HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html Ignoring The Voters' Will
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Nov 2004
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2004 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619

IGNORING THE VOTERS' WILL

Unless you're the governor, a member of the Democratic leadership in
the House or Senate, or the chairman of an important committee, it's
hard to put an issue on the Legislature's agenda. In recent elections,
activists have tried another way: They put an advisory question on the
ballot in the district representated by the committee chairman.

So far, the  strategy hasn't worked, and considering the lack of
enthusiasm shown by some  local legislators to the opinions expressed
by voters last week, the activists  may be disappointed again.

Voters in  15 districts approved a question calling on the Legislature
to turn the task of  legislative redistricting over to an independent,
nonpartisan commission. While  some legislators have said they like
the idea, taking the power to gerrymander  away from leadership will
be an uphill climb. Voters in  four MetroWest communities, including
Marlborough and Natick, agreed that the  state's family law should
give a presumption to shared custody of children of  divorced parents.
It's a complicated, often emotional issue, but it's one Rep.  Steve
LeDuc, the Marlborough Democrat who chairs the Legislature's
Children's  Caucus, should look into.

But two  committee chairmen targeted by backers of marijuana law
reform seem to be having  trouble getting the message.

About 68  percent of voters in towns represented by Sen. Richard
Moore, D-Uxbridge,  endorsed the idea of letting terminally ill
patients possess or grow marijuana  for medical use with a physician's
permission. Moore was unconvinced, telling a  Daily News reporter that
"until there is some scientific evidence or the federal  laws permit
some kind of use of it, I don't see what we can do to implement the
ballot question."

Hogwash.  Moore, the Senate chairman of the joint Health Care
Committee, could call a  hearing at the drop of a hat and ask for the
evidence. He could hear from top  medical researchers and from
terminally ill patients -- including some, we  expect, in his own
district -- who are now forced to break the law to get the  only
medicine that relieves their symptoms. He could find out how things
have  worked in the nine states that have already approved medical
marijuana bills.

Voters in  the House district represented by Jim Vallee, D-Franklin,
weighed in on a  proposal to make marijuana possession a civil
violation, like a traffic ticket,  instead of a criminal offense.
Fifty-seven percent of Vallee's constituents  endorsed the idea.

"I'm  certainly open-minded about it," Vallee said, "but from the
standpoint of the  legislative process, I don't think there's support
among the legislators to do  it."

Vallee is  House chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, perhaps
the most powerful  person in the state when it comes to setting crime
policy. We don't need him to  be "open-minded" and we don't need him
to wait around for the other legislators  to tell him what they want.
He should be a leader, and he can start by convening  a hearing on the
costs and benefits of the current marijuana possession law.

The irony  here is that politicians typically steer clear of marijuana
laws out of fear  that voters will think them soft on drugs. Moore's
and Vallee's constituents  have given them permission, by wide
margins, to explore a touchy area of public  policy, yet still they
shy away.

State  legislators aren't required to take orders from their
constituents, and ballot  questions carefully worded by advocacy
groups for maximum effect don't  necessarily translate to good laws.
But the districts and the state are poorly  served by lawmakers who go
out of their way to ignore the clearly expressed  wishes of their
constituents.
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MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFLorida)