and the Americans With Disabilities Act. This would go a long way to protect us from lawsuits.

Greetings.
I'm Kahllid Abdul Al-Alim, resident of South Central Los Angeles. May these words of Inspiration be the catalyst that propels you to support me in my bid to become an LSB member. My Grass roots education began in one of the most Dynamic organizations here in Los Angeles, Coalition for Educational System.

My name is Chuck Anderson. I am a candidate for The KPFK Local Station Board. Please note that my candidate statement and biography for 2006 were altered and misrepresented. The purpose for my candidacy: I am interested in participating in making important management decisions, program planning for listening pleasure, education and political concerns of our times. I will join and participate actively on KPFK action committees.

Sometimes a one-issue candidacy can be an important referendum on a neglected issue. I'm offering myself in that spirit, here for 9/11 truth. If elected to the Local Station Board, I will work for increased programming on this subject so KPFK might live up to its fifth Mission mandate, to promote full distribution of public information.

KPFK is a station that should be collectively owned by the people, the question is: Is KPFK that? I am running for the KPFK Local Station Board, because this is a vital resource in the movement we seek to build and create. Imagine, a station where people of the community have a voice, where their struggles are not ignored, and where they themselves are helping run and maintain.

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’85-’95 Subscriptions Director
’86-’96 The We Hours Show

Back to the Future
Pacifica Executive Director in about ’84 added voting positions to the National Board of people who thought like he did: Treasurer, National Development Director, Controller, National Program Dir., National News Director, Secretary to the Board, Development Special Member (celebrities), and I think others whose title I can’t remember now. All these people diluted the voting power of the station representative. We must make sure we are represented from now on.

Last year, I ran for the LSB declaring a candidacy as a referendum on 911Truth censorship at KPFK. Election returns were a few votes short, placing me as first alternate, but this proved that the question of 911 Truth programming and the perception of censorship was at the top of the agenda for about 1/3 of our listener/sponsors. This is a constituency as large as any other at KPFK.

Over ten years ago, I was a young, liberal-minded college student who was desperately searching for alternative news and fresh perspectives to feed my hungry mind. By chance during a commute, I stumbled upon KPFK radio, and have been listening ever since. However, over the years, I have found that some of station’s content has become less interesting and less relevant.

As one of the original volunteer workers for KPFK in the late 1950's, I have actively participated in its public outreach efforts, news & public affairs programing, Listener Advisory Board activities, etc. As a concerned listener I count myself as one of KPFK's staunchest supporters & severest critics!

My name is SARKIS GHAZARIAN and I am a candidate for the KPFK Local Station Board. I work at Glendale Community College as a counselor working with low-income, educationally disadvantaged and immigrant students. I have worked at GCC for 20 years. Prior to GCC, I worked for 5 years as an editor for an Armenian community newspaper and for 5 years as director of a community based social service agency helping Armenian immigrants and senior citizens. I have also worked with disabled individuals for the City of Los Angeles and the Exceptional Children's Foundation as a rehabilitation counselor. I have a masters degree in rehabilitation counseling from USC and a bachelors degree in sociology from UCLA. I have a license as a Marriage and Family Therapist.

The American system is in crisis and increasingly it relies on its corporate media to prepare public opinion to meet its political ends. Militarily caught in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, economically buffeted by wasteful military spending and financial crisis, and facing calamitous global warming, it ignores important social responsibilities like medical care or disaster relief in the aftermath of events like Katrina. To divert attention from its dismal failures, it demonizes foreign countries and leaders and scapegoats segments of the population here at home.

I have been a listener-sponsor since the ‘70s, grateful for KPFK/Pacifica’s existence. It opened a new window to the world for me then, and its free speech mission is even more critical now. It’s time for me to give back.

My name is Moe Mansour. I am a candidate for the KPFK Local Station Board.

As a dedicated outreach committee member, activist, pacifist, devoted volunteer, participant for the last 10 years in different committees, organizations and listener for more than 30 years. I would like to have the opportunity and honor to serve with my progressive and humanity ideology to our KPFK Local Station Board.

I am a retired physics and electronics professor at a local community college. I now work developing high tech surgical equipment and an inexpensive system to bring mammography to the women living in the exploited nations. My scientific and technical expertise should be an asset to the board on issues that require this type of knowledge. My experience in the classroom gave me plenty of opportunities to learn how to defuse confrontational situations, which will also be of value at the board.

Qualifications
I was a co-host on the Wizard Show from 1980 to 1995 when the show was taken off the air during the attempted takeover. Besides myself, there were Bob Nelson (astronomer at JPL) and Fleur Yano (physics professor at CSULA) as co-hosts. Many guests were nationally known scientists and a few internationally known. A major program feature was the call-in portion when listeners could discuss their views directly with our guest scientists. The Southern California Federation of Scientists (SCFS) produced the show with the objective of explaining scientific technical details in terms untrained listeners could understand. Our theme song, "We're Off to See the Wizard" from the Wizard of Oz depicted our point of view. Details not explained satisfactorily during the interview and discussion part of the program were the subject of listener phone-in conversations.

The Imperialist rulers of the U.S. are rampaging through the world invading and occupying other countries, torturing and detaining people in secret prisons, and terror, surveillance, incarceration indefinitely without charges. In this country, they are eliminating a woman’s right to choose, they are stepping up oppression and discrimination against minorities.

KPFK needs a new generation of activists!

That’s where I come in. I am currently 16, and for the past 11 years I’ve been involved with KPFK. During this current situation around the world, this station calls for a stable board and the skills and ability to meet KPFK’s goals. Not only do we need members for the board with experience, but we also need new members with a new vision.

Hello Listeners and all Freedom and Justice loving peoples of the KPFK community.

My name is Randolph A. Polk, Jr., and I’m seeking your vote to become a member of the KPFK Local Station Board.