NEW YORK -- In a sign of their discontent, NAACP members have elected two vocal critics of Chairman William F. Gibson to the civil rights group's national board of directors.
Civil rights activist Julian Bond and former NAACP President Hazel N. Dukes, running on an anti-Gibson slate, finished first and second, respectively, in the election of seven at-large directors to the 64-member board. The voting took place at NAACP branches across the country in December, and the sealed ballots were tallied here late Thursday.
Word of the results, which are to be announced today, heartened supporters of Myrlie B. Evers-Williams, a former college administrator and widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers who is challenging Dr. Gibson for the chairmanship. The board meets today to choose between the two candidates.
"It certainly is a sign that people all across the country are looking for change," said William Lucy, a labor leader and board member. "People think there's been enough infighting, and they see Mrs. Evers as an agent of change and a person of integrity."
Mrs. Evers-Williams, 61, said at a news conference yesterday that, if elected, she would appoint a special task force to determine the NAACP's "true financial condition" and name a search committee to find a new executive director for the nation's largest civil rights group.
Mrs. Evers-Williams said she became a candidate in response to the calls of NAACP members who feared that the organization would fold unless there was a change in leadership.
"Medgar died for the NAACP. I am prepared to live for the NAACP," she said. "I would not have been faithful to the memory of Medgar Evers or to myself had I sat back and not listened to those calls."
Mrs. Evers-Williams did not criticize Dr. Gibson by name, saying that "it would be unfair of me to say any one person is responsible" for the crisis at the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Turmoil begins
The NAACP has been in turmoil since last summer when then-Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. was found to have secretly committed up to $332,400 in NAACP funds to settle a sexual harassment suit brought by Mary Stansel, a former aide.
The board fired Dr. Chavis on Aug. 20, but the spotlight turned almost immediately on Dr. Gibson. The 62-year-old South Carolina dentist, who has held the volunteer post of chairman since 1985, was accused of having racked up $800,000 in NAACP expenses during his tenure. He denies any wrongdoing.
The organization, facing a deficit that has reached as high as $4.5 million, put almost its entire staff on unpaid furlough for most of the last quarter of 1994 because it couldn't make payroll.
New NAACP financial statements obtained by The Sun yesterday show that the organization took in $2.3 million less than budgeted in 1994, lost $580,000 on its "Image Awards" television show and owed $3.4 million at year's end while having only $7,326 in its general fund.
Supporters of both Dr. Gibson and Mrs. Evers-Williams maintained yesterday that they had the votes to win the chairmanship.
But the results of the at-large election clearly came as an unpleasant surprise to Gibson forces.
Three anti-Gibson candidates -- Mr. Bond, Ms. Dukes and Jesse Turner Jr., a Memphis, Tenn., businessman -- were elected, and three Gibson allies, including Kelly M. Alexander Jr., a key supporter, were defeated. NAACP President Rupert Richardson, a strong Gibson supporter, narrowly retained her seat.
Since the December voting, Dr. Gibson has received more negative publicity, including syndicated columns by Carl T. Rowan and a CBS-TV "60 Minutes" report that, among other questionable expenditures, he spent $600 in NAACP funds to buy a briefcase.
W. Gregory Wims, president of the Maryland NAACP, said he personally received 63 phone calls after the "60 Minutes" piece from outraged members -- all of them saying Dr. Gibson "has got to go."
Mr. Bond, who lost his board seat in 1992 after advocating term limits for board officers, including Dr. Gibson, called the at-large election "a repudiation of the leadership." Other Evers-Williams backers said the tide was turning in their favor.
A turning tide?
Nevertheless, Mrs. Richardson predicted a Gibson triumph, saying: "It doesn't look landslide-ish, but it looks good."
A New York state Supreme Court judge yesterday refused a request by Ms. Dukes for an injunction delaying the election until an audit of NAACP officers' expenses is completed. A preliminary audit report is expected, and Ms. Dukes said she now believes there are enough votes to defeat Dr. Gibson anyway. Ms. Dukes, a current board member whose term expires this year, was not included on the Gibson-backed slate of candidates for re-election.
Dr. Gibson, 62, is known as a tough infighter, and many board members -- particularly older Southerners -- owe him their positions in the NAACP hierarchy.
If today's vote for chairman is close, the outcome could hinge on whether newly elected board members are allowed to vote.
Carolyn Coleman, a Greensboro, N.C., government employee elected to fill a regional vacancy, said she was told at an orientation session yesterday that new members could not vote and wouldn't be officially seated until the end of today's meeting.
"I certainly came expecting to vote," she said.