Pot has blurred party lines at S. F. fundraiser
Perhaps only one thing could bring a Democratic and a Republican congressman together to headline a $ 1,000a- person fundraiser in San Francisco: weed.
Orange County Republican Dana Rohrabacher and Portland, Ore., Democrat Earl Blumenauer are holding a — wait for it — joint fundraiser Friday in San Francisco. So far, 30 people have signed up and organizers say roughly an equal amount of money is going to each representative.
“It is a weird picture in people’s eyes,” Rohrabacher conceded. “But this isn’t a partisan issue.”
It’s not really about the money since both men hold safe seats. Still, their union is extraordinary because Rohrabacher and Blumenauer come from opposite ends of the partisan spectrum. Rohrabacher, a puka shell necklace-wearing surfer, was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and the inspiration behind California’s anti- illegal immigration Proposition 187 in 1994. Blumenauer, a bow tie- wearing beacon of Portlandia liberalism and environmentalism, first voted to decriminalize marijuana as a state legislator in 1973.
The veteran legislators, both in their late 60s, will unite in San Francisco to speak about their leadership in helping to create new federal cannabis policies at this weekend’s In-
ternational Cannabis Business Conference, a gathering of marijuanarelated business people. At the behest of the conference’s executive director, Alex Rogers, they agreed to appear at the fundraiser to show how support for the issue has evolved.
“This is a marker in the normalization of marijuana in politics. It shows how mainstream it is becoming,” said Richard Skinner, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation and expert on money in politics.
With medical marijuana legal in 23 states and Washington, D. C., and recreational cannabis legal in four states and the nation’s capital, “it’s as normal as any other industry for it to be politically active,” Skinner said. “And by having Rohrabacher there with Blumenauer, it shows that it isn’t just liberals from Portland who want to legalize it.”
Rohrabacher’s devotion to marijuana advocacy is wrapped in conservative arguments, not ingesting the herb — he said he hasn’t smoked since he was 23 years old. “This is not a pro- cannabis argument,” he said.
He believes that states should be able to decide whether to legalize cannabis, making it a 10th Amendment, which reserves rights for the states, issue for bedrock conservatives. Republicans believe in personal responsibility, he said. And Rohrabacher believes that even Reagan would have backed legalization were he alive today. Because, as Rohrabacher said, the Gipper would want to be on the side of freedom.
Rohrabacher is taking the political risk of fundraising with a Democrat to show that there really isn’t a political risk in backing cannabis reforms. In his last election, his share of the vote actually went up a couple of percentage points to 64 percent from his previous campaign — and that was after he had become even more vocal about marijuana.
“I’m taking my knocks from people,” Rohrabacher said. “You make yourself vulnerable to some ad campaign that would use this against you in a cliched way.”
He worries that Republicans like Rep. Walter Jones, R- N. C., who have been supportive of some changes in cannabis law, will face a backlash from a more conservative Republican primary challenger this year.
“I am convinced that ( what Jones’ opponent is) going to do is come out with stuff like, ‘ Jones wants your kids to be smoking marijuana. Do you want them to?’ ” Rohrabacher said, mimicking what a TV attack ad could sound like. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
Rohrabacher said that it’s hard to explain the conservative position on cannabis in sound- bite terms. It is much riskier for a Republican to step out publicly on weed issues than a Democrat, whose base supporters are largely supportive of legalization.
“That’s why this fundraiser is important,” Rohrabacher said. “It sends a signal that if Republicans take the risk of doing what’s right, they will get some backup from people who may be Democrats or independents.”
Blumenauer, who has been at the forefront of legalizing cannabis for four decades, agrees that the fundraiser shows how legislation might become exempt from Washington’s partisan gridlock. With legalization likely to be on the November ballot in California and a couple of other states, he believes this is a good time to stress its bipartisan potential.
“As ( cannabis) is positioned to be a higherprofile political issue, it doesn’t have to be conventional in its approaches to the political process,” Blumenauer said. “It is illustrative that this is an issue that no longer divides Americans. It actually does bring them together.”
Both feel that there are many places where Republicans and Democrats can agree on cannabis. They can agree that the federal government should no longer classify it as a Schedule 1 drug, just like heroin. They also agree the federal government shouldn’t bother states whose voters have legalized it, that veterans should have access to medical marijuana, that legitimate marijuana businesses be allowed to use banking services and that there should be more federal research into its potential and limitations.
Rohrabacher has spoken with Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz about cannabis legalization. He declined to say what their responses were, but said “the only hope you got left is Cruz” — Rohrabacher has endorsed Cruz. “You got to hope he’ll be so devoted to the Constitution and the 10th Amendment — that’s our only hope that we can get things done.”
Blumenauer believes that federal legislators will jump on the bandwagon if two or three more states legalize cannabis. “If that happens, then the train has left the station,” he said.
“Five years from now,” he said, “we will wonder what all the shouting was about.”