Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jul 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Mike Debonis
Page: B4

GRAY URGES BOYCOTT OF MD. EASTERN SHORE AFTER OFFICIAL CHALLENGES POT LAW

If you're a District resident planning to vacation in the Maryland 
havens of Ocean City or St. Michaels this summer, Mayor Vincent C. 
Gray (D) and some D.C. activists would prefer you choose Rehoboth 
Beach, Del., or Chincoteague Island, Va., instead.

A week after Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) successfully attached an 
amendment to a House budget bill that would overturn the city's 
marijuana decriminalization law, Gray and the District's largest 
voting-rights advocacy group said city residents would be better off 
vacationing somewhere besides Harris's district, which includes all 
of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

"I don't think we should support someone who doesn't support us, who 
doesn't support democracy, period," the mayor said Wednesday after a 
news conference at which he decried Harris's actions as "hypocrisy at 
its worst."

The nonprofit group D.C. Vote called for an all-out boycott of 
vacation spots in the 1st Congressional District, saying Harris 
"acted in wanton disregard" of the views of D.C. residents. A January 
Washington Post poll found that roughly eight in 10 city residents 
support legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.

"If you care about D.C. equality, we ask you to not patronize 
vacation destinations in Rep. Harris' district," Executive Director 
Kimberly Perry said in a statement. "We might not be able to vote in 
Congress, but we can all vote with our wallets."

In a statement issued by his office, Harris said city residents "know 
better" than to boycott his district's beauty spots. "Spending the 
weekend on the beautiful, family friendly Eastern Shore is more 
important than increasing drug use by D.C. teenagers," he said.

In response to Gray's comments, Harris spokesman Chris Meekins made a 
reference to Gray's April 1 primary loss: "I think D.C. voters showed 
on Election Day the value they place on what the mayor has to say. I 
only wish some D.C. politicians cared as much about providing a 
quality education to D.C. students as they do about decriminalizing marijuana."

Gray suggested that those D.C. residents who do visit Harris's 
district might consider activities beyond sunbathing: "If they ... 
happen to picket places that he may frequent or picket his office or 
whatever, I wouldn't be averse to that at all."

"I think people should do whatever action moves them, and that is to 
let him know how undemocratic this is and that he ought to work on 
the business of his district," Gray added.

Eastern Shore tourism officials were not enthused about the idea of a boycott.

"There's got to be a better way to hit Andy Harris where he's going 
to feel it," said Lisa Challenger, tourism director for Worcester 
County, home to Ocean City. "We've got lots and lots of mom-and-pop 
businesses that are privately owned. . . . I understand what D.C. 
officials are trying to say and do, but it doesn't make any sense to 
us local folks here on the front line trying to increase revenues and 
get visitors here."

"My initial reaction is, we welcome visitors regardless of their 
political leanings," said Cassandra Vanhooser, executive director of 
the tourism office in Talbot County, home to St. Michaels, Tilghman 
Island and other Chesapeake Bay destinations. "Everybody's money is green."

D.C. Vote said it had contacted local officials in Harris's district, 
informing them that the call for a boycott "is in no way a commentary 
on their communities" and that "a similar attack on their local 
jurisdictions' laws would never be tolerated."

The group suggested "numerous alternate vacation spots in Maryland, 
Delaware, and Virginia that are represented by members of Congress 
who respect the people of the District, and the laws passed by their 
duly elected representatives."

The Harris amendment would ban the D.C. government from spending any 
funds on efforts to lessen penalties for Schedule I federal drug 
crimes. The measure would get in the way not only of the 
decriminalization law, which is expected to take effect later this 
month, but also of a possible legalization ballot initiative.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 28 to 21 to attach the 
Harris amendment to the appropriations bill under consideration by 
the lower chamber. A Senate companion bill is unlikely to carry a 
similar restriction, and it will be up to conferees from each chamber 
to determine whether the amendment ends up in a compromise bill that 
could go into effect this fall.

Gray said he has no plans to lobby in Harris's district: "That's a 
long trip. Probably would be better to visit his office here."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom