Longtime Pennsylvania ACLU lobbyist and Executive Director Larry Frankel, who in the last year or so has become the lobbyist for the national ACLU, has apparently been found dead in Washington under mysterious circumstances. This is a breaking news story in which most key facts are still generally unknown.
Frankel was an outstanding lobbyist for the Pennsylvania ACLU in Harrisburg, taking positions on scores to hundreds of bills each year. He was a coalition builder reminiscent of Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate or William Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court, who aggressively reached out to unlikely allies like the National Rifle Association to help persuade members of the legislature that the ACLU was addressing broad concerns.
His aggressive outreach removed the ACLU from the fringes or margins of state policy and moved it toward the center of direct involvement.
A proud gay man, he was militant on the issue of gay marriage [...]
Larry believed in the importance of facts in making decisions. His correspondence with legislators was full of facts. [...]
He made progress on hard issues, such as the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences, by documenting their high fiscal costs. [...]
He was a strong voice on freedom of choice, equal rights for women, and freedom of speech. [...] But he was tenacious, factual, honest, and decent, and he earned the deep respect of virtually all with whom he came into contact. [...]
He was one of the finest human beings to serve as a lobbyist, and his daily work honored the lobbying profession, as well as the ACLU and the gay community.
I searched around and couldn't find anything else on this. If anyone out there knows more, or can link me to other sources, I'd greatly appreciate it.
After the Dr. Tiller assassination, this is more than a little worrisome, but the facts aren't in yet, so... it's wait-and-see time.
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