"The ACLU has never been more committed to our core principles..."

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October 30, 2006

Dear ACLU Friends,

Having served as the Executive Director of a large affiliate during the entire tenure of both Ira Glasser and Anthony Romero, it has saddened me greatly to witness Ira's unfair and unfounded attacks on his successor. Ira did a fine job when he was in office and, as one who has devoted her life to the ACLU, I am grateful to him for that. Now Anthony has come along and the organization is succeeding magnificently under new leadership. We have never been more committed to our core principles while taking on the new ones that these times demand. Anthony has moved the organization forward in ways that few of us could have imagined. He may have made some mistakes, as did Ira, as have I. When we believe that our leaders have erred, we offer advice and help. Ira could have done that. He decided not to. Instead, using his contacts with the press and Board members, he helped launch a negative, divisive, public campaign that can only hurt the organization. This attack by a small group that represents the past serves no one's interests.

Let us all remember our common objectives, our common goals, and let us all work together, constructively and harmoniously to make the ACLU an even stronger and better force for good in this powerful nation of ours. We are a group of individuals who well know how to dissent, and we value that right. Let us now show that we also know how to set aside our differences and return to the task of continuing to build the best civil liberties organization possible. In these times, with the wholly unprecedented crises we face, every single day, no true civil libertarian could do otherwise.

Ramona Ripston

Executive Director
ACLU of Southern California

 

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