[Kzyxtalk] Benj Thomas_KZYX candidate statement_2015

[King Collins]

Benj Thomas 2015 Board Candidate Statement
Benj Thomas – District 2 (Ukiah)

I am applying to serve on the KZYX Board of Directors because I have long had a deep and strong commitment to public radio as the essential element in creating and maintaining community, particularly here in Mendocino County.

As a member of every group or community that I have been a part of, I have promoted communication, consensus and compromise when necessary. My skills in that area have been developed as a school teacher and administrator, as foreperson of the Mendocino County Grand Jury, as a twice-elected member of the Ukiah City Council (2006-2014), and service on more boards than I want to count.

I have been involved with public radio for almost 40 years, answering phones at WAMU-FM (Washington DC) and KZYX, as a programmer (dj) at KZYX in the early aughts, and KMEC (2006 to the present). I play mostly jazz but use jazz and other music as a medium to celebrate history and diversity, as well as to honor great musicians past and present. My goal is that my on-air programming is one among the many threads that bring our community together.

I am currently on the County Library Advisory Board, the Mendocino Homeless Continuum of Care, the Ukiah Main Street Program, and the Ukiah Poet Laureate Committee. I teach poetry to three sixth grade classes in the Ukiah Unified School District.

I believe that boards in principle should be wholly engaged in establishing and overseeing policy and wholly not engaged in micro-managing. I am well aware of the Board’s essential responsibility for fund-raising, and I have done a lot of it. I do it well when I believe in the goal.