ACLU Hopes TV Ads Will Polish Image

After becoming an issue in the presidential race, the American Civil Liberties Union has begun airing television commercials to try to correct what it believes is a misunderstanding of its work, some of which involves getting new trials for criminals.

It is an issue of particular importance to the presidential campaigns in California, which are fighting over a group of conservative Democrats for whom the crime issue has been a high priority in recent state elections.

In the ACLU’s television ads, movie tough guy Burt Lancaster notes that he is a member of the organization, and he reads commendations of the group made years ago by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur.

“I’m Burt Lancaster and I have a confession to make,” the actor says. “I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU.”

He borrowed the language used by Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis, who once said in an interview that he is a card-carrying member of the group. Republican nominee George Bush has picked up on that phrase to accuse Dukakis of sharing the ACLU’s “liberal” point of view.

Bush and other conservatives charge that some of the court cases taken on by the ACLU show that it cares more about the rights of criminals than it does about victims.

Republican polling has found that this hits a nerve with some middle-class voters, and it is believed to be particularly effective with conservative Democrats in California, some of whom have indicated that they are considering voting for the Democratic presidential ticket for the first time since 1976.

They could be the most crucial bloc of voters in what is expected to be a close battle for California’s 47 electoral votes.

The ads are being aired by the Southern California ACLU affiliate, which produced them, and will be available for sponsorship by affiliates in other parts of the country.

Lancaster says in the TV ads: “The ACLU represents everyone, from the mother who thought it was wrong to send her child to a segregated school to Oliver North.”

The ACLU opposes the indictment of North, the former National Security Council aide who is implicated in the Iran-Contra affair, on the grounds that his immunized testimony before a special congressional panel compromised his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

But the brief on behalf of North has not deflected criticism by conservatives, and Southern California ACLU official Paul Hoffman says he thinks he knows why.

“We get bad press whenever we represent people who are not liked in the community, and that happens when we represent American Nazis who wanted to march in a Jewish neighborhood in Illinois or gays and lesbians in any part of the country.

“I think we are understanding now that we need to pay more attention to this problem,” said Hoffman, referring to the group’s plans to better explain the nature of its work.

Hoffman also said that, although the group has gotten new trials for criminals when their constitutional rights were violated, “the ACLU does care about victims too. We have published a book, ‘The Rights of Crime Victims,’ that is designed to help victims get compensation and assistance under their state laws.”

But what sticks in the minds of some Californians is the ACLU’s opposition in 1982 to Proposition 8, the “Victims’ Bill of Rights” that was passed by the voters. The ACLU also opposes capital punishment, which has been approved twice by California voters in ballot initiatives.

Southern California ACLU official Joan Howarth said the group opposed Proposition 8 because it allows the admission of evidence seized by methods that are unlawful under the California Constitution but not unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.

“The California Constitution includes protections that are broader than those under the U.S. Constitution,” Howarth said.

As for the death penalty, Hoffman said: “We oppose it because it fits the meaning of ‘cruel and unusual punishments’ under the Eighth Amendment, and also, the way the death penalty is implemented discriminates against the poor and minorities.”

The ACLU states in its brochures that its mission is to champion the Bill of Rights, including the protection of free speech, the freedom to establish a religion and the right to a fair trial.

But Hoffman said: “I think what is misunderstood about the ACLU is that we are not choosing certain kinds of people to represent. It is the principles we are interested in.”