ACLU Gets New Board Member
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The most vocal dissident on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union, Wendy Kaminer, has been replaced by a candidate promising a less confrontational stance.
An attorney with the Juvenile Justice Center at Suffolk University in Boston, Lisa Thurau-Gray, won the post Monday night in a narrow, secret-ballot vote conducted by the Massachusetts ACLU board. She defeated, 17-15, an outspoken criminal defense lawyer from Boston, Harvey Silverglate.
Ms. Kaminer, who repeatedly clashed with the ACLU’s executive director, Anthony Romero, did not seek re-election.
In an interview with The New York Sun on Saturday, Ms. Thurau-Gray said, “I am running on a platform that seeks to strengthen the national ACLU and its affiliates by professionalizing and depersonalizing how we approach our participation in board governance.”
Ms. Thurau-Gray said she had not discussed her candidacy with anyone on the national board or at the national office of the ACLU. She declined to answer when asked by a reporter to assess Ms. Kaminer’s performance.
Mr. Silverglate told the Sun last week that he agreed with much of Ms. Kaminer’s critique of the organization. “I agreed generally with Wendy’s view on issues of governance and transparency,” he said. “I did not agree with all of her tactics for seeking to implement her views.”
Mr. Silverglate said he could not recall another contested race involving the Massachusetts ACLU. “It’s been 30 years, at least,” he said.
In early 2005, an effort began to remove Ms. Kaminer and another board member, Michael Meyers, for allegedly leaking confidential ACLU information to reporters. The impeachment effort was dropped, but Mr. Meyers left the board in 2005 after losing a bid for re-election. A related plan to set limits on board members’ criticism of the organization triggered an outcry.
Ms. Kaminer, who backed Mr. Silverglate’s failed bid, has complained that Mr. Romero is too secretive and made decisions at odds with the group’s core principles. She said the ACLU’s president, Nadine Strossen, the executive committee, and the board as a whole shared responsibility for “a mess” at the organization.
Mr. Romero has defended his stewardship of the ACLU, but apologized for a heated outburst directed at Ms. Kaminer during a board meeting earlier this year.
