Tuesday, September 26, 2006

And in the red trunks, weighing in at 106 pounds…

The fight is on for the ACLU – or at least the name and donor lists. A dissident group of “longtime ACLU loyalists– members, donors, supporters and activists, including former staff and members of the national or affiliate boards” has launched savetheaclu.org.

From the group’s mission statement:

We applaud the ACLU’s recent fundraising successes, but they cannot compensate for or justify persistent breaches of principle or the abandonment of honesty when those breaches are revealed. The ACLU now stands exposed, and widely ridiculed, for repeatedly acting in contempt of its own core principles, and for chilling and even attempting to prohibit dissent within its own ranks.

Over the past three years, these breaches of principle include the ACLU’s approval of grant agreements that restrict speech and associational rights; efforts by management to impose gag rules on staff and to subject staff to email surveillance; a proposal to bar ACLU board members from publicly criticizing the ACLU; and informal campaigns to purge the ACLU of its internal critics.

All of these breaches, as well as others, violate the ACLU’s historic commitment to free speech. We take little comfort from the fact that some were reversed after bad publicity and donor complaints.

We’ll find out whether these guys can feed the leadership’s bunker mentality and prompt even greater backlashes. Pass the popcorn.

Hat tip: Stoptheaclu.com