Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. From Marijuana Moment:
The lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania is stepping up his push to get marijuana records cleared, promoting an expedited petition program that he hopes will provide relief to thousands of people negatively impacted by prohibition.
In an interview with KDKA that aired last week, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment.
“I’m a fervent believer in second chances. And one of the things I quickly discovered was that people’s lives were just being ruined by these silly charges, and you have all this unnecessary review [to seal records],” Fetterman, who chairs the state Board of Pardons, said.
“This is a plant that’s legal in many jurisdictions across America, and it’s not a big deal, but you go through your life in many cases a convicted felon, and that excludes you from a lot of opportunities,” he said. “So I developed an expedited review process that I encourage everybody to partake in.”
There are about 20,000 marijuana-related cases in Pennsylvania each year, he said. And some eligible cases go back decades, including one case that recently went through the petition process where a man had a felony conviction on his record for possession of eight ounces of cannabis that dates back to 1975.
If you our anyone you know in Pennsylvania would like to apply to get marijuana charges cleard from your record, click here to apply.
Meanwhile, over on Team Red:
The abrupt exit of one of the leading Republican candidates in next year’s U.S. Senate race — Sean Parnell, a military veteran backed by former President Donald Trump — could push GOP influence-peddlers to seek a fresh face instead of putting the party’s clout behind someone already running, experts and Republican officials say.
In fact, a glimpse at daily Republican political chatter turns up names such as Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick as prospective candidates, prompting Democrats to label the GOP as a party in crisis. It’s all because the deck is being reshuffled after Mr. Parnell, the perceived Republican front-runner, dropped from the race last week after a judge awarded custody of his three children to his estranged wife.
Insiders say the GOP field may look a bit different in the coming weeks as the party’s state committee meetings approach in February. The hope is to field a candidate who can link the country’s troubling news headlines, from inflation and gas prices to COVID-19 numbers, to President Joe Biden in order to win one of the most watched Senate races in the country.
The prize is the seat now held by Republican Pat Toomey, who is not running for re-election to a third term. And a hot seat it is — seven Democrats and seven Republicans remain on the May 17 primary election ballot.
“Republicans are going to have the wind in our sails — the wind at our backs — in 2022, as long as we put up good candidates,” said Sam DeMarco, chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County.
In Mr. DeMarco’s view, the party already has strong options in the current field of candidates, such as Montgomery County businessman Jeff Bartos, former ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, and political commentator and Army veteran Kathy Barnette. But the reality is, as officials look to see where Mr. Parnell’s support will go, the next 30 days could see a complete makeover of the field, Mr. DeMarco said.
No matter who emerges as the GOP candidate, we need to be ready to keep Pennsylvania Blue.
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