This meeting marked a significant departure from previous meetings in that the Chair began to rule out of order motions, amendments and speech that were rightly in order. Using their majority, the faction currently in charge had the Chair rule things out of order and then the faction voted to uphold the Chair's illegal ruling. These actions are what's termed a “continuing violation” of the Pacifica bylaws and the rights of the LSB members. I will do what I can to rectify these illegal actions.

The Chair opened this meeting with a complaint about having to use Robert's Rules of Order; she then declared that security guards were not necessary and that she didn't want to be referred to as “Chair.”

The agenda turned into quite a contentious item in this meeting. One Staff delegate tried to put an item on the agenda to make the minutes of the March 4, meeting secret again. This was the meeting where the diversion of the cash receipts of the Riverside 9/11 event was discussed. The Chair rightly ruled this out of order because it's impossible to make secret something that's already been made public.

Next some faction members objected to a motion that was on the printed agenda that would have been in support of producers' rights at WBAI. The motion also urged USOC to pursue a grievance for Gary Null, who was fired by Management the day that the faction currently in charge won a majority of seats on the LSB, and called for Mr. Null's reinstatement. The Chair illegally ruled this item out of order and removed it from the agenda; the rest of the faction voted to uphold that decision. The faction could have just let it come up and legally voted it down, but they chose the illegal route instead.

The Chair also illegally ruled out of order an attempt to put a motion about the recent election on the agenda.

The General Manager stated that he does not accept the notion that WBAI is on the brink of disaster. He also reported that Gary Null's grievance was “moving forward,” even though there's evidence that Management had initially

The General Manager also reported that the contract for the 800# that had been used for pledges was not renewed for 2005. When asked how much the 800# contract had cost, he would only refer LSB members to the Treasurer.

During the “Announcement” section of the meeting one LSB member got up and began to speak. It appeared that she was about to resign. But the Chair ruled her speech out of order, then gave her three minutes to speak and then ruled her out of order again. The chaos that broke out from the faction currently in charge at this point certainly belied the Chair's initial statement that security guards were not needed at LSB meetings anymore. At the end of the meeting the Manager of the space told one audience member that, considering the behavior of some, they'd have to reconsider letting the WBAI LSB meet there again.

The GMSS came up again and the faction now amended its motion to allow for 5 listener LSB members on it! Now that they have a majority on the LSB the 3-3-3 formula is no longer sacred.

During this item I raised the fact that the Pacifica bylaws require all elections for things like the GMSS to be by Single Transferrable Voting. The Chair ruled that this was so, but when other faction members objected she reversed herself. The faction upheld her ruling. This refusal to abide by the bylaws could result in a legal contest.

The PNB voted to have a national Spanish language news program by 2006. They elected the following officers:

The next PNB meeting will be held in New York City, April 1-3, 2005.

All labor donated by and printing paid for by R. Paul Martin.