Posted on: Tuesday, July 17, 2001

Hawai'i ACLU's 'gag order' criticized

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, an organization that promotes free speech, is asking its board of directors not to talk to the media on the topic of U.S. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.

The last time his name came up, Hawai'i's ACLU became the target of local and national editorials and television political talk shows, which found irony in the fact that the group that stands for the First Amendment would vote against inviting the Thomas here to speak at the 2003 Davis-Levin First Amendment Conference.

Now Vanessa Chong, the local chapter's executive director, is asking that all media questions be directed to her so the group can have a single voice on the subject before the board reconsiders the Thomas invitation at a meeting tomorrow that is closed to the public.

Some board members say the request for silence compromises what the ACLU is all about.

"I think it's the most unfair thing and very, very, very strange," said board member Faye Kennedy, who was among those in the majority of the 12-3 decision in May against inviting Thomas to a debate here. ACLU members at the meeting decried Thomas as "Hitler" and "the anti-Christ" and concluded that an invitation would send a message that the ACLU "promotes and honors black Uncle Toms who turn their back on civil rights."

Kennedy, a retired parole officer and longtime civil-rights activist who helped Hawai'i establish a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, said she had "a million reasons" for her vote on the Thomas invitation. But she declined The Advertiser's request to write a guest column for the editorial page about her stance, and said she is trying to abide by Chong's request not to talk about it. But she is talking about Chong's request.

"It's a total gag order," she said. "It's just the strangest of all situations when there's all this emphasis on the First Amendment."

Board member Lunsford Dole Phillips said Kennedy's comments themselves are ironic.

"She's one of the ones who didn't want Clarence Thomas to speak," the Honolulu attorney said. "So I think her characterization of it as a gag order is perhaps an expression of her reaction to the overwhelmingly negative response that the board's decision generated."

Organizers of the conference, in which constitutional issues are debated, intended to invite Thomas to face off against national ACLU President Nadine Strossen. Strossen has asked the Hawai'i board to reconsider its decision.

Thomas, a conservative who opposes Roe v. Wade, has supported measures that would favor the defendant in racial and gender discrimination cases. He believes affirmative action to be "government sponsored racial discrimination" and has argued that the government may promote prayer and religion, as long as it stops short of specifically favoring a particular sect or legally coercing participation. His Supreme Court confirmation hearing a decade ago became the focus of national attention when Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment.

The ACLU will take up the issue of his invitation again, if there is a majority of votes to reconsider the subject, at a members-only meeting tomorrow, Chong said.

Chong sent e-mails or faxed letters to board members asking that they route media inquiries to her, she said, but she does not consider it a gag order.

"It was a request of cooperation during a very difficult time," she said.

As a nonprofit organization, having one spokesperson is standard procedure to project a clear position to the public during a controversy, she said.

Some board members backed up her position.

"It makes more sense that the ACLU speaks with one voice," board member and Honolulu attorney Heather Conahan said. "I think that we should have sort of a uniform policy. I feel like if I really had something important and crucial to say, then I would say it."

Phillips agreed.

"Any organization has a legitimate interest in having its opinion presented consistently to the public," he said.

But Kennedy said the organization can't help but send mix messages when only one side is portrayed.

You can reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.