Board of Directors

ACLU Board 03/24/2008: (L to R) Bill Lackemacher, Christine Hamel, Mark Reichel, Murray Work, Carol Velarde, Neil Ranu, Jim Updegraff, Wazhma Mojaddidi, Basim Elkarra, Rev. Ashiya Odeye, Cres Vellucci, Salem Mohamed, Allen Asch. Not pictured: John Tjaden, Jeff Kravitz, Yousef

Board of Directors Sacramento Chapter ACLU

We’ve included the names, offices and emails of the Board. For information about how to get the ACLU involved in a case or issue, please contact Chair Jim Updegraff (updegraf AT pacbell.net).

Allen Asch (aasch AT aol.com), the Chapter Representative for the ACLU-Sacramento Board, is a former public defender in Placer County, CA and Missouri. An ACLU member since 1983, and volunteer attorney since 1996, he helped the ACLU persuade the Missouri Department of Corrections that precluding the mentally ill from drug treatment violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. He wrote an ACLU amicus brief to Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the KKK’s right to advertise on government radio, and penned the ACLU-NJ policy on the confidentiality of adoption records and ACLU-NJ’s guidelines for physicians explaining a minor’s right to confidential reproductive health care.

Basim Elkarra (belkarra AT cair.com) is a leader in the Muslim American community, and Executive Director of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). He serves on the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s advisory committee and was a member of the Human Rights Commission of San Francisco. Basim has worked with non-profit organizations, congressional campaigns, interfaith dialogues, and has done extensive work within the Muslim community on an educational and organizational level.

Christine Hamel (babysoft777 AT hotmail.com) has been employed in a public defender office since 1988, and is currently working as a paralegal assisting in habeas corpus representation of inmates confined to California’s Death Row. In her free time, she is known as a liberal and political activist speaking out and working on behalf of others whenever possible.

Jeffrey S. Kravitz (kravitzlaw AT aol.com) is an attorney and Professor of Constitutional Law. He has litigated important First Amendment and Civil Rights cases, been the host of a progressive law talk radio program and appears on local television news programs as a legal analyst. He was the Green Party candidate for Congress in Sacramento in 2006. He was a political activist in Berkeley during the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980’s, active in the Civil Rights Clinic there, as well as working on protests concerning the anti-immigrant Prop 186.

Bill Lackemacher (sac4democracy AT hotmail.com) works on progressive political and issue-based campaigns in the Sacramento area. He is the ACLU Sacramento Webmaster and the Communications Director and Webmaster for Sacramento for Democracy, an organization devoted to civil rights, peace and justice. He is also concerned about the status of our civil liberties in light of the current administration’s attacks on our Constitution and the Bill of Rights through the Patriot Act and other legislation.

Yousef Marmosh (marmosh AT comcast.net) has lived in Sacramento since 1979, and has been a lifelong volunteer youth soccer coach in Sacramento. Yousef is a Supervising Mechanical Engineer at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and a well-known civil rights advocate in the community.

Salem A. Mohamed was born in Tripoli, Libya, and has lived in the U. S. for nearly 25 years, becoming an American citizen in 1993. He is currently a Muslim Chaplain with California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In 1993, he was the only Muslim who traveled with Resolve Foundation to Croatia to help the Muslim and Croatian refugees. In 2003, he was chosen by the Muslim community of Reno to represent them on Nevada’s ACLU Board of Directors. He moved to Sacramento 1995. He is also a former Libyan weight lifting national team member and the Connecticut drugfree power-lifting champion.

Wazhma Mojaddidi (wazhma AT mojaddidilaw.com), the Alternate Chapter Representative for the ACLU-Sacramento Board, is a private practitioner, working in family law, immigration law, civil rights and criminal law. She is active in the Muslim, South Asian and Middle Eastern communities and has volunteered her services for a number of legal outreach programs post 9/11. She has served as an Adjunct Professor in the International Appellate Advocacy Program at McGeorge for two years. In 2005, she became counsel in her first criminal case when she represented Hamid Hayat, in what has been commonly called the “Lodi Terrorism Case.”

Rev Ashiya Odeye (therev AT justicereformcoalition.org) is the Sacramento director of the Justice Reform Coalition, co-founder of the Neighbors Building Village and former community outreach chair for the Sacramento NAACP. He is a longtime civil rights and social justice activist. He’s been a co-organizer with the Free Geronimo Pratt project, the Black Panthers as well as other civil rights and anti-war actions, from Fort Dix and Kent State in the Vietnam War years to today. He is also the Reverend Director of the Order of Olufunmi – the First Rastafarian organization West of the Mississippi.

Neil S. Ranu (nranu AT hotmail.com) actively works with community-based organizations in Northern and Central California to confront the destructive effects of hate and hate violence, including speaking at various local and statewide forums, and at hearings of the California State Legislature. He practices law at DLA Piper US LLP and has served as a volunteer attorney for the Yolo County Legal Services Clinic and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Mark J. Reichel (mark AT reichellaw.com) is Vice-Chair of the ACLU-Sacramento Board. He is a civil / criminal attorney in private practice and is involved in several high-profile political and civil rights cases. He was Assistant Federal Public Defender from 1993-2005 in Sacramento. He appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court January 18, 2006 (UVA v. Grubbs) arguing that the 4th Amendment requires officers to provide a copy of the search warrant to the homeowner when conducting a search.

John Tjaden (frisian320i AT hotmail.com) joined the national and Sacramento Coalition to Stop the Patriot Act, and worked with the ACLU to convince the Sacramento City Council to pass a virtually unanimous resolution against the USA Patriot Act. He is a member of Sacramento for Democracy, participates in local civil rights activities, and notes that he is “one of the many watching the watchers.”

James G. Updegraff (updegraf AT pacbell.net), Chair of the ACLU-Sacramento Board, is a semiretired banker and has been active for many years with numerous non-profit organizations. He is deeply concerned about the continuing threats in recent years against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, believes the ACLU is in the center of the struggle to protect our civil liberties and that a chapter in Sacramento will assist in these efforts. Jim feels a “strong commitment to participate in this struggle.”

Carol Velarde (cavelarde AT aol.com) has been a proud “card-carrying” member of the ACLU for decades. Since 1999, she has been the California Legislative Liaison for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a member of the organization’s National Advisory Council. In addition to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment religion clauses, she is a fervent supporter of reproductive and privacy rights. A longtime community activist, Carol is a member and secretary of the Sacramento Jewish Community Relations Council. She was Field Representative for the late Congressman Bob Matsui.

Cres Vellucci (civillib AT comcast.net) is Secretary of the ACLU-Sacramento Board. He is a former daily newspaper reporter for many publications, including the Sacramento Bee and a wire service at the State Capitol. He attended law school and was a law school assistant dean. He has worked as the executive director of a civil liberties group, and filed several federal civil rights suits against police. Currently, he is a strategic media relations consultant for local, state and national social justice organizations and progressive political candidates.

Murray Smith Work (workms AT csus.edu) is Treasurer of the ACLU-Sacramento Board, was a Professor of Psychology at Sacramento State University until retirement. He was a member of CORE and NAACP in New Orleans from 1956-63, and active there in successful efforts to desegregate pubic facilities. Upon retirement, he joined and has been active in the Northern California District of the Communist Party USA.