Former Executive (Verizon) Chosen to Lead N.A.A.C.P.

[qanda]

I don't know if I feel very good about this decision. We shall see, but this guy is already talking about how necessary it is for the NAACP to get along with Bush... :puke:


ATLANTA, June 25 - The N.A.A.C.P., departing from a custom of looking to political or religious figures to lead the organization, named a former business executive, Bruce S. Gordon, as its president and chief executive on Saturday.

Meeting in private, about 60 members of the organization's board voted unanimously to choose Mr. Gordon, 59, who retired in 2003 as president of the retail markets group for Verizon Communications. Mr. Gordon will now negotiate a contract with the N.A.A.C.P.'s executive committee; if they reach a deal, the board will formally vote on Mr. Gordon's appointment at its convention next month in Milwaukee.

(snip)

The group has also faced financial woes, accusations of misconduct by its former president, and an Internal Revenue Service inquiry into its tax-exempt status prompted by criticism of the Bush administration last year by Julian Bond, the N.A.A.C.P. chairman. Tax-exempt organizations are supposed to be nonpartisan; Mr. Bond has said he was objecting to policies, not a party, and he continues to speak against goals of the Bush administration, including private accounts within Social Security, and what he calls "tax giveaways to the rich."

In a news conference Saturday after the vote, Mr. Gordon said, "The N.A.A.C.P. should have a relationship with whoever is in the White House, regardless of whether he was put there by a blue state or a red state."

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/national/26naacp.html (Free Registration Required)

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