Celebs raise $300,000 for ACLU

Robin Williams, Paul Simon and a host of other entertainers took the stage at a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union, which forfeited money from a federal fund drive because it refused to screen its employees against a suspected terrorist “watch list.”

Emily Whitfield, a spokeswoman for the ACLU, said the event raised more than $300,000.

The benefit, held at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Monday night, was produced by composer Philip Glass and featured about two dozen performers, including Richard Gere, Sarah Jones, Tony Kushner, Jake Gyllenhaal and his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The ACLU withdrew from the Combined Federal Campaign, a program that accepts donations from government and military personnel, because rules put in place under the Patriot Act require participating charities to make sure no employees are on a 143-page list of names and aliases of possible terrorists.

The ACLU, which had been projected to receive $500,000 from the program this year, said the list is riddled with errors and there is no recourse for people mistakenly listed on it.