Alice Huffman, Longtime Head Of NAACP's California-Hawaii Chapter, Announces Resignation
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP/CBS13) — Alice Huffman, the longtime head of California-Hawaii's chapter of the NAACP, announced that she will step down from her position in December after she again faced conflict-of-interest allegations involving her political consulting company.
Huffman, 84, will end her tenure on Dec. 1 after over 20 years as the leader of the chapter. She cited health concerns as a reason for stepping down, according to a resignation letter she wrote to the executive board of the California Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP.
Huffman will continue to lead her political consulting firm and will stay on the national NAACP's board, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Campaigns for and against several ballot measures paid Huffman's consulting firm roughly $1.7 million over the course of this year's election. Critics accused Huffman of aiding campaigns that did not hold the NAACP's values.
"I knew from 2016 that Ms. Huffman did not support a lot of propositions that were made to help Black people," Taisha Brown, the chair of the California Democratic Party Black Caucus, told the Sacramento Bee. "It was odd to me because she didn't go against the propositions as 'Alice Huffman.' She went against them as the president of the NAACP."
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Huffman received $200,000 to oppose a plan to abolish cash bail in California and another $95,000 to side with ride-sharing companies that backed a measure to have drivers remain as independent contractors instead of employees. Huffman's company also received $85,000 to oppose the imposition of new rules for kidney dialysis companies, $740,000 to oppose a measure that would have raised business property taxes to fund schools and local services and $620,000 to oppose a rent control measure. All five of the causes went Huffman's way.
Huffman had been accused of using her position at the NAACP for financial gain before this November's election.
"Among the political class in Sacramento, it's very well known that Alice essentially applies the NAACP good housekeeping seal to special interest causes in return for money," Garry South, a Democratic consultant, told The Bee in 2016. "I don't know how she gets away with it."
Rick Callender, the vice president the California and Hawaii State Conference NAACP, will replace Huffman.
