Pubdate: Sat, 01 Feb 2014
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Joe Battnefeld

CONNECTED EX-REP SCORES 3 LICENSES

Where else but Massachusetts could you go from prosecutor to lawmaker 
to pot dealer?

That strange career trajectory now belongs to former U.S. Rep. 
William Delahunt, who is about to corner a big chunk of the market in 
the booming medical marijuana business. All thanks to state 
government, of course.

Of the 20 licenses handed out to pot shops by state officials, 
Delahunt's group landed three of them. That's 15 percent if you're 
scoring at home. A pretty good percentage for a political "hasbeen," 
as Delahunt calls himself.

The former Democratic congressman is being too modest. One of his 
former political supporters, Cheryl Bartlett, a self-described 
"political animal," is the commissioner of the Department of Public 
Health. Not that she had anything to do with the licenses. Bartlett's 
DPH was savvy enough to hire someone else to hand them out.

"Have I worked with her? Of course," Delahunt said of Bartlett in an 
interview. "She wasn't part of the decision-making. It's all kind of 
silliness."

Delahunt's competitors are crying foul and saying the license 
approvals were all wired. The state Republican Party is calling for 
an investigation but really this isn't about partisan politics.

Delahunt has connections and knows how government works. He got 
letters of recommendation from his former friends in politics and law 
enforcement.

"Communities (where the pot shops are planned) want to have a comfort 
level," Delahunt says. "They know that I'm not going to leave and 
they know guys like you are always going to be looking at me."

And Delahunt was not alone in trying to cash in on the medical 
marijuana business. Former Republican lawmakers also tried to get pot 
shop licenses, but Delahunt was just more successful than the others.

"If this is all they can do, they're never going to be taken 
seriously in this state," Delahunt says of his Republican critics. 
"It's the gang that can't shoot straight."

The former congressman and district attorney says he wasn't motivated 
by money - that he's also convinced that legally-run medical 
marijuana shops will cut down on the abuse of prescription pain killers.

Delahunt does admit he has a "minimal" financial interest in the 
marijuana dispensary business.

"It's just a small investment," he says. "Everybody thinks it's a 
cash cow. I'm telling you right now that's grossly exaggerated."

But like everything on Beacon Hill these days, there is still an odor 
of more than just pot wafting from the state-run marijuana business. 
Why would so many ex-pols like Delahunt try to get in on the ground 
floor? They know a good government operation when they see it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom