WHO WE ARE
WHAT WE DO
Our essential rights and responsibilities as self-governing citizens are expressed in the First Amendment. First Amendment Voice affirms and promotes freedoms of religion, expression, the media, free assembly, and petition. We also explore how contemporary trends like technological development, media bias, and other factors shape these rights.
We can accomplish this through education, advocacy, network development, and by promoting grassroots solutions. It is vital to build a foundation with an understanding of the meaning and application of the 1st Amendment; to address issues and policies affecting these rights through advocacy; to build a broad pluralistic constituency of citizens as this is vital to all, regardless of religion, race, culture, or socio-economic background; and to demonstrate through grassroots solutions the power of self-governing ethical citizens engaged in solving problems facing our communities.
OUR MISSION
First Amendment Voice serves to invigorate Americans to understand and exercise First Amendment rights through a collaborative campaign of awareness, education, advocacy, and facilitation.
UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES AND VALUES
+ Commitment to something greater than oneself.
+ Respect and caring for others.
+ Service above self.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STEVEN M. MISKA is the Executive Director of First Amendment Voice, a nonpartisan effort to reinvigorate civic awareness around free expression, religious liberty, press freedom and other first amendment issues. Steve retired as a Colonel after 25 years in the Army. His last assignment was teaching three years as the Army Chair at Marine Corps University. Previously, he served in the White House as Director for Iraq on the National Security Council.
In 2007, on his second of three combat tours, Steve led a team that established an underground railroad for dozens of interpreters from Baghdad to Amman to the United States. He earned top academic honors as a Counterterrorism Fellow at the College of International Security Affairs and has taught economics at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Steve routinely speaks on soft networks and has addressed DIA, RAND, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Young Presidents Organization of LA, and numerous media outlets and think tanks. He holds degrees from Cornell University, National Defense University, and West Point. He serves as an advisor to several nonprofits, including the Euphrates Institute, the International Refugee Assistance Project, and the i5 Freedom Network. He and his wife of 28 years have two children and reside in Southern California.
STAN ELLIS is the Treasurer of First Amendment Voice. Upon graduation from Norwich University with a
degree in mathematics, Stan accepted a commission into the Quartermaster Corps of the Army of the
United States. He served on active duty in various IT data center management positions within the
Headquarters, US Army Computer Systems Command for 5 years. Following that, Stan participated in
the Army Reserves as a war planner(logistics) for 15 additional years.
Upon completion of active duty, he worked for Optimum Systems Inc.(acquired by EDS) as a
manager/deputy director of Technical Services. In that role he supported IT benchmarking, onboarding,
and help desk functions for federal hosting customers. Following working for EDS, Stan joined GTE
Telenet (Sprint) as a senior manager and eventually data center director. In these roles he supported
technical and management growth of the business entity know as Sprint data. In addition to managing
the chargeback process of over 12m annually, Stan developed and managed the technical hosting
environment allowing Sprint to use excess hardened raised floor space to support hosting services for
the federal government.
Following 26 years of service with Sprint, Stan retired and earned an MBA and certificates in nonprofit
management and also in accounting. Graduate school honors included induction into the Delta Mu Delta
and Delta Epsilon Sigma honor societies. Community service activities over the last 40 + years involved
working with homeowners’ associations, churches, community nonprofits, and a local fire department.
This work with nonprofits included leading refinancing of churches/fire department, major renovation of
facilities, and purchase of new fire vehicles. Exclusive of First Amendment time, this service reflects
more than 56 ‘board’ years of which 29 were concurrently served as treasurer or financial chair in
nonprofits.
Stan is married to Frances Williams and they reside in Northern Virginia with 1 daughter, 2
granddaughters, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 ducks, and numerous semi domesticated rodents.
Mr. Inman also served as Executive Director of Minority Alliance International, a New York based international civil rights organization. He has been a candidate for the New York State Assembly and in response to the infamous Los Angeles Rodney King incident in 1991, he was appointed to a White House Domestic Advisory Council to consider how the country could address this level of police/community challenge. He is the author of the popular book – “The Colors of Love.” He is married to the former Cindy Whitting and is the father of two children.
CHELSEA LANGSTON BOMBINO joined Fetzer after spending the last three years as the Director of Sacred Sector and the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance at the Center for Public Justice (CPJ) in Washington, DC. She also served as the Director of Strategic Engagement for the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance from 2015 to 2017, and as acting CEO for the Center for Public Justice during summer 2020.
Prior to her work at the Center for Public Justice, she also worked as the Learning Director for Maryland Nonprofits, as well as the Manager of Education and Development for the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Her career has focused on nonprofit policy, democracy, and civic engagement, with her faith informing her work. She is also an experienced facilitator, speaker, and teacher, having led numerous conference sessions, and having taught a nonprofit management course at Pepperdine University. She continues to serve as a fellow with CPJ, is a contributing writer for Religion Unplugged, and currently serves on the boards of First Amendment Voice and Young Leaders Institute.
She enjoys spending free time making yummy vegan food and exploring nature trails with her husband, Josh, and baby, Benjamin.
DR. PAUL MURRAY has been in Christian leadership for more than 25-years and is the
senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church-Maryland. He is the award-winning author of Broken:
Picking up the Pieces after the Fall and soon to be published, First to Serve.
Dr. Murray serves as Vice President of the Global Peace Foundation USA where he leads issues impacting religious freedom and liberties within the U.S.A. and globally, he serves on the International Religious Freedom Roundtable. He has been a guest on TBN, Daystar, CTN and selected for the feature story and cover of BOSS Magazine. A former Peace Corps Volunteer to the country of Tunisia, Murray holds a Doctorate in Pastoral Leadership from Howard University, School of Divinity, a M.Div and M.A.R. in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Phoenix.
This term, Larry argued in and won a 9-0 decision from the United States Supreme Court in Dawson v. Steager, which held that states cannot give income tax benefits to state employees without extending them to similarly situated federal employees. Larry is lead counsel for a law firm that specializes in defense industry regulatory work in a First Amendment challenge to the State Department’s requirement of advance approval for the publication of privately-generated, unclassified content that is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. He is also lead counsel for Lufthansa in several discovery and patent infringement actions in which he won an appeal in the Ninth Circuit and in which the federal district court in Seattle, Washington, held Lufthansa’s opponent in contempt. He is lead counsel for Chevron in a breach of contract lawsuit against the government, in which the U.S. Court of Federal Claims recently awarded Chevron almost $19 million, including a sanction against the government for bad-faith litigation conduct. He is lead counsel for Boehringer for which he recently won a D.C. Circuit appeal regarding the appropriate scope of the Attorney-Client Privilege as it relates to the settlement of patent litigation. Larry is currently lead counsel in the Court of Federal Claims for several investors challenging the federal government’s expropriation of equity in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is lead counsel for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Federal Circuit and Supreme Court appeals challenging whether innovative laboratory methods for analyzing certain blood enzymes in a way that is predictive of cardiovascular disease are eligible for patent protection. He also has represented Bayer for almost 15 years in antitrust litigation regarding a settlement of patent litigation over the drug Cipro and several other matters. As part of his pro bono practice, Larry won a victory in the Supreme Court for a refugee from Cameroon seeking asylum, and he was court-appointed appellate counsel for Adham Hassoun, who was convicted of terrorism-related charges involving Jose Padilla.
Cathleen Pearl serves as Executive Director for the Military Women’s Memorial located at the ceremonial entrance of Arlington National Cemetery and is a member of First Amendment Voice’s Board of Directors. Formerly, she served as President and CEO of the National Defense University Foundation, Director of Outreach at the Museum of the Bible, Director of Development and Special Projects at Got Your 6, and Deputy Director of the National Guard Educational Foundation. She is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Air National Guard. Cathleen has a MA in Museum Studies from New York University and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She is a champion of women veterans, as well as, women, peace & security issues as they relate to national defense. She combines her passion for museums, public education, and curating interesting content with a lifetime of service including two years on the FAV Advisory Council and on the nominations committee for the Edward D. Lowry Memorial Award for Citizenship.
STAFF
Haley Henderson serves as the Communications Coordinator for First Amendment Voice. With a history of working for mission-driven, nonprofit sectors, she’s excited to support FAV’s mission. She believes strongly in the importance of promoting nonpartisan civic engagement, particularly in what can feel like a hyperpolarized media environment.
Outside of FAV, she is based in Prague, CZ where she studies politics at Anglo-American University. She has worked in nonprofit operations for the last five years. She began her journey in the social impact sector serving on the board of directors for a local youth-development organization in Atlanta, GA. From there, she worked in a variety of nonprofit settings including start-up accelerators, international development organizations, and she served as an AmeriCorps member for a year. Lately if she’s not working you can find her exploring new hobbies including but not limited to trying really hard to get good at crossword puzzles, crafting poorly but passionately, and finding unusual museums to visit.
I believe that the most essential element of our defense of freedom is our insistence on speaking out for the cause of religious liberty.
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth.
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.