The DEA is hoping to raise some dough to fight SAFER's Colorado Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "The Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping into the political fray to oppose a statewide ballot issue that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
In an e-mail to political campaign professionals, a DEA agent named Michael Moore asks for help in finding a campaign manager to defeat the measure, which voters will consider in November. If passed, it will allow people 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. In the e-mail, which was sent from a U.S. Department of Justice account, Moore also writes that the group has $10,000 to launch the campaign. He asks those interested in helping to call him at his DEA office. That has members of Safer Colorado, the group supporting the marijuana legalization measure, crying foul. The government has no business spending public money on politics, they say. Steve Fox, the group's executive director, said members of the executive branch, including the DEA, should leave lawmaking to legislators...
"Jeff Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Denver office of the DEA, said voters have every right to change the laws. But, he added, the law also allows his agency to get involved in that process to tell voters why they shouldn't decriminalize pot...He said the DEA isn't trying to 'protect Coloradans from themselves' but that the agency is the expert when it comes to drugs...
"The Hatch Act, passed in 1939 and amended in 1993, governs most political speech. Passed in the wake of patronage scandals in which the party in power would use government money and staff to campaign against the opposition, the law is mostly aimed at partisan political activity, said Ken Bickers, a University of Colorado political science professor. While the act's prohibitions against on-the-job partisan politicking are strict, for the most part it allows federal employees to take part in nonpartisan politics. And it's mostly silent on nonpartisan ballot measures."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
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