Local Press picks up Gavin Newsom talk on California pot legalization

Hot off the press: Today's Marin Independent Journal prints front page article on yesterday's talk by our Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom on legalizing marijuana. There will probably be a ballot measure in 2016, if they can get the right mix of regulations, enforcement and so on. Wouldn't I love to work on that one! (And yes, I inhaled, way back in my misspent youth.)

Here is the quote from me they used and pic of me shaking Gavin's hand:

        Dotty LeMieux, a veteran Marin political campaign manager and consultant who  attended   Tuesday's luncheon, said, "Gavin is known for taking strong, controversial stands. I think he senses a change in the wind, that California is ready, or getting ready, to make a change."  Read more.
 
The question on everybody's mind? Is he running for Governor or Senator next?

Is California ready for legalized pot?

Today I put on my lawyer clothes and ventured out to hear our Lieutenant Governor, the effervescent Gavin Newsom, former Mayor of San Francisco who started the ball rolling on same sex marriage. Never one to shy from a controversy Gavin spent about 45 minutes regaling a group of lawyers from the Marin County Bar Association with all the reasons marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated in our State.

Your blogger with Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom

From the fact that it's as easy to find as a six pack already to the statistics that show enforcement on all drug violations fall disproportionately on minorities, he was riveting, and convincing, to listen to. Facts and figures at his fingerrtips, this man had done his homework.

Marijuana is listed as a schedule one drug at the Federal level, putting it on the same level with heroin and above cocaine and meth amphetamine. I'm not sure how that came to be, but I think it's a holdover from the days of "Reefer Madness" when people really beleived it was a killer weeed and gateway to hard drugs and a life of depravity.

Watch on YouTube from 1937

 Smoke pot and go to jail? Or smoke pot, support your local economy?

Campaign Training in Modesto

This weekend the Campaign Slut, aka me, drove the 103 miles from Marin to Modesto California to do a training with the  Women's Democratic Club of Stanislaus County. This is a fairly red part of the State, Central Valley agriculture hit hard by the drought. Represented in Congress by Jeff Denham, a right wing Republican who has had a lock on the District for 4 years.  Last cycle, a former astronaut Jose Hernandez was the challenger, this year it's Michael Eggman, local farmer and bee keeper.

The very energetic group of active Democratic women, and a few good men, group was eager to learn how best to help their candidate, and, of course, there were varying levels of campaign sophistication and experience in the room (some elected officials, some candidates, one woman who is very active with the Brady campaign).  I did a power point that was fairly general (I think I bored a lot of people, sorry!), then hit a specific bit of campaign advice which I would have imparted to the candidate if he was there:

    "Dude," I wanted to say, in my slutty snarky way, "When you head a section of your
     website,'Why I am running,' you need to be specific. Answer that all important question on
     every voter's mind: 'What can you do for me?' It's great to want to clean up Congress,
     work for bi-partisan co-operation and all that 'Can't we all just get along?' stuff, but how
     will you accomplish this lofty goal, and how will this help the Central Valley and your
     constituency?"

Of course, if he was there, I would have said this in a very adult way, with no snark whatsoever. In fact, I found some specifics on another website, for the Democratic candidate for Assembly, Harinder Grewal,  who discussed some very specific issues which provided a good example of how to answer the question..

In this mostly red area of our State, which has been targeted by those with the purse strings, notably the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or D Triple C, or just D Trip). the right message delivered with the right materials to the right set of voters (in this case, low propensity turnout Democrats and Independents) can make all the difference.

The right message will answer that all important question on every voter's mind.