Pubdate: Sun, 12 Oct 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Debra J. Saunders

STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL RON 'ACAPULCO' GOLD?

Practically everyone expects Attorney General Kamala Harris to win 
re-election handily in November. The Democrat won 53 percent of the 
vote in a crowded June primary. Arising star expected to ascend 
someday to the governorship, or perhaps a U.S. Senate seat, Harris 
has won the endorsement of major newspapers. She's such an attractive 
candidate that, even though it was true, President Obama had to 
apologize last year for calling her "by far the best-looking attorney 
general" in the country.

And yet Harris faces two unusual obstacles in the November runoff. 
One is Ron Gold, a never-elected Republican attorney from Los Angeles 
who is running for office on a shoestring. (As of Sept. 30, the 
Harris campaign had $3.6 million in the bank; Gold had $17,601.98.) 
The other hurdle is the fact that Gold supports legalizing marijuana 
for recreational use, while Harris has been opposed.

According to a March poll by the Public Policy Institute of 
California, 53 percent of likely state voters favor marijuana 
legalization; 44 percent oppose it.

Thus Gold brings a little mischief to the election scene in this 
bluest of states. He surprised the GOP establishment when he hauled 
in 12 percent of the vote and beat former GOP state lawmaker Phil 
Wyman. Before June, many party insiders had never heard of him. When 
I clicked "political experience" on a voter information site to learn 
about him, it said: "Not applicable." Gold credits his win in June to 
his lean campaign operation - 14 volunteers, 10 of them Democrats. 
"We won because we worked it hard," said Gold. He bought ads on a Los 
Angeles radio station and his campaign sent out 10 million e-mails, 
he told The Chronicle's editorial board. He's used to being 
underestimated. How did he beat Wyman? I asked political consultant 
Kevin Spillane. "He had the best ballot designation," Spillane mused. 
"Former state prosecutor."

Now, the 69-year-old lawyer acknowledges, some wags call him "Acapulco Gold."

Harris seems, if anything, annoyed at the notion that marijuana is an 
election issue this year. In 2010, as she was running to be the 
state's top cop, Harris signed a ballot argument against Proposition 
19, which would have legalized recreational use of marijuana. In 
August, when KCRA reporter Mike Luery asked Harris for her reaction 
to Gold's support for legalizing marijuana, Harris said, "He is 
entitled to his opinion." Then she laughed.

Marijuana Majority Chairman Tom Angell was so angry that he sent out 
a link to the KCRA story with a statement that faulted the 
"progressive rising star" for treating a policy that leads to 
racially disparate arrests rates and drug cartel violence like "a 
Cheech and Chong joke."

Where does Harris stand on legalizing recreational use of marijuana 
today? Harris campaign manager Brian Brokawtold me that Harris has 
been a longtime supporter of medical marijuana, but she doesn't like 
framing the issue as if it's a yes-or-no thing. The candidate didn't 
want to be "pinned down to three words," but if necessary, they would 
be "watch and analyze." Let's see what happens in Colorado and 
Washington state, where voters legalized recreational marijuana, and 
then maybe she'll have an actual position, he said. Maybe.

For his part, Gold wants law enforcement to concentrate on serious 
crimes and violent offenders. Better to legalize, tax and regulate 
marijuana, he argues, as marijuana "has never killed anybody." He 
added that the "marijuana community" supported Harris over her GOP 
rival Steve Cooley in 2010, but now she is "playing it way too safe."

"It is significant to have a Republican candidate for statewide 
office way out ahead (on recreational marijuana) of the Democrat," 
Angell observed.

Will Gold's support for legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana 
siphon some young and single-issue voters away from the up-and-coming 
Democrat? If not, maybe it makes sense for top Democrats to treat 
supporters like Cheech and Chong. If, on the other hand, Gold does 
manage to attract a fresh set of voters, the GOP establishment might 
see a big opportunity in this small-government remedy.

To Angell, Harris' position - whatever it is - is not a smart move 
for the long game. In 2010, not one of today's Democratic statewide 
officeholders endorsed Proposition 19. Last year, after Colorado and 
Washington, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom repented. He now says that he 
supports legalization.

Newsom is the other Bay Area politician expected to run for governor 
or U.S. Senate in the next four years. If public opinion moves 
inexorably toward an end to prohibition, Harris could be in a pickle. 
"If it doesn't hurt her in this election," Angell said, it's likely 
to hurt her if she runs against Newsom in two or four years.

As for Gold, he dismisses the notion that his support for 
legalization is courageous: "It's a common-sense approach to solving problems."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom