USA - US: Drug war tax dollars go toward republican support

[Heretic.Ape.]

The following is from The Drug Policy Alliace:



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!

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) Email Congress and urge your representatives to pass legislation prohibiting ONDCP from using taxpayer money to lobby or influence elections.
2) 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 take a minute today to email Congress.

Thank you,
Bill Piper
Director of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance



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The following is from the committee on oversight and government reform; chairman Henry Waxman, 110th congress:

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1414

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Administration Oversight

[top]Politicization of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

At the request of Sara Taylor, the former White House Director of Political Affairs, John Walters, the nation’s drug czar, and his deputies traveled to 20 events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months prior to the 2006 elections. The trips were paid for by federal taxpayers and several were combined with the announcement of federal grants or actions that benefited the districts of the Republican members.
A November 20, 2006, memo from Ms. Taylor summarizes the travel Director Walters took at her request. An agency e-mail sent the following day describes how Karl Rove commended the historically nonpartisan Office of National Drug Control Policy 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.” Other documents include an e-mail from the Interior Department to Ms. Taylor’s predecessor stating: “these folks need to be reminded who they work for and how their geographical travel can benefit this President.”
Chairman Waxman wrote to Ms. Taylor to request her attendance at a Committee deposition on or before July 24 and her possible appearance at a Committee hearing on July 30. He also wrote to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, the Republican National Committee, Director Walters, and the Secretaries of the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Agriculture requesting relevant documents.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Here is a related news article:

Drug czar accused of 'partisan warfare'


swapContent('firstHeader','applyHeader');By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — White House drug czar John Walters made at least 20 trips at taxpayer expense to appear with Republicans congressional candidates before the 2006 elections, according to memos and e-mails released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the committee, said the documents show the White House had encouraged such travel by Walters and several Cabinet secretaries for years. He said his committee is investigating whether the trips violated a ban on using government resources for politics.
The trips are outlined in a memo sent by former White House political director Sara Taylor to the drug czar's office last year. None of the trips included Democrats.
"Non-partisan officials like the drug czar should not be enlisted to help Republican candidates," Waxman said. "There is growing evidence that the Bush administration has crossed the line."
Barry McCaffrey, who served as drug czar under President Clinton, said the drug czar's office is prohibited from engaging in election politics. "I think it's extremely harmful to turn the drug issue into one of partisan warfare. It simply won't work," he said.


Taylor's attorney, Neil Eggleston, said she ran the White House political office the same as prior administrations.
An e-mail summarizing a post-election meeting called by White House political adviser Karl Rove in November 2006 said he thanked everyone for arranging appearances by Cabinet members. The e-mail, written by the drug czar's White House liaison, Doug Simon, said Walters and his deputies deserve praise because they sacrificed family time "for the god-awful places we sent them."
Tom Riley, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the drug czar traveled routinely to promote anti-drug programs. "We invite Republicans and Democrats," he said. "It should be no surprise to anyone that during campaign season it would be Republicans who want to be standing beside administration officials and not Democrats."
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the documents "did not give any evidence that any of these anti-drug events were used to urge the election of any particular candidate," he said.
The chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, David Waid, in an Aug. 28, 2006, letter accused Walters of campaigning for GOP Sen. Jon Kyl in Tucson. He complained that Walters excluded the state's Democratic attorney general and governor from the event and praised only Kyl in the news release.
The memos also show similar trips before the 2002 and 2004 elections, Waxman said.
An e-mail from William Kloiber, former White House liaison for the Interior Department in March 2004, said, "Sometimes these folks need to be reminded who they work for and how their geographic travel can benefit the president."
Contributing: David Jackson

[Heretic.Ape.]

...And one more:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/07/dr...stirs_thi.html

Drug Policy Director Stirs Things Up, but Not the Way GOP Candidates Had Hoped
By Martin Kady II | 6:26 AM; Jul. 18, 2007 | Email This Article
The White House Office of Political Affairs is in Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s cross hairs again, this time because it authorized campaign-type events for the nation’s drug czar, which is supposed to be a non-political position.
Waxman, who chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released documents Tuesday showing that drug policy director John Walters traveled to 20 events for vulnerable Republicans in 2006.
Waxman, D-Calif., is investigating whether the travel violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in electioneering on the taxpayer’s dime.
A closer look at the travel, though, shows that it wasn’t that helpful for some GOP candidates. Eight who were supposed to benefit from the visits lost their elections, including former Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana (1989-2007), and former Rep. Richard W. Pombo of California (1993-2007).
The trips were usually listed as community roundtables or “drug events,” but every visit involved an incumbent in a tough race. The list of events was put together by Sara M. Taylor, former White House director of political affairs.
“This may well be a violation of the Hatch Act. . . . I don’t want to pre-judge that,” Waxman said. But he added that it looks like Walters “went to events to re-elect Republicans.”
This story originally appeared in CQ Today.

[jcdjinn]

I don't get why republicans hate marijuana so much. If it were legal, it could be taxed which would generate billions of $ and save the money used to prosecute it. And republicans love money, so what's the deal? Is it a religious thing since many are bible bangers and dislike pleasure?

[methMADMAN]

If pot were legal hemp would be legal and many companies the produce things made with other plants would suffer financially. Marijuana is a weed as well, it's easily cultivated and since any fool can do it, the taxation would be pretty much a joke. There are so many ways that legalization of pot threatens certain peoples profit margin, and as we all know money is the deity republicans really worship.

[Joe Duffy]

Originally Posted by jcdjinn

I don't get why republicans hate marijuana so much.

It’s probably because they realise people that partake can see them for what they really are, inter-dimensional shape-shifting lizard warmongering profiteers.