December 30, 2014 - Long-time executive director David Fidanque will retire on March 31, 2015. Fidanque, who turned 65 last summer, became the organization’s director in 1993 and first joined its staff in 1982.
ACLU of Oregon Board President Jennifer Middleton, said the ACLU of Oregon has grown in size, effectiveness and influence throughout Oregon under Fidanque’s tenure.
“The ACLU plays a leadership role on a host of civil liberties and civil rights issues and Dave Fidanque has played an integral role in all of them, including free expression, reproductive freedom, racial justice, police practices, government surveillance and individual privacy,” Middleton said.
“When Dave took over as executive director in 1993, we were battling more than 30 statewide and local anti-gay ballot measures put forward by the Oregon Citizens Alliance,” Middleton said. “He immediately committed resources to challenging those measures in the courts, in the Legislature and at the ballot box. The ACLU has never let up on its efforts working as a key partner with the LGBT community, including its work to help achieve the freedom to marry for same-sex couples this year. That is just one example of how the ACLU has changed the civil rights landscape over the past two decades.”
Middleton noted that in addition to Fidanque’s leadership for the ACLU here in Oregon, he has contributed to the nationwide ACLU in many ways, most notably when he was selected by his fellow executive directors of ACLU state affiliates to chair the ACLU Executive Directors Council from 2006 to 2010.
Fidanque said he has more he intends to accomplish between now and the end of March, but is confident the ACLU of Oregon will be even stronger in the years to come.
“Working for the ACLU has been an amazing, exhilarating experience,” said Fidanque. “I’ve had the opportunity to work on some of the most important civil liberties and civil rights struggles for more than three decades and to work with an incredible array of individuals and organizations. It’s been the most rewarding and challenging work I could ever imagine doing.”
He noted that both in Oregon and nationwide the need for ACLU’s work remains critical.
“Only the ACLU works on all of the major issues,” Fidanque said. “The deaths of black Americans from police encounters, the continuing lack of accountability related to the torture of detainees by the CIA and military contractors, the erosion of voting rights, the lack of privacy protections in our digital communications, the over-incarceration of criminal offenders that has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars, and the continuing attacks on access to reproductive health care for women are just a few examples of why the ACLU has to be even stronger in the future.”
Middleton also announced that she has appointed a search committee which is launching a nationwide search for the next ACLU of Oregon executive director and expects to begin accepting applications within the next three weeks.
“Dave is leaving us a vital, strong organization and we look forward to a smooth transition,” Middleton said.
The ACLU has had a strong presence in Oregon since the organization’s founding in 1920. The ACLU of Oregon was formally founded in 1955. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than 10,000 active members and thousands more donors and supporters across the state. It has a staff of eight and more than a hundred active volunteers, including dozens of volunteer attorneys who perform most of the organization’s work in the courts.
Fidanque said that when he became director in 1993, the annual budget was under $250,000 and it had a staff of four.
“Today, our budget has grown to about $1 million, but the need continues to be much greater than the finances we have,” Fidanque said. “Those funds come primarily from individual Oregonians in the form of membership dues, contributions and legacy gifts. I will continue to financially support the ACLU’s work to the best of my ability and I call on all Oregonians who care about the future of civil liberties and civil rights to do the same.”