Steve Laudig Click here to view testimony
Steve Laudig is an attorney who has practiced in Indianapolis and now splits his time between practicing law and being a graduate student in Political Science. Mr. Laudig has litigated and won voting rights cases involving boundary lines against Indianapolis, the Indiana State Election Commission and the Marion County Election Board. He recently filed a federal Voting Rights Act complaint against the Lawrence, Indiana city council, charging that its district boundaries discriminate by race.

Mr. Laudig is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the Seventh Circuit; and the Courts of Indiana and Hawaii, and has been a death penalty qualified public defender. Mr. Laudig belongs to the following organizations: Hawaii Bar Association; Hawaii Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Native Hawaiian Bar Association. Previously, Mr. Laudig was a member of the Indiana Public Defender Council; Indiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Charter Member); Marion County Criminal Defense Bar Association (Founder); National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; and American Trial Lawyers Association. He currently edits the Hawaiian Journal of Law and Politics.

Judson H. Miner
Judson H. Miner is a partner in the law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a firm with offices in Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1971, the firm has acquired a national reputation in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development work.

Mr. Miner has been involved in numerous voting rights cases. He was the lead attorney in Barnett v. City of Chicago, 141 F.3d. 699 (1998), in which the Seventh Circuit approved of voting wards designated for Whites, African Americans, and Latinos. Mr. Miner also served as co-counsel for African American intervenors in King v. State Board of Elections, 979 F.Supp. 619 (N.D. Ill. 1997), a case involving alleged racial gerrymandering that ultimately was heard in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Miner served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago.
Mr. Miner also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Simon E. Sobeloff, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Minor attended Northwestern University for his undergraduate studies, as well as the London School of Economics. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was the Associate Editor of the Law Review.

Greg Moore
Greg Moore is the Executive Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, appointed in October 2001 by its Board of Directors. Mr. Moore is responsible for the overall coordination of national programs designed to promote increased voter education and participation among African Americans and communities of color throughout the U.S. while promoting voter rights, election reform and issues that are critical to the NAACP and its branches.

Mr. Moore has a long history of political empowerment and advocacy serving in a number of leadership positions throughout his 20 years of issue advocacy. Most recently Mr. Moore served five years as the Chief of Staff to the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. Representative, John Conyers (D-14th, MI). In this role, he directed the overall operations and legislative strategy with a special emphasis on civil rights, voting rights, election reform, campaign finance reform, criminal justice issues, AIDS awareness and programs that encouraged economic and cultural development.

From 1994 through 1997, Mr. Moore was the Deputy Political Director for the Democratic National Committee where he was instrumental in developing the Voter Registration and Outreach programs while also overseeing Base Vote Constituency programs and activities, nationally. While at the DNC, he also served as the Liaison to the Training Division and targeted Coordinated Campaigns, strategic planning and implementation of the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.

Mr. Moore also served for five years as the Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund, the civic educational arm of the National Rainbow Coalition from 1987 through 1992. Mr. Moore’s private sector involvement includes the founding of GTM Consulting Services, a political consulting firm, where he served as its President and CEO and TriCom & Associates Advertising Firm, where he served as Senior Vice President for Government Relations.

Mr. Moore received his B.S. from the College of Communications, Ohio University. He has two sons, Gregory, Jr., 16 and Jelani, 13.

The Honorable Michael C. Murphy
Reverend Dr. Michael C. Murphy serves the Greater Lansing, Michigan community in multiple capacities, including the office of State Representative for the 68th House District. He was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2000, after serving as President of the Lansing City Council. As a State Representative, he is a member of the House Commerce Committee, House Energy and Technology Committee, the House Transportation Committee and is also Co-Chair of the bipartisan Children's Caucus and Chair of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus.

Reverend Dr. Murphy also is the Pastor and Founder of St. Stephen's Community Church, United Church of Christ in Lansing. He holds degrees from Chicago Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry and Master of Divinity), Michigan State University (M.A.) and DePaul University (B.A.). Lansing Magazine describes him as one of "100 Most Influential" persons in the Greater Lansing community. Reverend Dr. Murphy was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.

Mark Ritchie Click here to view testimony
Mark Ritchie is the Executive Director of National Voice, a Minneapolis-based coalition of non-profit and community groups working to maximize public participation in the nation's democratic process. In 2004, Mr. Ritchie led a nationwide effort to help churches, businesses, neighborhood groups and nonprofit organizations organize nonpartisan voter registration efforts, reaching over five million new voters nationwide.

Mr. Ritchie grew up in Nevada, Iowa, graduating from Iowa State University in 1971. He and his family have lived in Minneapolis for 24 years. Mr. Ritchie has served as the president of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-profit organization working with businesses, churches, farm organizations, colleges and universities, and other civic groups to foster long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability for Minnesota’s family farmers and rural communities.

Two years ago Mr. Ritchie was asked to take a leave from his position as President of the Institute to head up National Voice. Under his direction, National Voice supported the work of over 1000 non-partisan groups throughout the country, including over 400 groups in the Minnesota Participation Project. In addition to registering new voters, National Voice created a national media campaign called "NOVEMBER 2," that helped voters find new ways to get involved in the elections.

Mr. Ritchie has long been involved in public and community service, both domestically and internationally. He has worked in all sectors – business, community, and government, including serving under Governor Rudy Perpich in the Minnesota State Department of Agriculture. Mr. Ritchie received the Twin Cities International Citizen of the Year award in 2000 and the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action’s Activist of the Year award for 2004.

Janet Robideau
Janet Robideau is a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and a resident of Missoula, Montana. She is a longtime activist as well as the Executive Director of Montana People’s Action (MPA) and Indian People’s Action (IPA), organizations that fight for social, economic, and racial justice using direct action organizing.

Ms. Robideau’s earliest life experiences include forced relocation to Federal and Catholic boarding schools and later, living on an impoverished Indian reservation in eastern Montana. In the 1970s, she became an activist for Indian rights through the American Indian Movement.

Years later in Missoula, Ms. Robideau became an assisted living caregiver and organized other caregivers into a trade organization for worker rights. It was during that time she encountered Montana People’s Action, a social change organization. Ms. Robideau learned organizing techniques employed by MPA and she decided it was time for Indian people to organize again but in a different way.

Using bits and pieces of information and training from MPA, Ms. Robideau created Indian People’s Action. IPA protects the civil rights of Indian people in Montana and addresses discrimination by police, the courts and public school systems but also larger issues such as affordable housing, health care reform and wage protections. For the last eight years, IPA has raised awareness about voter participation by Native Americans with an unprecedented 95% of Missoula’s Native population voting.

Jorge Sanchez
Jorge Sanchez is a Staff Attorney in the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) Chicago office. He has spent a total of four years with the organization, initially as a Legislative Staff Attorney from 1996-1999 and most recently as a litigator in the areas of political access and employment. He spent over five years as a litigation associate with the firm Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan, working primarily in labor and employment litigation.

Mr. Sanchez has argued twice in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and has been admitted to practice in the Federal Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Northern District of Indiana. A graduate of the Chicago Public Schools, Mr. Sanchez graduated from Brown University in 1988 and earned his law degree from the University of California Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1995.

Elona Street-Stewart Click here to view testimony
Elona Street-Stewart is the Chairwoman of the School Board of Saint Paul, Minnesota, having been the first American Indian elected to the Board. In addition to being Chairwoman, Ms. Street-Stewart has held several other posts with the Saint Paul School Board, including Co-chair of the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Superintendent Search, 1998-1999; Chair of the Saint Paul School District's Parent Committee for Indian Education since 1990; and All Nations American Indian Magnet School and American Indian Family Center -- Minority Encouragement Program Board, 1991-1999.

In the area of community development, Ms. Street-Stewart has distinguished herself in the following roles: Chair, Twin Cities Healthy Start-American Indian Advisory Committee, Executive Committee, and Consortium; St. Paul Area Council of Churches, board; The Department of Indian Work, board; Friends of the Library; American Indian Cultural Advisory and Education Committees of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts; Elder, Presbyterian Church U.S.A. since 1978; Member of the General Assembly Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns; General Assembly Special Task Force on Native American Ministry; The Cross Caucus of all 5 national racial ethnic caucuses, board; Officer in presbytery and synod Presbyterian Women; Designated liaison on immigrant population program areas, public policy, affecting communities of color, and affirmative action strategies; and Dubuque University and Theological Seminary's Council of Advisors.

Alice Tregay Click here to view testimony
Alice Tregay has journeyed with some of the giants in the world of civil rights and has been a non-stop advocate for positive change through the medium of grassroots politics. Throughout her career, Mrs. Tregay has served as a successful and efficient political organizer, has fervently advocated and lobbied for the rights of minorities, and has led campaigns to register thousands of voters.

In 1964, Mrs. Tregay joined the civil rights movement in their fight against the Chicago Board of Education when the overcrowding of the Chicago Public School system resulted in so-called "Willis Wagons"-- portable school units whose main purpose was the perpetuation of segregation. With leaders including Al Raby and Dick Gregory, Mrs. Tregay was instrumental in successfully removing the “Willis Wagons" from the Chicago Public School System.

Later in 1964, she worked with the American Friends Service Organization, a group investigating housing discrimination by realtors to uncover the rampant discrimination against Blacks seeking housing.

During the height of the civil rights movement, Mrs. Tregay worked with Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend James Bevel on “Operation Breadbasket.” The organization’s main goals included pushing for jobs for the poor and for minorities and wiping out discrimination within Chicago’s Black communities. The organization also fought to have major food companies hire Blacks in the communities in which they operated and sold products.

Under her leadership, Operation Breadbasket implemented the Political Education Division, training thousands of students over a five-year period to work and lead political campaigns. Mrs. Tregay registered voters from Chicago to Mississippi during the tumultuous sixties. She trained and organized campaigns for politicians responsive to African American issues and equality of all persons.

Mrs. Tregay has been an integral part of campaigns for a variety of candidates including: Congressman Abner Mikva, Mayor Harold Washington, Presidential Candidate Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Congressman Ralph H. Metcalf, Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., President Jimmy Carter, Senator Carol Moseley Braun, and Vice-President Mondale.