"What's going on in the ACLU sweepstakes"

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To Friends and Colleagues:

"Freedom to Backstab," New York Magazine's entry into the "what's going on in the ACLU" sweepstakes paints a highly-distorted picture, in contrast to the fuller and more balanced ones provided in recent The Nation and American Prospect articles.

As you'll see in the other letters posted here at www.voicesfortheaclu.org, New York Magazine writer David France gives barely a nod to the ACLU's vigorous and effective advocacy under the leadership of Executive Director Anthony Romero – effective advocacy that's been critically important during an era that's at least as dismal for civil liberties as the McCarthy days.

Instead, France acts as indiscriminate mouthpiece to air yet again the grievances of a handful of self-styled "dissidents" who have repeatedly failed to achieve their goals through the ACLU's highly-democratic governance channels. It's a highly distorted piece of work.

France insultingly attempts to paint the strong majority of staff and board members who support Anthony Romero as blinded or bought off by fundraising success. But I know, as an outsider with deep ties to the organization for over 30 years, that what in fact they feel is admiration. We admire him for his leadership – particularly its warm and collegial style, despite a few sharp exchanges with some critics who choose to fight their battles in the press.

France takes great liberties as he inaccurately recounts small, inconsequential ACLU internal matters, blowing up these small events into vivid portraits. It's a picture I just don't see. I simply don't recognize the Anthony Romero, or the ACLU, described in this one-sided piece. If it was all I had to go on, I'd be concerned about the future of the vitally important ACLU. But, fortunately, readers who want the whole picture can find it here at www.voicesfortheaclu.org.

Sincerely,
Gara LaMarche
Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs
Open Society Institute
New York, New York

 

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