Candidate Bios
Daniel L. Alterman
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Attorney; NYCLU member for 35 years. Alterman is a partner in the law firm of Alterman & Boop LLP, a small law firm in Lower Manhattan. He has been doing progressive plaintiff side legal work in NewYork City since l969 after graduating from NYU Law School. He has also taught, lectured and practiced in New York City for the last 38 years.
I participated in the Attica defense team in Buffalo, challenged pre-trial detention policies in Brooklyn, and represented demonstrators at the Republican National Conventions in Miami in 1972 and in New York in 2004, when I was instrumental in the suit to hold New York City in contempt. My main reason for seeking re-election to the Board is my children. My wife, LiWah Lai and I have two kids who were NYCLU peer educators and who traveled to schools to talk about privacy, sex education and students’ rights to know what they need to make informed decisions. As a board member, I have worked to make
the NYCLU more financially stable, developing a program where art with a civil liberties theme has been made and will be auctioned off or used as a vehicle to encourage and reward new donations to enhance the NYCLU’s program work. Moreover, I have sought to strengthen the chapters and expand membership — especially among youth and the diverse groups who rely on the NYCLU ever more in these difficult times for civil
liberties.
Deborah N. Archer
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Professor, New York Law School; Director, New York Law School Racial Justice Project; Director, Urban Law Clinic.
Protecting civil rights and civil liberties has been a lifelong commitment. My legal career began as an ACLU Karpatkin Fellow. Following that, I was an attorney with the NAACP LDF before joining New York Law School, where I direct the Racial Justice Project. Throughout, I have worked on cases involving a wide range of issues including education reform, voting rights, indigent defense and employment discrimination. I am a proud member of the NYCLU, a cooperating attorney for both the NYCLU and the ACLU, and am currently co-counsel in an ACLU challenge to Palm Beach County, Florida’s education system. I am excited about this opportunity to serve, given the NYCLU’s innovative utilization of legal advocacy, public education and grassroots organizing to effect meaningful change in New York State. If elected, I hope to be part of this critical work, particularly in the areas of indigent defense, educational equality and dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline. The past several years have been hard times for civil liberties advocates, with administrations and courts hostile to the protections of individual rights. But recent changes in Albany and the promise of change in Washington, D.C. give me some hope. As in past years, I know that the NYCLU will be at the forefront of the efforts to regain rights that have been eroded over the past several years, and to protect our rights in the face of new and evolving challenges to liberty. I look forward to joining you in these efforts.
Elliot H. Auerbach
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Physicist (retired); State board member since 2003; Secretary 2005-2006; chair of Election Committee; member of Privacy Committee; Suffolk County Chapter board member since 1980s; Chapter treasurer(currently and in 1990s); Chapter president 1998-2003.
At the present time, the most significant challenges to civil liberties come from an administration that has no respect at all for the Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights. The NYCLU’s aim should be to organize opposition to these actions throughout the state in communities large and small. In addition, due to unfriendly courts, more effort is needed to forward our aims through legislation, particularly on the state level. Our chapters are a vital asset in these efforts and their effectiveness must be nurtured. The right to vote and to have one’s vote counted accurately is essential to legitimacy in a democratic society. We need to oppose any actions by New York State, in the course of revising its electoral machinery, which would hamper voter access or ballot accuracy.
Furthermore, the franchise for all citizens is essential; disfranchisement for any reason needs to be opposed. Honest reapportionment in our state following the next census, including abolition of counting of prisoners in “prison counties” should be part of that goal. Legislation toward that end needs to be in place before 2010.
Rebekah Cook-Mack
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
I will begin work at South Brooklyn Legal Services as a Skadden Fellow in the Foreclosure Prevention Unit in the fall. I am completing the course work for a joint degree in Law and Public Policy while working for the Brooklyn Family Defense Project of Legal Services New York City.
I am a longtime supporter of the NYCLU and am honored to be considered to serve on its board. I am an ardent advocate of civil liberties who believes that the Bill of Rights wields its most impressive power when it is debated, explained and invoked. Since these rights are not merely the purview of wealthy adults it is significant that the NYCLU has a long history of engaging youth in the struggle to use and protect these rights. I was a middle school student when I first encountered the NYCLU as a participant in one of its many programs designed to educate and engage New York City’s public school students in learning about and exercising these rights. Today, with over-policing rampant on the streets and in our schools, the NYCLU’s work is even more critical. The NYCLU has responded to this challenge both in and out of the courtroom. Challenging times call for creative measures and the NYCLU has demonstrated a commitment to leave no stone unturned. From litigation to “Know Your Rights” guides, legislative advocacy to high quality research and reporting, the NYCLU does it all. I would be honored to serve on the board of this vital organization.
Anthony Feldmesser
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Attorney and NYCLU/ACLU member since 1988; Director (1993-2003, 2005-present); Vice President (2002-2003). Committees: Executive Committee (1997-2003), Audit & Oversight Committee, Board Task Force on Police Brutality, Constitutional Convention,
Cameras in the Courtroom, Executive Director Search (2001), Chair, Committee on Judicial Selection, Lasker/Callaway Award, Long Range Planning, Nominating, Police in Schools. Delegate/delegation coordinator, ACLU Biennial Conference (1999, 2001, 2003) Author of Blueprint for Action for response to the Republican National Convention, 2004.
I feel fortunate for the opportunity to be a part of the NYCLU Board and to contribute in meaningful ways to the advancement of individual rights, especially freedom of expression and privacy. I am committed to our staff and to the maintenance of a strong state-wide organization so we may continue our momentum in both repairing and broadening our constitutional protections. To keep this critical energy, I believe that we must redouble our efforts in the coming years to grow our program in what will be a difficult economic environment. If re-elected, I will continue to use my experience as an advocate in both the lesbian and gay community and the legal profession to support our increasingly important mission. I stand with our staff and my board colleagues to further encourage the engagement of the new voices of our changing New York State community.
Peter Gollon
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Retired business executive, former physicist; NYCLU board member, former NYCLU treasurer, Suffolk County Chapter president.
I first joined the ACLU when it defended those who wanted to march in opposition to the Vietnam War. For the last 20-odd years I have been on the NYCLU and Suffolk Chapter boards, and served as NYCLU treasurer. I currently serve on the Finance, Chapter and Privacy committees. The NYCLU is again successfully opposing those in government who equate criticism of its policies with “aiding our enemies,” and is educating the public that those who would trade some of their liberty for greater security through the PATRIOT Act may end up with less of both. We – along with our national “parent” ACLU – have been successfully opposing government spying and secrecy in the name of national security. The more we learn about what the government is trying to keep secret, the clearer it is that the main purpose of secrecy is to prevent public scrutiny and criticism. Nationally, and especially in Suffolk County, the current mania is immigrant bashing. This goes beyond appropriate attempts to enforce immigration law, and involves midnight raids by local authorities with an “arrest first, ask questions later” mentality regarding anyone who looks Hispanic, even if he or she is a U.S. citizen. Needless to say, we oppose such strong-arm tactics. To succeed, our work must reach the greatest number of citizens by being carried out in a coordinated fashion, both centrally and locally in chapters throughout the state.
Janice Goodman
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Attorney; current board member.
My hero, Eleanor Roosevelt, once said: “I have spent many years of my life in opposition and I rather like the role,” which captures completely my dedication to the NYCLU and my desire to continue to serve as a member of its Board of Directors. The ongoing assault on our civil rights and civil liberties calls upon us to lift our voices in opposition and the NYCLU is the perfect organization through which we can be heard. I believe my growing experience as a Board member allows me to play a significant role in this struggle to preserve our constitutional rights. This year I was honored to be elected to the Executive Committee of the board which provides the opportunity to help lead our organization in solidifying our structural soundness and increasing our civil liberties activities. In addition, last year I chaired the Board Retreat Committee which brought Board members together with staff to enhance our working relationships, and thereby strengthen our organization. I also continue to serve on the Legal Committee. I was born an activist, grew up to be a freedom fighter in the southern movement, marched with the feminists in support of women’s rights and am now a civil rights lawyer. I want to continue to dedicate myself in opposition to those who trample on our civil liberties.
Michael J. Hall
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Dutchess Community College, instructor; ACLU-Nebraska president 1996-2003; ACLU-NE first vicepresident 1996; ACLU-NE treasurer 1995-1996; Delegate to ACLU Biennial Conference 1999 & 2001; ACLU- NE board member 1995-2003.
For 88 years, the ACLU has been guardian and defender of our most precious rights and freedoms. I am proud to have been a part of that undertaking serving seven terms as President of the Nebraska ACLU affiliate. That experience provided me an understanding and appreciation for the role each individual affiliate plays in maintaining a vigilant watch over their respective states. I greatly respect the responsibility each affiliate board holds and I have always found the strength and zeal of arguments presented by civil libertarians to be invigorating. I am also well aware that a group of passionate activists may at times not see eye to eye on every issue. I am an individual that strives to work collaboratively in the best interest of the cause. Those with whom I may not agree today may be my partners tomorrow. Throughout my life, I have consistently endeavored to make a difference in our world. In addition to my civil liberties work, my passions include pursuing equality for the GLBTQ community, protecting the interests of labor, and advocating for children and education. Regrettably, the NYCLU and ACLU are needed now, more than ever, to take on the threats presented to the constitutional rights of all Americans. I have long been aware of the exemplary service the NYCLU provides the citizens of New York and hope I will be able to lend my energy, voice and skills to the cause as we continue into the future.
George Kannar
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Professor of Law, SUNY-Buffalo; ACLU: Karpatkin Fellow (1978-79), Staff Attorney (1979-86); NYCLU Board since 2001.
No organization in America performs a more important civic function than the ACLU and NYCLU. As new technologies and external threats place steadily increasing pressure on our rights to liberty, equality and privacy, the NYCLU’s long and principled record of having resisted similar pressures in the past makes it especially valuable, not just as a source of legal representation – but as a uniquely credible voice for freedom. Even the most welcome of changes to our political leadership in Washington will not diminish the NYCLU’s importance. And such positive changes are, of course, never lightly to be assumed. My own board work, as a member of the Legal Counsel committee, has recently focused on improving our internal democratic processes, by working to increase voter turnout and NYCLU-sponsored opportunities for board-candidate communication.
Last year, voter turnout tripled. Another challenge facing the NYCLU is the need to develop a stronger grass-roots presence throughout the entire state. Current efforts by the board’s Chapter and Statewide Presence committees to do that will likely make the role of the board’s sole representative from Western New York an especially important one during the next few years. As a former ACLU staff member, I have considerable experience with the NYCLU’s institutional culture and workaday needs – not to mention the most profound respect and affection for it. I hope very much to put all that to continuing further use.
Deborah Karpatkin
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Civil Rights Attorney. Director, 1990-; Executive Committee, 1992-; Previously: Secretary, Vice President.
Contributions in most recent term as Director:
● I served on the Executive, Legal and Governance committees, and took principal responsibility for drafting and bringing to enactment the policy creating our Board Audit and Oversight Committee.
● When subject matter policies came before the Board, I focused our deliberations on civil liberties policy considerations.
● I worked to bring appropriate sensitivity to Board governance and fiduciary obligations, mindful of oversight while avoiding “micro-management.”
● I worked to bring newer Board members into leadership, and to develop and support our newest members.
I also serve as volunteer attorney or co-counsel for the NYCLU and other affiliates. I continue as co-counsel on Lown v. Salvation Army, Establishment Clause and employment rights litigation arising from the government funding of The Salvation Army. I represent military conscientious objectors, as lead counsel with the NYCLU, the ACLU-National Capital Area and the ACLU of Southern California. Each case achieved a successful outcome for the conscientious objector client. The NYCLU case also resulted in attorneys’ fees awards to the NYCLU. The NYCLU’s extraordinary staff has worked hard to expand our organizational capacity to respond to the extraordinary civil liberties challenges we have faced in recent years, and those we know we will face in years to come. Civil liberties board stewardship is a precious responsibility. If re-elected, I will continue my civil liberties stewardship as your director for another term.
Mohamed Khater
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Software consultant; current member of the NYCLU Board.
During my current term as an NYCLU board member, I participated in all board meetings, and have been active in the Chapter Committee that works on enhancing the relationship between the central office and the chapters. I have been active in the community for a long time and serve on the boards of several community organizations. I became more involved in civil liberties issues after the attacks, in the past few years, on the civil rights and civil liberties of various segments in our nation - especially the Arabs and Muslims. In the name of national security and fighting terrorism, we saw various laws and government tactics that started to eradicate and curtail the rights granted by the Constitution and by all human rights declarations. I value the NYCLU’s commitment to fight for fair and just treatment for everyone especially the alienated, the underprivileged, the disabled and the poor and above all to defend the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
I welcome the opportunity to continue to contribute to this good fight.
Alexis McGill
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Incumbent board member; Executive Director of Citizen Change.
I am a political strategist specializing in organizing young people of color around political participation. As my term on the board expires, I am reflecting on the enriching and rewarding experience serving the NYCLU. To the best of my ability, I have satisfied my financial and attendance obligations to the board. During my last three years, I have served on the nomination, development, and one time ‘branding’ committees. I have also served in an advisory capacity to the Executive Director and her staff on marketing strategies and building relationships to constituent communities. In the last month, I worked with the development staff to provide a free screening of Taxi to the Dark Side, a film on the United States’ role in torture, during its opening weekend for the membership.
Our work has become ever more relevant under the current administration on both the national and local level. Whether it is protecting reproductive rights, fighting abuses under the Patriot Act, or the potential criminalization of young people by increased police presence in schools, the NYCLU has been at the vanguard of the struggle to protect our rights. I have been proud of my membership and activism and the leadership of this organization. I sincerely hope you will consider re-electing me again to this board.
Arlene Popkin
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Incumbent. Currently on Legal and Election Committees.Chair of the Lower Hudson Valley Chapter. Criminal defense lawyer.
I’ve been a member of the Civil Liberties Union since I was a teenager, and I’ve done everything from arguing appellate cases to sweeping the floors and taking out the garbage. I would be glad and honored to be re-elected. Despite the hostility of the government and many courts, I believe we should be actively working to expand the understanding and scope of protected rights. Right now, the rights of persons living in New York who are not citizens of the United States are particularly imperiled, and inadequately defined. It is important that the Civil Liberties Union lead on these issues. Others involve the rights of people society tries not to think about – people whose minds or bodies are not quite what others consider “normal,” people whose personal lives and preferences do not match up with “Leave it to Beaver,” people who are, or have been imprisoned. I believe it should be a priority for the NYCLU to work to cause the fundamental American idea – that people have the same rights whether they agree or disagree with the majority or with the government – to be taught in public schools at all grade levels. On the budget front, thanks to the incredibly offensive crew in Washington we’re in pretty good shape right now. I think we should work to ensure that, if the current contribution level drops, we will be able to maintain a high level of program activity.
Vera M. Scanlon
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Attorney, Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP
I am pleased to be considered as an NYCLU Board candidate and hope that I will be able to serve the organization and its members well should I be elected.
I have a longstanding commitment to social justice that will help inform my work with the Board. In college at Columbia, I volunteered with a local soup kitchen and had internships with organizations working on housing and criminal justice issues. After college, I participated in a one-year volunteer program, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, in Lafayette, Louisiana, where I fundraised for the Lafayette Catholic Service Centers, a group of social services agencies, and helped at a soup kitchen and shelter. I then attended Yale Law School where I worked for two years in our immigration clinic on asylum cases. During my law school summers, I worked on prisoner, social welfare and asylum issues in Dublin, Ireland.
After graduation, I was an associate with a firm in New York City, litigating commercial cases and handling pro bono asylum cases. I then clerked for three years in the District of Puerto Rico, the Eastern District of New York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
My most relevant legal experience has been over the past six years as an associate, then partner, with Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. At BLH, I have primarily litigated employment, police abuse and First Amendment cases at all stages, from inception to verdict and appeal. Our First Amendment cases have raised free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly in demonstration and whistleblower cases. Our employment cases have raised claims of gender, race and national origin discrimination and retaliation. While recently working on two BLH federal cases which relate closely to some NYCLU demonstration cases, I admired the quality of the NYCLU’s counsel’s work, particularly their creative efforts to push the frontiers of the law to protect civil liberties. I believe my experience as a litigator and my familiarity with these cases will help me work with the Board on policy development and oversight activities.
Because of my years as a litigator, I also appreciate the limitations of litigation such that I strongly support the complementary nature of the NYCLU’s non-litigation work, especially its education projects. It is my opinion that only by using varied approaches to draw attention to civil liberties can the NYCLU garner the necessary popular, political and other support for their protection.
My volunteer activities have also helped prepare me to work well as a Board member. For example, I have served as an active member of my high school’s alumnae association executive board; of the alumni programs of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps; and of the New York City Bar Association’s Special Committee to Encourage Judicial Service, which seeks to increase diversity in the New York judiciary. With the JVC, I have organized alumni events, promoted its major fundraising events, and served as a support person for volunteers in Brooklyn.
I believe that it is important that the NYCLU maintain a significant presence in the national and local civil liberties debates of our time, in part by serving as a facilitator of sometimes difficult inter/intra-constituency dialogues. My involvement with various New York City nonprofit groups, especially its social justice-oriented faith communities, will help me to encourage these unifying conversations with the NYCLU. I look forward to supporting the invaluable work of the NYCLU in making our state and country a better, more enriched and enriching home for all.
Gemma Solimene
(Nominated by Nominating Committee)
Current board member; Clinical Law Professor; legal intern (Summer 1985).
I have served as a board member for the past three years and have been honored to do so. I have taken my duty as an NYCLU board member seriously throughout my tenure and wish to continue to serve the NYCLU in that capacity for another term. As a native New Yorker and a member of the legal profession, I am keenly aware of the important work that the NYCLU undertakes to protect our civil rights and liberties. I truly appreciate the part I am able to play in helping to ensure that the NYCLU’s work and legacy can continue and welcome my renomination to the Board. My work with the NYCLU began as a young law student when I had the privilege of working at the NYCLU after my first year of law school. From there, I continued my work in fighting for what I believe is just. I have always been a legal advocate for those without a voice: As a lawyer for The Legal Aid Society and now as a professor leading Fordham University School of Law’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and working on a reentry project with the Feerick Center Social Justice Clinic. I believe in the importance of preserving and expanding our civil rights and civil liberties. As a member of the Board I would diligently commit my energies to NYCLU’s work.
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