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Tiffany Campbell Takes on Legislative Affairs for ACLU-SD

This news should grate Pastor Hickey's cheese: Tiffany Campbell is back defending South Dakotans constitutional rights! Campbell played an important role in defeating the last unconstitutional abortion ban to make the South Dakota ballot back in 2008. Now she's on the job as director of advocacy for the South Dakota office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Campbell will oversee legislative affairs at the local, state, and federal levels. She will also maintain and build coalitions dedicated to protecting freedom and liberty, and grow the ACLU's network of activities and volunteers statewide.

"My biggest goal for this position is to create new and enhance existing leadership among civil rights organizations to benefit future generations of South Dakotans," said Campbell, who is a former news producer and political campaign organizer. "I want people to know our office is here and fighting for their rights every day. Freedom can't protect itself" [ACLU-SD press release, 2011.10.17].

Campbell knows quite personally what it's like to have the government try to take away her fundamental American rights to privacy and autonomy. She will serve all South Dakotans well by defending them from further intrusions by our state legislature.

10 Comments

  1. Steve Hickey 2011.10.20

    Certainly I look forward to working with her on issues like indian injustice. However, I don't suspect she'll be interested to work with me on issues, how-did-you-say... where "the government tries to take away fundamental American rights to... autonomy" for all biological human beings. We are all connected as a human family and I have yet to see the ALCU do anything but exclude, through vicious intolerance and hate, certain people from that community. And this next year as they'll do in every state, let's watch the ACLU sue our state on frivolous redistricting issues and drain away a couple million more dollars in legal fees from the teachers and nursing homes. Maybe Tiffany can set up a special fund in the governors office to cover the legal fees the state will incur and get all her friends to write checks.

  2. Roger Elgersma 2011.10.20

    Your constitutional right to kill your kids? Even Justice Ginsberg said in her interview for the court that the constitution is minimal in that area. Or was she lying to get a job. Your personal autonomy seems to omit the personal autonomy of the babies right to life, liberty and their persuit of happiness. Or is having a bad mother preclude that already. My parents took in foster babies till they got adopted and all the babies got adopted.

  3. TCMack 2011.10.20

    Steve, in your paragraph, your contradicting yourself. You claim that you want to work with the ACLU for Native American injustices in the state, but your complaining about a lawsuit that will probably be filed by the ACLU for the protection of Native Americans. My evidence to this is the three districts in North Rapid. Majority of the population in North Rapid is Native American, seen through the representation and the way the districts are gerrymandered a person could not tell that the area has a large Native American population. Since Native Americans in South Dakota have been a discriminated population and fall under the protection of the "Voting Rights Act of 1965" the ACLU has every right to file a lawsuit in the protection of discriminated people.

    Now on your comment on how the State is going to pay for defending against said lawsuit. Taking money away from teachers and Medicaid recipients is horrible idea, but this shows the lack of foresight from our legislative body. Remember, the abortion bill passed this year nearly was fully repealed by a federal judge and faces a legal battle, which will cost state millions of dollars to defend. A lawsuit there could have been avoided if the legislature would have listened to the constituents who voted against such bans in 2006 and in 2008. Another way legislature could have raised the funds,without hurting teachers or Medicaid recipients, would be passing a new tax for the purpose paying for lawsuits caused by bad legislation that infringes on peoples' human rights. By passing this tax we can reduce more cuts to Education and Medicaid. With fewer cuts to Education and Medicaid we can make sure that our populous is taken care of and hopefully reduce the need for correctional facilities. Where additional savings from Corrections could go to Education and Medicaid to help fund said programs.

    Steve, I hope you do not take personal offense to my comments. I respect you for putting out your views in a public forum, and hope to have more conversations with you.

  4. Ellen Van Burskirk 2011.10.20

    Hickey is currently googling "voting rights act of 1965".
    If he is truly for Native American rights, he would understand that the ACLU brought the lawsuit against SD in 2002 because it disenfranchised Native Americans voting rights.
    As for his comment, "set up a special fund in the governors office to cover the legal fees the state will incur ", isn't that what the "pro-life" groups are doing since the state now has to defend HB 1217?
    Hickey is hypocrisy at it's finest.

  5. Steve Hickey 2011.10.20

    Huh? Ellen, hypocrisy is what I was pointing out with regard to a fund to cover state legal fees. These same people who have a fit about state funds litigating an abortion law need to also have a fit about a frivolous ACLU suit in our state and every state. And no I'm not googling the voter rights act or referring to disenfranchised voters on the Rez. The ACLU was present at the redistricting meetings as related to our native population and they were happy with the outcome. Even so they'll work hard to concoct some justification to sue the state as that is what they do.

  6. Ellen Van Burskirk 2011.10.20

    Hickey calls the ACLU lawsuits "frivolous"?! From that comment I'm going to assume he thinks defending Native American voting rights a "frivolous" lawsuit? I thought Hickey said he's willing to work with the ACLU on " indian injustice", which should include their voting rights. Maybe he should so some research.
    The ACLU doesn't just sue for the hell of it, they sue when people's civil rights are violated. Quit passing laws that violate people's civil rights and the ACLU will quit suing you. That should go without saying, but obviously Hickey needs a lesson on the basics of law.

  7. Douglas Wiken 2011.10.21

    The ACLU has often made problems worse instead of better with not necessarily frivolous suits, but suits on behalf of outright liars without clean hands that wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  8. Mama Jaunc 2011.10.21

    Well stated, Ellen!

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