Bethesda Businessman, Wife Give $15M to ACLU

BETHESDA, MD — A couple who own Bethesda-based Total Wine & More have given $15 million to the American Civil Liberties Union to help reduce prison populations and support efforts to rehabilitate and hire former convicts.

The donation from David and June Trone of Potomac is one of the largest in the ACLU’s history.

David Trone said he supports the “ban the box” movement which seeks to remove the criminal-record check box from job applications.

“Yes, people make mistakes,” he told The Washington Post. “But if they paid the price and now want to build a better life, why should that mistake have to carry with them the rest of their lives?”

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero says the six-year bequest will fund state projects in several states, including Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, where incarceration rates and the prospect of bipartisan cooperation for prison reform are greatest, reports WTOP.