The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Campaigns' pot cash bugs banks
Last Saturday, Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner in Florida, closed her campaign’s Wells Fargo account.
This was done on orders from the bank itself, after a monthlong inquiry that began with a senior Wells Fargo manager posing this question in an email: “Can you confirm ... if any of the transactions will include funds received from lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry in any capacity?”
Given that Fried is a former lobbyist for the medicinal marijuana industry, that she organized support for a 2016 statewide referendum that gave medicinal marijuana a constitutional footing in Florida, and that the issue is central to her statewide campaign, the answer was never in doubt.
And so the bank declared the Fried campaign account to be a legal risk it couldn’t accept.
“I’m not a producer, I’m not a manufacturer, I’m not a dispensary,” Fried told me. “The fact that they’re a bank and getting involved in politics — are we going to censor people’s voices? Because that’s what this is, First Amendment stuff.”
She wondered aloud whether Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared money to be a form of speech, applied only to Republicans.
“I would bet every penny I have that there are hundreds of campaign accounts across this country,
of not only individuals who are supporting medical marijuana — and recreational, for that matter — and are accepting money from the marijuana industry,” Fried said. “The marijuana industry is playing in races all over the country.”
This is exactly why political candidates in Georgia should pay heed to the Fried episode.
One contributor to her Florida campaign is Jake Bergmann, CEO of Surterra Holding, a firm with a Peachtree Street address in Atlanta. Through Surterra Wellness, the company operates licensed dispensaries in Florida and Texas – but not in Georgia. It is “focused on unlocking the natural health benefits of cannabis-based ingredients.”
Earlier this month, Surterra Wellness named William “Beau” Wrigley Jr., a venture capitalist and former CEO of the chewing gum company, as chairman of its board of directors. Wrigley brought $65 million in investor money with him, the company reported.
Well before that cash infusion, Surterra was already playing a substantial role in our state Capitol debate over medicinal cannabis.
A House-Senate study committee on “low THC medical oil access” is scheduled to hold its first meeting next Wednesday.
Opponents of the medicinal marijuana movement — most notably the religious conservative arm of the Georgia GOP – point out that one of the three members appointed by House Speaker David Ralston is Susan McWhorter Driscoll, a former Coke executive who once served as president of Surterra Therapeutics in Florida.
Surterra donated $5,000 to the Georgia House Republican Trust in 2015. During this year’s gubernatorial campaign, Surterra donated $6,600 to the campaign of Stacey Evans, the Democratic candidate for governor who lost in the May primary. It contributed $38,100 to the GOP candidate Clay Tippins, who finished fourth in that primary.
Neither the Evans campaign nor the Tippins campaign received any objections or inquiries from their banks. Then again, neither had a Wells Fargo account.
In a statement released Wednesday, the bank said its decision to close Fried’s account in Florida shouldn’t be interpreted as taking sides in the debate over medicinal marijuana, widely touted to address a host of symptoms and conditions, from seizures in children to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rather, the Wells Fargo statement said, the bank is caught between the continued federal categorization of marijuana as a Schedule 1 illegal drug and the movement in states to decriminalize it entirely or to allow its medicinal use in nonintoxicating form. (The latter is the path chosen by Georgia lawmakers.)
“Since federal law prohibits the sale and use of marijuana, national banks like Wells Fargo may not knowingly bank or provide services to marijuana businesses or for related activities,” the statement said.
The federal-state conflict over marijuana has resulted in most FDIC-insured institutions refusing to do business with marijuana companies. Wells Fargo appears to be carrying its caution further than other banks, into the realm of campaign finance.
The fact that Wells Fargo has had a rough year, publicity-wise, may have something to do with the decision. Geography may have a role, too. Because, the situation could play out differently here.
In Florida, the medicinal marijuana movement has its origins on the Democratic side of the aisle, with a Republican-led state legislature coming along only with a certain amount of reluctance. Given the lack of precedent, Fried presumes partisanship was involved.
“I suspect I was specifically targeted as a Democrat, as a female, somebody who has a really great shot come November,” said Fried, still considered a favorite against two challengers in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. “Somebody from the Republican side tipped them off, or made some waves.”
But in Georgia, the medical marijuana movement has strong Republican roots, largely the work of state Rep. Allen Peake of Macon, who has declined to run for re-election this year.
“You’ve seen massive shifts in terms of attitude,” said Taylor Brown, who managed the Tippins campaign.
Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor, has endorsed the medical marijuana legislation approved thus far by the Legislature and Gov. Nathan Deal. U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., is an original co-sponsor of a new medical marijuana bill that would bar federal agencies from firing or denying employment to people solely for using medical marijuana.
Yes, the U.S. Justice Department is something to be feared. But monkey with the wrong Republican campaign account in Georgia, and a financial institution could face repercussions when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
That could put Georgia banks in an uncomfortable situation. But rocks and hard places can often give birth to solutions. While researching this piece, I swapped texts with the godfather of the medicinal marijuana movement in Georgia. I’ll give Allen Peake the last word.
“Bottom line, government and the business world are going to have to get used to existing in a world with an emerging and growing medical cannabis industry,” he said.