Pot: Key Democrats Punt on Prop. 19

23 July 2010 |permalink | email article

Proposition 19, the Nov. 2 ballot measure which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, is developing some significant opposition from surprising quarters, notably leading Democrats, including liberals and state Democratic Party officials.

Jerry Brown, the state attorney general and candidate for governor, has legal qualms, and his spokesman says he can’t support the ballot measure because it violates federal law.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the most popular Democrat in the state, says the measure leaves out crucial details on how such regulations are going to be enforced by counties. “Proposition 19 is simply a jumbled legal nightmare.”

The California Democratic Party, as Capitol Weekly reports, decided last weekend that it would not endorse the initiative and stay neutral on the basis that it might hurt party candidates running for constitutional and other offices.

The argument in favor of the measure as listed in the Secretary of State’s official voter guide says the California Board of Equalization estimates annual marijuana tax revenues of $1.4 billion – an argument that proponents will push hard. A Field Poll released July 9 shows Proposition 19 at a narrow 4 percent disadvantage.

On the campaign trail

Recent financial statements showed that U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer had more than 11 times more cash on hand then her Republican rival Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO. At a meeting of the American Association of Political Consultants this week in Sacramento a consultant for Fiorina predicted that both campaigns would end up with roughly similar budgets. Fiorina had previously made loans to her campaign totaling $5.5 million. Some analysts predict a close race.

Quotable

“These allegations of anti-white racism are being deliberately hyped and exaggerated because they are designed to make whites fearful. … The Sherrod case has fully exposed the right-wing campaign to use racial fears to destroy Obama’s presidency, and I hope the effect is to finally stiffen some spines in the administration.” – Eugene Robinson, in The Washington Post.

“There had been no credible evidence linking the government of Saddam Hussein to the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001….and that was the judgment, I might say, of the C.IA. …Arguably, we gave Osama bin Laden this Iraqi jihad.” – Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former leader of MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency, in London testimony this week.

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