California NAACP President Alice Huffman Endorses Clinton

[William769]

Press release.

Huffman Supports Clinton as "staunch advocate for rights of all Americans"
LOS ANGELES, CA - The Clinton campaign today announced the endorsement of Alice Huffman, President of the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.) The endorsement comes on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s birthday. Senator Clinton delivered a speech in honor of the national holiday today at an SEIU celebration in New York City.

"Over the years, Hillary Clinton has earned my respect as a staunch advocate for the rights of people invisible to our nation's government, including women, minorities, children, and seniors," said Huffman. "Hillary shares my commitment to children, and has been a lifelong advocate for improving childhood education and health care. As President, I feel strongly that Hillary will create an atmosphere in this country that accepts and promotes the rights of all Americans."

Huffman has a distinguished career in public advocacy. Since 1999, she has been president of the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization. In 2002, Huffman was elected to the NAACP's National Board of Directors were she currently serves as Region I Board Member. Huffman has previously served as associate executive director for politics for the California Teachers Association and state president of the Black American Political Association of California.

"It is wrong that that Americans still face discrimination in the workplace - that children still attend schools that are separate and unequal, and that schools don’t prepare them for the jobs of the 21st century," said Senator Clinton. "Alice and I have long shared the same cause of fighting to right those wrongs and I am both honored and humbled to have her support."

Senator Hillary Clinton’s speech at the SEIU birthday celebration can be viewed in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNB3EHA5_k0.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5187

[HeraldSquare212]

1. See previous posts on this topic - questions about this endorsement

Huffman has a political consulting company, which has received work from AT&T, Philip Morris and pharmaceutical companies; in turn, she has advocated on their behalf as President of the California NAACP, including fighting a cigarette tax because it was a regressive tax that would disproportionately hurt poor people (the national NAACP endorsed the tax). Many have questioned her mixing of business and NAACP activities. My guess is that she's getting paid, directly or indirectly.

[LostinVA]

3. Link that she's being paid off?

If there's no link, then someone shouldn't be accused of something that ethically bad.

[HeraldSquare212]

5. I didn't say that, I pointed to evidence it's happened before

I pointed to evidence that's she's been paid before and suggested it may be happening again. Obviously, she's been receptive to it in the past, and has been willing to use her NAACP position to advance interests which on their face are contrary to the interests of her constituency.

[LostinVA]

7. So that's a "no" -- just wanted to get clear on that -- thanks

[HeraldSquare212]

9. I'll make my conclusions based on the evidence

and the evidence points strongly toward 'yes.'

[LostinVA]

10. Still "no"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Obama Supporters Also Accused Hank Aaron And Earvin "Magic" Johnson Of Being Bought

See a pattern?

[HeraldSquare212]

8. Activists wonder where Huffman's business ends and NAACP position begins

Here you go:


http://capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=wnom4qgqlxct6b...


The campaign payments to Huffman's political company, A.C. Public Affairs,
come only a year after the firm was paid $330,000 in consulting fees by the
pharmaceutical industry. In 2005, the state NAACP sided with the drug
companies' position on two ballot measures.

Those payments to Huffman, coupled with NAACP endorsements, have some
activists in the African-American community wondering where exactly
Huffman's consulting operation ends and the NAACP begins.

"These are very questionable kinds of activities," says Joe Hicks, former
executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the
civil-rights organization founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. "That she's
receiving money from industry folks and all of a sudden is carrying the
water for their interests--it should raise some eyebrows."

-snip-

But critics point out that her consulting firm lists
the exact same address as the state NAACP. A second political-action
committee, also controlled by Huffman, lists the identical address. The
phone numbers differ by a single digit and share a phone system.


-snip-

In the 1994 governor's race, Democratic candidate Kathleen Brown contributed
$170,000 to the Committee to Protect the Political Rights of Minorities,
whose treasurer was Huffman.

Brown's Democratic rival, John Garamendi, accused Brown of using the
$170,000 payment to try to buy the CTA endorsement, charging that, in
exchange, Huffman slipped Brown copies of the interview questions and
briefed her on how to respond.

Both Brown and Huffman denied the charge, but, a month later, the CTA
dismissed Huffman from her job--which she had held for almost a decade--giving
her a $220,00 buyout, according to published reports.


-snip-

"There are some concerns here about some of her more entrepreneurial, shall
we say, activities and then bridging that into her work at the NAACP," says
Hicks, who co-founded Community Advocates, a Los Angeles-based civil-rights
group, in 2002. "One has to ask questions about the national office
in Baltimore and why they are not watching what goes on."


-snip-

And a follow-up story:

National NAACP bucks CA chapter, backs tobacco tax initiative

http://capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=wnom4qwc2cgt6b...

[LostinVA]

11. Still no link proving your accusation -- thanks for the other link

[HeraldSquare212]

12. Evidence of a pattern of behavior

You may believe the pattern was broken with her endorsement of Clinton; I suspect it was not.

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. Great endorsement! Good for Clinton

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Viva Hillary

:-)