Inside UDJ by Editor K.C. Meadows

Here are a couple of responses I got from CalNORML and another reader about what I'd heard about CalNORML's support for No on B in Mendocino County.

First from CalNORML:

K.C. Meadows should have checked her facts before telling untruths about the
No on Measure B campaign.
The fact is that California NORML has nothing to do with any “slate
mailers.” Neither does the No on Measure B campaign committee.
The fact is that Cal NORML is not spending anywhere near $100,000 on the
campaign, though we did fund the color campaign mailer for the No on B
committee.
The fact is there is nothing “absurd” about the notion that B will
criminalize most medical marijuana patients. Measure B would limit
possession of medical marijuana to 8 ounces, which is just half the average
annual consumption of marijuana patients, namely one pound.
Therefore, even those patients who can grow their pound with just six
plants (which requires favorable conditions in the first place) will become
subject to arrest as soon as they harvest their crop.
The UDJ should get its facts straight before further misrepresenting
California NORML and the No on Measure B campaign.
Dale Gieringer
Director
California NORML
San Francisco

And the second:

I just finished reading K.C. Meadows blog, “No on B careening off course.” I
am reading words like, “word in PR circles in the Bay Area is” and “I’ve
heard as much as $100,000,” “mailer probably cost something like.” Lots of
supposition and undocumented accusations leveled at the No on B committee. I
donated $200 to the No on B committee, I don’t live in the Bay Area, belong
to CalNorml or consider myself particularly desperate. Above all as a county
voter and property owner I resent being called a “sheep led to slaughter, to
stupid to see a hoax when it comes in the mail.” I will vote no on Measure B
in June and if nothing else my vote will cancel K.C. Meadows’.
Tim Humecky
Fort Bragg

What is interesting to me is that while CalNORML says it does not plan to spend the $100,000 figure I had heard, it does admit to paying for the four page color brochure that made Sheriff Allman so mad he decided to come out and endorse Measure B. I emailed Mr. Gieringer back and asked him - in the interest of getting my facts straight - just how much CalNORML plans to spend on this campaign or how much it would be willing to spend to defeat Measure B. The reponse was that he's not saying, and that we'll have to wait until the next financial reports come out just before the election.
As for the slate mailers - which are the political advertising equivalent of "you've won the lottery, send us your bank account number" - the "Republican" slate mailer is already out and claims that Republicans are against Measure B which a lot of local Republicans are hopping mad about. We're stilling waiting to see if the "COPS" mailer which purports to be from law enforcement is still on the way. The Yes on B Coalition contacted the COPS mailer folks and let them know that virtually every law enforcement group in Mendocino County is supporting Measure B and to put out a mailer claiming the opposite would put their company high on the list of political shysters.