On the evening of Monday, January 26, 2009, the Politically Correct Week In Review hosted by Paul Encimer took a call from Redwood Chapter, ACLU secretary Charles Douglas on the topic of the upcoming Local Election Reform Forum. Paul, his co-host Bernie MacDonald and his guest also discussed police review and the status of local ballot measures prohibiting the targeting of minors by military recruiters.
This friendly, bridge-building dialogue seemed to upset Dana Silvernale, the "chair" of David Cobb's Humboldt Green Party, who called in not long after. Silvernale repeatedly attacked the local ACLU (by name) for their advocacy of election reform measures the Green Party platform supposedly supports, such as public campaign financing and choice voting. Silvernale also attacked Douglas directly over the ACLUs total agreement with the voters of Eureka and Arcata on Measure F and Measure J to restrict invasive military recruitment tactics -- even though these measures were authored by former Arcata Councilmember and Green Party member Dave Meserve (who is also receiving the Fifth Annual Patriot Award from the Redwood ACLU).
Douglas called in at the end of the show to refute Silvernale's counter-factual statements and question why she would engage in attacks against the ACLU when neither he nor anyone else on the local ACLU board had stated anything in their official capacity regarding her or her outfit. The ACLU secretary detailed the numerous drafting errors and unconstitutional precepts of Measure T and called upon all community members interested in local election reform to come together in a constructive dialogue.
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