MORGANTOWN – Delegate Danielle Walker is ready to take her work as an advocate and activist to the next level in her new role as executive director of ACLU West Virginia.
“I am not abandoning anyone, I am just going to another level where I can, as an organization with staff and support, continue to do my job in a different capacity,” she said. “I appreciate each and every one of you.”
Walker, of Morgantown, will start her new job April 17. She learned about the job through an ACLU posting, she said, and considered the opportunity. “I really had to do some research and some soul searching.” And get the blessing from her family.
“I’ve always fought for civil liberties,” she said. “So to be in a capacity where a lot of the strongholds will be let loose and I can really and truly” reach out to all Mountaineers and not just District 81 was a positive aspect of taking the job. “I will still be on the battleground, but in a different capacity.”
ACLU-WV staff sits down every April to formulate a 12-month plan, said Communications Director Billy Wolfe. “So Danielle is coming on at the perfect time to have that conversation and get a feel for what everybody on staff does.”
Walker was first elected in 2018 and is midway through her third term. She reflected on some of the lowlights and highlights of her time in the Legislature.
On the former, she mentioned passage this past session of HB 3042, “Relating to forbidding government limitations on exercise of religion,” and HB 2007, “Prohibiting certain medical practices,” focused on irreversible, gender-affirming surgery and gender-altering medication; and on last year’s passage of the update to abortion law.
“I think those were the lowlights of my career,” she said. “But even in those lowest times … people really came out to use their voices, and it echoed across the state that West Virginians absolutely did not want an abortion ban; West Virginians absolutely do not want to be known as a place with a license to discriminate; and West Virginians respect the queer community.”
Walker several times sponsored what is often called the Crown Act, to make it illegal to discriminate based on hair texture or hairstyle. But even with Republican lead or co-sponsors, it never went anywhere.
Walker said she doesn’t see that as a disappointment. “It allowed us a space to educate.” It’s not just about race, but about discrimination, religious freedoms (for Rastafarians, for instance), and health concerns regarding straightening chemicals and treatments, she said.
And there’s a chance it could move in 2024, she said. “I’m very excited to see where it goes next year.”
Among the many highlights, she said, are passage of foster care legislation with the foster parents bill of rights, environmental bills, and legislation to support sexual assault victims.
Her biggest win, she said, is when – as a member of the minority party – she’s sat in a committee meeting and raised questions that spark an amendment, and a Republican will sponsor that so it moves, and those bills pass and go to the governor.
“I just want to say thank you to Morgantown, Monongalia County, District 51 and District 81 for making this journey possible,” and all Mountaineers across the state, she said.
Wolfe talked about Walker taking the director’s post. “It’s just an exciting time for us in general,” he said. ACLU-WV has grown, from summer 2019 with just five employees to 19 plus a contract employee now. And the national organization is sending needed resources.
And now, “bringing on Danielle, who is just such a celebrity and such a force in West Virginia. I don’t know anyone who’s a big supporter of ACLU West Virginia who is not also a big supporter of Danielle. There’s a lot of excitement on staff for her to get to work.”
Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, worked with Walker when he was a delegate. He said, “I want to wish Delegate Walker all the success in the world. I think she’ll be great at that job. They’ve chosen someone that’s very passionate and cares about the issues that are important to common folks.”
He said Walker will be missed in the Legislature. “Danielle was certainly the voice for people who didn’t have a voice or felt they didn’t have a voice. She always stood up for working folks and those that were less fortunate. Danielle was always there to be an advocate for those folks. She’ll do a lot of good things for a lot of people.”
Walker said she will will turn in her resignation letter to the House clerk and speaker on Monday. According to state code, the county party executive committee will within 15 days of Walker’s seat becoming vacant submit a list of three potential successors to the governor. The governor must then within five days appoint one person from the list to fill the seat.
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