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The Best and Brightest (who didn't defect to NPR already)
Published on February 2, 2004 By Phil Osborn In Politics
1> Israel Feuer - because he DESERVES it, and we NEED a sane benevolent voice of real experience, and no one else comes close to Israel.

2> Me - Phil Osborn. (and I really dithered over this one, believe me...)

3> Raul Castillo. Because he's young - the youngest candidate, actually - and smart, and has a following, and will do a lot of work for us, and he listens well, and I think he's a good guy who won't sell out, who will become a major asset to the station.

4> B. Hall. Because she's (obviously, if you listen to her) completely independent both politically and intellectually, black - and the reason that is important is that she's opposed to the non-sensical varieties of affirmative action, like Spanish-only programming, and she totally speaks her mind. Nobody! is going to railroad or intimidate this lady.

5> Sasha Karlik. Because he's willing to put his mouth and money behind what he says - like archiving everything personally for several years now, which the station should have been doing as a matter of course, but didn't. And because he's a dreamer and has a whole lot of ideas for focussed issue- and idea-based programming, like putting together coordinated programming that spends a day or two just dissecting some important issue - all archived and available on the web; thus a stepping stone for the world and a reference point. This guy is a keeper.

6> Dean Francois. Much the same reasons as Sasha. This guy has the ideas and the expertise. I will be looking forward to how he and Sasha together take over the world.

7> Lloyd Chitendon. Again, an idea person with a lot of web savvy and ideas for making our pie bigger.

8> Vikki Hufnagel. A real life major victim of the system and a major fighter. Vikki understands a whole lot about just how fragile our rights are when the big guys come after us, but she doesn't quit, and she's really, really smart.

9> David Adelson. Again, expanding the pie. All kinds of projects to bring people in and develop their expertise and expand the station envelope.

10> Terry Goodman. Experience and solutions orientation. He KNOWs how the station works. We NEED him.

11> Michael Pimental. Because we also need someone who is behind the art part of the Mission, and this is the guy who knows that end of things and has worked in this kind of position already. Let's bring in the new artists. Yes!

12> Margot Eiser. Because I've spent some time with her at various forums and on air, and I know that she has a real commitment, an independent voice and a lot of smarts and business expertise.

13> Nile ElWardani. Because she is very smart and she knows a lot about what the station could be doing and wants to move it there. Lots and lots of good, solid experience and real commitment.

14> Casey McFall. Same as above two, with a lot of major business and organizational skills, which we will definitely need.

15> Jan Goodman. Lots of vision and skills similar to above several candidates.

16> Earl Grant. Similar to above, but with major computer skills and major experience in communications, such as design and implementation of simultaneous translation systems. I want that expertise there, because that's what we're goind to do, bigtime: set up systems to translate over the web to everyone we can, worldwide.

17> Uduak -Joe Ntuk. His statement really says it.

18> Sara Amir. Really good political experience. See her statement.

Anyway, those are the best I could come up with after several hours of studying my notes from all the various events, as well as the entire list of candidate statements. I went through all the statements separately and ranked them, and then I compared the rankings to my notes.

Just because someone isn't on my list doesn't mean that I don't think they're qualified, or that I necessarily oppose them, or that I dislike them. I'm just looking for a team with vision, integrity, expertise, sanity and good will, who aren't locked into some ethnic solidarity trap and who can work together.

My own list goes all the way to thirty, but I've GOT to get some sleep here, folks.

Peace.


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