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| Our 2024 Indy Listener Candidates!: Reading left to right from the top-
Katherine O'Sullivan, James Sagurton, Dr. Charles Ihejirika, M. Kay
Williams, Anita Stewart, Scottye Battle, James Dingeman, Nissan Pitcher,
Chuck Fall, Jack DePalma, Matthew Reiss, Christine Shahin, Martha
Rowen, Tom Murata, Alex Steinberg |
Citizens Defending Libraries co-founder Michael D. D. White, who is endorsing the slate of Indy candidates, is finishing his sixth year on the Local Station Board (LSB); library defender Katherine O'Sullivan is running for a second term on the LSB, and Martha Rowen, another Citizens Defending Libraries co-founder, is running to join the LSB as part of the slate of the recommended 15 Indy listener candidates.
Of the 23 candidates running as listener representative candidates, 15 of them, essentially two-thirds, are Indy candidates who are cross-endorsing each other and running in a united effort to ensure we elect an effective, free-speech supporting, anti-authoritarian Local Station Board.
PLEASE VOTE FOR ALL OUR INDY CANDIDATES! Listener members of WBAI, please vote for them in the WBAI Local Station Board Election- Voting is between now and 11:59 PM September 30th.
The excellent, amazingly superb candidates we recommend are as follows . . . Also, while we will skip over a full explanation, the voting is "Instant Runoff Voting" ("IRV"), which means that if you vote for these candidates in the order below recommended it will help them get elected.
The Listener Candidates We Recommend Are:
1. James Sagurton- A calm, steady, clear thinker with deep knowledge of Pacifica and insight into viable solutions after many years of experience on the local WBAI and Pacific national board who was extremely valuable as Pacifica’s Treasurer from the Indys’ doing so much to put Pacifica’s financial house in order. Sagurton, ever active at Pacifica, needs to be elected to return to the LSB. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
2. Katherine O'Sullivan-
Performance artist devoted to public advocacy. She helped form Moving
Forward Unidos to fight privatization of the commons in NY, fought the
radical upzoning of Inwood that will displace a lower income population
while destroying the Inwood Library. She is also a bookkeeper whose
skills the board will welcome. She needs to be reelected to the LSB. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
3. M. Kay Williams-
Has already proven her industrious dedication to WBAI: although not yet
elected to the LSB (she ran in the last two elections), serving as LSB
secretary for multiple years and secretary to the WBAI Finance Committee
and Management Evaluation Committee. She is an experienced
Physician's Assistant with a Masters of Public Health from Columbia. She
aided refugees in Thailand and health workers in Nicaragua. Former
chair of the Free Speech Radio Alliance. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
4. Alex Steinberg-
Up for reelection to return
to the LSB, this tough board member (and chess expert) helped free WBAI
from its crushing Empire State building lease, avoid $2 million in rent,
and keep Pacifica out of bankruptcy. Created the Strategic Planing
Committee, authored several initiatives to bring in new revenue to the
network, wrote Pacifica's statement defending Julian Assange. His
foresight has aided in fending off attacks on WBAI. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
5. Scottye Battle-
Has served three years on the LSB. Veteran learning specialist and
professor of English, she spent many years living in Japan and is an
empowerment advocate for students with special needs. Her effervescent
personality and steadiness brings needed positive energy to the board. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
6. Nissan Pitcher-
IT consultant, and politically engaged organizer, expert in the system
management, design, and security that will assist WBAI with technical
understanding and decision making. Believes in building and managing
public access to all forms of media, especially radio, as our best
defense against censorship from government and the corporations that
capture it. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
7. James Dingeman- Needs to be re-elected! WBAI and Pacifica historian, experienced print, radio and TV journalist and military analyst. Doing vital work to recover WBAI’s lost CPB grants worth more than $4 million. Also spearheading move to get WBAI its own HQ building. Focused and goal oriented, a dynamic organizer. Helped speed long delayed premiums to thousands of frustrated donors. Helped speed long delayed premiums to thousands of frustrated donors. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
8. Martha Rowen-
A co-founder alongside Carolyn McIntyre and Michael D. D. White of
Citizens Defending Libraries working against the sale of the NYC
libraries, censorship and the elimination of books. Recently a teacher
(High School teacher, NYU, Brooklyn, Hunter, and City College), she
campaigned for New Yorkers as a proponent of uncensored information,
free flow of information, discussion and diversity of ideas and
alternative narratives, running for New York State Senate (in 2022) and
New York City Council (in 2023) collecting sufficient signatures to run
as a third part candidate. Like libraries, listener-supported WBAI
stands out with the special power, in the face of looming totalitarian
control, of allowing listeners to be free from being tracked and traced
cogs in the internet as they seek out the thinking and information
essential to freedom, public discourse a democracy. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
9. Jack DePalma-
Has served multiple terms on the LSB. Is a hands on Physics teacher
who literally got on his hands and knees to help clean up WBAI after
Superstorm Sandy hit. He intends to reboot the WBAI news Department
back into it’s glory days. With years of experience on the Local
Station Board plus tenaciously unceasing volunteer work at the station,
he’d probably like to take a break, but was convinced of the importance
of our being able to ask you to vote for him. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
10. Christine Shahin-
An Arab American with fmaily roots in Lebanon. A folk herbalist, and
decades long eco-activist addressing human rights, and a natural birth
doula who free birthed her six children at home, she is a licensed
cosmetologist who authored a book on chemical-free natural hair coloring
(how to use henna and pure herbal pigments) and established a cutting
edge all natural salon and spa that attracted clients from across the
United States. Served as Co-Chair of the Board for Citizens
Environmental Coalition (CEC), an anti-toxics coalition of 112 local
groups in New York state as well as a Board member of the New York State
Labor and Environmental Network (NYSLEN). Directed a multinational
youth organization, Kids Against Pollution (KAP) and was an Official
Delegate to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
Johannesburg South Africa 2002. A cofounder of The Emerald Party US
living on our Catskill Mountain intergenerational family homestead. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
11. Charles Ihejirika-
Charles Ihejirika, with a doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern
University in Boston, living in The Bronx, is the Lead Director of
Daccade Law and Policy Inc., New York. Born in Nigeria and paying close
attention to the deleterious affects of the United States and Britain
on his country of birth, Dr. Charles envisions WBAI as the "must-go-to"
radio station for standout reporting where a majority of New York
Metropolitan Area residents in its vast broadcast area, a very
potentially large listening public, will obtain authentic information on
critical local and national issues that the mainstream media bury. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
12. Matthew Reiss-
PNB eligible- Long time investigative journalist (Village Voice, NY
Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, Counterpunch). Has interviewed everyone
from Noam Chomsky, Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory to Seymour Hersh,
Woodward/Bernstein and Bernie Sanders. Also dodged bullets and bad guys
as a war correspondent in Guatemala, North Korea, Kosovo and Yugoslavia.
Currently professor of Journalism at Rutgers. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
13. Anita Stewart-
Anita is a Social Media and Virtual Outreach expert, an
environmentalist, retired health care worker, artist, crafter, writer,
blogger, photographer and musician who grew up in her father’s radio
station. . . She is the Managing Editor and contributor, reporter, rock
photographer and podcast interviewer for the online magazine, ROCK AT
NIGHT and promotes musicians and has broadcast and has produced several
radio shows. She is a USAF veteran and worked as an Intelligence Ops
Specialist in the US and Europe. Was on staff local, state and federal
political and environmental campaigns including Kucinich for President
2008 and Kennedy 24. When she has any spare time she is writing,
studying sustainability, doing yoga, swimming, singing, playing her
ukulele, drumming, listening to live music everywhere and exploring
nature with her camera. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
14. Chuck Fall-
A media and a Green Party activist, teacher teaching languages arts and
social studies in middle school, workers’ compensation insurance claims
worker and volunteer mediator helping resolve disputes in small claims
and landlord / tenant court. Volunteered at Portland Oregon’s KBOO
Community Radio. Seeks to bring to account the power elite that have
undermined grass roots democracy in this country. On the board of Truth
Action Project that educates about the false narratives and crimes of
the September 11th attacks, and the recent Covid Pandemic taking us
towards a techno-totalitarian state. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
15. Thomas Murata- is also a member of the WBAI Community Advisory Board,
another long time listener, and is running for the LSB to prevent
Pacifica from becoming overtaken by "New Day people," who seized WBAI
for one month in October of 2019 turning it into a repeater station. He
sees WBAI as addressing the ever growing threat of the Military
Industrial Media Medical complex. He suggests appeals to rich activist
donors such Jane Fonda, Yoko Ono, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Streisand,
Robert Redford, Michael Moore, and Oliver Stone before it’s too late. (Written statement up at Pacifica site- Recorded statement)
Our Recommended Staff Candidates
(WBAI staff votes separately for the candidates to represent staff on
the Local Station Board- Listener members can't vote for the candidates
below, but these candidates will work well and coordinate with the
listener representative candidates recommended above.):
• Jeremy Kuzmarov- (Co-host with Craig “Pasta” Jardula of WBAI’s new “LOL- Left on Left”)
Historian, professor, book author and the managing editor of
CovertAction Magazine Jeremy has contributed prolifically to that
magazine writing critically about U.S. foreign policy and covert
operations and the corruption of US intelligence agencies. He warns that
the US Left today, like the public at large, often falls into traps
adopting false narratives advanced by intelligence agencies that are
also psychologically designed to stoke partisan divisions quashing truly
worthwhile public discourse. He advocates the abolition of the CIA. (Written statement up at Pacifica site, recorded statement)
• Max Schmid- (“Golden Age of Radio,” 40 years at WBAI) will focus on increasing station revenue through effective offer fundraising. (Written statement up at Pacifica site)
• Randy Credico- (Hosts WBAI‘s “Live on the Fly.”)
Activist and political satirist. Helped overturn brutal Rockefeller
drug laws and and `stop and frisk.’ Key witness against Roger Stone and
Donald Trump for the Miller commission. (Written statement up at Pacifica site)
Endorsements!!
The above collection of Candidates Is Endorsed by:
• Judy Gorman- singer song-writer activist, mentored by Pete Seeger. Judy wrote the Citizens Defending Libraries Song.
• Mark Crispin Miller- Globally renowned media scholar/activist,
NYU professor, and expert on the subject of propaganda, and the way it
manipulates an unwitting public who has helped us recruit LSB members
and recently served himself on the LSB. A frequent guest on such
Pacifica programs as the “Project Censored Show.” He’s urged the need
for a more democratic media system, not in thrall to corporate ownership
or major advertisers and spoken out against the dangers of unbridled
media concentration. He is responsible for the 27-book Forbidden
Bookshelf series republishing works that might have been unfairly
consigned to oblivion.
• Maxine Harrison-Gallmon- An Indy on
the LSB intimately familiar with how the station works through her
dedicated volunteer work there.
• Tracy Rosenberg- One of Pacifica’s best historians and analysts keeping facts straight.
• Michael D. D. White, Carolyn McIntyre, twofo the three three
principal co-founders of Citizens Defending Libraries along with Martha Rowen. Carolyn McIntyre,
was Chair of the LSB for three years in a row. Michael D. D. White is
current and former Vice-Chair of the LSB. Martha Rowen has moved on to
run for New York State Assembly and New York City Council.
•
Gary Null - Mr Null is the host and producer of the Gary Null Show heard
on WBAI (and PRN, the Progressive Radio Network of which he is the
founder). Mr. Null, Ph.D, is renowned for his expertise in the field of
health and nutrition, and the author of over 70 best-selling books on
healthy living and the director of over 100 critically acclaimed
full-feature documentary films on natural health, self-empowerment and
the environment.
• Grace Aaron- Former Chair of the Pacifica
National Board who had much to do with obtaining the loans that allowed
WBAI and Pacifica to extricate from the financial drain of the
exorbitant Empire State Building antenna lease.
• Lucy Koteen-
Prominent member of Human-Scale New York, fought Atlantic Yards,
fighting destruction of Fort Green Park, and fighting various other city
environmental and community protection battles.
• Alicia
Boyd- Activist who founded MTOPP- Movement To Protect The People- to fight the aggressive real estate
interests in Brooklyn, intent among other things, on over-shadowing the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden with towers.
• Lynn Ellsworth-
Founding board member on the steering committee of Human-Scale NYC a
leading member of New Yorkers for a Human-Scale City Coalition.
Craig “Pasta” Jardula, Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov,
• Craig “Pasta” Jardula- Cohost, with Jeremy Kuzmarov, who brings a
sense of humor and perspective to WBAI’s “ Left-on-Left” (LOL—which also stands for Laugh Out Loud), which provides critical commentary on
the left from a left-wing perspective. Has also been a fill-in host for
WBAI’s Jimmy Dore Show.
• Reverend Billy and the Church of
Stop Shopping- Famed not only for being on WBAI brings listeners “new of
the Natural World” with his wife Savitri, but also for performances and
activist actions taken against consumerism and to protect the natural
environment around the world.
• DeeDee Halleck- Current Chair
of the WBAI’s LSB and famed independent film and documentary maker and
another Indy previously elected to serve on the LSB.
• Cindy Sheehan- Anti-war activist.
SO MANY GREAT CANDIDATES!
It's really a challenge providing you with a suggested voting order,
but for various reasons, about which candidates have also conferred with
us on, the order we suggest should work best. We also suggest you vote
only for these suggested candidates to help them all have the best
chance of getting elected.
Our highly qualified, amazingly superb candidates are all free speech supporters and they oppose authoritarianism.
WHO can vote in this election? -- and HOW to vote in this election.
You
are qualified as a listener member and able to vote in this WBAI
election if you contributed $25 or more to the WBAI during the year that
ended June 30, 2024.*
(* And remember that if you
donated the qualifying amount-- $25 or more for each member voter-- your
WBAI donating household is entitled to cast more than one vote and
should. If you're having any problems, see below about who to contact
including us.)
How to vote?
You can vote online
and that is the very best way to vote, because voting electronically
online saves a huge amount of money for the network and station as
opposed to voting by mail (which is also possible).
Ideally, as a
contributor to WBAI you should have already received two emails, one
telling you that you are an eligible voter in this election (Subject
line should be: Balloting Period Opens Aug 15 / Candidate Forums
Schedule, probably on August 21 and 22, 2024-- It would come from
nes@pacifica.org) and another sending you your ballot (Subject line: Vote now: Pacifica Foundation Inc - 2024 Local Station Elections, which
probably arrived August 15, 2024-- It would come from
invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com)
If you donated to WBAI and
did not yet receive such emails, or all the members of your household
didn't, it is time to follow up and let the station know that you need
to be sent the ballot email (maybe you didn't submit your email or used
an old out of date one?)-- Contact WBAI's Membership Department:
+1-212-209-2950 and/or https://wbai.org/contact.php
Once again
here is a handy list of all the spectacular listener candidates we
recommend. And we recommend that you vote for all of them and only them
as follows:
1. James Sagurton
2. Katherine O'Sullivan
3. M. Kay Williams
4. Alex Steinberg
5. Scottye Battle
6. Nissan Pitcher
7. James Dingeman
8. Martha Rowen
9. Jack DePalma
10. Christine Shahin
11. Charles Ihejirika
12. Matthew Reiss
13. Anita Stewart
14. Chuck Fall
15. Thomas Murata
The
purpose of this post is to promote the election of the candidates we
are recommending and the content here may be freely and fairly used and
reproduced by those similarly seeking to promote the election of these
candidates.
Disclaimer: This is not an official communication of WBAI or Pacifica.
Disclaimer (further elaborated):
Because there are specified requirements issued with respect to WBAI
Pacifica Elections, we further provide this specified language:
DISCLAIMER: This
is not an official Pacifica Foundation mailing nor an official mailing
of any of the five Pacifica Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT
Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged on this site
belong to the author(s) only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to
reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, or
any of the five Pacifica Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT
Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management,
Pacifica National Board, station staff or other listener members.
