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I$ The ACLU Picking Your Pocket$?

Posted on August 1, 2005

Wanna know where the ACLU gets all of its funding? I’ve compiled a few snipits here from around the net on all the info I could find. Of course the major money comes from large liberal organizations donating. It is also no suprise the ACLU wants to keep its budget very secret from the general public. Here is a little bit of what I’ve found.

O’Reilly found out a few things…

In the year 2001, membership contributions totaled $12.5 million. The ACLU will not tell us who their members are, but they will sell their membership lists to other nonprofit organizations. So much for protecting privacy. To be fair, you can tell the ACLU not to give your name out, but that option is not widely publicized.

If you go take a look at their donation page at their site which I refuse to link to, you will see a tiny little box stuffed in the corner that lets you opt out of having your personal information sent to other liberal non-profit groups. This actually didn’t use to be there, until they recieved so many complaints from members recieving junk mail from all kinds of organizations asking for money.

The majority of the ACLU’s money comes from foundations. For example, the Ford Foundation has given them more than $14 million. The Open Society Institute, headed by billionaire George Soros, has given $2 million.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has kicked in more than $800,000. And guess who’s a trustee of that concern? Our pal Judy Woodruff of CNN. And the Rockefeller Foundation donated $275,000.

Interesting to note is that this report is old. The Rockefeller Foundation, and another of its largest contributors, the Ford Foundation have been refused by the ACLU. The ACLU will not take their money. Why, you ask?

In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.

“The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”

The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.”Source

While we’re on that subject…here is something else I found interesting.

Although its website proclaims that it does not receive “any government funding,” it does get money from a program that allows federal employees to make charitable contributions through payroll deductions. Last year it got $470,000 from the program. (The ACLU’s 2002 annual budget, the most recent available, was $102 million.)

Now it had a choice: give up the money, or sign a promise certifying that the ACLU “does not knowingly employ individuals or contribute funds to organizations found on” government watch lists of suspected supporters of terrorism.

Trouble was, the ACLU had strongly opposed the lists, saying they were often inaccurate and violated the constitutional rights of some people.

But it really hated the idea of giving up the money.Source

So what did they do? Well, at first they decided they would try to trick the government. They decided to keep the money, AND keep hiring anyone they pleased, by what Nadine Strossen called a “clever interpretation.” Their solution was that if they remained ignorant of who was on the list, then they couldn’t “knowingly” hire anyone on the list. Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, tells the New York Times: “I’ve printed [the lists] out. I’ve never consulted them.”

To make a long story short, when The New York Times outted them, they caved in. But they didn’t cave in to the government, they just decided to forgoe the money, so they could still ignorantly hire people on the government watchlist. Isn’t that nice? Source

The Better Business Bureau said the ACLU spent 36 percent of its total income on programs, 50 percent is the non-profit standard. The BBB also says the ACLU would not provide that organization with its annual report for the year 2001.

Want to know more that give to the ACLU? Well, if you are a smoker…this might make you wanna quit.

Guest Coumn Writer, Mr. Robert Rinearson points out…

It’s interesting, however, that numerous ACLU Web sites talk almost as much about soliciting money as they do about helping the oppressed. Take for example the Indiana Web site. You can sign up for a basic membership for $20, or a lifetime membership for only $1,000, with multiple membership levels in between.

The New Jersey Civil Liberties Union’s Web site reminds you how many members “also give generously beyond their annual dues.” And as they are picking your pocket, they appeal to your sense of patriotism by claiming “you can help defend the traditional American values in the Bill of Rights . . . through an ACLU foundation gift.” As long as you don’t express those values in a prayer before a school soccer match, you’re OK, I guess.

The Kansas and Western Missouri Civil Liberties Union site was the best. For as little as $20, they will send you a genuine “Freedom Torch” lapel pin. I believe this may be the equivalent of a Boy Scout merit badge, only you don’t have to build a pinewood derby car. Or for a measly $1,000, you can “Serve in an advisory capacity to the board and legal panel, offering input, guidance and counsel . . .” Perhaps we could get the Missouri Synod Lutherans to contribute; I’m sure they’d have some input they’d like to offer.

Of course, as a private enterprise, the ACLU is well within its rights to solicit. But the ACLU uses taxpayer money, estimated into the millions of dollars, to wage their war against religion. The Civil Rights Attorney Fee Act states that “. . .the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.” I guess “reasonable” includes the $940,000 the city of San Diego paid in legal fees to the ACLU for protesting a gathering of Boy Scouts on public land. I assume that the ACLU’s Dan Cook has no problem taking tax money from the same majority he otherwise disparages.Source

Yes, these sneaky critters have found all kinds of ways to get its funds, and pick your pocket. You just might be contributing to the ACLU and not even knowing it. So with all these millions, why do they need our tax money too? The United States Congress, roughly thirty years ago, passed a provision in United States Code section 1988 that requires taxpayers to pay attorneys in civil rights cases. So every time they win a case, your tax money pays for it.

STAND UP! TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SUPPORT THE PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF RELIGION ACT OF 2005
Sign The Petition To Get The ACLU Off The Taxpayer’s Dole
Help Us Raise Money To Fight The ACLU.

Or buy a bumper sticker at Our Store
Thank you Indepundit for the open post. Thank you Outside The Beltway and Mudville Gazette

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» Filed Under Fundraising, Illegal Activities, War On Terror

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