WA State ACLU membership surges; group credits Patriot Act's backlash

[Ediacara]

State ACLU membership surges; group credits Patriot Act's backlash

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

With her carefully landscaped home in an exclusive Eastside development, Katie Phelps, a lifetime member of the Republican Party, never expected to find common cause with activists who take to the streets in support of liberalized drug laws and gay marriage. But six months ago, she opened her wallet, wrote out a check and added her name to the list of 10,000 people who have doubled the rolls of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington over the past two years.

Phelps' support initially may have been fueled more by gratitude than political ideals -- the civil liberties watchdogs had just filed a lawsuit on her behalf that succeeded in getting the stay-at-home mom elected to Medina's City Council -- but it also reflects the group's improving image among those who once dismissed it as fringe left, irredeemably, impossibly liberal.

Phelps, who ran a last-minute write-in campaign, discovered that poll workers had failed to count 31 handwritten votes, giving the election to her opponent. After the ACLU got wind of it, Phelps was installed as the victor.

More at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[struggle4progress]

1. Just renewed my membership! eom