What’s happening at the ACLU???
Can anyone explain what’s happening at the ACLU? Stephanie Strom from the NYT has been following this since 01.04, when the executive director Anthony Romero first signed while railing against federal aid terrorist blacklist regulations; then it was accused of data mining. Then there were the fundraising imbroglios of executive director Romero, then there was the report about gag orders (NYT 05.24.06). And now, it seems an internal faction led by Wendy Kaminer and Ira Glasser (executive director until 2001) has come out with a blog to voice their concerns publicly. This in turn just prompted a rebutting blog, which seems to chiefly consist of appeals to authority: hey we like this guy and what he’s doing, so trust us when we try to gag employees. The worst, I think, is a Huffington Post comment by Gara LaMarche (among other things, a former associate director of Human Rights Watch), which simply dismisses several of the charges as "phony." Any more comment? Particularly revealing is the back-and-forth game that LaMarche and Kaminer play in the comments section; LaMarche doesn’t offer any detailed critique of Kaminer’s arguments (occasionally promising to do so later, someplace else), which, of course, leaves me wondering. How could they even think of issuing gag orders? Isn’t this a group that opposes consequentialist logic (no united front means a weak response to the Bush administration) by its very nature? You’ll also find on savetheaclu.org the claim that there is a proposal to erase board tapes (which are recorded as a matter of policy and perserved to check the record) or at least deny board member access to them. Cue scary music.
