Based on recent events, it is recommended that we make the new LWVUS democracy agenda a top priority of the LWVPA and set up a communication mechanism within the state which will help us accomplish this goal.

The LWVUS Advisory Civil Liberty Task Force (“Task Force”) turned in its report to LWVUS for consideration by its board the week following the LWVPA Board meeting. The task force suggested activities in seven specific subject areas of what it called a “liberty Agenda” modeled on the Freedom Agenda of the 50’s used by the League to combat McCarthyism and in which the League served as a trusted convener:

1. Foundations of Freedom: Rule of Law, Checks & Balances on Power
2. Liberty & Invasion of Privacy
3. Transparency and Secrecy in Government
4. The role of the Judiciary and the impact on Immigrants & Detainees
5. Homeland Security
6. The Threat: Middle East & Terrorism
7. America in the World: The Role of International Institutions.

The top priorities which the Task Force recommended included:

1.) Improve communications within League through the establishment of a national committee composed of state representatives on civil liberties issues that would meet by e-mail and conference call; and
2.) Create and distribute meeting-ready materials for use in local League dialogues and forums on civil liberties.

The LWVUS Board accepted the Task Force Report and is going to be using it as a blueprint for engaging Leagues and communities on the balance between civil liberty and security. The specific activities to be undertaken by LWVUS in 2005 combine ongoing LWVUS efforts, recommendations of the Task Force, and activities of the new project on “Local Voices: Citizen Conversations on Civil Liberties and Secure Communities,” which is being funded largely by a $225,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation. You may read the complete Task Force Report and information about the grant on the LWVUS website.

Prior to the LWVPA meeting it was recommended that the LWVPA become actively involved in working on Task Force recommendations in parallel to the national program, consider being involved as at least one of the beta sites which might be proposed by LWVUS, and work to set up a vertical and horizontal communications network for civil liberties. That recommendation continues but is expanded so that the broader democracy agenda which National has adopted be included as part of LWVPA program planning.

On February 3 the LWVUS Board issued the following statement on Program Priorities:

"The LWVUS Board developed and adopted a comprehensive, multi-year effort to strengthen and renew democracy as its top program priority. The Board included four issues that share a common theme—they are key ingredients of democracy. The specific issues are: protection of our electoral processes through ELECTION REFORM and CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, advancement of our representative government through nonpartisan RE-DISTRICTING, and preservation of our constitutional rights through the League’s positions on CIVIL LIBERTIES. LWVUS encourages state and local Leagues to make this unique democracy agenda their priority also.”

This is an important and ambitious agenda. Critical to its accomplishment is the coordination of league efforts and resources through effective communications. Establishing civil liberties coordinators at all levels will help us accomplish our goals for each of these issues. It is urged that all leagues take part in this effort and also consider applying to be one of the 10 sites chosen for the MacArthur citizen communication program.