Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2004
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Copyright: 2004 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Sheila Toomey
Cited: Proposition 2 http://www.yeson2alaska.com
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Loren+Leman (Loren Leman)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/marijuana+initiative
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

LEMAN LOSES IN POT SUIT RULING

Proposition 2: Judge Rules Against Handling of Voter Pamphlet
Statement.

Lt. Gov. Loren Leman violated his obligation to assure the "integrity,
credibility and impartiality" of state elections when his office wrote
the official voter pamphlet statement opposing legalization of
marijuana and had someone else sign it, a Superior Court judge ruled
Monday.

However, Judge Mark Rindner concluded there is no acceptable way to
fix the wrong done by Leman. Passing out corrective leaflets to voters
or posting notices near ballot boxes would foster confusion and
violate laws against campaigning at the polls, Rindner said, limiting
his action to a declaratory judgment.

Each election year, supporters and opponents of ballot measures are
invited to submit pro and anti statements for inclusion in an
informational booklet of candidates and issues mailed to 300,000
Alaskans. Producing the voter pamphlet is the responsibility of the
lieutenant governor, part of his job to manage state elections.

When no one volunteered a statement against Proposition 2, which would
legalize and regulate marijuana in Alaska, Leman's chief of staff
Annette Kreitzer wrote one and Leman sent it to Dr. Charles Herndon
with a note that said, "Thank you for considering my request for you
to sign this statement, revise it, or write a statement of your own."

Herndon tinkered with it in a minor way and signed it. It was
published in the pamphlet along with a statement advocating for
Proposition 2, written by supporters of the measure.

Herndon is the medical director of a drug and alcohol treatment
program in Anchorage and has said he agrees with what Leman's office
wrote.

"Yes on 2" sued Leman on Friday after reading an Anchorage Press story
about how the statement got written. It is illegal and unethical for
the person in charge of running elections to take sides while
administering the process, they said.

At a hearing Monday, Rindner peppered both sides with questions,
trying to brush away political rhetoric and narrow the issue. Isn't it
in the public interest to have both pro and anti statements in the
pamphlet, he said. And isn't it true that past lieutenant governors
have solicited statements from both sides?

But he agreed with Yes on 2 attorney Ken Jacobus that Leman crossed
the line by having his staff actually write the statement for one side
in a partisan issue.

The spirit of the other national obsession quickly overtook the
hearing and baseball metaphors dominated the discourse.

Rindner, a distraught Yankees fan, compared Leman to an umpire
assigned to the World Series suggesting a lineup to the Red Sox
manager. Should a person who is "supposed to be the umpire be writing
a statement for one side or the other?" he asked.

Assistant attorney general Keith Levy, also a Yankees fan, agreed that
Leman's action "does look a little odd. ... The question is whether
there is really any harm here."

No law forbids the lieutenant governor from drafting a pamphlet
statement, although perhaps "it creates an appearance of impropriety,"
he said.

Jacobus, apparently a fan of Shakespeare rather than baseball, said
where elections are concerned, any lieutenant governor has to be "like
Caesar's wife," meaning he must maintain the appearance of propriety
in addition to behaving properly.

In his ruling, issued later in the day, Rindner said the anti
statement signed by Herndon wasn't a problem, only the way it got into
the pamphlet.

The judge said he hoped the judgment against Leman would "promote in
the future scrupulous observance by the Office of the Lieutenant
Governor of his obligations" as the manager of elections.

Leman issued a statement late Monday that did not directly address
Rindner's judgment against him. In it Leman defended Kreitzer's
integrity, which was not attacked. He said he was glad Rindner said
that no one in Leman's office showed either the pro or the con
statements to the other side.

"I am satisfied that Judge Mark Rindner confirmed in his ruling that
no laws were broken," Leman's statement said.

However, Rindner said in his ruling that Leman had violated Alaska
Statute 15.10.105, a law that says in part: "It is essential that the
non partisan nature, integrity, credibility, and impartiality of the
administration of elections be maintained." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake