> Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:48:14 -0700
> From: R Givens <rlgivens@...>
> Subject: MAP: Rove and Walters are Stealing Your
> Cash
>
> The article below should motivate the Democrats to
> begin enforcing
> the Hatch Act which the Drug Czar thinks does not
> apply to him.
>
> Remember how John Walters overtly interfered with
> ballot initiatives
> to legalize marijuana in Colorado and Nevada?
> Remember how Walters
> ran around the country opposing every medical
> marijuana initiative?
>
> These violations of the Hatch Act were ignored
> because the Demos were
> OUT. Without control of committees in the Senate and
> House they could
> do nothing to protect their candidates and punish
> violators.
>
> The knowledge that the drug warriors took political
> sides against the
> Demos could (and should) lead to 8 years of serious
> assaults on the
> drug warriors.
>
> Passing a stricter version of the Hatch Act with
> felony penalties
> would end the GOP game of using the ONDCP to attack
> Democrats.
>
> Remember that drug prohibition IS and always WAS a
> Republican hobby
> horse. Now that GOP political fortunes are declining
> would be a good
> time to drive a stake through the heart of drug
> prohibition.
>
> The goal should be REPEAL, not reform.
> R Givens
>
> Karl Rove and John Walters are Stealing Your Cash
>
> For years President Bush has wasted taxpayer money
> on drug war
> programs that even his own analysts have concluded
> are ineffective.
> Now we know why.
>
> A recent Congressional investigation found that the
> Office of
> National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) used taxpayer
> money to boost
> support for Republican candidates in 2006. U.S. Drug
> Czar John
> Walters and his deputies traveled to almost 20
> events with vulnerable
> Republican members of Congress in the months prior
> to the election.
> The taxpayer-financed trips were orchestrated by
> President Bush's
> political advisors and often combined with the
> announcement of
> federal grants or actions that made the Republican
> candidates look
> good in their districts. Karl Rove commended ONDCP
> officials for
> "going above and beyond the call of duty" in making
> "surrogate
> appearances" in "the god awful places we sent them."
> Those "god awful
> places" included cities like South Bend, Indiana, my
> hometown.
>
> At the same time Walters was spending taxpayer money
> campaigning on
> behalf of vulnerable Republicans, President Bush was
> increasing
> funding for Walters' favorite programs, the
> anti-marijuana ad
> campaign and the student drug testing program. This
> kind of
> I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine
> arrangement is outrageous,
> even by Washington standards!
>
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143222>Email
> Congress.
>
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143210>Donate
> Now.
>
> And this corruption is just the tip of the iceberg.
> ONDCP has a long
> history of using taxpayer money to oppose drug
> policy reform. For
> instance, ONDCP bureaucrats traveled to New Mexico
> at least four
> times in 12 months--at your expense--to lobby state
> legislators to
> oppose the Drug Policy Alliance's medical marijuana
> legislation.
> Fortunately, the legislature passed our bill anyway
> and seriously ill
> people in New Mexico will finally have access to
> legal medical
> marijuana.
>
> We truly are in a David vs. Goliath fight here.
> ONDCP's annual budget
> is 67 times greater than ours; and while we rely
> upon the voluntary
> donations of supporters like you, the drug war
> extremists can dig
> into the taxpayers' purse any time they want.
>
> There are two things you can do to help level the
> playing field:
>
> 1)
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143222>Email
>
> Congress and urge your representatives to pass
> legislation
> prohibiting ONDCP from using taxpayer money to lobby
> or influence
> elections.
>
> 2)
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143210>Donate
>
> so we can rein in ONDCP and fight the politicians
> and special
> interests that benefit from the war on drugs.
>
> DPA has a strong track record on this issue. In 2003
> we beat back an
> attempt in Congress by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) to
> allow the White
> House to use taxpayer money to run attack ads
> against pro-drug policy
> reform candidates and ballot measures. Our campaign
> garnered national
> media attention and helped make Rep. Souder a
> laughingstock in
> Congress. Three years later we turned the tables on
> Souder and passed
> a provision prohibiting ONDCP from ever using the
> National Youth
> Anti-Drug Media Campaign to oppose pro-reform
> candidates or ballot
> measures.
>
> Now we have an opportunity to really go after the
> Drug Czar. With
> your support we can push for hearings on this latest
> drug war
> scandal, work to ensure that ONDCP staff are
> punished for any laws
> they broke, and close the campaign finance loophole
> that allows ONDCP
> to spend taxpayer money lobbying against drug policy
> reform. Please
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143222>take
> a
> minute today to email Congress. And if you can,
> please
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143210>donate
>
> to this important campaign.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Bill Piper
> Director of National Affairs
> Drug Policy Alliance
>
> More Information:
>
> A recently released November 20, 2006, memo from
> Sara Taylor, the
> former White House Director of Political Affairs,
> summarizes the
> travel Drug Czar John Walters took at her request.
> All of the events
> were with Republicans in close races. An agency
> e-mail sent the
> following day describes how Karl Rove commended his
> agency (and three
> cabinet departments - Commerce, Transportation, and
> Agriculture) for
> "going above and beyond the call of duty" in making
> "surrogate
> appearances" at locations the e-mail described as
> "the god awful
> places we sent them."
>
> That e-mail, as well as e-mails that followed, show
> that ONDCP
> officials were proud of the commendation they
> received from Mr. Rove
> and the political travel they took using taxpayer
> dollars. According
> to ONDCP's liaison to the White House, Douglas
> Simon, "Our hard work
> in preparing the Director and Deputies for their
> trips and events"
> allowed them to travel "thousands of miles to attend
> numerous events
> all across the country."
>
> This information came out as the result of an
> ongoing investigation
> by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and
> Government Reform.
>
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143211>Read
>
> the memos, e-mails, and other evidence.
>
>
<http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=3843384&l=143224>Read
> a
> Washington Post story.
>
> Contact the Drug Policy Alliance:
>
> Drug Policy Alliance
> 70 West 36th Street, 16th Floor
> New York, NY 10018
>
> For subscription problems please contact
> Jeanette Irwin, Director, Internet Communications
> <mailto:jirwin@...>jirwin@...
> | 202.216.0035
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Attachment:
> http://mapinc.org/temp/26ZFjRL2JjIFE.html



________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search
that gives answers, not web links.
http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC