Remembering a Fighter for Freedom

Larry Frankel's passing doesn't seem to have made national news, or even a ripple beyond Pennsylvania, where he served the ACLU for some 16 years. He was still with the ACLU, in the Washington DC office, when he was found dead last Friday, apparently of natural causes while jogging in Rock Creek Park.

Most people have never heard of Larry, who spent his professional life as a legislative lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union. That means that, in an age in which "bipartisanship" is as mythical a beast as a unicorn, Larry worked behind the scenes with both "left" and "right" legislators to protect the civil rights "for all, even those who disagreed with him," says a salute to his legacy in the Philly Daily News

In Harrisburg, he was liberal in a notoriously conservative environment, but Frankel built unlikely coalitions to advance civil liberties. He was one of the first people to sound the alarm about the high cost of incarceration and worked to reform sentencing laws.....A master at reading and understanding legislation, he often sounded the alarm on negative implications of bills under consideration.

The local obit quoted Vic Walczak, Pennsylvania's legal director and a long-time friend:

Larry relished making common cause with usual ACLU foes more than anything, I think ... He took great joy in those situations.

I can't claim to have been a close buddy, but I knew -- and liked and respected -- him for many years. He worked hard to protect the United Stated Constitution and the civil liberties it stands for. He will be greatly missed.

Comments

[FreedomFriend]

There are thousands of people around the country who work hard for social justice, and we'll never know most of their names. Larry was someone who many people here in PA knew because they knew he was working for what was right and just but who was not known by folks outside of PA. Governor Rendell said that he had as much impact on the lives of Pennsylvanians as any elected official.

I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to know him and work with him. He will be missed.