Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert met with opponents of the state’s medical cannabis ballot initiative earlier this month and they asked him for something he refused to do.
The opponents asked Herbert to direct state agencies to vocally oppose the initiative and give access to his donor list. The request was brought to light according to an email shared with FOX 13. They also requested to possibly call a special session to shut the initiative down.
Gov. Herbert said no and his spokesman, Paul Edwards, told FOX 13, “He made clear to that coalition that while he remains opposed to the initiative because of how it conflicts with federal law, that he has no plans to call a special session to try to preempt the initiative.”
“He also made clear that state agencies have been directed to take a neutral position on Proposition 2—although they are a resource for factual information and informed professional opinion on issues related to public safety, public health and costs, they are not permitted to side with either the advocates or opponents of Proposition 2.”
Those on the email included Jim Jardine, an attorney who has served on a public affairs committee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but said to FOX 13 that he was there in his capacity as a member of the group Drug Safe Utah.
The group had been formed to oppose the medical marijuana ballot initiative.
“From my perspective, we went there to talk to him about the status of what we were doing, what our plans were,”Jardine said. “We thought he’d want to know. We raised some coordination with him, but ultimately, we decided to coordinate on our own.”
DJ Schanz, the director of the Utah Patients Coalition who is sponsoring Prop. 2, was happy with Herbert’s decision. He told FOX 13, “Stop trying political parlor tricks to deny people their right to vote on this issue.”
Prop. 2 will go before voters this November unless the lawsuit succeeds.
