MPP Sues to Compel Investigation of Drug Czar's Campaign Spending
HELENA, MONTANA — The Marijuana Policy Project and former I-148 spokesman Paul Befumo filed suit today seeking to force Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Gordon Higgins to investigate the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP's) failure to make the legally required disclosure of campaign expenses in Montana last year.
The Montana Code Annotated specifies that "a combination of two or more individuals" who "oppose a ballot issue" must "file periodic reports of ... expenditures." No such reports were filed by ONDCP. MPP brought this situation to Higgins' attention in February, but Higgins dismissed the complaint in May.
Today's suit, filed in the First Judicial District in Helena, seeks a declaratory judgment stating that the rejection of the complaint against the drug czar was legally erroneous and directing the commissioner of political practices to investigate the allegations in the complaint.
"Montana law requires those campaigning for or against an initiative to disclose their expenditures," said Steve Fox, MPP director of government relations. "ONDCP publicly and actively campaigned against I-148, but failed to make the campaign finance disclosures required by the law. We are disappointed that Montana officials have thus far refused to enforce the state's own laws."
Fox added, "It is beyond dispute that ONDCP Deputy Director Scott Burns actively opposed the initiative during campaign stops in Helena and Billings. Title 21, Section 1703(b)(12) of the U.S. Code states that the ONDCP director 'shall' take action to oppose reforms of laws regarding marijuana. Burns' trip to Montana and his statements were in furtherance of this obligation, and ONDCP clearly spent thousands of dollars of taxpayer money in the process — expenses that unquestionably must be reported as campaign expenditures under Montana law. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that it is constitutional for Montana to demand this reporting from the federal government."
MPP filed a similar suit today in Alaska. Both complaints are available at http://www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar/complaints.html.
With more than 17,000 members and 120,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana — both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, see http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org. | 
