Drug
Czar
Says
Nevada
Election
Laws
Don't
Apply
to
His
Politicking
1/31/03
The head of the White House's Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP, the office of the "drug czar") refused Tuesday to tell Nevada election officials how much money he spent campaigning against Question 9, the November 2002 marijuana legalization initiative sponsored by the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). That initiative failed, and MPP lays part of the blame on interference from Walters, who made at least two trips to the state to campaign against the measure. Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller sent a written request that the drug czar file campaign finance reports as required under Nevada law after MPP filed a post-election complaint against Walters alleging he failed to file campaign finance reports as required under Nevada law. But in a letter from ONDCP counsel Edward Jurith dated Tuesday, the drug czar's office claimed he was "immune" from Nevada's campaign finance law "as a federal officer acting within the scope of duties, including speaking out about the dangers of illegal drugs." Thus, the one-paragraph letter continued, "Director Walters and the ONDCP respectfully decline to respond to the complaint accompanying your letter of January 14." In that letter, Nevada election officials, acting on the MPP complaint, reminded Walters that Nevada law requires "the reporting of contributions and expenses for every person or group of persons organized formally or informally who advocates the passage or defeat of a question or group of questions on the ballot at any election." They found ONDCP's response high-handed and insufficient. "We got one paragraph back from them," said Steve George, spokesman for the Secretary of State. "The problem we have is that the paragraph they sent may be correct or not, but they don't cite any particular law or statute, they don't show us chapter and verse that would exempt them," he told DRCNet. The Secretary of State's office will turn the letter over to the Nevada Attorney General's office to seek an Attorney General's opinion on whether ONDCP's reply was sufficient, said George. His office hopes for a response "within a couple of weeks," he added. "Walters basically told the state of Nevada to go to hell," said MPP communications director Bruce Mirken. "This dismissive, one-paragraph letter is an insulting non-response," he told DRCNet. "The Secretary of State was not asking Walters not to do something, but merely to report what he spent campaigning, just like everyone else, just like MPP had to do. They made great hay during the campaign saying ours was a well-funded campaign and our opponents were under funded, but they were using who knows how much taxpayer money without reporting it themselves. Their shamelessness is breathtaking." Still, MPP wasn't exactly sandbagged by ONDCP's non-response. "We expected something like this, so we sent a letter signed by MPP executive director Rob Kampia to the Secretary of State's office on January 22, pointing out the controlling principles the Supreme Court has defined in situations where federal employees may be subject to state regulations," explained Mirken. "What the Supreme Court has said is that federal officials basically are subject to state regulations if those regulations do not prevent them from carrying out their duties. Walters is apparently arguing that asking him to file campaign reports is interfering with his duties. That's insane." The Nevada complaint against Walters is only one prong of MPP's counterattack against Walters, who has aggressively used his post as a bully pulpit to pronounce against drug law reform in the states. As part of its bluntly titled "War on the Drug Czar," MPP has filed a separate complaint with the federal Office of Special Counsel charging Walters with violating the federal Hatch Act, which restricts campaign activity by federal officials. A response to that complaint is still pending, Mirken told DRCNet. MPP is also preparing a series of TV advertisements to run in February as a counter to the ONDCP's campaign of marijuana scare ads, the latest installment of which began running during the Super Bowl (http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/television.html). "We're in the process of shooting several TV spots, and we've asked our members to weigh in on which scripts they like. Those ads are in production now, and we'll look at the end products soon and choose which ones to air," said Mirken. Those ads are scheduled to appear in the Washington, DC, market in February, provided funding is found. Check out MPP's "War on Drug Czar" at http://www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar/ online.
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