07/02/2008

By MEG KINNARD  / Associated Press

As the new interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in South Carolina, Graham Boyd says he has ambitious plans for the state, where the group has not traditionally had a strong voice.

"I think there's a lot of work to be done up front, about not playing into that stereotype that the ACLU is a liberal organization," Boyd, a Spartanburg native and an attorney with the ACLU in California, said Tuesday. "I want to challenge people to look at the whole range of work that we do, because I think there is some part of work that we do that every single person in this state could agree with."

Boyd sat down with The Associated Press a day ahead of the opening Wednesday of the ACLU's new state headquarters in Charleston. Planning to spend a few months in his native state, Boyd says he will hire local ACLU staffers and rely on the state's residents to tell him what issues they'd like the ACLU to address through a 10-question online survey.

"That is going to guide the work we do, so there'll be a real sense of ownership by the people of the state of this organization," he said. "It's really a list of every topic that we can think of that would be relevant for civil liberties — civil rights, constitutional rights — in the state, and asking people to say that they think is important."

Boyd says the ACLU will issue a report on the survey in September, but won't wait until then to get started on its work in South Carolina. In the coming months, the ACLU will hold public meetings in 12 cities to discuss issues that concern people most.

For Boyd, privacy is issue No. 1.

"Privacy is the most nonpartisan, non-ideological issue that there is," he said. "Wherever you are on the political spectrum, we need to be mindful of the government's access to personal information and safeguarding our privacy."

Particularly in a state that requires all voters to show identification at the polls, Boyd said his organization will focus on informing voters and poll workers alike that anyone who shows up without ID may cast a provisional ballot, which is used when there is some question about a voter's eligibility.

"We live now in an age in which in every vote truly does count," he said. "There are elections that have been decided by a handful of votes."

Although he hasn't lived in South Carolina since leaving to attend Yale University in the mid 80s, Boyd returned to the state several years ago to represent students who sued the Berkeley County School District and the Goose Creek Police Department after a 2003 drug raid at Stratford High School. Surveillance videotapes captured the raid in which officers drew their guns, ordered students to lie on the floor and used a dog to search them for illegal drugs.

The case drew national attention, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson leading a protest march amid accusations blacks were unfairly targeted. Police never found drugs or made any arrests, and, in 2006, a federal judge approved a $1.6 million class-action settlement that made the students eligible for compensation between $6,000 and $12,000 apiece.

For Boyd, that case serves as a good example of how the ACLU can help all South Carolina residents.

"It doesn't matter what color your skin is. It doesn't matter what political party you're in," he said. "No one wants their child to have a gun held at their head when they've done nothing other than show up at school that day."

___

On the Net:

ACLU of South Carolina: http://www.aclusouthcarolina.org