The American Civil Liberties Union is expanding its work capacity in South Dakota. The Sioux Falls-baed civil liberties fighters have added Stacey Burnette as administrative coordinator, bringing ACLU-SD to five personnel.
Five people to fight all the racism, sexism, voter suppression, and all the other threats to civil liberties in South Dakota may not sound like much, but in South Dakota, five people count for a lot:
The expansion of the South Dakota chapter of the ACLU is critical at this time, as individual rights and liberties in our state are in jeopardy now more than ever. The staff additions make the ACLU of South Dakota the largest civil rights organization in the state, and the fastest growing chapter for the ACLU nationwide [American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, press release, 2016.01.12].
Mark Walker writes that the expansion will allow ACLU-SD to station a lobbyist in Pierre full-time (go, Libby Skarin!) to fight bad bills in the Legislative hopper. The only major stink blossom on that front so far is Rep. Fred Deutsch’s paranoid potty bill, House Bill 1008. That attack on transgender students gets its first hearing in House State Affairs, which has not yet placed HB 1008 on its agenda. Expect the ACLU to support the death penalty repeal that Senator Arthur Rusch (R-17/Vermillion) plans to sponsor.
I’m glad the good folks at ACLU national headquarters have seen the wisdom of investing more in spreading their New York values (which, as Donald Trump will tell you, are American values) out here on the prairie. Other national progressive organizations should look at helping turn South Dakota around to make our state a beacon for equality and justice, not a counterexample.
Good deal, as the presidential race continues, men will probably be filling lawsuits in all sorts of ways against women and those they perceive as women. Make no mistake, there actually is a war on women and women continue to support it by voting republican. The ACLU is very welcome here http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/men-rights-unruh-act-women-discrimination
Deutch posted his response to the ACLU’s increased staffing on Facebook yesterday. He states, “I look at it as a badge of honor.” Criminy.
Art Rusch supports the death penalty repeal! That is great news as Art has worked as a prosecutor and circuit court judge and has more credibility than virtually anyone in our state on the issue.
As for the ACLU, I recall when they had only one SD representative who actually covered both North and South Dakota if memory serves me. Legal help had to come from Steven Pevar in Denver, and he had several other states to cover, pretty much by himself. It is great to see the ACLU grow here in good of SD.