Garrigan: New group redefining ‘progressive’

By Mary Garrigan, Journal Staff Writer | Sunday, November 20, 2005

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I expected to see the usual suspects — those liberal, left-of-political-center Democrats like myself — at the Democracy in Action reception last Thursday.

So I was a little surprised when two of the first women I met there turned out to be registered Republicans.

After all, Democracy in Action bills itself as a group of politically progressive women working to change South Dakota politics. And South Dakota politics, at least in its current form, is overwhelmingly Republican.

But Republicans Lorraine Collins of Spearfish and Judy Brothers of Rapid City believe that adjectives like moderate, centrist and, yes, even progressive, can apply to Republicans, too.

Brothers joined DIA shortly after the grassroots group was created almost two years ago. She believes that her party has been hijacked by the Religious Right-wing of the Republican Party, and she’d like it back.

She wants to see more Republican women join DIA, which she is quick to point out is a bipartisan effort.

“Every now and then, I have to remind them of that when they get a little too partisan,” she said.

Collins is part of a smaller offshoot group, led by DIA member Marsha Mittman, that is developing a similar women’s group in Spearfish.

Thirty years ago, Collins chaired the South Dakota Commission on the Status of Women. She was one of the Republican members appointed in 1975 by Gov. Richard Kneip to that board, which was created to conduct research into the political, social and economic condition of women in South Dakota and to suggest ways to improve it.

Among her many duties back then was debating Phyllis Schlafly, who came to the South Dakota Legislature to campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment. But Collins left South Dakota in 1978 and, by the time she returned 10 years later, the commission no longer existed. “When I came back, it was all dead,” she said.

Unfortunately, the problems facing women in South Dakota — low-paying jobs, access to affordable health care, funding for day care — are much the same in 2005 as they were in 1975, Collins said.

She hopes that DIA can be a voice for those issues.

DIA began with the voices of three Rapid City women talking politics over a cup of coffee at the Colonial House restaurant in January 2004. Less than two years later, that gang of three has grown to more than 300 women who connect through an e-mail list, meetings, study groups, educational forums, lobbying efforts and political action events. “We quickly outgrew the Colonial House,” Karen Miller, one of DIA’s founders, said.

Today, DIA has weekly meetings at Rapid City Public Library from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month. Another DIA meeting is held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at Dunn Brothers Coffee in Rapid City.

Miller was motivated to start DIA because she saw so much political capital being wasted on what she considered explosive fringe issues, like abortion and gay marriage, while the things that affect every woman in South Dakota — issues like a living wage, quality education and affordable health care — were being ignored, overlooked and underfunded.

Defining exactly what DIA means by “progressive” is open to interpretation. As DIA treasurer Suzane Nolan said, “We don’t care what political party you are. We care what your passion is.”

Its members are not all of one mind on every issue, not even on abortion rights, although its members probably all agree that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. DIA members have spent a lot of time and energy this past year monitoring the state’s AbortionTask Force, as well as other women’s health issues, such as the availability of emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms.

For Miller, being progressive has something to do with educating herself, and then educating the public through forums, debates and discussions. DIA has hosted a half dozen educational forums on a wide array of issues that ranged from stem cell research to school board candidates, from poverty to the Patriot Act.

For Sue Timmons, that kind of dialogue was missing in Rapid City before she joined DIA.

Timmons moved back to Rapid City in 1994 after many years away, the last five of them teaching in Egypt. She was “shocked” by the political climate she found upon her return.

Eventually, she learned to keep her political opinions to herself, recalling the day she found herself conversing with a woman across the alley, each of them wondering, but afraid to ask, if the other was a Democrat.

“I stopped speaking out,” Timmons said.

DIA helped her find her political voice again. And, with apologies to Helen Reddy, Timmons and the other DIA women are ready to roar.

For more information about DIA, contact diadakota@yahoo.com or write to DIA, P.O. Box 123, Rapid City, SD 57709.