KPFT 90.1 FM RADIO
LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTION
FOR LISTENER-SPONSOR MEMBERS
CANDIDATE INFORMATION - AUTUMN 2004
Candidates and those interested in the election of listener representatives
to the KPFT Local Station Board ( LSB) will find the following documents
in this package.:
KPFT
LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTIONS TIMELINE
OVERVIEW
OF THE ELECTIONS OF THE KPFT STATION BOARD
JOB
DESCRIPTION OF A LOCAL STATION BOARD MEMBER
USEFUL
LOCAL STATION BOARD SKILLS
THE
ELECTION METHOD OF THE KPFT STATION BOARD
PACIFICA'S
MISSION STATEMENT
KPFT
CANDIDATE STATEMENT
KPFT
CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
KPFT
2004 FAIR CAMPAIGN PROVISIONS
LOCAL STATION BOARD DELEGATE NOMINATION
PETITION
All correspondence relating to the 2004 KPFT elections should be
directed to:
Bobby Muldoon,
KPFT elections Coordinator
419 Lovett Blvd
Houston TX 77006
713-526-4000 ext. 305
elections@kpft.org
All materials must be received by the Local Elections
Coordinator by 5PM on September 25, 2004. Postmarks are not adequate. Please
note that submissions that are incomplete will cause you to fail
to qualify for the ballot. It is the candidate’s responsibility
to ensure that her/his nomination packet is complete.
Prospective candidates should notify the Elections
Coordinator of their intent to file at the earliest possible point
by calling 713 526 4000 x 305 or e-mailing elections@kpft.org and
leaving their contact information. The Elections Coordinator will
advise these people of and encourage their attendance at regional
signature-gathering events during the nomination period.
To facilitate the gathering of petition signatures,
note that you may submit a statement of up to 500 words immediately,
which will be posted weekly on the KPFT election web site for listeners
to browse, contact you with questions, or offer to sign your petition. This
statement can later become your candidate statement if you run,
or you may submit a revised statement for distribution with the
ballots.
The KPFT Elections Coordinator, Bobby Muldoon,
can be reached at 713 526 4000 x 305 or by e-mail at
elections@kpft.org
For more information on the Station Board, visit the website of
the LSB at http://www.kpft.org/elections
It is the responsibility of the Candidate to ensure
that all required documents and all required fields within the documents
are submitted properly by September 25, 2004, the deadline for nominations
for this election. If you submit your documents early, and you have
left out any required information, the Local Elections Coordinator
MIGHT contact you and ask you to supply that information. If you
submit your documents at the last minute and they are incomplete,
you can be certain that you will not be contacted, but that your
nomination petition will simply be rejected.
Please keep a copy of all materials you submit for
your records.
KPFT LOCAL STATION BOARD ELECTIONS TIMELINE
- Nominations for candidates open - July 25, 2004
- Deadline for voters to qualify to vote - August 31,
2004
- Nominations for candidates close - September 25, 2004
- Campaign period - September 25, 2004 – November 15,
2004
- Ballots mailed to qualified voters - October 15, 2004
- Completed ballots returned by voters - November 15,
2004
- New LSB members seated - December 2004
OVERVIEW OF THE ELECTION OF THE KPFT STATION
BOARD
The KPFT Local Elections Coordinator will hold
an election to seat 12 delegates to 3-year terms of the Local Station
Board. There will be separate but parallel elections for both Listener
and Staff Delegates to the Local Station Board.
One function of the board is to see that the needs
of the station and the community are being met, from programming
to budgets. A second function is to report on and represent the
station to the Pacifica National Governing Board through appointed
representatives.
With these duties in mind, board Delegates are
elected for a number of reasons:
- To set a model of accountability for the National Board;
- To strengthen the legitimacy of the Local Station Board;
- To bring diverse, grassroots voices from the community into
the dialogue between the community and the station.
There are two ways to qualify to vote as a “Listener-Sponsor Member:”
- SUBSCRIBER: Contribute at least $25 to KPFT
in the year between September 1, 2003 - August 31, 2004.
- VOLUNTEER: Complete 3 or more verifiable
volunteer hours at KPFT during the same period.
Nominations will be accepted through September 25, 2004. Candidates
must be qualified voters and submit Nominating Petitions with 15
signatures of qualified voters in support of the candidate. From
now until the close of the nomination period, the Elections Coordinator
and Election Committee will hold regional nomination events where
candidates and voters can meet and sign petitions.
To facilitate the gathering of petition signatures,
note that you may submit a statement of up to 500 words immediately,
which will be posted on the KPFT election web site for listeners
to browse, contact you with questions, or offer to sign your petition. This
statement can later become your candidate statement if you run,
or you may submit a revised statement for distribution with the
ballots.
We’ll post candidate data on-line and, after the
nomination process is complete, host on-air candidate forums. Qualified
Voters will receive their ballots in the mail during the last half
of October 2004. Completed ballots will be due by November 15, 2004.
There are 9 listener seats and 3 staff seats being
chosen during this election. The entire Local Station Board consists
of 18 listener delegates as well as 6 staff delegates who are elected
by staff.
Pacifica’s mission and principles require that
we strive to achieve diversity on the Station Board, and voters
are urged to consider that in casting their votes.
JOB DESCRIPTION OF
A LOCAL STATION BOARD MEMBER
The KPFT Station Board will be elected by the
subscribers and staff of the station. The Local Station Board will
have the following powers and responsibilities which are established
by the bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation.
- The Local Station Board appoints the directors of the Pacifica
Foundation which manages the radio stations in New York, NY,
Washington, D.C., Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA and Berkeley,
CA. The Local Station Board can recall these Foundation directors
by a simple majority of the Local Station Board.
- The Local Station Board also appoints from its own membership
representatives to serve on committees of the National Foundation
responsible for finances, programming, governance and other
matters.
- The Local Station Board will vote to send 4 of its members
to act as our delegates on the National Board.
In addition, the Local Station Board has the following duties and
responsibilities:
- Acting as liaisons for the local community to the Station
Management (Board and Staff) and the Pacifica Foundation.
- Actively reaching out to under-represented communities to
help the station serve a diversity of all races, creeds, colors
and nations, classes, genders and sexual orientations, abilities,
and ages. The Local Station Board is also directed to help build
collaborative relations with organizations working for similar
purposes.
- Assisting the station in fundraising activities.
- Conducting at least 2 Town Hall style meetings each year
which are devoted to hearing listeners’ views, needs, and concerns.
Community needs assessments must be performed by the Local Station
Board, or by a separate Community Advisory Committee formed
by the Local Station Board for that purpose.
- In conjunction with Station Management and Staff, ensuring
that the radio station’s programming fulfills the purposes of
the mission of the Pacifica Foundation.
- Review and approve of the radio station’s budget. Quarterly
reports by the local station board must be forwarded to the
Pacifica Foundation board of directors on the station’s budget,
actual income and expenditures.
- Screening and selecting a pool of candidates for the position
of General Manager at each radio station. From this pool of
candidates the Pacifica Foundation Executive Director will hire
the station’s General Manager.
- Screening and selecting a pool of candidates for the position
of Program Director at each radio station. From this pool of
candidates the General Manager will hire the station’s Program
Director.
- Writing annual evaluations on the job performances of the
radio station’s General Manager, Program Director and the Pacifica
Foundation Executive Director.
- The Local Station Board and the Pacifica Foundation Executive
Director are responsible for hiring each station’s General Managers. Both
the Pacifica Foundation Executive Director and Local Station
Board must reach a mutual decision to terminate a General Manager. If
these 2 parties cannot agree the decision will be made by the
Foundation’s Board of Directors.
- Each individual member of the Local Station Board is responsible
for attending monthly meetings, and to serve actively on at
least 2 of the Local Station Board committees.
USEFUL LOCAL STATION BOARD
SKILLS
- Honesty, Integrity and commitment to the Pacifica Mission.
- The ability to inquire and investigate areas of concern pertaining
to KPFT and the Pacifica Foundation.
- The ability to work in a collaborative process.
- The ability to listen to others and take their concerns seriously.
- The ability to withstand a barrage of input, often criticism,
from the community without becoming defensive or overwhelmed.
- The ability to make difficult decisions that may be perceived
as controversial and unpopular, and the ability to withstand
public pressure, which is often in the nature of the job.
- The capacity to stand up to tremendous opposition.
- A sense of humor.
- The ability to resist the temptation to abuse power.
- The ability to compromise.
- The ability to do the work required of the specific position.
- Working knowledge or willingness to learn Roberts Rules of
Order and parliamentary procedure.
- Comfort in using the Internet and e-mail.
THE ELECTION METHOD OF THE KPFT STATION
BOARD
According to the bylaws, this election will use
the CHOICE VOTING form of proportional representation (also call
“Single Transferable Vote” or simply “STV”).
Proportional representation refers to voting systems in which groups
of voters win representation in proportion to their numbers. For
example, 10% of the voters will elect approximately 10% of the seats,
20% of voters will elect 20% of the seats and so forth. The majority
wins a majority but not all of the seats, while minority viewpoints
also win their fair share of the seats.
The CHOICE VOTING form of proportional representation is a system
in which voters rank candidates in order of choice. The method of
tallying votes is designed to facilitate each voter having someone
elected to the board that is acceptable to her/him.
CHOICE VOTING tends to prevent monolithic “slates” of candidates
from monopolizing a board. In this way, CHOICE VOTING promotes diversity
and democracy. This is different from winner-take-all elections
where the majority has the potential to elect every single seat
on the board, leaving minority viewpoints un-represented.
HOW IT WORKS
If there are 25 candidates for nine positions,
then every ballot will ask members to RANK the 25 candidates in
order of preference, from 1 to 25.
Since there are nine spaces to be filled, it will
take a little more than 10% of the vote for a candidate to reach
the proportional threshold necessary to win election. This is because,
if nine candidates each got 10.01% of the vote, this would add up
to 90.09% of the vote. It would then be impossible for a tenth candidate
to have more votes than those top nine, since there is only 9.91%
of the vote remaining.
In the first round of voting, the first-place
candidate on each ballot receives one vote. Any candidate that has
achieved the threshold percentage, slightly more than 10, is declared
a winner.
At this point, second-place votes begin to count. First,
candidates that had more votes than they needed (say, 13%), have
portions of their vote redistributed to the second choice candidates
of the individuals who placed them first on their ballots. Second,
low vote-getting candidates, who are below the point where it would
be possible for them to achieve the threshold, also have their votes
distributed to the individuals who were ranked second on their ballots.
Through a series of rounds of redistributing votes
this way, eventually a full Board of nine individuals achieves the
threshold, and are declared elected.
Because your first choice vote counts entirely
for your preference as long as s/he needs the vote to be elected,
it never hurts your candidate to rank others below her/him.
Because your ballot continues to shape the results
for as long as it takes to fill a complete Board, it is always a
good idea to rank many candidates. Ranking additional candidates
ensures that your vote will be maximized and no part of your vote
will be wasted.
The best strategy for a voter is to rank every
candidate in order or as many candidates as you have an opinion
about.
VOTE QUORUM REQUIRED
To make this election valid, the bylaws require
at least 10% of the eligible voters to actually vote. The on-air
staff will encourage listeners to run for office and to cast their
ballots, but must refrain from endorsing candidates on-air.
PACIFICA’S MISSION
STATEMENT
- To establish a Foundation organized and operated exclusively
for educationalpurposes. no part of the net earnings of which
inures to the benefit of any member of the Foundation.
- To establish and operate for educational purposes, in such
a manner that the facilities involved shall be as nearly self-sustaining
as possible, one or more radio broadcasting stations licensed
by the Federal Communications Commission and subject in their
operation to the regulatory actions of the Commission under
the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended.
- In radio broadcasting operations to encourage and provide
outlets for the creative skills and energies of the community;
to conduct classes and workshops in the writing and producing
of drama; to establish awards and scholarships for creative
writing; to offer performance facilities to amateur instrumentalists,
choral groups, orchestral groups and music students; and to
promote and aid other creative activities which will serve the
cultural welfare of the community.
- In radio broadcasting operations to engage in any activity
that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations
and between the individual of all nations, races, creeds and
colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes
of conflict between any and all such groups; and through any
and all means compatible with the purposes of this corporation
to promote the study of political and economic problems and
of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.
- In radio broadcasting operations to promote the full distribution
of public information; to obtain access to sources of news not
commonly brought together in the same medium; and to employ
such varied sources in the public presentation of accurate,
objective, comprehensive news on all matters vitally affecting
the community.
COVER SHEET
(This will be included in your nomination package.
A signed copy has to be submitted to the Elections Coordinator.)
KPFT CANDIDATE STATEMENT
Each candidate is entitled to have a statement
of 500 words or less, made available to every voter with their ballot. You
are required to submit a candidate statement in order to be placed
on the ballot. Candidates who do not submit a statement will be
disqualified.
We will also post your statement on the station’s
election web page. (Note that your statement can be posted before
you are officially nominated to facilitate listeners’ ability to
find candidates whose petitions they want to sign.)
In drafting your statement, you must begin with
your name, try to include your main theme or qualification you want
to stress in your opening paragraph, as this is all many voters
may read. As part of your 500 word maximum, at the end of your statement
you may also list the names of up to 5 of your nominators if you
wish.
You may submit your statement immediately to facilitate
gathering nominating signatures, but your final candidate statement,
to be included in the ballot mailing, must be received by the Elections
Coordinator no later that September 25, 2004. If possible an electronic
version should be submitted to avoid the need to retype it (with
the potential typos).
To request your official election package, please contact
Bobby Muldoon,
KPFT Elections Coordinator
419 Lovett Blvd
Houston TX 77006
713-526-4000 ext. 305
PETITION FORM
You will receive the petition form as part of your election package.
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