Rivals Won’t Sign Waivers : School Board Hopeful Must Sing a New Tune

Three candidates in the race for a seat on the San Diego Board of Education announced Tuesday that they will not sign waivers allowing a local radio station to play a fourth candidate’s musical jingles.

Candidates Al Korobkin, Jim Roache and Sue Braun said they will not sign waivers allowing KFMB-AM (760) to play record producer Steve Vaus’ tunes about the San Diego Padres.

The radio station pulled the songs March 7, when Vaus--who sings the tunes--officially became one of eight candidates for the District B school board seat being vacated by incumbent Larry Lester.

The station cited the Federal Communication Commission’s “fairness doctrine,” requiring it to give the other seven candidates for the seat equal air time if Vaus’s tunes are played. The doctrine applies even though Vaus’s name was not being mentioned when the songs were played.

Station managers said that they would play the jingles if the other candidates would sign waivers giving up their rights under the fairness doctrine.

But in Tuesday’s statement, the three candidates said that the dispute is between Vaus and KFMB, and he should seek a court ruling allowing the station to air the songs.

Vaus, who maintained that KFMB’s position will cost him “a significant portion of his income,” said Tuesday he is considering legal action. Another option would be to allow a different performer to sing the songs, he said.

Vaus called the decision “a fairly obvious attempt to force Steve Vaus out of the race,” but promised that he would continue in the race.

Roache and Braun denied that they were playing hardball politics. Korobkin could not be reached for comment.

Braun, however, accused Vaus of trying to “manipulate” his opponents into signing the waiver by telling each one that all the others had agreed to sign before they had committed themselves.

KCST-TV (Channel 39), which last year aired 20 of Vaus’s music videos about the Padres, has not decided whether it will contract with Vaus for clips again this year, General Manager Paul Palmer said Tuesday. But the station has warned Vaus that the fairness doctrine could prevent it from airing the videos, he said.