[Peace-discuss] Chronology of the Ukrainian Coup

[David Johnson]

Yes, not as blatant as in the 1980's and prior, and that is where the NED
and " Color Revolutions " come in.
Ukraine fits the pattern ( M.O. ) to a tee, in addition to the other
evidence.



Trojan Horses and Color Revolutions: The Role of the National Endowment for
Democracy (NED)
By William Blum
Global Research, August 07, 2017

This article is a chapter from Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only
Superpower by William Blum published in 2005.

How many Americans could identify the National Endowment for Democracy? An
organization which often does exactly the opposite of what its name implies.
The NED was set up in the early 1980s under President Reagan in the wake of
all the negative revelations about the CIA in the second half of the 1970s.
The latter was a remarkable period. Spurred by Watergate - the Church
committee of the Senate, the Pike committee of the House, and the
Rockefeller Commission, created by the president, were all busy
investigating the CIA. Seemingly every other day there was a new headline
about the discovery of some awful thing, even criminal conduct, the CIA had
been mixed up in for years. The Agency was getting an exceedingly bad name,
and it was causing the powers-that-be much embarrassment.

Something had to be done. What was done was not to stop doing these awful
things. Of course not. What was done was to shift many of these awful things
to a new organization, with a nice sounding name - The National Endowment
for Democracy. The idea was that the NED would do somewhat overtly what the
CIA had been doing covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the
stigma associated with CIA covert activities.

It was a masterpiece. Of politics, of public relations, and of cynicism.

Thus it was that in 1983, the National Endowment for Democracy was set up to
"support democratic institutions throughout the world through private,
nongovernmental efforts". Notice the "nongovernmental" - part of the image,
part of the myth. In actuality, virtually every penny of its funding comes
from the federal government, as is clearly indicated in the financial
statement in each issue of its annual report. NED likes to refer to itself
as an NGO (Non-governmental organization) because this helps to maintain a
certain credibility abroad that an official US government agency might not
have. But NGO is the wrong category. NED is a GO.

"We should not have to do this kind of work covertly," said Carl Gershman in
1986, while he was president of the Endowment. "It would be terrible for
democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the C.I.A. We
saw that in the 60's, and that's why it has been discontinued. We have not
had the capability of doing this, and that's why the endowment was created."

And Allen Weinstein, who helped draft the legislation establishing NED,
declared in 1991: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago
by the CIA."

In effect, the CIA has been laundering money through NED.

The Endowment has four principal initial recipients of funds: the
International Republican Institute; the National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs; an affiliate of the AFL-CIO (such as the American
Center for International Labor Solidarity); and an affiliate of the Chamber
of Commerce (such as the Center for International Private Enterprise). These
institutions then disburse funds to other institutions in the US and all
over the world, which then often disburse funds to yet other organizations.

In a multitude of ways, NED meddles in the internal affairs of numerous
foreign countries by supplying funds, technical know-how, training,
educational materials, computers, faxes, copiers, automobiles, and so on, to
selected political groups, civic organizations, labor unions, dissident
movements, student groups, book publishers, newspapers, other media, etc.
NED typically refers to the media it supports as "independent" despite the
fact that these media are on the US payroll.

NED programs generally impart the basic philosophy that working people and
other citizens are best served under a system of free enterprise, class
cooperation, collective bargaining, minimal government intervention in the
economy, and opposition to socialism in any shape or form. A free-market
economy is equated with democracy, reform, and growth; and the merits of
foreign investment in their economy are emphasized.

>From 1994 to 1996, NED awarded 15 grants, totaling more than $2,500,000, to
the American Institute for Free Labor Development, an organization used by
the CIA for decades to subvert progressive labor unions.  AIFLD's work
within Third World unions typically involved a considerable educational
effort very similar to the basic NED philosophy described above. The
description of one of the 1996 NED grants to AIFLD includes as one its
objectives: "build union-management cooperation".  Like many things that NED
says, this sounds innocuous, if not positive, but these in fact are
ideological code words meaning "keep the labor agitation down . don't rock
the status-quo boat". The relationship between NED and AIFLD very well
captures the CIA origins of the Endowment.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED): The Legal Window of the CIA

NED has funded centrist and rightist labor organizations to help them oppose
those unions which were too militantly pro-worker. This has taken place in
France, Portugal and Spain amongst many other places. In France, during the
1983-4 period, NED supported a "trade union-like organization for professors
and students" to counter "left-wing organizations of professors". To this
end it funded a series of seminars and the publication of posters, books and
pamphlets such as "Subversion and the Theology of Revolution" and
"Neutralism or Liberty".  ("Neutralism" here refers to being unaligned in
the cold war.)

NED describes one of its 1997-98 programs thusly: "To identify barriers to
private sector development at the local and federal levels in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia and to push for legislative change . [and] to develop
strategies for private sector growth."  Critics of Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, a socialist, were supported by NED grants for years.

In short, NED's programs are in sync with the basic needs and objectives of
the New World Order's economic globalization, just as the programs have for
years been on the same wavelength as US foreign policy.
Interference in elections

NED's Statement of Principles and Objectives, adopted in 1984, asserts that
"No Endowment funds may be used to finance the campaigns of candidates for
public office." But the ways to circumvent the spirit of such a prohibition
are not difficult to come up with; as with American elections, there's "hard
money" and there's "soft money".

As described in the "Elections" and "Interventions" chapters, NED
successfully manipulated elections in Nicaragua in 1990 and Mongolia in
1996; helped to overthrow democratically elected governments in Bulgaria in
1990 and Albania in 1991 and 1992; and worked to defeat the candidate for
prime minister of Slovakia in 2002 who was out of favor in Washington. And
from 1999 to 2004, NED heavily funded members of the opposition to President
Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to subvert his rule and to support a referendum to
unseat him.

Additionally, in the 1990s and afterward, NED supported a coalition of
groups in Haiti known as the Democratic Convergence, who were united in
their opposition to Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his progressive ideology,
while he was in and out of the office of the president.

The Endowment has made its weight felt in the electoral-political process in
numerous other countries.

NED would have the world believe that it's only teaching the ABCs of
democracy and elections to people who don't know them, but in virtually all
the countries named above, in whose electoral process NED intervened, there
had already been free and fair elections held. The problem, from NED's point
of view, is that the elections had been won by political parties not on
NED's favorites list.

The Endowment maintains that it's engaged in "opposition building" and
"encouraging pluralism". "We support people who otherwise do not have a
voice in their political system," said Louisa Coan, a NED program officer.
But NED hasn't provided aid to foster progressive or leftist opposition in
Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, or Eastern Europe - or, for that
matter, in the United States - even though these groups are hard pressed for
funds and to make themselves heard. Cuban dissident groups and media are
heavily supported however.

NED's reports carry on endlessly about "democracy", but at best it's a
modest measure of mechanical political democracy they have in mind, not
economic democracy; nothing that aims to threaten the powers-that-be or the
way-things-are, unless of course it's in a place like Cuba.

The Endowment played an important role in the Iran-Contra affair of the
1980s, funding key components of Oliver North's shadowy "Project Democracy"
network, which privatized US foreign policy, waged war, ran arms and drugs,
and engaged in other equally charming activities. At one point in 1987, a
White House spokesman stated that those at NED "run Project Democracy".
This was an exaggeration; it would have been more correct to say that NED
was the public arm of Project Democracy, while North ran the covert end of
things. In any event, the statement caused much less of a stir than if - as
in an earlier period - it had been revealed that it was the CIA which was
behind such an unscrupulous operation.

NED also mounted a multi-level campaign to fight the leftist insurgency in
the Philippines in the mid-1980s, funding a host of private organizations,
including unions and the media.  This was a replica of a typical CIA
operation of pre-NED days.

And between 1990 and 1992, the Endowment donated a quarter-million dollars
of taxpayers' money to the Cuban-American National Foundation, the
ultra-fanatic anti-Castro Miami group. The CANF, in turn, financed Luis
Posada Carriles, one of the most prolific and pitiless terrorists of modern
times, who had been involved in the blowing up of a Cuban airplane in 1976,
which killed 73 people. In 1997, he was involved in a series of bomb
explosions in Havana hotels,  and in 2000 imprisoned in Panama when he was
part of a group planning to assassinate Fidel Castro with explosives while
the Cuban leader was speaking before a large crowd, although eventually, the
group was tried on lesser charges.

The NED, like the CIA before it, calls what it does supporting democracy.
The governments and movements whom the NED targets call it destabilization.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ricky Baldwin [mailto:rbaldwin at seiu73.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2019 9:50 AM
To: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net
Cc: Ricky Baldwin; peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: Chronology of the Ukrainian Coup

Thanks, David. This one certainly shows a deeper relationship between US
officialdom and Ukrainian fascists.  Clearly USG was comfortable, even
welcoming, of fascist elements in the coup, reminiscent of "our man"
pre-WW2.   This should be deeply disturbing to all Americans and everyone
else.

It's not exactly a contra-style "funding and training" of the coup, though,
is it?  I mean, from this we have no idea where all the pro-EU money was
spent - propaganda in favor if EU (which is not necessarily pro-coup)?  Etc.

In Haiti, for example, we know the US funded and trained the military -
including specific putschists - involved in overthrowing Aristide.  In Congo
we know the CIA was working with (but not training) Mobutu and others when
Lumumba was overthrown.  But in Honduras it seems the Obama-Clinton
involvement was supportive of the coup, even "enabling," but as far as we
know not actually instigating.  I wouldn't put it past their blood-soaked
administration, but since accuracy is important to challenging them we'd
want to be a little careful what we allege about that one.

It's sort of like, we know Nixon prolonged the war in Vietnam by sandbagging
peace talks surreptitiously when he was running for president, but we could
never really prove Reagan prolonged the Iranian hostage crisis when he was
running.  It certainly seems likely, especially given his subsequent
recklessly sociopathic lawbreaking exposed in the "Iran-Contra" moment.  But
it's hard to tell for sure.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID On Nov 25, 2019 10:28 AM, David
Johnson <davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net> wrote:
[https://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzon
e/2015/06/cp5.png]<https://www.counterpunch.org/>

March 5, 2014
Chronology of the Ukrainian
Coup<https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/05/chronology-of-the-ukrainian-cou
p/>
by Renee Parsons<https://www.counterpunch.org/author/renee-parsons/>

Listening to the US media, even the most diligent news junkie would find it
difficult to know that the U.S. State Department played not only a vital
role in the violence and
chaos<http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/02/23/democracy-murdered-protest-
ukraine-falls-intrigue-violence/> underway in Ukraine but was also complicit
in creating the coup that ousted democratically elected President Viktor
Yanuyovch.    Given the Russian Parliament's approval of Putin's request for
military troops to be moved into Crimea, Americans uninformed about the
history<http://michael-hudson.com/2014/03/ukraine-go-west-young-man/> of
that region might also be persuaded that Russia is the
aggressor<https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/obamas-dumbest-plan-yet/>
and the sole perpetrator of the violence.
Let's be clear about what is at stake here:     NATO
missiles<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10668978/Ukraine-crisis-even-a-less
-menacing-Russian-leader-than-Vladimir-Putin-would-not-let-Ukraine-go-easily
.html> on the adjacent Ukraine border aimed directly at Russia would make
that country extremely vulnerable to Western goals and destabilization
efforts while threatening Russia's only water access to its naval fleet in
Crimean peninsula, the Balkans, the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East -
and not the least of which would allow world economic
dominance<https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/obamas-dumbest-plan-yet/>
by the US, the European Union, the IMF, World Bank and international
financiers all of whom had already brought staggering suffering to millions
around the globe.
The fact is that democracy was not a demand on the streets of Kiev.  The
current record of events indicates that protests of civil dissatisfaction
were organized by reactionary neo-Nazi
forces<http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/02/23/democracy-murdered-protest
-ukraine-falls-intrigue-violence/> intent on fomenting a major domestic
crisis ousting Ukraine's legitimate government.   As events continue to
spiral out of control, here is the chronology of  how the coup was
engineered to install a government more favorable to EU and US goals.
April 11, 2011 - A Kiev
Post<http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/ukraine-hopes-to-get-15-billio
n-tranche-from-imf-i.html> article entitled "Ukraine Hopes to Get $1.5
Billion from IMF in June" states that the loan is dependent on pension cuts
while   "maintaining cooperation with the IMF, since it influences the
country's interaction with other international financial institutions and
private investors" and further that the "attraction of $850 million from the
World Bank in 2011, depended on cooperation with the IMF."   Well, that
about says it all - if Ukraine played ball. then the loan money would pour
in.
November 21,
2013<http://sofiaglobe.com/2013/11/22/ukraine-eu-suspension-order-was-econom
ic-move/> -  fast forward to the EU summit in Lithuania when President
Yanuyovch  embarrassed the European Union by
rejecting<http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=16674.0> its
Agreement in favor of joining Russia's Common Union with other Commonwealth
Independent States.
November 27, 2013 - it was not until February 23, 2014 when  Anonymous
Ukraine hackers
released<http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_23/Anonymous-Ukraine-releases
-Klitschko-e-mails-showing-treason-3581/> a series of emails from a
Lithuanian government advisor to opposition leader and former boxer Vitaly
Klitschko regarding plans to destabilize Ukraine; for example:
"Our American friends promise to pay a visit in the coming days, we may even
see Nuland or someone from the Congress."  12/7/2013 "Your colleague has
arrived ..his services may be required even after the country is
destabilized." 12/14/2013 "I think we've paved the way for more radical
escalation of the situation.  Isn't it time to proceed with more decisive
action?" 1/9/2014 November 29, 2013 -  well-orchestrated protestors were
already in the
streets<http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/euromaidan-rallies-in-ukrain
e-nov-21-23-coverage-332423.html> of Kiev as European Commission President
Jose Manual Barroso announced that the EU would "not accept Russia's
veto<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25154618>" of the Agreement.
December 13, 2013 - As if intent on providing incontrovertible evidence of
US involvement in Ukraine, Assistant US Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasia Victoria Nuland proudly told a
meeting<http://www.sott.net/article/273602-US-Assistant-Secretary-of-State-V
ictoria-Nuland-says-Washington-has-spent-5-billion-trying-to-subvert-Ukraine
> of the International Business Conference sponsored by the US-Ukrainian
Foundation that the US had 'invested' more than $5 billion and 'five years
worth<http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/27/geop-f27.html> of work and
preparation" in achieving what she called Ukraine's 'European aspirations."
Having just returned from her third trip to Ukraine in five weeks, Nuland
boasted of her 'coordinated high level diplomacy' and a more than two hour
'tough conversation' with Yanukovych.  Already familiar with Nuland as
former Secretary Clinton's spokesperson at State, one can imagine her
discourteous tone and manner when she says she made it "absolutely clear" to
Yanukovych that the US required "immediate steps" .to "get back into
conversation with Europe and the IMF."   While Western media have portrayed
Yanukovych as a 'weak' leader, Nuland's description of a 'tough' meeting can
only mean that he resisted her threats and intimidations.  In what must have
been a touching moment, Nuland spoke about a show of force by government
police on demonstrators who "sang hymns and prayed for peace."
What Nuland did not reveal on December 13 was that her meetings with 'key
Ukrainian stakeholders' included neo-Nazi Svoboda party
leader<http://propagandamatrix.com/articles/february2014/280214_nazi_party.h
tm> Oleh Tyahnybok and  prime minister wannabe Arsenly Yatsenyuk of the
Fatherland Party.   At about the same time Nuland was wooing fascist
extremists<http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/02/23/democracy-murdered-pro
test-ukraine-falls-intrigue-violence/>, Sen. John McCain (R-Az) and Sen.
Chris Murphy (D- Conn) shared the
stage<http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukr
aine-2013-12> in Kiev with Tyahnybok offering their support and opposition
to the sitting government.   The Svoboda
party<http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-meets-oleh-tyahnybok-in-ukr
aine-2013-12> which has roots with extreme vigilante and anti-semitic groups
has since received at least three high level cabinet posts in the interim
government including deputy prime minister.   There is no doubt that the
progenies of west Ukraine's historic neo-fascist thugs that fought with
Hitler are now aligned with the US as represented by Victoria Nuland.
January 24, 2014 - President Yanukoyvch identified foreign
elements<http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_24/Yanukovych-says-foreigners
-involved-in-radical-actions-in-Kiev-4844/> participating in Kiev protests
warning that armed radicals were a danger to peaceful citizens.  Independent
news<http://www.debka.com/article/23700/Yanukovych-leaves-Kiev-Opposition-le
aders-lose-control-of-hard-core-protesters> agencies also reported that "not
all of Kiev's population backs opposition rule, which depends mainly on a
group from the former Polish town of Lvov, which holds sway over Kiev
downtown - but not the rest of the city."
January 30, 2014 -   The State Department's
website<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/01/221059.htm> Media Note
announced Nuland's upcoming travel plans that "In Kyiv, Assistant Secretary
Nuland will meet with government officials, opposition leaders, civil
society and business leaders to encourage agreement on a new government and
plan of action."  In other words, almost a month before President Yanukovych
was ousted, the US was planning to rid the world of another independently
elected President.
February 4, 2014 -  More evidence of Ms. Nuland's meddling with extremist
factions and the high level stakes of war and peace occurred in her taped
conversation<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSxaa-67yGM> with U.S.
Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt discussing their calculations of who's
in and who's out to replace Yanukovych.   Note mention of Nazi leader Oleh
Tyahnybok.   Here are some selected excerpts:
Nuland:   "What do you think?"
Pyatt:   "I think we're in play. the [Vitali] Klitsch piece is obviously the
complicated electron here especially the announcement of him as deputy prime
minister. Your argument to him which you'll need to make,  I think the next
phone call  we want to set up is exactly the one you made to Yats
[Yatsenyuk].  And I'm glad you sort of put him on the spot on where he fits
in this scenario and I'm very glad he said what he said in response."
Nuland:   "I don't think Klitsch should go into government. I don't think
its necessary. I don't think it's a good idea."
Pyatt:    "yeah.I mean I guess.  You think.what.in terms of him not going
into the government,  just let him sort of stay out and do his political
homework and stuff.   I'm just thinking in terms of  the process moving
ahead, we want to keep the moderate democrats together.  The problem is
going to be Tyahnybok and his guys.  I'm sure that's what Yanukoyvch  is
calculating on all this."
Nuland:   "I think Yats is the guy who's got the economic experience, the
governing experience.  What he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside
and he needs to be talking to them four times a week you know.I think with
Klitsch going in at that level working for Yats, it's not going to work."
Nuland:   "My understanding is that the big three [Yatsenyuk, Klitsch and
Tyahnybok] were going in to their own meeting and that Yats was going to
offer in that context a three plus one conversation with you."
Pyatt:  " That's what he proposed but knowing the dynamic that's been with
them where  Klitsch has been top dog;  he's going to take a while to show up
at a meeting, he's probably talking to his guys at this point so I think you
reaching out to him will help with the personality management among the
three and gives us a chance to move fast on all this stuff and put us behind
it before they all sit down and he explains why he doesn't like it."
Nuland:  . "when I talked to Jeff Feltman this morning, he had a new name
for the UN  guy .Robert Serry  - he's now gotten both Serry and Ban ki
Moon<http://www.sify.com/news/ukraine-ban-highlights-need-for-resolution-of-
political-crisis-news-default-ocmx9iccdhf.html> to agree that Serry could
come in Monday or Tuesday. so that would be great I think  to help glue this
thing and have the UN help glue it and you know fuck the EU."
Pyatt:   "Exactly.   I think we've got to do something to make it stick
together because you can be pretty sure the Russians will be working behind
the scenes.    ..Let me work on Klitchko and I think we want to get somebody
with an international personality to come out here and  help midwife this
thing."
Nuland:  ".Sullivan's come back to me saying you need Biden  and  I said
probably tomorrow for an" 'atta' boy' and get the deeds to stick    so
Biden's willing."
February 20, 2014 -   Foreign ministers from Poland, Germany and France
visiting Kiev secured President Yanukovych's
agreement<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/20/ukraine-eu-foreign-mi
nisters-agree-sanctions-officials> that would commit the government to an
interim administration, constitutional reform and new parliamentary and
presidential elections.  With "no clear sign that EU or US pressure has
achieved" the desired effect,
opposition<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7be2df76-8617-11e3-b30d-00144feab7
de.html#axzz2uqSgRPgy> leaders rejected Yanukovych's compromise which would
have ended the three month stand-off.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov called on the German, French and Polish foreign ministers to step
in<http://www.debka.com/article/23700/Yanukovych-leaves-Kiev-Opposition-lead
ers-lose-control-of-hard-core-protesters> and take responsibility for
upholding the deal they helped forge and not let "armed
extremists<http://www.infowars.com/this-is-how-the-new-government-in-ukraine
-deals-with-opponents/>" directly threaten Ukrainian sovereignty.
February 21, 2014  -  At a special summit in Brussels, European foreign
ministers agreed to
adopt<http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/21/ukra-f21.html> sanctions on
Ukraine including visa bans and asset freezes. The EU decision followed
"immense pressure from the US for the European powers to take punitive
action against the Ukrainian regime."  Washington had already imposed travel
bans on 20 leading Ukrainians.
February 22, 2014 -  An hour after refusing to
resign<http://www.businessinsider.com/yanukovych-leaves-kiev-2014-2>, the
Ukrainian Parliament voted, according to Russian president Vladimir Putin,
in an unconstitutional
action<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/putin-ukraine-unconstitutional-
coup-yanukovych-legitimate-leader-article-1.1709894> to oust President
Yanukovych and that pro-EU forces staged a
'coup'<http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/02/25/police-stat
e-ukraine>.  Yanukovych departed Kiev in fear for his life.
March 1, 2014 - During a
conversation<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/28/readout-v
ice-president-s-call-ukrainian-prime-minister-arseniy-yatsenyuk> initiated
by the vice president, Biden delivered his 'atta boy' with a phone call to
newly installed prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
<http://www.infowars.com/central-banker-appointed-as-prime-minister-of-ukrai
ne/>  reaffirming US support for Ukraine's 'territorial integrity."
All of the above machinations expose an incoherent and corrupt American
foreign policy with a litany of US hypocrisy that might be hilarious if not
for potentially grave global implications.   The comment "you just don't
behave by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext" might
just win Secretary of State John Kerry the Hypocrisy of the Year Award.
Kerry, of course, famously supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq seeking
weapons of mass destruction.
But then again, the President's own
comments<http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-obama-putin-ukraine-
20140304,0,5279776.story#axzz2v5mfLGat> that "..countries have deep concerns
and suspicions about this kind of meddling.." and that ".as long as none of
us are inside Ukraine trying to meddle and intervene.. with decisions that
properly belong to Ukrainian people." while  announcing  $1 billion
aid<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/04/obama-russia-ukra
ine-1-billion-putin-crimea/6006759/>  package to Ukraine (but not Detroit)
would be a close runner-up for the Award.
Renee Parsons was a staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives and a
lobbyist on nuclear energy issues with Friends of the Earth.  in 2005, she
was elected to the Durango City Council and served as Councilor and Mayor.
Currently, she is a member of the Treasure Coast ACLU Board.