www.pdamerica.org
Advisory Board
Mimi Kennedy, Advisory Board Chair, is an actor and activist. She was a charter member of Artists United to Win Without War, and a leading supporter of Dennis Kucinich’s antiwar presidential campaign in 2004. She has worked on human rights, environmental and labor issues, and studied nonviolent social action with Rev. James Lawson. Perhaps best known for her role as Dharma’s mom on TV’s “Dharma and Greg,” Kennedy has appeared widely on TV, the stage, and in movies such as “Erin Brockovich” and “Pump Up The Volume.” She also appeared on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect.” Her mid-life memoir was titled, “Taken to the Stage: The Education of an Actress
Steve Shaff, Advisory Board Vice Chair, is Founder and President of Community-Vision Consultants, a community development firm based in Washington, DC. As a Progressive development company, C-VC's mission is to develop affordable-housing home ownership opportunities while simultaneously addressing local social, economic and political issues within the inner-city communities it serves. Besides his political activism, Shaff plays a leadership role in various nonprofits, including two he founded: Thriving Artists Productions and Community-Vision Ventures..
Cindy Asner has worked as a TV and radio producer, and was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards as a producer on Bette Midler’s CBS film, "Gypsy." She moved from entertainment to activism, on issues from Autism to campaign finance reform to war and peace. She is on the board of the California Clean Money Campaign.
Medea Benjamin, is the founding director of Global Exchange, helped to bring together the coalition United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), and co-founded Code Pink, a women-initiated grassroots movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect resources into life-affirming activities. She is the co-editor (with Jodie Evans) of “Stop the Next War Now.” In 2005, she was one of 1000 women from around the world nominated collectively for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her work for peace and human rights has taken her to many parts of the world, including China, Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2000, she was the Green Party candidate for US Senate from California.
John C. Bonifaz, J.D. is a constitutional lawyer, voting rights advocate, and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org. In 2003 he served as lead counsel for a coalition of U.S. soldiers, parents of soldiers, and members of Congress in a federal lawsuit challenging President Bush's authority to wage war against Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action. He was also lead counsel for the Green/Libertarian Party-sponsored recount in Ohio in 2004, prompted by the close vote and voting irregularities. He is the author of "Warrior King: The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush." In 2006, he was a Democratic candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of State.
Steve Cobble, is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, focused on antiwar work, voting rights and Third World debt. He is a former Political Director and speechwriter for the National Rainbow Coalition, was National Delegate Coordinator for Jackson for President ’88, and directed the Keep Hope Alive PAC. He has worked on many campaigns, including the winning efforts of Toney Anaya for New Mexico Governor in 1982, and Carol Moseley Braun for U.S. Senator from Illinois in ‘92. He served as an adviser to Dennis Kucinich in 2003-04, and was heavily involved in the post-election battle over the suppression of African-American votes in Ohio. In 1991, he conducted election training workshops for the African National Congress in South Africa.
Jeff Cohen is a writer, lecturer and founder of FAIR, the progressive media watch group based in New York. In 2003, he was Communications Director of the Kucinich for President campaign. He has appeared regularly on national TV, including as an MSNBC commentator, a weekly panelist on Fox News and a co-host of "Crossfire" on CNN. He was senior producer of "Donahue" on MSNBC, until the show was terminated on the eve of the Iraq War. His latest book is “Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.” His website is
http://jeffcohen.org.D-MI)United States Representative
John Conyers, Jr., is chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Serving his 21st term in Congress, he is the second most senior member of the House and dean of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and an original member of President Nixon’s “Enemies List.” Among his many accomplishments in Congress: the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, the Motor Voter Bill of 1993, the Martin Luther King Holiday Act of 1983, the Alcohol Warning Label Act of 1988, and the Jazz Preservation Act of 1987. A legendary force for peace, civil rights and social justice, Rep. Conyers has worked closely with PDA to hold the Bush Administration accountable for manipulating Iraq intelligence, and in exposing voting irregularities in Ohio in 2004. He is a Korean War veteran.
Jodie Evans has worked on behalf of community, social-justice, environmental, and political causes for more than thirty years. She co-founded CODEPINK and co-authored “Stop the Next War Now.” She worked on the campaigns of California Governor Jerry Brown and served as his director of administration. Between 1985 and 1990, was a board member of the Women’s Campaign Fund and Women’s Political Committee. She ran Jerry Brown’s campaign for president in 1991. She serves on the boards of a dozen non-profits including Rainforest Action Network, Dads and Daughters, Drug Policy Alliance, Bioneers, 826 LA, and the Circle of Life Foundation.
Lila Garrett is a longtime activist, and award-winning screenwriter. She hosts “Connect the Dots” on Pacifica’s KPFK in Los Angeles. She was Southern California Chair of the 2004 Kucinich campaign, and past president of Southern California Americans for Democratic Action. She has served on the boards of the ACLU, the Venice Family Clinic and the Writers Guild of America. She founded Americans against War in Iraq (AAWWI), and is a founding boardmember of the California Clean Money Campaign. As TV-screenwriter, producer and director, she has won two Emmys and the Writers Guild Award.
Raul Grijalva has been a stalwart advocate for economic justice the environment, civil liberties and universal health care. He serves a district in Arizona that is the only one in Congress representing seven separate Native American Tribes; he is a strong advocate of Native American sovereignty. He also supports humane, comprehensive immigration reform; his father was a migrant worker from Mexico who entered the U.S. through the Bracero Program. Before coming to Congress in 2003, he’d held public office for decades -- on the Tucson school board and as a member and chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
Tom Hayden was a founding member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1961, and author of its visionary call, the Port Huron Statement. He was an active opponent of the Vietnam War, helped lead demonstrations against the war at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, and directed the Indochina Peace Campaign. In the 1970s, he organized the grassroots Campaign for Economic Democracy in California. He was elected to the California state assembly in 1982 and the state senate ten years later, serving eighteen years in all. Today, he is a leading voice for ending the war in Iraq, combating sweatshops, and reforming politics through greater citizen participation.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She was elected to Congress in 1998 in California’s 9th district after the retirement of Rep. Ron Dellums; she is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations Committee. Standing on principle amid post-9/11 hysteria, she was the only member of Congress to vote against the resolution broadly authorizing President Bush’s use of force. She sponsored legislation disavowing the preemptive war doctrine and led bipartisan efforts to end the genocide in Darfur. She has been a leader in the global battle against HIV/AIDS, and for civil rights and civil liberties. She formally objected in Congress to certifying Ohio's electoral votes after the 2004 election
Joe Libertelli, is an administrator at the University of the District of Columbia's David A. Clarke School of Law. He worked for years on grassroots political efforts in California, including the Campaign for Economic Democracy and Democrats for Peace Conversion. After earning a JD from the Antioch School of Law in 1985, he coordinated the successful campaign to reestablish Antioch as the District of Columbia's public law school and was subsequently elected to its Board of Governors. In 1989, he co-founded the MetroDC Environmental Network (MetNet), linking environmental and social justice organizations.
Ralph I. Miller, is co-founder and Executive Director of Latinos for America, and previously was California Chair of Latinos for Dean. He worked on staff for the Dean for DNC Chair campaign, as Hispanic Caucus liaison, and is an Advisory Member of Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary. Since 1973, he has been producing events and managing media projects worldwide, as an executive producer and media consultant. He grew up in in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Miami.
Greg Moore is Executive Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund. Before that, he served five years as Chief of Staff to the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. John Conyers. He has a long history of political empowerment and advocacy: From 1994 through 1997, he was Deputy Political Director for the Democratic National Committee. He served from 1987 to 1992 as Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund, the educational arm of the National Rainbow Coalition.
Joel Segal is a senior legislative assistant covering Social Security, veterans affairs, housing, HIV/AIDS in Africa, and poverty issues for Rep. John Conyers. He has been a long-time activist for universal health care, affordable housing, and environmental and public health. He is the coordinator for Mr. Conyers' Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force, "the Poor People's Caucus," and is the grassroots coordinator for the new Incarceration & Sentencing Policy Caucus. He founded the Free China Movement of over thirty groups inside and outside China, working for peace and democracy.
Cindy Sheehan is an internationally known mom and peace and justice advocate whose son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in action in Sadr City, Baghdad, on April 4, 2004. She is founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization of Americans who have had loved ones killed in wars. As an act of protest against the war, in August, 2005, Cindy took a stand outside of George Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, asking what noble cause her son died for; this began the Camp Casey peace movement.
State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is the youngest state legislator in Arizona, and an avid social justice activist. The ranking Democrat on the Environment Committee, she was named the Sierra Club's Most Valuable Member in 2005. She is known at the capitol and in the media as a leading voice for equal rights for migrants and for LGBTQ people. She led Arizona Together, a statewide political committee that defeated an anti-gay marriage amendment in November 2006. Kyrsten works as an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University and practices criminal defense law. She co-hosts The Truth to Power Hour on Air America Phoenix.
David Swanson is the Washington Director of Democrats.com, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition and creator of Meet with Cindy.org. He serves on the steering committee of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice and on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, and as Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. He is a member of and has served on the Executive Council of the Washington/Baltimore Newspaper Guild. His website iswww.davidswanson.org.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters chairs the Out of Iraq Caucus, having entered Congress in 1991. She has long combined legislative acumen with grassroots organizing. Following civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992, she appeared widely in national media to discuss the despair in urban America. She has called for redirecting resources from the "war on drugs" to prevention and treatment, and for repealing mandatory minimum sentencing laws for minor drug offenses. She spent 14 years in the California State Assembly, where she rose to the position of Democratic Caucus Chair and was responsible for such legislation as the largest divestment of state pension funds from South Africa, landmark affirmative action legislation, and the introduction of the nation’s first plant closure law. She was a leader in the movement to end South African Apartheid.
Congresswoman Diane E. Watson is a lifetime resident of California’s 33rd Congressional District. In 1975, after years working as a teacher and school psychologist, she became the first African-American woman to be elected to the Los Angeles school board. In 1978, she was elected to the California State Senate where she became chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. She was recognized as an advocate for healthcare, consumer protections, seniors, women and children. In 1999, President Clinton appointed her to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. She entered Congress in 2001, where she has been a strong voice for peace and social justice. She chairs the Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus.
Lyle "Butch" Wing, is the national political director for Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/ PUSH Coalition, where he works on voter education and registration, peace, and human rights issues in the U.S. and abroad. He began working with Rev. Jackson during the historic 1984 presidential campaign and helped launch Asian Americans and Peace Activists for Jesse Jackson. He served as California Field Coordinator in Rev. Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign. He later served as Director of the Silicon Valley Project, an initiative of Citizenship Education Fund.
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the first former welfare mother to serve in Congress. Since entering the House in 1993, she has been an advocate for children and families. As chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, she oversees policies affecting millions of American workers. The San Jose Mercury News called her “the unofficial matriarch of the
movement.” A member of the House International Relations Committee, she introduced the first resolution calling for troops to come home from Iraq and convened the first congressional hearing on military exit strategies. She calls for a complete re-evaluation of U.S. national security policy, emphasizing stronger global alliances and intelligence capabilities. She is an advocate of conservation and clean, renewable energy sources.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., is the president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, a national coalition of pop-culture social/political groups and youth leadership organizations who believe in the collective power of persons aged 14-39. A community activist, freedom fighter and hip-hop connoisseur, he has been a senior consultant for the Russell Simmons’ Hip Hop Summit Action Network and P. Diddy’s Citizen Change (Vote Or Die). Rev. Yearwood has been responsible for successful Hip-Hop Summits across the country, including in New York, L.A. Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Miami. He founded Hip Hop Voices (H2V) as a subsidiary of Voices for Working Families (AFL-CIO). During the 2004 presidential campaign, he helped create the first ever Hip Hop Team Vote Bus Tour, to involve young people in political change.
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