Pubdate: Fri, 14 Dec 2001
Source: Plain Dealer, The (OH)
Copyright: 2001 The Plain Dealer
Contact:  http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Author: T.C. Brown

RECORDS REVEAL DRUG ISSUE'S FOES IN TAFT ADMINISTRATION

Columbus -- State officials want to keep an initiative off the November 
ballot that would allow first-time drug offenders to get treatment in lieu 
of jail, proponents of the measure said yesterday.

Documents obtained by the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies indicate that 
Luceille Fleming, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug 
Addiction Services, is leading the charge.

"The first line and best possible defense against the proposed 
constitutional amendment is to keep it off the ballot," Fleming wrote to 
Greg Moody, Gov. Bob Taft's executive assistant for Health and Human 
Services, in a Sept. 13 memo.

Ed Orlett, the ballot initiative's campaign manager, said the state is 
plotting to block the measure and hopes to confuse and scare voters.

"They are trying to violate the rights of Ohioans by denying them access to 
amending the Constitution by petition," Orlett said. "And they are doing it 
at taxpayer's expense."

Other records show that the state has developed a "playbook" to fight the 
issue. One suggestion included development of a separate ballot measure by 
state officials to trump the issue sponsored by the Campaign for New Drug 
Policies, raising some concern over how to proceed if voters approved both 
measures.

In a Nov. 7 meeting involving First Lady Hope Taft and some of the 
governor's staff, officials discussed consulting with Taft's chief legal 
counsel about how far they could go in opposing the issue, according to 
records.

Stacey Frohnapfel, a spokeswoman for Fleming, referred questions to Taft's 
spokesman Joe Andrews.

"I'm not sure there is an active effort to keep it off the ballot," Andrews 
said. "The governor has asked every interested entity to look into it to 
see where it stands and how it will affect Ohio."

Andrews said Taft's legal counsel has cleared discussions because they 
involve an investigation, "as opposed to a campaign against it."

State officials are concerned that mandating treatment for offenders could 
displace nonoffenders who are receiving drug treatment, Andrews said.

Attorney General Betty Montgomery tentatively approved summary language for 
the ballot measure yesterday, pending verification of 100 sample signatures.

Proponents must gather 335,000 signatures for the issue to reach the 
November ballot.

If approved by voters, first- and second-time drug offenders would receive 
treatment instead of jail time if there were no convictions for drug sales 
or violent crimes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth