---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Luzette King <luzette_king@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 2:12 PM Subject: A Request For Immediate Action By the Pacifica National Board To: pnb@xxxxxxxxxxxx Members of Pacifica National Board: After careful consideration, I am of the view that the PNB must investigate and take appropriate action on a recent violation of the Foundation's bylaws and in the meantime, it must declare WPFW PNB members interim. This is based on the rational that the process leading up to election of WPFW PNB members violated Pacifica's bylaws. More specifically, WPFW LSB is comprised of atleast one member who is not eligible to be on the board thus making invalid any decision in which they participated. I will try to be brief when explaining the two points in question. First of all, WPFW's 2007 LSB election was invalid and with the apparent support of Pacifica's Dan Siegel, the LSB tried to validate it. Leading this effort were Rob Robinson, Acie Byrd, Ambrose Lane and Jim Brown who is now the LSB chair. This matter certainly raises questions about the commitment of these PNB members to the rules of the Foundation. According to Pacifica's Bylaws, "If no quorum of ballots is obtained by the extended date, then those Delegates whose terms would have expired upon the election of new Delegates shall remain in office until the next regularly scheduled Delegate election." (Section 7. QUORUM). There is no dispute as to whether WPFW did not reach quorum after the extended date of the 2007 election. However, Rob Robinson, Acie Byrd, Ambrose Lane and others successfully devised a strategy in the form of motion to "validate" that election. The motion sought to acknowledge the efforts of the candidates by tallying the ballots of the invalid election (I believe Dan Siegel endorsed this and he should be held accountable). In addition, those sitting members whose time on the board had expired and did not contest the 2007 election were asked to resign in order to create vacancies for these members. Unfortunately, three board members have resigned since the election and two were as a result of this bogus that clearly violated the bylaws (Section 5. ELECTION TIME FRAME). The second point is understandably more blatant since WPFW has been, constantly and with impunity, defying any principle of fair play and in accordance with settled rules of Pacifica. Soon after the illegal tallying of votes of an invalid election, it transpired that one of the candidates of the WPFW LSB election, Renee Bowser is an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) which is an elected public official and was not eligible for Pacifica's election candidacy. To the credit of Ms Bowser, she made no secret of her elected public official status and so this makes clear that Pacifica has election supervisors, nationally and locally, who are not aware of the Foundation's rules. On this point, I refer to (Article 4: Section 2: SECTION 2. ELIGIBILITY; NOMINATION OF DELEGATES). The rule is very clear: "no person who holds any elected or appointed public office at any level of government, federal, state, or local, or is a candidate for such office shall be eligible for election to the position of Delegate. A Delegate shall be deemed to have resigned the position of Delegate if s/he becomes a candidate for public office or accepts a political appointment during his or her term as a Delegate. This restriction shall not apply to civil service employment by governmental agencies." This prohibition is emphasized further in Article 4, Section 9. REMOVAL OF DELEGATES of the bylaws: "Any Delegate shall be removed from the position of Delegate, and cease to be a Delegate, ... (B) upon the occurrence of a disqualifying act, e.g. the appointment to an elected political office ... ." Despite the advice from a former LSB election supervisor and that of two attorneys (Pacifica's general counsel Dan Siegel and the government District of Columbia general counsel) that an ANC commissioner fits the description of an elected public official, WPFW LSB seated the Commissioner anyway. Should there be an argument that Ms Bowser is already seated, the bylaws prohibit and do in fact remove any person from the board upon the appointment to an elected political office (Article 4, Section 9. REMOVAL OF DELEGATES). It is my belief that such blatant disregard for the Foundation's rules must have serious implications for the governance of the network. Therefore, the PNB must take immediate action that would send a message throughout the network to make clear it would not stand idly by while the Foundation's rules are violated with such ease as demonstrated by WPFW LSB. I look forward to the conference call this afternoon should any of you have any questions. Luzette