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08/23/2017 08:30 AMAndy Schatz wants people to listen to each other—and no, he’s not a doctor specializing in auditory problems, a hearing aid specialist, or a telephone repairman.
Andy is baord president of the Connecticut affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and is a former board member of the national organization. What he regrets is the lack of civil discourse that prevents people of opposing views from listening to each other.
For his work with the ACLU and his work with the Social Justice Committee of Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek (CBSRZ) in Chester, Andy was awarded the Philip Scheffler Pursuer of Justice Award by CBSRZ last spring. (The late Phil Schleffer was longtime executive editor of CBS television’s 60 Minutes.)
Andy is chair at CBSRZ of the Social Action Committee, which participates in a range of community activities including staffing meal sites for the Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries, conducting food and clothing drives, and furnishing apartments for the homeless. The committee has also advocated for legislation on gun control, racial justice, and children’s rights.
In addition, the Social Action Committee coordinates its work with the Shoreline Basic Needs Task Force, an interfaith group working to make sure the needs of the vulnerable population along the shoreline are not overlooked. Andy was the first chair of the Basic Needs Task Force’s Hunger Committee.
The ACLU, Andy emphasizes, takes positions all over the political spectrum.
“People think it is a left wing, pinko organization; what they don’t know is that people like the Koch brothers take the same position we do on issues like over-incarceration [of prisoners],” Andy says. “People love and hate the ACLU, but the process is to make people talk and think”
The Koch brothers, Charles and David, are well known supporters of conservative causes.
On the issue of cellphone privacy, the ACLU advocates requiring police to get court permission before using sophisticated technology to access people’s private communications like text messages and physical location.
In Connecticut, during the 2017 legislative session, the ACLU of Connecticut supported bills on a wide range of issues including reforms for the use solitary confinement. It also successfully sought reform of civil forfeiture laws that allow the state to take and retain someone’s property. Connecticut now requires a criminal conviction for most or all civil forfeiture cases.
At the moment, Andy is interested in improving various programs for women at the York Correctional Institute in Niantic, including starting program for financial literacy for ex-offenders to ease their reentry to society. Often, he points out, it was the inability of the women to manage finances that brought about the situations leading to their incarceration.
This year, the ACLU of Connecticut was one of the sponsors of a law that prevents state licensing boards from barring licenses for hairdressers and barbers because of criminal records. Andy points out it is a Catch-22 situation: Barbering and hairdressing are skills taught in prison, but when the students are released, they cannot get licenses to practice the trade they’ve been taught. Governor Malloy signed the bill into law in July.
Andy’s education helped him to form his ideas of civil liberties. He grew up in West Hartford, but spent his last two years of high school at boarding school in Wales, with a multi-national student population. The years abroad gave him perspective on the issues then roiling society both in the United States and other countries. As chair of the high school’s debate society, he was involved in animated discussions of subjects from the Vietnam War and the women’s movement to South Africa’s then-policy of apartheid.
At college at Cornell, Andy worked in the areas of civil rights and social justice, focusing his efforts particularly on Medicaid and welfare reform.
He continued his involvement in welfare reform during a gap year between his graduation from Cornell and entering Harvard Law School. He went to California, working for the Welfare Education and Legal Assistance Center in Santa Cruz. Andy knew it was the kind of approach to law he wanted to continue to pursue professionally. After his year in California, he entered Harvard Law School where he became editor of the Harvard Civil Rights, Civil Liberties Law Review.
Andy found the balance he wanted in his legal career through a summer job at a law firm in Chicago, which he joined as a full-time staffer after graduation. The firm’s case load gave him the opportunity to work in areas like class action litigation, while continuing his commitment to public interest law.
Andy stayed in Chicago for 10 years, where he met his wife, Barbara Wolf. The couple has two grown children, Jeff and Laura.
When Jeff was six years old and playing soccer, Barbara had a special request after observing the coaches yelling at the young players. She said if Jeff played Little League in the spring, Andy should coach. He did, and when his son became old enough for Little League’s majors at 10, Andy became team manager. And when Jeff was too old to play, Andy still stayed involved. He continued as team manager until 2010 when a younger assistant’s son turned 12.
“I was having so much fun, I just went on,” he explained.
That was not the only sport in which Andy was involved. From l996 to 2004, he also coached Barbara’s soccer team, which played in a women’s league in West Hartford.
Andy has long been an active participant in community affairs beyond his involvement with both American and Connecticut civil liberties unions. He was a town council member in West Hartford for some eight years, two of them as deputy mayor. He has also served on the board of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford. Andy and Barbara have also funded a program in Hartford through the Charter Oak Cultural Center to provide job training for ex-convicts in conjunction with 2nd Chance Planet, an organization that employs former offenders in recycling used office furniture.
Locally, Andy has been involved with two non-profit, public access cable television stations, Southeastern Connecticut Community Television and Valley Shore Community Television. Previously he was both a board member and president of West Hartford Community Television.
Andy’s family had long come to a cottage on the shoreline from West Hartford and in 2010, he and Barbara moved to this area permanently. The move completed a new stage in Andy’s life. Two years earlier, with his children out of college, he had retired from the practice of law to devote himself to civil liberties and social action causes.
In what exists of his leisure time Andy swims and sails. He walks outdoors in summer; and on a treadmill at the Valley Shore YMCA in winter. There is one sport he has had to give up: golf.
“I loved it, but it took too much time,” he says.
To find out more about the work of the ACLU of Connecticut, visit www.acluct.org.