Peter G. Simonson, Executive Director

Since 2000, Peter Simonson has served as Executive Director for ACLU-NM.  As primary spokesperson for the organization, Peter develops policy positions and addresses such diverse topics as national security, “zero tolerance” in public schools, racial profiling, immigrants rights, separation of church and state, and the protection of free speech rights. Under Peter’s leadership ACLU-NM has grown from 2,500 to over 6,000 members.  Our legal docket has grown from a dozen civil liberties cases a year to well over 30.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Peter directed a project to improve immigrants’ access to health care in Albuquerque.  For five years he worked in sustainable development and ethnographic research in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.  Peter earned his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1994.  He is a native of Albuquerque.

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Kathryn Turnipseed, Deputy Director

Kathryn Turnipseed serves as the Deputy Director of ACLU-NM.  Prior to joining the staff in May of 2008, Kathryn created Siladana LLC, a small private company specializing in advocacy, program development and strategic planning services for the non-profit sector.  In New Mexico, she worked as the Executive Director for the Metropolitan Homelessness Project; Program Manager for the St. Martins Hospitality Center; and Project Assistant for the Phoenix Rising HIV/AIDS Re-entry Project.  Kathryn is an active member and organizer in her community, and presently serves as the Board President for the Albuquerque Vipassana Sangha.  She received her BA in Psychology from University of Evansville and her MBA from Rutgers University.

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Julie Weinstein, Director of Philanthropy

Julie Weinstein joined the ACLU-NM in January of 2011. Prior to that, Julie led a dynamic membership and development program for five years at Bioneers, an international environmental and social justice non-profit based in Santa Fe, NM. For several years, she oversaw the annual fund and membership program, with 18,000 members, and managed a multi-million dollar capital campaign for TreePeople, an urban forestry non-profit in Los Angeles, CA. Earlier, she directed fundraising and public education programming for Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s Decorative Arts Council.

As a development professional for the past decade and a half, Julie’s focus has been on raising millions of dollars for social justice, environmental and arts organizations. She is particularly interested in helping members and donors make personally significant investments in the work and causes that are most important to them, for the benefit of the greater good.

Julie lives in the mountains outside of Santa Fe with her partner and their two children. She serves on the Board of Directors for HaMakom: The Place for Passionate & Progressive Judaism, and runs a small alpaca farm.

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Madelyn Rothstein, Development Associate

Madelyn serves as the Development Associate for ACLU-NM, managing fundraising efforts to maintain and expand the work of the affiliate. Prior to joining the ACLU-NM in October 2011 she worked as a fundraiser for the San Francisco Symphony. As a Lead Field Manager on sequential campaigns in Berkeley, CA Madelyn worked first building membership for the ACLU in Northern California and then garnering support to overturn Prop 8 in California and restore equal marriage rights with Equality California. Having completed her B.A. in Spanish & Community & Culture from UCLA in 2009, Madelyn’s experience also extended to doing applied research and service projects in the Latino immigrant communities of Los Angeles and contributed her work to the United Nations Report on Immigration, published by the North American Integration and Development (NAID) Center of UCLA in 2007. She completed her degree with a 7-month study in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she also worked with children affected by HIV/AIDS. Madelyn’s driving passions are social and environmental justice as well as performance and visual art.

Madelyn now resides happily in Albuquerque with her partner and enjoys hiking, climbing, and kayaking the beautiful terrains of New Mexico.

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Steven Robert Allen, Director of Public Policy

In January, 2012, Steven Robert Allen joined the ACLU of New Mexico as the Director of Public Policy. Allen acts as the ACLU of New Mexico’s primary representative at the Roundhouse, lobbying to protect and extend civil liberties through the law making process. Allen will also seek to promote good government policy at the municipal and county level throughout the state.

Allen has a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico and is the former editor of the Weekly Alibi, Albuquerque’s alternative newsweekly. Most recently, Allen served four years as the Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to holding elected leaders accountable to the public interest. One of his biggest accomplishments during his tenure with Common Cause was helping the state pass campaign contribution limits.

Steve lives with his wife, Sheila, and his two dogs and two cats. When not fighting for the public interest at the Roundhouse, he can often be found wielding a banjo in the alternative bluegrass band Young Edward.

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Micah McCoy, Communications Specialist

Micah McCoy serves as the Communications Specialist, managing ACLU-NM media and press relations. Before joining the ACLU in July 2009, Micah worked as a freelance writer in Austin, TX.  After graduating from Austin College with degrees in Sociology and Spanish, Micah spent a year in Kenya working as the Communications Coordinator for the East Africa regional office of Church World Service, a relief, development and advocacy organization. Micah also served as a volunteer coordinator for No More Deaths, an immigrants’ rights and border advocacy organization based out of Tucson, AZ. Aside from civil liberties, Micah’s passion lies in the theater. He acts regularly in local productions and has authored several award-winning plays.

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Laura Schauer Ives, Managing Staff Attorney

Laura Schauer Ives joined the staff of the ACLU of New Mexico in January, 2009, as its managing staff attorney.  After attending the University of New Mexico for her undergraduate studies in English and Political Science, Laura went on to earn her Juris Doctor at the University of New Mexico School of Law.  While in law school, she worked to pass palliative care legislation in an effort to ensure people receive adequate pain treatment at the end of life. Since graduation, Laura worked at a small plaintiffs’ firm in Santa Fe, where she represented employees in discrimination cases including Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the largest civil rights class action ever filed.  She has also served as an Assistant Public Defender.  In the six years prior to joining the ACLU, Laura was a sole practitioner, representing plaintiffs in employment discrimination claims involving age, gender, ethnicity and First Amendment retaliation.  Laura has two children, two dogs, and one husband.

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Ed Macy, Staff Attorney

Ed Macy joined the staff of the ACLU of New Mexico as a staff attorney in August 2011. A native of Albuquerque, he became active in the civil rights movement as an undergraduate and at the UNM School of Law. After law school, he was elected to co-direct the operations of a national civil rights organization headquartered in San Francisco. He was then awarded a fellowship to practice civil rights litigation. He returned home to New Mexico and began representing prisoners in various cases, including actions on behalf of incarcerated Muslims, women and African-Americans. He was one of the initial attorneys involved in the long-lived Duran litigation which changed the face of prisons in New Mexico. He then taught criminal defense at the UNM School of Law. For the next several years he was an Assistant Federal Defender where he represented criminal defendants in federal courts. Later he practiced in the civil area, representing plaintiffs in various personal injury and wrongful death actions.

He lives in Placitas with his wife, a Basset Hound and an attack poodle.

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Alexandra Freedman Smith, Staff Attorney

Alexandra Freedman Smith joined the ACLU as a staff attorney in March, 2011.  She graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law in the top 10% of her class in 2002.  While in law school, Alexandra was a member of the award winning American Bar Association Moot Court Team, and she was the Vice President of the Innocence and Justice Project.  After graduating from law school, Alexandra worked as an associate attorney at the law firm Freedman Boyd Daniels Hollander Goldberg & Ives P.A. for four years.  She also worked as a solo practitioner while raising her two children.  While in private practice, Alexandra worked with the ACLU as a cooperating attorney, and was a winner of the ACLU’s 2008 Cooperating Attorney of the Year Award.  Alexandra also serves on the Board of Directors of the Southwest Women’s Law Center and the New Mexico Women’s Justice Project.

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Andrew Polnett, Paralegal

Andrew Polnett serves as a Certified Paralegal for the ACLU of New Mexico. He is an active member of the New Mexico State Bar Paralegal Division. He is currently a Director and sit on the Board of Directors. Also, Andrew is a Co-Chair for the Professionalism and Professional Development Committee and also severs as a committee member on the Scholarship and CLE Committees. Additionally, Andrew has accepted a second appointment to the New Mexico State Bar’s Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee.

Andrew is a student at the University of New Mexico where he continues to work towards his a dual Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and English. Upon graduation it is his desire to attend UNM Law School. Andrew is a native of Albuquerque and is passionate about a variety of issues facing our Nation and communities.

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REGIONAL CENTER FOR BORDER RIGHTS

Vicki Gaubeca, Director

Vicki Gaubeca joined the ACLU of New Mexico in January 2009 to become the director of the ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she has helped develop and implement its mission of addressing civil and human rights violations that stem from border-specific immigration policy. Three priority areas for the Regional Center for Border Rights are addressing and preventing abuse of power by border enforcement officials, stopping wrongful enforcement of federal, civil immigration laws by local police and ensuring individuals held in immigration detention receive constitutionally protected, humane treatment and due process. She has more than 20 years of upwardly progressive and leadership experience in policy advocacy, community organizing, public affairs, communications, and public health in a variety of settings, but immigrant rights–as well as any civil rights–is an issue close to her heart. Born and raised in Mexico City, Vicki Gaubeca joined ACLU-NM most recently from Tucson, Arizona, where she was a passionate advocate and supporter for both immigrant rights and the LGBT community. She was a member of Las Adelitas, a group that aims to improve the quality of life for Latinas and their families through political empowerment, and part of the steering committee for Adelante, Nuestro Futuro, an annual conference that brought 250 Latina mothers together with their middle school daughters for a Saturday full of activities, including health pláticas on diabetes and substance abuse prevention. She also participated in numerous university and community LGBT groups and committees, including Wingspan, Equality Arizona and the University of Arizona OUTreach group, where she helped obtain domestic partner health benefits for state employees. In addition, she took leadership roles in campaigns that aimed to defeat anti-LGBT legislation in Arizona. Ms. Gaubeca, who speaks Spanish and English fluently, has a B.A. degree in English/Communications and a master’s degree in public health.

 

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Brian Erickson, Field Organizer

Brian Erickson initially joined the Regional Center for Border Rights (RCBR) in August of 2010 as a Border Servant Corps volunteer. Upon completion of his year of service, Brian transitioned into his current role of Field Organizer and will focus his efforts in the RCBR to connect with communities and individuals in Southern New Mexico and throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region to provide education and document the challenges to civil and human rights of the border context. Upon graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington with B.A. degrees in Spanish and Global Studies. Brian made the trek across country to join the Latin America Working Group in Washington, D.C., where he helped coordinate efforts among organizations located both in and out of ‘the beltway’ and reached out to grassroots advocates across the nation to push for just U.S. policies towards Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border region. To keep things light, Brian also enjoys music and tries to play guitar, is often found watching and playing sports, and retreats to the outdoors for hiking and camping.

 

Jaye Hobart, Project Coordinator

Jaye Hobart joined the ACLU of NM Regional Center of Border Rights through the Border Servant Corps in August of 2011.  She has come to Las Cruces, NM from Iowa City, IA with a strong passion in working towards social justice.  Jaye graduated from Luther College, located in northern Iowa, with a concentration in Women and Gender Studies.  In 2009, she completed a summer internship with the Urban Servant Corps (Border Servant Corps’ sister organization) in Denver, CO working as a youth group leader for a poverty-immersion program and volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.  Last summer, Jaye worked at the Domestic Violence Intervention Program as an advocate and shelter assistant.  During January, she interned for the Iowa Women’s Foundation, which is a fundraising organization for developing statewide outreach programs for young girls and women.  Jaye anticipates an intense year of learning, leading, and advocating for civil rights as part of the  Regional Center of Border Rights and hopes to earn a master’s in Social Work in the near future.