Pubdate: Thu, 22 Aug 2013
Source: Shepherd Express (Milwaukee, WI)
Copyright: 2013 Alternative Publications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.shepherd-express.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/414

Issue of the Week

MICROMANAGING POT PROSECUTIONS

Wisconsin's Republican legislators just can't help themselves.

They're always talking about how much they hate big government. But 
once they're in power they make government bigger by getting involved 
in local government matters.

Now they're second-guessing local prosecutors.

An under-the-radar Republican-backed bill is making its way through 
both houses of the state Legislature that would allow local and 
county governments to take up marijuana possession cases that were 
dismissed or were not charged by local prosecutors. Seems that DAs 
have not been pressing charges for very minor pot cases because they 
don't have the resources to pursue them and don't want to clog up the 
courts with nonviolent drug cases.

The bill has passed committees in the state Assembly and Senate, so 
it very well could become law with the Republicans in charge.

But what's the point? Republicans argue that local governments could 
make money from the fines resulting from these cases despite the fact 
that the locally elected district attorney has decided otherwise. And 
of course they need to prove that they're tougher on crime and more 
anti-drug than their opponent in the next election.

We all know that there's no need for this policy. People who possess 
small amounts of pot are not a threat to society. More and more 
states are enacting enlightened laws that regulate and tax marijuana 
in a responsible way. And if Republicans really wanted to help local 
DAs, legislators would make sure that prosecutors' offices are fully 
staffed with fairly paid attorneys and the courts are adequately 
funded since covering the salaries of the attorneys in the DA's 
offices is the responsibility of the Legislature.

Republicans need to focus on what's really plaguing our state: a 
stagnant economy made worse by their misguided "tea party" economic 
policies, a governor who is raising his national political profile 
instead of working to make Wisconsin a better state, and a 
Legislature that's riding roughshod over Wisconsin traditions, 
including respecting local elected officials' jurisdiction.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom