ONDCP Claims Immunity from Montana Campaign Finance Law April 14, 2005
News Summary
In a fight stemming from last year's medical-marijuana debate in Montana, officials from the White House drug czar's office claimed that the agency is immune from state campaign-finance laws, the Associated Press reported April 4.Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Deputy Director Scott Burns came to Montana last fall to lobby against a ballot item to legalize medical use of marijuana. The initiative went on to pass with 62 percent of the vote.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a main sponsor of the measure, filed a complaint with the state election board saying that ONDCP violated state campaign-finance laws by not reporting how much the agency spent to campaign against the ballot item. But in a letter to Montana Political Practices Commissioner Gordon Higgins, an ONDCP lawyer said the agency would not respond to the complaint because the visit was part of Burns' official duties and thus not subject to state election laws.
"The drug czar's office has moved from ignoring the law to actively defying it," said Steve Fox, a spokesman for MPP. "Claims that Burns was just doing his job by speaking out about the dangers of marijuana are absurd and insulting. He campaigned against I-148 overtly and energetically, most likely spending many thousands of dollars of the taxpayers' money in the process."
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