A.C.L.U. to Withdraw From Charity Drive

Posted by SandRat
On News/Activism 08/01/2004 9:57:54 AM CDT with 8 comments

Arizona Daily Star ^ | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - The ACLU withdrew Saturday from a program that allows federal workers and military personnel to contribute to charities because it requires participating nonprofit groups to check their employees' names against a government watch list of suspected terrorists. The American Civil Liberties Union called the Combined Federal Campaign's policy unconstitutional and said it would reject more than $500,000 in donations from the program rather than submit to the requirement, which was instituted under the Patriot Act, said Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director.

ACLU Withdraws From Federal Charity Program Over Anti-Terrorist Policy

Posted by BenLurkin
On News/Activism 07/31/2004 7:17:06 PM CDT with 14 comments

AP-ES ^ | -07-31-04 1939EDT | Chaka Ferguson
NEW YORK (AP) - The ACLU withdrew Saturday from a program that allows federal workers and military personnel to contribute to charities because it requires participating nonprofit groups to check their employees' names against a government watch list of suspected terrorists. The American Civil Liberties Union called the Combined Federal Campaign's policy unconstitutional and said it would reject more than $500,000 in donations from the program rather than submit to the requirement, which was instituted under the Patriot Act, said Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director. Romero withdrew the ACLU from the program and said the organization plans to sue...

The New York Times August 1, 2004 A.C.L.U. to Withdraw From Charity Drive By ADAM LIPTAK

The American Civil Liberties Union withdrew from a federal charity drive yesterday, rejecting the $500,000 it expected to receive through it this year.

The move was prompted, the civil liberties group said, by an article in The New York Times yesterday. The article reported that the group had signed a certification saying it would not knowingly employ people whose names appeared on several government terrorism watch lists.

Since October, all of the thousands of charities that participate in the drive, called the Combined Federal Campaign, have been required to sign such a certification. The program collects and distributes $250 million in contributions from federal employees and military personnel.

The A.C.L.U. has criticized similar watch lists, saying they are often inaccurate and violate the constitutional rights of some of those named on them. In April, the group sued the government to block the use of similar "no fly" lists.

The group signed the charity drive's certification in January. In recent interviews, the group's executive director, Anthony D. Romero, said it had not inspected the watch lists or compared them to its employment records. Mr. Romero said his lawyers had advised him that he could sign the certification in good faith because it prohibited only knowing employment of those listed.

"The A.C.L.U. would not have signed the C.F.C. funding agreement if we thought we had to check our employment records against a government blacklist," Mr. Romero said in an interview yesterday.

But Mara T. Patermaster, the director of the charity program, said last week that the program required diligent efforts from participants. "We expect the charities will take affirmative action to make sure they are not supporting terrorist activities," Ms. Patermaster said.

In a letter to Ms. Patermaster yesterday, Mr. Romero said he was "disturbed and surprised" that the charity drive required nonprofit charities to check their employees against a "blacklist" in order to receive donations. He wrote that "the lists are notoriously riddled with error and do not provide individuals with a means to correct false information."

In his letter, Mr. Romero said that the group would withdraw from the program and reject the $500,000 it expected to receive this year and that it was contemplating legal action.

The question of whether the group should have signed the certification in the first place has been the subject of debate among its board members. At a board meeting on July 9, a motion to rescind the certification was rejected. Mr. Romero said yesterday that Ms. Patermaster's comments, reported in The Times yesterday, caused the group to re-evaluate its position.

Mr. Romero said yesterday that thousands of charities have presumably signed the certification, and the A.C.L.U. posted a list of charities that participated in the drive in 2002 on its Web site. The list includes scores of familiar names, including the A.S.P.C.A., National Public Radio and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"It's increasingly clear," Mr. Romero said, "that the Patriot Act and the government's war on terror threatens America's charities as well."

ACLU rejects federal charity plan; Says Patriot Act policy violates the Constitution

Ditto. The ACLU is so anti-American, they should be put out of business. It is really refreshing to see that they are not hiring SOME terrorists , while vigorously defending the rights of terrorists on various occasions. Why the ACLU still exists in this country, is as much a mystery as to why the U.N. is still in this country....

Look how they are going to sue the gov't because they won't help them get donations. Why are charities entitled to expect gov't help in collections? Anyway, I think $500,000 is just a drop compared to the total money they take in. But every little bit less for them helps brings peace to the country.

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