Sheriff Duffy Agrees to Stop Distribution of Anti-Bird Cards

In a decision hailed as a major victory by local civil libertarians, San Diego County Sheriff John F. Duffy agreed Tuesday in Superior Court to halt the distribution by on-duty deputies of post cards urging California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird to resign.

Duffy, facing a lawsuit brought last week on behalf of California Common Cause by the American Civil Liberties Union, voluntarily agreed to remove the anti-Bird post cards from Sheriff’s Department vehicles and substation front counters.

Duffy also agreed to circulate a memo to his deputies ordering that the post cards no longer be passed out, and that citizens requesting the cards be instead referred to anti-Bird or pro-Bird organizations. In exchange, the ACLU agreed not to seek an injunction against those activities.

“We’re very happy,” said ACLU spokesman Jim Gordon. “I’d have to say this is a biggie.”

But while Gordon’s organization celebrated, the Sheriff’s Department insisted that its purposes already had been served by supporting the mail-in campaign to oust Bird.

“We were very successful in our efforts to communicate with the chief justice; 50,000 of these post cards were produced and we distributed 18,000 of them,” said Lt. John R. Tenwolde, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman. “We’re pretty much out of cards now and we have no plans to order more. The ACLU knew that before this agreement was reached. The sheriff is well-satisfied that we’ve done our part.”

Duffy two weeks ago ordered his deputies to hand out the post cards to the public upon request, and to make them available at Sheriff’s Department substations throughout the county. The cards criticize Bird for her decisions on capital punishment and state that she has “hurt our entire judicial system . . . crippled law enforcement . . . and decided cases in favor of criminals over victims.”

The post card campaign was orchestrated by “Crime Victims for Government Reform,” a statewide group pledged to remove Bird and Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin--all appointees of former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Duffy, a charter member of Crime Victims for Government Reform, contended that the Sheriff’s Department distributed the post cards only to help educate the public. The ACLU, however, argued that deputies’ involvement in the mailing effort violated state statutes forbidding law enforcement officers from engaging in political activity while in uniform and on duty.

ACLU staff attorney Greg Marshall said his office plans to pursue its lawsuit against Duffy despite the agreement reached Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Douglas R. Woodworth.

“The general issue here involves elected officials with whole departments of public employees who get themselves and their employees involved in one side or another of a contested political campaign,” Marshall said. “We contend that what the sheriff did was illegal and we’re not about to let it go.”

Marshall said he believes it was the ACLU’s lawsuit that “really generated the change in attitude on Duffy’s part . . . The sheriff probably came to the conclusion that his actions were, if not illegal, at least questionable.”