Yesterday was one of those days when I am so very proud to work at the ACLU. Our staff in Maine is small (7) but mighty, and our work on a variety of issues yesterday demonstrates the breadth of our impact.
Our public policy counsel, Alysia Melnick, started the day with a meeting about torture and transparency at Senator Olympia Snowe's district office with colleagues from the Maine Council of Churches. Senator Snowe serves on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, which recently investigated the CIA's role in torture. We are urging the Committee to vote to release their report to the public, so that the CIA's role in torture will not be covered up. Only through transparency and accountability can we ensure that torture by the American government never happens again on our watch.
Jill Barkley and I were in Augusta for meetings with the Women's Leadership Action Coalition to discuss priorities for women's rights in the coming legislative session followed by a meeting of the Maine Choice Coalition to plan for the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 22, 2013). We talked about the need to restore funding for family planning in Maine and the challenges of access to abortion given that there are only three abortion clinic locations statewide.
Back at the office, Zach was working on the issue of voter caging. “Voter caging”—the practice of attempting to use undeliverable mail as evidence of improper voter registration—is not new, and courts across the country have declared it to be illegal, especially when (as here) the practice is racially-motivated. On Friday, Zach sent a cease and desist letter, which you can read here, to Maine Republican Party Chair Charlie Webster warning him that voter caging is illegal.
In the afternoon, Alysia and State Senator Roger Katz (R-Augusta) met with Senator Susan Collins and her staff about the issue of cell phone privacy, a major priority for both the national and local ACLU.
Zach, Jill, and I joined a national debrief call of ACLU staff from the national LGBT Rights project and affiliates in Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington to share lessons learned from the successful marriage equality campaigns in all four states. Our work provides a roadmap for ACLU affiliates everywhere who are working toward the freedom to marry in their states.
Zach and I then traveled to Augusta for an ACLU of Maine board meeting where we discussed campaign finance reform including public financing of elections and corporate law reforms that might increase stakeholder participation. Alysia represented the office at the Portland City Council meeting to advocate for Preble Street and a sensible and humane approach to homelessness in the city.
In a single day, we and our coalition partners engaged meaningfully on topics including women's rights, reproductive choice, marriage equality, voting rights, cell phone privacy, campaign finance reform, and homelessness. We met with key decision makers from members of Congress to members of the Portland City Council. There's a lot to love about the ACLU. Making a difference on the key civil rights and civil liberties issues of our day is at the top of the list. You can join us in these efforts by becoming a member here.
