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Indybay Feature
ACLU Chair Closes Monthly Boad of Directors Meeting, Homeless Issues Off the Agenda
Last night the local ACLU, long notorious for its refusal to join other ACLU's across the state in supporting the trampled rights of local homeless people, underlined its authoritarian process by excluding members of the public (including ACLU members) from its Board meeting. Though Chair Peter Gelblum was the voice demanding that everyone leave, the rest of the Board remained silent, and "activist" Steve Pleich insisted that prior willingness to have members of the public present was only "a courtesy". Other than support for the statewide California Homeless Bill of Rights, likely to remain stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Pleich and the Board refused to discuss, much less take stands on upcoming anti-homeless legislation, the abusive Sleeping Ban, and other official hate crimes against the homeless.
SHUT OUT OF THE BOARD MEETING
A number of homeless advo cates and critics of police abuse showed up for the 7 PM meeting at Louden Nelson Center last night It's regularly held at that time on the 4th Monday of the month.
The ACLU has a 20 year history of ignoring homeless issues as politically inexpedient. This has often been credited to the toxic leadership of former Mayor Mike Rotkin, who has spoken out publicly in this city and others cities for Sitting Bans, the Sleeping Ban, and homeless protests. He, however, was not present when decisions to exclude were made at this meeting.
Chair Peter Gelblum announced the meeting was closed (even to ACLU members who were not Board members) and demanded we all leave the room. This was the first such demand in the several meetings I've attended in the first year and a half where the public was forced to leave. Gelblum did not suggest there were internal litigation or personnel matters on the agenda (the only legitimate justification for holding closed meetings of the City Council, for example).
Initially Gelblum insisted that the Secure Communities presentation, to be held at 7:30 PM, was also off-limits to both public and Board members. Perhaps due to my pressure, he shifted his position on that, allowing the Public in for the purposes of the presentation only. Those who wished to comment or bring issues to the Board's attention would have to wait until the tail end of the meeting, presumably in the hallway.
I interviewed my fellow deportees and will be playing those interviews at 6:30 PM Thursday night on Free Radio (101.1 FM, http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-s47254/ . The file will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb130523.mp3 (half an hour into the file).
"LIBERAL" BOARD MEMBERS REMAIN SILENT
More depressing (but not really surprising) was the response of the Board when I asked for a vote of the Board on this matter--embarrassed silence. Emboldened, Goldblum continued to demand in an authoritarian tone that I leave because "this [exclusion of the public, including ACLU members] has always been the ACLU policy".
Since that had clearly not been my experience, as recently as the March or April Board meeting (which Gelblum admittedly did not attend), I resisted this interpretation. I also was concerned about the placing of Public Comment at the tail end of the meeting at 8:45 PM, requiring that those wishing to speak publicly to the Board wait in the hallway for nearly two hours.
No one on the Board challenged this or responded to my request that the Board declare the meeting open to the public (unless for a specific internal litigation/personnel section, which even in the past had not excluded those visiting). To my surprise, Steve Pleich, co-chair declared his support for this policy. Board member Ron Pomerantz refused to support public access (leaving his partner Jane Weed in the hallway).
PLEICH AND POWER
In Pleich's case, I had the feeling he was defending his "credibility" with more conservative Board members. Or perhaps he acted in part because I had earlier pressed him in an e-mail, by phone, and in person to bring up the on-going anti-homeless measures being pressed by groups like Take Back Santa Cruz through the City Council such the perennial Sleeping Ban, Downtown Ordinances, police sweeps, and increasing curfews--which he again refused to do.
Perhaps this was simply an assertion of power. The unspoken message "I control the keys to the kingdom here and will only do what I choose to do and not be pressured." Perhaps it was an attempt to retain the additional power that Board members have when meeting behind closed doors, now that he was ascending the power structure as vice-chair.
I had also suggested Pleich accommodate members of the public by pressing for a brief public comment period at the beginning of the meeting. He refused with a sarcastic "good luck with that".
Pleich did bring up and secured local ACLU support for Ammiano's AB5--the Homeless Bill of Rights currently "suspended" in the Appropriations Committee, indeed asking for a stronger bill (at my suggestion). However, what he refused to do (and what he has refused to do for a year) is challenge local Santa Cruz laws and policies at the Board, even when he clearly had the votes to do so or could have raised the issue on principle for future passage. Supporting AB5 under these circumstances seems a token gesture, which one can put on one's resume and chat about on TV shows (which Pleich regularly hosts) without taking substantive local steps.
HISTORY OF THE PLEICH AND THE ACLU
HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) has urged Pleich (who heads a "Homeless Person's Legal Assistance" Project) to do so in the past. I have asked him repeatedly, and he has brushed off such concerns--even as homeless people's survival gear is destroyed, and people are brutalized by police (see http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_23185274/use-force-investigation-not-complete-videotaped-arrest-santa ).
The local ACLU has refused to oppose the Sleeping Ban publicly for the last 20 years--while other ACLU's around the state have been quite candid in denouncing such laws. The local ACLU chair (then Rotkin) even attempted to have me arrested for appearing at one of their announced public meetings with an "End the Sleeping Ban" sign (see http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/26/18443532.php?show_comments=1#18446049). (Local police ironically recognized I had a "First Amendment" right and declined to act on then ACLU chair Mike Rotkin's demand)
The current silence on basic issues is a continuation of this process and no real surprise. However this is the first time in recent memory this was mixed with an exclude-the-public process.
You can get Pleich's perspective by e-mailing him at spleich [at] gmail.com. or phoning him at 831-466-6078. To his credit, he has generally been quite responsive to phone calls (at least initially).
BROADER IMPLICATIONS
In another thread, a video was recently censored showing an individual on The Clean Team (now largely dominated by Take Back Santa Cruz members) harassing a homeless sleeper in a sleeping bag (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/15/18736901.php). An interview with T.J. Magallones ( http://santacruz.patch.com/groups/jeremy-leonards-blog/p/bp--fever-pitch-interview-with-sc-clean-team-founder-0c63abc71a?ncid=newsltuspatc00000010) suggests how authoritarian leadership in a group can lead to toxic consequences when internal dissent is sidelined or crushed.
I believe this is relevant to groups like the ACLU, who seem to value their political connections with the existing city power structure more than the application of their principles locally. The fear of "sticking out" and "alienating political capital" apparently extends to well-spoken and ostensibly-principled activists like Pleich, who a year ago was urging homeless people to join the ACLU to "change it". It seems even when he gets into a position of some power (Vice-Chair), he suddenly decides not to use that power even to agenda-ize issues that he otherwise gives lots of verbal support to, even when urged to do so by other activists.
It's my view that the structure of these organizations is somewhat to blame here. But unless individuals muster up the grit to challenge them, they will continue to be establishment-compliant, whatever rhetoric their members spout.
Take Back Santa Cruz has been criticized for its repressive internal structure and its lack of transparency. We need look no further than to the local ACLU and its insulated, exclusionary, and locally-irrelevant policies to understand such sickness is not limited to right-wing groups.
WHAT THE ACLU HAS DONE FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE OVER THE YEARS
The Santa Cruz ACLU has had a horrible history of ducking basic civil rights issues concerning homeless people—in my personal experience dating back to 1978 when the County was destroying vehicular shelter for many homeless families out at Scott Creek Bluff. I gave up on it years ago and have suggested that those with civil rights concerns need to form a new group.
However... It did come forward with some legal defense for some activists arrested en masse in 1994 in the Sitting Ban protests. I believe there may have been some local ACLU support for the creation of the (now dead) Citizens Police Review Board in the early 90's (though most of the support came from the Northern California ACLU, who had to be invited in by another organization).
Bob Taren did speak against Cynthia Matthew's youth curfew in 1997 or thereabouts. Don Zimmerman and even Rotkin himself expressed reservations about the Parking Lot Panic law in 2006-7 (which makes Santa Cruz nearly unique in having a law that criminalizes sitting in your vehicle in any public parking lot downtown, or socializing near it).
And, though most of the defendants were not homeless, the Santa Cruz Eleven got some partial support in an ACLU resolution, which Pleich himself pressed. Most recently, Ron Pomerantz spoke at the City Council against the Cowell Beach curfew on unanimous resolution from the ACLU at Micah Posner's urging (who then turned around and voted for the curfew),
However, time and time again when activists have come to the Santa Cruz chapter trying to get the most elementary statements of support (not even legal assistance or money), the Board has shied away from any public statements dissenting from City Council's anti-homeless policies on the most basic issues: sleeping, the right to rest in public spaces, the right to serve free food (successfully overturned by direct action), police violence, the destruction of homeless property, and selective enforcement.
So it's seemed pretty hypocritical to me to wave the flag for AB5 while not making a statement about local laws that AB5 is designed to ameliorate. It also seems strange to me that someone billing himself as a "homeless advocate" fpr over a year will not move to have our ACLU endorse what other ACLU's do around the state and country, except perhaps to save embarrassment and conflict from others in power who prefer these issues not be raised at all.
The ACLU has also been approached recently and specifically about particular Santa Cruz city ordinances and practices and buried those issues. One can't blame any one person for the ACLU's behavior. The danger is that in pandering to such behavior or remaining silent, one can become complicit and ultimately corrupted.
A number of homeless advo cates and critics of police abuse showed up for the 7 PM meeting at Louden Nelson Center last night It's regularly held at that time on the 4th Monday of the month.
The ACLU has a 20 year history of ignoring homeless issues as politically inexpedient. This has often been credited to the toxic leadership of former Mayor Mike Rotkin, who has spoken out publicly in this city and others cities for Sitting Bans, the Sleeping Ban, and homeless protests. He, however, was not present when decisions to exclude were made at this meeting.
Chair Peter Gelblum announced the meeting was closed (even to ACLU members who were not Board members) and demanded we all leave the room. This was the first such demand in the several meetings I've attended in the first year and a half where the public was forced to leave. Gelblum did not suggest there were internal litigation or personnel matters on the agenda (the only legitimate justification for holding closed meetings of the City Council, for example).
Initially Gelblum insisted that the Secure Communities presentation, to be held at 7:30 PM, was also off-limits to both public and Board members. Perhaps due to my pressure, he shifted his position on that, allowing the Public in for the purposes of the presentation only. Those who wished to comment or bring issues to the Board's attention would have to wait until the tail end of the meeting, presumably in the hallway.
I interviewed my fellow deportees and will be playing those interviews at 6:30 PM Thursday night on Free Radio (101.1 FM, http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-s47254/ . The file will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb130523.mp3 (half an hour into the file).
"LIBERAL" BOARD MEMBERS REMAIN SILENT
More depressing (but not really surprising) was the response of the Board when I asked for a vote of the Board on this matter--embarrassed silence. Emboldened, Goldblum continued to demand in an authoritarian tone that I leave because "this [exclusion of the public, including ACLU members] has always been the ACLU policy".
Since that had clearly not been my experience, as recently as the March or April Board meeting (which Gelblum admittedly did not attend), I resisted this interpretation. I also was concerned about the placing of Public Comment at the tail end of the meeting at 8:45 PM, requiring that those wishing to speak publicly to the Board wait in the hallway for nearly two hours.
No one on the Board challenged this or responded to my request that the Board declare the meeting open to the public (unless for a specific internal litigation/personnel section, which even in the past had not excluded those visiting). To my surprise, Steve Pleich, co-chair declared his support for this policy. Board member Ron Pomerantz refused to support public access (leaving his partner Jane Weed in the hallway).
PLEICH AND POWER
In Pleich's case, I had the feeling he was defending his "credibility" with more conservative Board members. Or perhaps he acted in part because I had earlier pressed him in an e-mail, by phone, and in person to bring up the on-going anti-homeless measures being pressed by groups like Take Back Santa Cruz through the City Council such the perennial Sleeping Ban, Downtown Ordinances, police sweeps, and increasing curfews--which he again refused to do.
Perhaps this was simply an assertion of power. The unspoken message "I control the keys to the kingdom here and will only do what I choose to do and not be pressured." Perhaps it was an attempt to retain the additional power that Board members have when meeting behind closed doors, now that he was ascending the power structure as vice-chair.
I had also suggested Pleich accommodate members of the public by pressing for a brief public comment period at the beginning of the meeting. He refused with a sarcastic "good luck with that".
Pleich did bring up and secured local ACLU support for Ammiano's AB5--the Homeless Bill of Rights currently "suspended" in the Appropriations Committee, indeed asking for a stronger bill (at my suggestion). However, what he refused to do (and what he has refused to do for a year) is challenge local Santa Cruz laws and policies at the Board, even when he clearly had the votes to do so or could have raised the issue on principle for future passage. Supporting AB5 under these circumstances seems a token gesture, which one can put on one's resume and chat about on TV shows (which Pleich regularly hosts) without taking substantive local steps.
HISTORY OF THE PLEICH AND THE ACLU
HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) has urged Pleich (who heads a "Homeless Person's Legal Assistance" Project) to do so in the past. I have asked him repeatedly, and he has brushed off such concerns--even as homeless people's survival gear is destroyed, and people are brutalized by police (see http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_23185274/use-force-investigation-not-complete-videotaped-arrest-santa ).
The local ACLU has refused to oppose the Sleeping Ban publicly for the last 20 years--while other ACLU's around the state have been quite candid in denouncing such laws. The local ACLU chair (then Rotkin) even attempted to have me arrested for appearing at one of their announced public meetings with an "End the Sleeping Ban" sign (see http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/26/18443532.php?show_comments=1#18446049). (Local police ironically recognized I had a "First Amendment" right and declined to act on then ACLU chair Mike Rotkin's demand)
The current silence on basic issues is a continuation of this process and no real surprise. However this is the first time in recent memory this was mixed with an exclude-the-public process.
You can get Pleich's perspective by e-mailing him at spleich [at] gmail.com. or phoning him at 831-466-6078. To his credit, he has generally been quite responsive to phone calls (at least initially).
BROADER IMPLICATIONS
In another thread, a video was recently censored showing an individual on The Clean Team (now largely dominated by Take Back Santa Cruz members) harassing a homeless sleeper in a sleeping bag (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/15/18736901.php). An interview with T.J. Magallones ( http://santacruz.patch.com/groups/jeremy-leonards-blog/p/bp--fever-pitch-interview-with-sc-clean-team-founder-0c63abc71a?ncid=newsltuspatc00000010) suggests how authoritarian leadership in a group can lead to toxic consequences when internal dissent is sidelined or crushed.
I believe this is relevant to groups like the ACLU, who seem to value their political connections with the existing city power structure more than the application of their principles locally. The fear of "sticking out" and "alienating political capital" apparently extends to well-spoken and ostensibly-principled activists like Pleich, who a year ago was urging homeless people to join the ACLU to "change it". It seems even when he gets into a position of some power (Vice-Chair), he suddenly decides not to use that power even to agenda-ize issues that he otherwise gives lots of verbal support to, even when urged to do so by other activists.
It's my view that the structure of these organizations is somewhat to blame here. But unless individuals muster up the grit to challenge them, they will continue to be establishment-compliant, whatever rhetoric their members spout.
Take Back Santa Cruz has been criticized for its repressive internal structure and its lack of transparency. We need look no further than to the local ACLU and its insulated, exclusionary, and locally-irrelevant policies to understand such sickness is not limited to right-wing groups.
WHAT THE ACLU HAS DONE FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE OVER THE YEARS
The Santa Cruz ACLU has had a horrible history of ducking basic civil rights issues concerning homeless people—in my personal experience dating back to 1978 when the County was destroying vehicular shelter for many homeless families out at Scott Creek Bluff. I gave up on it years ago and have suggested that those with civil rights concerns need to form a new group.
However... It did come forward with some legal defense for some activists arrested en masse in 1994 in the Sitting Ban protests. I believe there may have been some local ACLU support for the creation of the (now dead) Citizens Police Review Board in the early 90's (though most of the support came from the Northern California ACLU, who had to be invited in by another organization).
Bob Taren did speak against Cynthia Matthew's youth curfew in 1997 or thereabouts. Don Zimmerman and even Rotkin himself expressed reservations about the Parking Lot Panic law in 2006-7 (which makes Santa Cruz nearly unique in having a law that criminalizes sitting in your vehicle in any public parking lot downtown, or socializing near it).
And, though most of the defendants were not homeless, the Santa Cruz Eleven got some partial support in an ACLU resolution, which Pleich himself pressed. Most recently, Ron Pomerantz spoke at the City Council against the Cowell Beach curfew on unanimous resolution from the ACLU at Micah Posner's urging (who then turned around and voted for the curfew),
However, time and time again when activists have come to the Santa Cruz chapter trying to get the most elementary statements of support (not even legal assistance or money), the Board has shied away from any public statements dissenting from City Council's anti-homeless policies on the most basic issues: sleeping, the right to rest in public spaces, the right to serve free food (successfully overturned by direct action), police violence, the destruction of homeless property, and selective enforcement.
So it's seemed pretty hypocritical to me to wave the flag for AB5 while not making a statement about local laws that AB5 is designed to ameliorate. It also seems strange to me that someone billing himself as a "homeless advocate" fpr over a year will not move to have our ACLU endorse what other ACLU's do around the state and country, except perhaps to save embarrassment and conflict from others in power who prefer these issues not be raised at all.
The ACLU has also been approached recently and specifically about particular Santa Cruz city ordinances and practices and buried those issues. One can't blame any one person for the ACLU's behavior. The danger is that in pandering to such behavior or remaining silent, one can become complicit and ultimately corrupted.
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This guy sits on the board and attends umpteen groups in town but when you follow what Steve Pleich actually stands for what what he actually does, you'll usually find him sitting, grumbling and acting at cross purposes with the very groups he says he supports. Sometimes I wonder what a person's intentions really are when they spend a full week of talking only to slow the processes down.
Pot calling kettle black in the darkest way.
Brent, you show up to protest at TBSC events but don't hold your own events. You hold meetings about Sanctuary and talk about Sanctuary but I don't see any Sanctuary or candidly, any real traction or sense that it will ever amount to more than talk.
When I follow what you've actually done, I find zero impact other than documenting or criticizing the work and action of others. I think you're guilty of the same charges your making of Steve.
Brent, you show up to protest at TBSC events but don't hold your own events. You hold meetings about Sanctuary and talk about Sanctuary but I don't see any Sanctuary or candidly, any real traction or sense that it will ever amount to more than talk.
When I follow what you've actually done, I find zero impact other than documenting or criticizing the work and action of others. I think you're guilty of the same charges your making of Steve.
why the ACLU doesn't want any of them around. Losing proposition as far as they're concerned.
I did a presentation to their board last year in regard to the "Street Sweep" then (and as always 'currently') in progress. Steve Pleich arranged it but it WAS required to have advance arrangements. The presentation took ten minutes.
In my discussions afterwards I was informed the only interest in homeless issues the local chapter has is the VERY limited time for property recovery afforded by the SCPD, which they felt (at least at that time) was tantamount to a human rights violation.
They claimed they had no budget to put up any major squabble with the city in regard to the city's policies in regard to the homeless, and were vague when I asked about contacting the regional office for further support.
Here's my presentation...
In my discussions afterwards I was informed the only interest in homeless issues the local chapter has is the VERY limited time for property recovery afforded by the SCPD, which they felt (at least at that time) was tantamount to a human rights violation.
They claimed they had no budget to put up any major squabble with the city in regard to the city's policies in regard to the homeless, and were vague when I asked about contacting the regional office for further support.
Here's my presentation...
Online, considering the only text attachments allowed appear to be PDFs
http://pastehtml.com/view/d34di8ph4.html
http://pastehtml.com/view/d34di8ph4.html
...is bleeding money.
I can't speak for the financial health of the SC chapter, but I can safely say the national ACLU is in trouble financially. Like numerous members I dropped my membership over a year ago. Why? The organization was spending tons of money on windmill-tilting causes and less on nuts and bolts civil liberty cases. I just didn't agree with their focus anymore. So I let the membership go. On Sunday I got a call from an ACLU fundraiser, asking me to renew. I tried to tactfully explain that I'm focusing my giving locally. They pleaded with me to rejoin and I finally had to say I no longer supported the organization. The call center guy seemed stunned by the revelation.
I can't speak for the financial health of the SC chapter, but I can safely say the national ACLU is in trouble financially. Like numerous members I dropped my membership over a year ago. Why? The organization was spending tons of money on windmill-tilting causes and less on nuts and bolts civil liberty cases. I just didn't agree with their focus anymore. So I let the membership go. On Sunday I got a call from an ACLU fundraiser, asking me to renew. I tried to tactfully explain that I'm focusing my giving locally. They pleaded with me to rejoin and I finally had to say I no longer supported the organization. The call center guy seemed stunned by the revelation.
I have found the following strategy effective when faced with an recalcitrant agency:
1) Jump over their heads to their superiors. I suggest gathering signature on a petition of grievances stating that the local ACLU is not protecting/implementing the ACLU of NorCal's mission statement. Ask for their charter to be revoked.
2) Use an online petition, shared via Facebook, to gather at last 200-1000 signatures.
3) Create the narrative. Show that the local ACLU which is supposed to be open, transparent and accountable, is acting like a private company, closing its meetings to the public, deliberating in private with no public input.
4) Get a story written up in the media, People v. ACLU of Santa Cruz, in which you pillory the local ACLU for all the grievances you already lodged against them. Gather your evidence and your witnesses. The Good Times would probably write a decent story. The Sentinel will support the local ACLU. Patch is a toss up. KION will cover it. KSCO and KUSP might. I would also pass this up to the SF Chronicle and the SJ Mercury, as well as the Sac Bee and the LA Times. I'm willing to do this since I have already made contact with their editors for a different story.
Make a news media firestorm about the local ACLU: it's the case People of Santa Cruz v. ACLU of Santa Cruz, because they aren't protecting the community but the interests of the rich and powerful. Be sure to carbon copy all the correspondence and news coverage about this to the ACLU of NorCal, to embarrass the ACLU of NorCal to revoke the local chapter's charter until they begin representing the people.
Suggestion: Write up an indictment setting forth the charges and have it served upon the local ACLU as the opening salvo. I'm willing to help write this.
Good luck!
1) Jump over their heads to their superiors. I suggest gathering signature on a petition of grievances stating that the local ACLU is not protecting/implementing the ACLU of NorCal's mission statement. Ask for their charter to be revoked.
2) Use an online petition, shared via Facebook, to gather at last 200-1000 signatures.
3) Create the narrative. Show that the local ACLU which is supposed to be open, transparent and accountable, is acting like a private company, closing its meetings to the public, deliberating in private with no public input.
4) Get a story written up in the media, People v. ACLU of Santa Cruz, in which you pillory the local ACLU for all the grievances you already lodged against them. Gather your evidence and your witnesses. The Good Times would probably write a decent story. The Sentinel will support the local ACLU. Patch is a toss up. KION will cover it. KSCO and KUSP might. I would also pass this up to the SF Chronicle and the SJ Mercury, as well as the Sac Bee and the LA Times. I'm willing to do this since I have already made contact with their editors for a different story.
Make a news media firestorm about the local ACLU: it's the case People of Santa Cruz v. ACLU of Santa Cruz, because they aren't protecting the community but the interests of the rich and powerful. Be sure to carbon copy all the correspondence and news coverage about this to the ACLU of NorCal, to embarrass the ACLU of NorCal to revoke the local chapter's charter until they begin representing the people.
Suggestion: Write up an indictment setting forth the charges and have it served upon the local ACLU as the opening salvo. I'm willing to help write this.
Good luck!
John Colby, I emailed you a draft indictment laying out our case against the ACLU. Please add to it and email it back. I'm excited that this is going to be an effective strategy against their bigotry towards activists!
Hey John, I emailed you the draft indictment against the ACLU, and I followed up with an email to see if you received it, but I haven't heard back yet. Did you get it? I'm ready to get this indictment before the public and to aggressively make our case against the ACLU. I'm no armchair jockey, either. I'm willing to put a lot of time into this, and I want to take you up on your offer of help.
Please check your spam box if you haven't seen my emails. Maybe that's where they went.
Please check your spam box if you haven't seen my emails. Maybe that's where they went.
Well, maybe you're out of town for the holiday, John. Please let me know when you want to work on this indictment and on your other strategies, as well. They sound very effective, and I hope to hear from you soon on how we can move this forward together.
Send me the indictment and we can get cracking on this. I appreciate your help in holding the local ACLU accountable. It's time for a change in Santa Cruz — no more pandering to the elite.
I've emailed it twice, and now again. Hope you got it. I can't wait to start cracking some elite skulls. Finally. An effective strategy that will produce results! Lead the way, John. I'm right behind you.
I do not support the spurious logic being used in Norse's article (which I have already said to him). For just one teeny example of my point of view - the idea that the local ACLU Chapter should conduct itself transparently by using City of Santa Cruz's procedures just doesn't make any sense. Or, about as much sense as expecting the HUFF cotillion to use the bylaws of a local ACLU chapter to make decisions and conduct business.
While I'm sympathetic to Razor Ray's actual presentation, and quite sad that he hasn't been given even a courtesy reply apparently, from this ACLU chapter, I am very concerned about the purpose and integrity of the rest of this article and it's respondents.
What's really going on here?
Seems like somebody who's really experienced at being articulate is working overtime to turn the undifferentiated prejudice of small-minded folks who would be active, against Steve Pleich. Steve wasn't even the chairperson of the particular meeting being smeared here. But somehow we read this and are expected to believe that whatever wasn't "right" was HIS fault?
I don't believe this for a minute.
A campaign to persuade the local ACLU to become more active or more responsive -- whatever it WILL require -- will NOT begin by excoriating its members. I hope the gratuitious bashing of personal dignity reflects back to where it belongs?
I hope one can get ahold of relevant documents about protocols for the local Chapter just by asking to see them? I would not want to support an adversarial stance until other avenues have failed.
I would expect an essayist who claims to be a member of the ACLU would show some understanding about the nature and process of his group?
And I hope the ACLU will consider standing up for low income, poor and homeless people here, regardless of how silly the group has been treated by a few?
Linda Lemaster
While I'm sympathetic to Razor Ray's actual presentation, and quite sad that he hasn't been given even a courtesy reply apparently, from this ACLU chapter, I am very concerned about the purpose and integrity of the rest of this article and it's respondents.
What's really going on here?
Seems like somebody who's really experienced at being articulate is working overtime to turn the undifferentiated prejudice of small-minded folks who would be active, against Steve Pleich. Steve wasn't even the chairperson of the particular meeting being smeared here. But somehow we read this and are expected to believe that whatever wasn't "right" was HIS fault?
I don't believe this for a minute.
A campaign to persuade the local ACLU to become more active or more responsive -- whatever it WILL require -- will NOT begin by excoriating its members. I hope the gratuitious bashing of personal dignity reflects back to where it belongs?
I hope one can get ahold of relevant documents about protocols for the local Chapter just by asking to see them? I would not want to support an adversarial stance until other avenues have failed.
I would expect an essayist who claims to be a member of the ACLU would show some understanding about the nature and process of his group?
And I hope the ACLU will consider standing up for low income, poor and homeless people here, regardless of how silly the group has been treated by a few?
Linda Lemaster
I'm not attacking Steve. Two of my attorney friends used to lead the local ACLU chapter. They quit in disgust because they couldn't stomach the local ACLU's misplaced priorities.
The lack of empathy for disenfranchised groups like the poor, disabled and homeless by the local ACLU speaks for itself. They were no help to me when I sought legal counsel about the Mission Gardens Apartments — thus I learned to become my own advocate with the government.
However, the local ACLU is letting down lots of disenfranchised folk who have no one else to turn to. It's not Steve's fault. I'm certain that Steve would do right by the poor, elderly and disabled if they let him. Just as he would if he was on the City Council.
You can be against the local ACLU and not be against Steve — that's personalizing a political viewpoint — it's a bogus argument.
The lack of empathy for disenfranchised groups like the poor, disabled and homeless by the local ACLU speaks for itself. They were no help to me when I sought legal counsel about the Mission Gardens Apartments — thus I learned to become my own advocate with the government.
However, the local ACLU is letting down lots of disenfranchised folk who have no one else to turn to. It's not Steve's fault. I'm certain that Steve would do right by the poor, elderly and disabled if they let him. Just as he would if he was on the City Council.
You can be against the local ACLU and not be against Steve — that's personalizing a political viewpoint — it's a bogus argument.
John, did you get it yet? I've emailed it now three times. Let me know. I'm behind you, John. I'll back you all the way.
Hey A: my email is temporarily unavailable while I perform some computer maintenance. I'll search for your email message when its's back online.
Looking forward to seeing your indictment of the local ACLU.
Looking forward to seeing your indictment of the local ACLU.
[Image- R: John Mage NLG lawyer, In the trenches at Columbia... Student Strike 1968. R: John Mage NLG director circa 1990s]
The ACLU is not and has NEVER BEEN an activist organization.
Their role is grab the limelight for cases they believe they can win and make national news with, often not even as the main legal defense team, and then do fundraising for their own purposes, which seems to be get involved in other national spotlight cases in the same way and raise more funds.
Surely everyone's thinking of the Center for Constitutional Rights or the National Lawyers Guild.
I can vouch for the NLG. A childhood friend was their director of international legal services (think spy trades and such) for most of his adult life, and has also been a hard core Maoist-Marxist since at least his schools daze @ Columbia.
{https://www.google.com/search?q=John+Mage+National+Lawyers+Guild]
(Note Lou Proyect, "Cruise Missile Marxist" dissing Mage on his vanity "Marxism" listserv. If Lou Proyect, Armchair Marxist doesn't like you, you KNOW you're on the right track)
When the NLG lawyers would make the rounds of "The Tombs" during the 60s antiwar demos in NY looking for busted demonstrators and arranging bail for them even as one was was awaiting arraignment thinking no one even knew they were there (IOW despite the incarcerated's perhaps minimal-to-none involvement in any organization), or they attempted to legally intervene at the time of your arrest (many times successfully) you KNEW you were seeing an ACTIVIST lawyer who was on your side.
The ACLU IS NOT THAT! HAS NEVER BEEN, AND WILL NEVER BE.
The ACLU has a TRULY SHITTY history. They left the Japanese internees to hang fire when they were incarcerated during WWII. The CALIFORNIA CLU, at the time, a separate unit, went to court on the Nippon's behalf without the national's knowledge and I believe they got SOME relief for the internees with the National not finding out until it made the papers.
That's just one instance that I know of... There must be literally hundreds of other things NOT accomplished by the ACLU since then.
That particular travesty was recorded in a very interesting book called "Keeper of Concentration Camp: Dillon S. Myer and American Racism by Richard Drinnon, UC Press.
"Analyzing the career of Dillon S. Myer, Director of the War Relocation Authority during WWII and (You betcha!) Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1950-53, Richard Drinnon shows that the pattern for the Japanese internment was set a century earlier by the removal, confinement, and scattering of Native... "
https://www.google.com/search?q=keeper+of+the+concentration+camp
I had a copy of the book which I donated to SubRosa cafe. It MAY still be there in the lending library.
The California CLU was eventually absorbed by the National, and we can SEE the end result.
The ACLU is not and has NEVER BEEN an activist organization.
Their role is grab the limelight for cases they believe they can win and make national news with, often not even as the main legal defense team, and then do fundraising for their own purposes, which seems to be get involved in other national spotlight cases in the same way and raise more funds.
Surely everyone's thinking of the Center for Constitutional Rights or the National Lawyers Guild.
I can vouch for the NLG. A childhood friend was their director of international legal services (think spy trades and such) for most of his adult life, and has also been a hard core Maoist-Marxist since at least his schools daze @ Columbia.
{https://www.google.com/search?q=John+Mage+National+Lawyers+Guild]
(Note Lou Proyect, "Cruise Missile Marxist" dissing Mage on his vanity "Marxism" listserv. If Lou Proyect, Armchair Marxist doesn't like you, you KNOW you're on the right track)
When the NLG lawyers would make the rounds of "The Tombs" during the 60s antiwar demos in NY looking for busted demonstrators and arranging bail for them even as one was was awaiting arraignment thinking no one even knew they were there (IOW despite the incarcerated's perhaps minimal-to-none involvement in any organization), or they attempted to legally intervene at the time of your arrest (many times successfully) you KNEW you were seeing an ACTIVIST lawyer who was on your side.
The ACLU IS NOT THAT! HAS NEVER BEEN, AND WILL NEVER BE.
The ACLU has a TRULY SHITTY history. They left the Japanese internees to hang fire when they were incarcerated during WWII. The CALIFORNIA CLU, at the time, a separate unit, went to court on the Nippon's behalf without the national's knowledge and I believe they got SOME relief for the internees with the National not finding out until it made the papers.
That's just one instance that I know of... There must be literally hundreds of other things NOT accomplished by the ACLU since then.
That particular travesty was recorded in a very interesting book called "Keeper of Concentration Camp: Dillon S. Myer and American Racism by Richard Drinnon, UC Press.
"Analyzing the career of Dillon S. Myer, Director of the War Relocation Authority during WWII and (You betcha!) Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1950-53, Richard Drinnon shows that the pattern for the Japanese internment was set a century earlier by the removal, confinement, and scattering of Native... "
https://www.google.com/search?q=keeper+of+the+concentration+camp
I had a copy of the book which I donated to SubRosa cafe. It MAY still be there in the lending library.
The California CLU was eventually absorbed by the National, and we can SEE the end result.
I weigh in with Razor Ray and John Colby on this one. The local ACLU's wretched record of silence in the face of ancient and modern anti-homeless laws is of long-standing.
I believe the ACLU Board and Pleich in particular have had multiple opportunities over the last year since I proposed a variety of concerns (see above article). They have chosen to do nothing--nothing denouncing the sweeps, the Sleeping Ban, the Downtown Ordinances, etc.
Even the most recent oppressive ordinances at City Council sparked no ACLU opposition--neither from individual members of the Board nor the Board itself.
As I advised Bernard Klitzner nearly a decade ago and Bob Lamonika more recently, the ACLU is a useless waste of energy for those interested in changing the anti-homeless laws locally. They act primarily as a fund-raising magnet for "respectable" issues like gay marriage, opposing capital punishment, prison reform. None of these are bad things, but none of them are specifically local. It's their refusal to address homeless issues that concerns me.
No one is demanding the ACLU operate in any particular fashion (though accessibility and transparency are always pluses). However when the meetings suddenly close down because of the prospective arrival of homeless folks challenging the ACLU's wretched policies locally, it looks bad.
I'm surprised at Linda's passionate defense of the ACLU. She knows their record as well as I do.
As for Steve Pleich, I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that his position on the Board as vice-Chair recently and Board member for a year has no significance for homeless people at all, given his refusal to present homeless issues. Perhaps Linda is not aware that when Steve chaired an earlier meeting this spring, he still did nothing. Since he purports to be the lead person for homeless issues at that body (as the founder as well of the Homeless Legal Assistance Project), I think this is fair criticism and requires some explaining.
I invited him to respond to this article with his own explanation. It's been up for a week and all we've gotten is a posting of the ACLU endorsement of strengthening the suspended Homeless Bill of Rights (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/29/18737615.php). That's fine but meaningless without statements (and action) on the local laws, policies, and practice which threaten the homeless community.
I believe the ACLU Board and Pleich in particular have had multiple opportunities over the last year since I proposed a variety of concerns (see above article). They have chosen to do nothing--nothing denouncing the sweeps, the Sleeping Ban, the Downtown Ordinances, etc.
Even the most recent oppressive ordinances at City Council sparked no ACLU opposition--neither from individual members of the Board nor the Board itself.
As I advised Bernard Klitzner nearly a decade ago and Bob Lamonika more recently, the ACLU is a useless waste of energy for those interested in changing the anti-homeless laws locally. They act primarily as a fund-raising magnet for "respectable" issues like gay marriage, opposing capital punishment, prison reform. None of these are bad things, but none of them are specifically local. It's their refusal to address homeless issues that concerns me.
No one is demanding the ACLU operate in any particular fashion (though accessibility and transparency are always pluses). However when the meetings suddenly close down because of the prospective arrival of homeless folks challenging the ACLU's wretched policies locally, it looks bad.
I'm surprised at Linda's passionate defense of the ACLU. She knows their record as well as I do.
As for Steve Pleich, I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that his position on the Board as vice-Chair recently and Board member for a year has no significance for homeless people at all, given his refusal to present homeless issues. Perhaps Linda is not aware that when Steve chaired an earlier meeting this spring, he still did nothing. Since he purports to be the lead person for homeless issues at that body (as the founder as well of the Homeless Legal Assistance Project), I think this is fair criticism and requires some explaining.
I invited him to respond to this article with his own explanation. It's been up for a week and all we've gotten is a posting of the ACLU endorsement of strengthening the suspended Homeless Bill of Rights (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/29/18737615.php). That's fine but meaningless without statements (and action) on the local laws, policies, and practice which threaten the homeless community.
What you're vamping on is a historical note regarding the overall organizational intent of the ACLU.
This is what I have to say about the local ACLU:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/29/18737615.php?show_comments=1#18737625
This is what I have to say about the local ACLU:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/29/18737615.php?show_comments=1#18737625
In regard to Robert's statement:
"No one is demanding the ACLU operate in any particular fashion..."
Yes you are. You want them to operate as a legal team.
As I point out in the post linked above, they are not that.
"No one is demanding the ACLU operate in any particular fashion..."
Yes you are. You want them to operate as a legal team.
As I point out in the post linked above, they are not that.
the aclu could operate as a legal team if they wanted to
the aclu takes on many cases pro bono, here is but one taken on by the aclu of northern california: https://www.aclunc.org/news/press_releases/aclu_lawsuit_takes_on_fbi_surveillance_of_news_organizations.shtml
they don't do it in santa cruz, tho, and maybe that is due to the makeup of the lawyers in this area, or maybe it is due to politics on the local board, but if they keep closing their meetings we will have even less information about their motivations
the aclu takes on many cases pro bono, here is but one taken on by the aclu of northern california: https://www.aclunc.org/news/press_releases/aclu_lawsuit_takes_on_fbi_surveillance_of_news_organizations.shtml
they don't do it in santa cruz, tho, and maybe that is due to the makeup of the lawyers in this area, or maybe it is due to politics on the local board, but if they keep closing their meetings we will have even less information about their motivations
FBI case the Northern Cali ACLU took on was part of a national agenda, not a local initiative. The local chapters generally have limited financial means and rely upon the regional office for legal help-in other words, the local groups refer possible cases to the regional office.
The reality is the regional offices get so many referrals that they pick and choose the cases to pursue. Only a small percentage of cases get a lawyer from the ACLU. Local attorneys are usually hesitant to take cases, especially pro bono ones, that they know are losers.
The reality is the regional offices get so many referrals that they pick and choose the cases to pursue. Only a small percentage of cases get a lawyer from the ACLU. Local attorneys are usually hesitant to take cases, especially pro bono ones, that they know are losers.
Typically when the ACLU files the lawsuits we read about in the newspapers the motive is to to shoehorn their way, and their agenda, into cases already in process. You just don't hear about the case until the ACLU gets involved. The ACLU method is similar to Peace Action and Earth Action. They get involved, often late, and like those shell 'political organizations' (which, like LaRouche's WSWA and CHA, attract good-hearted naive college students looking for 'organizing' work the way the ACLU attracts good-hearted liberals) the ACLU can use the publicity available to them to take the credit for fundraising purposes.
Also... The ACLU doesn't take "Loser" cases.
The CCR is noted for that and they probably handle more appeals cases than the cases that derived the original decision.
Also... The ACLU doesn't take "Loser" cases.
The CCR is noted for that and they probably handle more appeals cases than the cases that derived the original decision.
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