Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2012
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: David Zahniser

POT BACKERS RALLY SUPPORT FOR ALLIES ON L.A. COUNCIL

Groups have donated more than $16,000 to Paul Koretz and Bill 
Rosendahl campaigns.

Medical marijuana advocates suffered a bruising political setback 
last week, watching helplessly as the Los Angeles City Council moved 
to shut down hundreds of pot shops.

But pot dispensaries have quietly made headway on another City Hall 
front: mobilizing campaign cash for their key allies. Over the past 
year, dispensaries and their supporters have given more than $16,000 
to the reelection campaigns of two Westside councilmen who opposed 
the pot shop ban, according to a Times review.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who faces re-election in March, accepted 
nearly $8,900 from medical marijuana advocates last year, more than 
one-tenth of the money collected by his campaign in 2011. A longtime 
proponent of legalizing pot nationwide, he told The Times that he has 
had his own medical marijuana prescription for a decade, relying on 
the drug to cope with neuropathy, a nerve disorder that can make his 
feet "red hot with pain."

That makes the councilman, whose district stretches from Westchester 
to Pacific Palisades, the first politician at City Hall to 
acknowledge being a medical marijuana consumer. Rosendahl would not 
divulge where he obtains his marijuana but said he does so legally.

Pot dispensaries, said Rosendahl, are no different than any other 
group seeking to weigh in at City Hall. "They wanted to do something 
for me, and it's been clear for 20 to 30 years where I stand on this 
issue. I think the war on drugs is destroying this great nation."

Councilman Paul Koretz, who also faces re-election, saw 9% of his 
campaign contributions in the past year, or more than $7,300, come 
from dispensaries and their advocates. "I'm an unabashed supporter of 
medical marijuana. I think it's a matter of life and death, 
literally. So they know keeping me in office would be a positive 
thing for them," he said.

Backers of medical marijuana demonstrated political savvy earlier 
this year, with dozens of dispensaries allowing their employees to 
organize through the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, a 
longtime player in city politics. Now, cannabis groups are joining 
real estate developers, billboard companies and other special 
interests that coordinate fundraising for specific candidates.

"We want to have our voices heard in the political arena," said Bill 
Leahy, who is active with the Greater Los Angeles Collectives 
Alliance, an advocacy group for one set of local dispensaries.

Leahy staged fundraisers for Koretz and Rosendahl, attracting 
contributions from dispensaries in Eagle Rock, Woodland Hills, 
Torrance and elsewhere. He said collectives are contemplating a 
fundraiser in coming months for Council President Herb Wesson and 
will back a candidate in the current mayor's race.

That increasingly organized political activity unsettles Barbara 
Broide, president of the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard 
Homeowners Assn., a group that pushed for last week's dispensary ban. 
Broide said she voted to legalize medical marijuana in California but 
now believes the number of outlets is "out of control," with nine 
operating in her neighborhood alone.

"These are successful business people, and successful business people 
learn how to play politics very quickly," she said. "They've got a 
lot of money, and unfortunately, candidates tend to give access to 
those who provide political support."

Koretz and Rosendahl said they share constituent concerns about the 
explosion of pot shops but disagree with the council's latest 
strategy, which prohibits businesses from selling marijuana while 
allowing seriously ill patients and their caregivers to cultivate it 
for personal use. (Koretz said he ultimately cast a vote in favor of 
last week's ban only as a procedural courtesy to his colleagues.)

Rosendahl and Koretz want scores of dispensaries to continue 
operating. Both say their views were shaped by the 1990s AIDS crisis, 
when many friends and loved ones turned to medical marijuana to 
manage the pain caused by the disease.

Rosendahl, the council's only gay member, said his first partner, 
bakery owner Christopher Lee Blauman, relied on the drug until his 
death of complications from AIDS in 1995. Medical marijuana, 
Rosendahl said, "kept him alive."
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