Mary Kiffmeyer
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Mary Kiffmeyer is an American politician, currently serving as the 20th Minnesota Secretary of State. She is a member of the Republican Party. First elected in November 1998, she was sworn into office on January 4, 1999, and re-elected in November 2002.
The oldest of fourteen children, Kiffmeyer was born December 29th, 1946, in Pierz, a small Minnesota town. She married Ralph Kiffmeyer, a nurse anesthetist, in 1968. Her husband served one term in the Minnesota House. Kiffmeyer has four children--Christina, Patrick, James, and John--and thirteen grandchildren.
Kiffmeyer told the attendees of a 2004 National Day of Prayer event in Minnesota that the "five words" that are "probably most destructive" in America today are "separation of church and state." Later, when asked to clarify her remarks. Kiffmeyer replied, "It's not the words that are destructive, it's the way they are interpreted. There are a lot of good church people who don't think they can be involved in government."
In 2004 Kiffmeyer issued election rules that would have prevented Native Americans who lived outside of Minnesota's reservations using tribal ID cards to vote in the general elections. Federal law states that tribal ID cards are an acceptable form of identification. The ACLU filed a complaint, ACLU v. Kiffmeyer, on behalf of urban members of Native American bands and the National Congress of American Indians. Judge James Rosenbaum, a Republican appointee, issued a temporary restraining order in October 2004 that sided with the plaintiffs. The case was settled in favor of the plaintiffs in September 2005.
Kiffmeyer is currently running for re-election. Her DFL opponent is Mark Ritchie.
Electoral history
- 2002 Race for state Secretary of State
- *Mary Kiffmeyer (R) (inc.), 48% and is documented by an external link
- *Buck Humphrey (DFL), 45%
- 1998 Race for state Secretary of State
- *Mary Kiffmeyer (R), 47%
- *Edwina Garcia (DFL), 41%
- *Alan Shilepsky (Reform), 10%
External links
- [Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State]
- [Campaign Website]
- [Second Inaugural Address](Delivered in Saint Paul, January 6, 2003)
- [AU, Allies 'Let Freedom Ring' On National Day Of Prayer] (Online source for 2004 National Day of Prayer quotation)
- [Voting Rights Project-ACLU v. Kiffmeyer]
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