Peter B. Lewis, a retired insurance company executive, has donated $209,005 to the campaign to pass Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure on California's Nov. 2 ballot.
The contributions -- to the main campaign committee as well as an independent one -- make Lewis the biggest contributor to the effort after Richard Lee, the Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur who sponsored the measure and has spent more than $1.5 million .
"I’m supporting the campaign because I support common-sense reform of the nation’s drug laws," Lewis said Saturday in a statement. "I admire the effort, energy and commitment of the people involved in the campaign, and want to help them get their message out to the voters."
The campaign began attracting some larger donations in the last two weeks after a Public Policy Institute of California poll of 1,104 likely voters showed the initiative with 52% support.
The Linkness
Lewis is a former exec with Progressive Insurance (aptly named, I suppose).
He is considered one of the "big-money" donors to liberal causes, including the reform of our asinine drug laws, but reports earlier this year told us the big-money guys like Lewis and Soros were sitting out. One donor to Prop 5 in 2008 sat out this year's Prop 19 so as to let "Californians stew in their own juice." In other words, he said that if CA voters are too dumb to help themselves solve their prison crisis and budget crisis, then they're on their own.
http://calpotnews.com/...
The bottom line is that, for ballot initiatives, most big donors want to see it polling at above 50%. In the state of California, almost all initiatives that poll below 50% before November go on to lose. The No's in every ballot campaign are said to have a little bit of an edge. Even Markos Moulitsas has said thathe automatically votes "no" on all CA ballot initiatives.
But with the polling for Prop 19 looking fairly solid, that might have been the incentive for Lewis to jump into this one.
I am in agreement with Meteor Blades andRobert Cruickshank at Calitics: Prop 19's passage with help the state of California, on top of being the right thing to do. It's not often that you have a chance to win a battle for civil liberties AND help the state budget, but here is an opportunity in our lap to do so, thanks to Richard Lee. It's no wonder that the ACLU supports Prop 19, along with plenty of law enforcement (Meg Whitman REALLY doesn't want you to know that).
Even plenty of conservatives get it.
Eighty percent of the revenue of the Mexican cartels is marijuana. If you really want to go after the Mexican cartels, and I'm not saying that is the only criterion for public policy, you'd legalize marijuana.
-George Will
There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana.
-Milton Friedman
Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.
-William F Buckley, Jr
The federal prosecutor who targeted Canadian pot activist Marc Emery has even done a 180 on cannabis, now arguing that it should be legalized.
Meanwhile, our society continues to ignore for the most part the ills of prescription medication, perhaps because it hits too close to home?
You can see endorsements for Prop 19, including law enforcement---> http://yeson19.com/...
Meg Whitman says that no law enforcement groups support Prop 19. [quick- National Association of Black Police Officers and L.E.A.P.: pretend you don't exist!] Here's a list that I found of law enforcement that SUPPORTS Prop 19:
MacKenzie Allen
Former Deputy Sheriff, Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept.
Deputy Sheriff, King County Sheriff's Dept. (Ret.)
James Anthony
Former Community Prosecutor, Oakland City Attorney's Office
L. Lawrence Baird
Former Senior Reserve Park Ranger, Orange County
William Baldwin
Correctional Officer, California Department of Corrections (Ret.)
Nate Bradley
Former Officer, Wheatland Police Department
Former Deputy, Sutter County Sheriff's Office
Walter Clark
Deputy District Attorney, County of Riverside District Attorney's Office (Ret.)
Stephen Cobine
Captain, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (Ret.)
William John Cox
Former Officer, El Cajon Police Department
Former Sergeant, Los Angeles Police Department
Former Deputy, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Retired Supervising Trial Counsel, State Bar of California
Bill Dake
Former Officer, San Francisco Police Department
John C. Darker
Senior Law Enforcement patrolman, Elmendorf Air Force Base
David Doddridge
Narcotics Officer, Los Angeles Police Department (Ret.)
Stephen Downing
Deputy Chief, Los Angeles Police Department (Ret.)
Rick Erickson
Officer, Lakeport Police Department (Ret.)
Paul Gallegos
District Attorney, County of Humboldt
Diane Goldstein
Lieutenant, Redondo Beach Police Department (Ret.)
Dr. Nina Graves
Former Military Police, Santa Barbara
James Gray
Judge, Superior Court of Orange County (Ret.)
Terence Hallinan
Former San Francisco District Attorney
Michael J. Hansen
Former Border Patrol Agent, San Diego Sector
Russ Jones
Former Narcotics Detective, San Jose Police Department, DEA Task Force
Kyle Kazan
Former Officer, Torrance Police Department
Leo E. Laurence, J.D.
Former Biker Enforcement Task Force Member, San Diego District Attorney's Office
Former Deputy Sheriff, Missouri
Madeline Martinez
Correctional Peace Officer (Ret.), State of California Department of Corrections
Danny Maynard
Former Yolo County Sheriff’s Office
Former Sacramento Port Police Department
Walter McKay
Former Senior Police Specialist, Police Assessment Resources Center, Los Angeles, CA
Former Detective, Vancouver Police Department
Joseph McNamara
Chief of Police, San Jose Police Department (Ret.)
Joe Miller
Deputy Probation Officer, Mohave County Probation Department
Police Officer, Needles Police Department (Ret.)
John O'Brien, Esq.
Sheriff, Genesee County, MI (Ret.)
University of Phoenix, Southern California campus
Jerry Ross
Former Stanton Police Officer
John A. Russo
Oakland City Attorney
David Sinclair
Former Deputy Sheriff, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff
Mike Schmier
Former Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles
Former Administrative Law Judge California State
Former Federal Labor Prosecutor San Francisco
Jeffrey Schwartz
Senior Deputy District Attorney, Humboldt County (Ret.)
Lyle Smith
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (Ret.)
Norm Stamper
Executive Assistant Chief of Police, San Diego Police Department (Ret.)
Chief of Police, Seattle Police Department (Ret.)
Jeff Studdard
Former Reserve Deputy Sheriff, Los Angeles County
For the Prohibitionists still trying to peddle lies about cannabis being 'dangerous' or 'criminal', you are spitting on the grave of every Mexican citizen who has died in the Drug War (we're talking tens of thousands). Mexico deserves to wake up JUST ONCE and not read headlines like yesterday's: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Gov. Jan Brewer,I'm looking at your ugly racist mug.
Mexico deserves a break from the bloodshed that American drug laws help cause. Re-legalization with do more then help California, it will greatly assist our neighbors.