[Kzyxtalk] my only Election Complaint

[Tim Gregory]

once again the Fox-Who-Lost-His-Tail flatters himself...

anyone else defining yourself by your enemies?
---

Dennis,

This complaint is so nicely done. I hope Doug is considering filing a FCC/CPB
complaint, or lawsuit, of his own.

I hope and pray that in the months ahead, we keep in mind that we are guerrillas. We
are the Vietcong. The Vietcong never won a battle, but they won the war. Why?
because their enemy -- first the French, then the U.S. -- was big, slow, and stupid,
and fighting an illegal, immoral war. The Vietcong were fighting for their homeland.
Their homes. They were fighting for the people. Their children.

And we are in it for the long haul. We are patient, wise, strong.

It's paradigm holds here at KZYX. We are public radio. Not management's private
fiefdom.

Management is destroying KZYX. We are fighting to save KZYX.

Power to the People!

John Sakowicz
MCPB Board of Directors (2013-2016), Board Treasurer (2014)
Host and producer, "All About Money"


----- Original Message -----

From: "Dennis OBrien" <dennisobrien at sharejerusalem.com>
To: "kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org>
Cc: "Bruce Anderson" <ava at pacific.net>, "K.C. Meadows" <udjkcm at ukiahdj.com>,
"Willits News" <editorial at willitsnews.com>, "Ft. Bragg Advocate-News"
<advocatenews at mcn.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 2:21:07 PM
Subject: KZYX&Z Election Complaint

"Public radio will never achieve its potential so long as policies and procedures
are in place that suppress public participation while sanctioning improper
influence."

I had hoped to resolve these issues locally. But when the board ignores them and
instead sanctions the misuse of station resources to influence an election, I am
compelled to submit them to those who license and fund the organization. Submitted
today electronically, hard-copy will be mailed this week.

Denny



1201 Parducci Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Peter H Doyle
Chief, Audio Division April 15, 2015
Media Bureau
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
The Honorable Patricia de Stacy Harrison
President and Chief Executive Officer
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
401 Ninth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2129
Re: Complaint Against Mendocino County Public Broadcasting
(KZYX 90.7FM Philo, CA; KZYZ 91.5FM Willits & Ukiah, CA; 88.1FM Fort Bragg, CA) Dear
Sir/Madam:
My name is Dennis O'Brien. I am a member of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting,
aka KZYX&Z, a membership nonprofit corporation that holds the three full-power FM
radio licenses referenced above. I am also a losing candidate in the recent election
for its board of directors. This complaint concerns the conduct of that election and
the improper use of station resources by the general manager to campaign against me,
all of which was sanctioned by the sitting board of directors. There is also an
addendum concerning the failed role of the Community Advisory Board. Conduct of the
Election
There are four areas of concern re the conduct of the election: the maintenance of
membership rolls, the suppression of the voting membership, suppression of member
communication, and the failure to provide ballots to all eligible memberships.
Maintenance of Membership Rolls
I renewed my membership on November 30, 2014. In January I received a letter dated
January 12, 2015, from Mr. John Coate, who uses the title "General Manager/Executive
Director”, asking me to renew my membership. For me to get this letter means that
there is a failure to properly maintain the membership rolls. Since the deadline for
becoming a member and being eligible to vote in the election was December 31, 2014,
the membership rolls should have been fully updated. Failure to properly maintain
the membership rolls invalidates any election that relies on them. Suppression of
the Voting Membership
Although the deadline of becoming a member is December 31 of each year, the
membership list is not certified and sent to the vendor for mailing ballots until
February 28, a full two months later. There is no need to exclude from voting those
people who became members in January and February. Yet this is precisely when
interest in the election is at its highest. Candidates must submit their
applications and statements by January 31. Members and the general public become
aware of who is running and what the issues are. But it is too late to join or renew
and be eligible to vote. Conversely, prior to December 31, everyone is involved in
holiday activities with family and friends, with little or no attention paid to the
election.
MCPB/KZYX&Z should be required to stop suppressing participation in the voting
process by allowing anyone who joins/renews by the date of certification of the
rolls (i.e., the last day of February) to be eligible to vote in that year's
election. Any earlier date is arbitrary and capricious and serves only one purpose,
to suppress participation and voting by the membership and the listening public. The
timing of the direct mail renewal notice (mid-January) is further evidence of a
deliberate intent to reduce the number of eligible voters. As is concealing the
simple-living membership level of $25 per year. An entire class of potential members
is disenfranchised by management's refusal to put this information in their outreach
letter or on the website.
Suppression of Member Communication
The California Corporations Code requires a membership nonprofit corporation to
provide access to its membership mailing list to any member for purposes related to
the corporation, e.g., discussing candidates and issues in an upcoming election
(California Corporations Code Section 6330). The corporation is permitted provide a
reasonable alternative. I and others requested such access. However, the only
alternative that we were provided was an expensive procedure involving a direct
mailing using their vendor, at a cost exceeding $1800.
There is a far less expensive alternative available: the email list of current
members. We believe that such a list exists, as member emails have been solicited
for years in direct mailings. Also, anyone joining/renewing online must provide
their email list as a mandatory field. Management has not used the list yet, but has
spoken of doing so this summer with an online e-newsletter.
Although there are real concerns about letting any member use the list at any time,
use of the list to alert members to alternative viewpoints during an election is the
best alternative available to the type of communication required by state law.
Failure to Provide Ballots to Eligible Members
Even if members were sophisticated enough to join or renew by December 31, many did
not receive ballots. I did not receive mine, and I heard from several others who had
not received theirs. The election coordinator allowed me to sign an affidavit and
receive a substitute ballot, but the procedure was cumbersome and did not work for
all. In addition, there is no way to track who sent in their ballot, as there is not
return address on the return envelopes. Using a separate smaller envelope to hold
the actual ballot inside the return envelope would allow such tracking and confirm
proper voting, but management will not adopt that procedure. At this time there is
simply no way to track who has voted, or if someone has voted twice. By failing to
maintain the membership rolls, suppressing of the voting membership, suppressing
member communications, and failing to provide ballots to all eligible memberships,
the current board and management have raised doubts about the legitimacy of the
organization's elections. These policies and procedures must be changed in order to
restore the confidence of the members, the public, and those who regulate public
radio.
Use of Station Resources by Management to Influence Election
On January 14, 2015, I received an email from a current programmer at KZYX&Z. The
programmer forwarded an excerpt from an email that the General Manager had recently
sent to the in-house programmers email list:
"... or Dennis O'Brien who now wants to be on the KZYX Board while being the
treasurer of KMEC who has tried to badger us into paying KMEC for years so we would
run our studio there. I have given him plenty of reasons why we don't want to do
this, all of which are good enough reasons on their own, but nothing has deterred
him from demonizing me for not getting with his suggestion that we help them pay
their rent to their landlord, John McCowen."
The list was identified as [KZYX Prog]. I am told that the list reaches over 100
programmers and staff, or about 20% of the total votes cast in the election. In
response, I submitted a confidential personnel complaint about the general manager's
actions and asked the board to direct him to stop using the station's resources to
campaign for or against any candidate.
In its response, the Board stated that the programmer list is not the property of
KZYX but instead was a public forum. The board chose to publicize its response
(though not my original complaint) on the kzyx.org website. The general manager even
put it on the main page as part of his ongoing blog:
"KZYX Board Policy on the GM Participating in Board Elections
John Coate
Posted by John Coate on Monday, 09 March 2015 in Station Business
In February the Board determined that as GM I have a right to express my opinion
about MCPB Board elections. Follow this link to the page with the policy. Or read it
right here:
February 27, 2015
In a posting to the programmer listserv made in January, John Coate made a comment
about a candidate’s run for the Board. This led to a complaint that John had
demeaned the candidate, and had improperly used his position & station resources to
influence an election.
Because the complaint related to Board election issues, we followed our policy for
resolving complaints about Board elections, to arrive at the policy stated below.
The Election Coordinator, Stuart Campbell, spoke with all Board members and received
their feedback. It is the Board's view that John has a First Amendment right to
speak on such issues. His written job description that was attached to his 2008
Employment Agreement with MCPB requires him to “support the Board in its ongoing
governance work, including recruitment, orientation, training, and evaluation
activities.” Regarding the overall concept of paid staff being involved in Board
development and recruitment, it is common practice in both other non-profits and
public radio stations. Our outreach to others in community radio confirmed this.
Accordingly, including this duty in his job description was in line with accepted
practice.
John’s duty to help recruit Board members includes his right to express his views
on which candidates will best serve the interests of KZYX. As for the content of
what John said on the listserve regarding the particular candidate who filed the
complaint, the Board thinks it was well within the boundaries of normal political
speech, which enjoys broad First Amendment protection.
Further, John’s commenting on the programmer listserv is not a misuse of station
resources. Staff and programmers who are signed up for the programmer listserv by
virtue of their status as programmers have an absolute right to express their point
of view in that forum; KZYX does not screen or censor the content. On the other
hand, no employee or Board member may use the website, air waves, or MCPB public
meetings for campaign purposes; John did not do that.
For all of these reasons, the Board decided that there would be no personnel action
taken against John Coate for expressing his views on Board candidates. At the Board
meeting on February 2, 2015 in Ft. Bragg, Stuart Campbell reported the above. It
will be reflected in the Minutes of the Board meeting. It will also be posted on the
KZYX website.”
I respectfully disagree. "Recruitment, orientation, training, and evaluation
activities" are at best confidential communications with the board, and cannot be an
excuse for treetop propaganda. Although I support everyone's free speech rights, a
general manager's use of an in-house email system that is owned by the organization
to campaign against a declared candidate for a board seat delegitimizes any election
and reinforces the public perception that the organization is run by a small group
that is unresponsive to the membership and the public. If the general manager wishes
to express himself, there are plenty of truly public forums to available, including
a discussion list established by a former county supervisor (see KZYXTalk at
http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/kzyxtalk ).
KZYX&Z's website and email systems are paid for from funds that include the grant
from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It is improper to use such resources
to influence an election for the board of directors. And it is improper for the
board of directors to sanction such use, effectively taking sides in an ongoing
campaign while institutionalizing an unfair advantage for those who support the
general manager. All programmers hold their positions at the pleasure of the general
manager, and several have been dismissed for disagreeing with him. For him to use
the station's resources to tell such a large block of voters how to vote is so
serious a violation that delegitimizes any election and discourages the public's
participation in public radio.
I do not know the extent of the remedial powers available to the Federal
Communications Commission and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But I request
that you instruct MCPB/KZYX&Z to change its policies and procedures immediately so
that 1) membership rolls are properly maintained; 2) all eligible members receive
ballots, which can be tracked; 3) voting is not suppressed by an arbitrary
registration deadline that is two months too early; 4) voting is not suppressed by
concealing the "simple-living" membership option; and 5) board and staff are
forbidden from using station resources to influence a board election. Thank you very
much for considering this complaint and request. Public radio will never achieve its
potential so long as policies and procedures are in place that suppress public
participation while sanctioning improper influence. Sincerely,
Dennis O'Brien
Addendum to Complaint: MCPB/KZYX&Z has also failed to meet the minimum requirements
for a Community Advisory Board, a requirement for funding by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting. One of the members of the current CAB has the same residence
address as the current chair of the board of directors, thus failing to meet the
requirements for independence and geographical diversity. In addition, the CAB has
had only one public “meeting” the past two years, a telephone conference call
over a year ago. Many people who registered for the call, including myself, were
unable to participate. Those who were able to participate reported that the meeting
consisted of presenting a report that the CAB had already prepared for the board of
directors. That report was submitted to the directors without any of the changes or
additions requested by the participants.
In spite of these limitations, the report acknowledged that there was a public
perception that the board and management/staff were disengaged from the members and
public, and recommended a monthly “News of the Station” program where the board
and management/staff would be available to answer questions. After just one show,
even that proposal has been ignored. Without an effective Community Advisory Board,
there is no public oversight of the improper activity detailed in the main
complaint.

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