A political adviser to California Senate Leader Kevin de León accepted vape pens and edibles from a marijuana industry lobbyist while talking about how to best convince de León to support a cannabis regulatory bill currently in the state Senate. Although the interaction was not illegal, ethics experts agree it violated the spirit of the law.
The Capitol building in Sacramento.
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A political aide to California Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León accepted at least $85 in marijuana products from a pot lobbyist at the end of May before discussing how his boss needed to be "educated" into taking a more liberal stance on medical marijuana.
According to California's Political Reform Act, both full-time employees and contracted consultants for state legislators are barred from accepting unreported gifts worth more than $10 from lobbyists in any given calendar month. However, the adviser in question inhabits what several ethics experts described to BuzzFeed News as a legal loophole, because although he refers to Sen. de León as his boss, he is technically paid by the California Democratic Party and therefore is not required by law to report his gift. Therefore, Josh Drayton, a political adviser to de León via a group called the Senate Democrats, cheerfully accepted at least one hash oil–filled vaporizer pen and a container of marijuana edibles from pot lobbyist Nate Bradley in front of a BuzzFeed News reporter.
Public officials exchanging gifts and favors with lobbyists has long been a focus of public concern, but the legalization of marijuana raises the possibility of politicians and their staff being swayed not just by traditional incentives like financial donations, fancy lunches, or free concert tickets. The future of legislative influence may very well be in expensive buds or a passed joint.
In statehouses across the country, elected officials are trying to figure out how to turn a black market narcotic into a legitimate medicine or commodity. There are few precedents for how this should work, so they're making up the rules as they go along, with great variety and little guidance from the federal government. With so much money at stake for those who want licenses to grow, process, or sell legal weed, local legislators have a lot of influence over who will get to run a lucrative industry.
Although the value of Bradley's gift to Drayton is relatively low, this interaction represents a chumminess between political advisers and lobbyists that dances very close to the stated intention of the Political Reform Act, which was put in place to prevent gifts and financial interests from influencing legislation. Drayton's lawyer, Lance Olson, defended his client by saying Drayton did not do anything illegal, because he is not under contract with de León nor with any state or local agency. As a result, he said, Drayton is not subject to the gift-reporting requirements that an adviser or consultant under contract with de León's office would need to abide by.
Drayton's boss, de León, is one of the most powerful Democrats in California state government and has considerable influence over whether a bill supported by Bradley that would create a regulatory framework for medical marijuana will pass the state Senate this August. The bill would provide a state-level licensing system to codify the existence of the cannabis businesses that Bradley represents, which currently operate in an unregulated legal gray area.
California state Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León.
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Although Drayton introduced himself to BuzzFeed News by saying he worked for de León, he later offered some clarification on how de León's office, where staffers are subject to gift restrictions because they are paid by the state Senate, works in conjunction with the Senate Democrats, where staffers are not subject to gift restrictions because they are paid by the California Democratic Party.
"We are the political arm for whoever the pro tem of the Senate is," Drayton said. "We are a piecemeal office that does a lot of little things. Mainly what we do are campaigns. Any time there's a changeover in the pro tem, our office structure changes. They bring in their own political director and adviser."
Drayton's business card lists his title as "advisor," has about 90% of the seal of the California state Senate, and has de León's name at the top.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1govaNW
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