Pubdate: Tue, 07 Apr 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Seema Mehta

NEWSOM TAKING A GAMBLE ON POT

Lieutenant Governor Is Used to Controversy, but Fallout Now Could 
Affect His 2018 Hopes.

A few weeks into his first term as mayor of San Francisco in 2004, 
Gavin Newsom made a bold and controversial decision, ordering the 
city-county clerk to violate state law and issue marriage licenses to 
same-sex couples.

Newsom was ultimately vindicated, with gay marriage gaining public 
acceptance and becoming legal in California and three dozen other 
states. But at the time, even some of his supporters thought he was 
committing political suicide.

As Newsom, now lieutenant governor, prepares for a gubernatorial 
campaign in 2018, he finds himself at a similar crossroads. This 
time, his issue is the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Newsom, a Democrat, is the highest-ranking state official to support 
legalization. If an expected 2016 ballot measure to legalize, 
regulate and tax marijuana includes safeguards that he views as 
crucial, Newsom will endorse it and effectively be the public face of 
the effort.

Although legalization would probably be popular with liberal and 
young voters, others Newsom must court in his run for governor could 
present a challenge.

"He could motivate large numbers of young people who aren't regular 
voters to turn out for him," said Dan Schnur, director of USC's Jesse 
M. Unruh Institute of Politics. "But taking a leadership role on this 
could make older swing voters nervous, even if they agree with him on 
the issue. It's a potentially risky play."

Voters in California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 but 14 years 
later voted against recreational use, 53.5% to 46.5%. Since then, 
polling has shown that public support for legalizing pot has grown, 
reaching 53% in a March survey by the Public Policy Institute of 
California - a record high in the organization's surveys.

Democrats, whites, blacks and people ages 18 to 34 showed the 
greatest support, with more than 6 in 10 favoring legalization. Older 
Californians were more skeptical. The state's two fastest-growing 
voter groups, Latinos and Asians, strongly opposed it.

Even among Democratic policymakers, the matter remains controversial: 
Both U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Jerry Brown oppose legalization.

"How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a 
great nation? The world's pretty dangerous, very competitive," Brown 
said on "Meet the Press" last year. "I think we need to stay alert, 
if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able 
to put together."

Newsom expresses support for legalization in terms of criminal and 
social justice, saying African American and Latino youths are more 
likely than others to be criminally penalized for recreational 
marijuana use. He insists he has never smoked marijuana and hates the smell.

"This is not ... a flippant debate about stoners and potheads. This 
is serious stuff, and I don't want to be part of the status quo," 
Newsom said in an interview, brushing off potential political implications.

"I'm happy to take that risk because I think people will be benefited 
in a profound way if we do this right.... People like me, we come and 
go, we're a dime a dozen. This is a principle that will transcend [us]."

Newsom's critics say he is seizing on the matter out of political convenience.

"Gavin Newsom has a history of looking for someone else's parade that 
he can run to the front of, in order to promote himself," said Ron 
Nehring, a former state Republican Party chairman who unsuccessfully 
challenged Newsom in his 2014 reelection bid. "Certainly this is the 
latest example of that."

Nehring argues that there are ways to address concerns about how the 
criminal justice system treats users without increasing consumption 
of marijuana, which he laments would be the natural outcome of legalization.

As mayor of San Francisco, Newsom had a history of courting controversy.

He was burned in effigy when his "Care Not Cash" program replaced 
subsidies for the homeless with housing and support services. He 
expanded city healthcare for San Francisco residents, regardless of 
immigration status, preexisting conditions and employment status - 
the first universal healthcare program in the nation.

However, same-sex marriage - popular locally but toxic for Democrats 
nationally back then - has best defined his political persona.

When the California Supreme Court in 2008 upheld same-sex marriage, 
an ebullient Newsom declared at a San Francisco City Hall news 
conference: "This door's wide open now. It's going to happen, whether 
you like it or not!"

Newsom's proclamation became the centerpiece of a television ad by 
proponents of a successful ballot measure later that year to define 
marriage as between a man and a woman.

Democratic consultant Garry South is among those who thought Newsom's 
foray into gay marriage was "political death." But as an advisor to 
Newsom's short-lived gubernatorial run in 2009, he found that voters 
in focus groups viewed Newsom's move as "an act of conscience" - 
precisely because there was no political benefit to it.

"There's always a downside to being out front on a controversial or 
even semi-controversial public policy issue," South said. "But I got 
to give Newsom credit. He had a certain amount of prescience about 
the same-sex marriage issue that no one else at the time had."

Newsom is approaching marijuana legalization far more cautiously.

He chairs a commission of law enforcement, medical experts and others 
that was created by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern 
California to study the issue.

The group recently released a report listing dozens of areas of 
inquiry, including how marijuana should be taxed, how to assess 
drivers under the influence of the drug, and how the substance could 
be advertised and sold to consumers without increasing its use by teenagers.

Public input on these topics will be solicited across the state over 
the next three months.

"I want to see it done right, and that's why I'm telling all these 
groups I want to be supportive of a ballot initiative, but it has to 
be the right one," Newsom said.

"We have to be accountable and responsible for making sure that we 
address the intended and unintended consequences of any effort to 
legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults.

"It's not good enough to put something on the ballot and begin after 
the fact to ask those questions."

Bruce Cain, a political science professor at Stanford University, 
said it was wise for Newsom to anticipate fallout from a legalization 
proposal or its implementation.

"If he's going to be the lead person, the last thing he needs is for 
this to blow up for him," Cain said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom