…and apart from his unreasoning “active opposition” to the UMCA, plus another snarky remark he manages to drop here, it’s mostly very welcome, so thanks (we think and hope) for this small but real favor, Gov. Herbert…
“Speaking to reporters at his monthly news conference on KUED, the governor went down the list of initiatives seeking to qualify. The governor said that while he personally does not view ballot initiatives as a good way to make law, ‘I appreciate that we have an initiative process.’
The governor chastised those now pushing to get people who signed petitions to remove their signatures ahead of the May 15 deadline to validate and qualify the initiatives for the ballot.
‘I think it’s good to have the people’s voice heard. I’m a little bit off-put by those who would go out there and try to talk people into taking their signature off the petition,’ Gov. Herbert said. ‘Let’s have the debate. Let’s hear the pros and cons and vote and let the people speak’.”
Well, amen to that!
The push by the UMA and groups like the Eagle Forum to undo eight months of hard work by the Utah Patients Coalition is cynical and anti-democratic in our opinion. (There’s also buzz it may be even more than that. We have no confirmation on this, but should any news break, we’ll pass it on immediately).
Meanwhile, the story notes that special interests are also seeking to decertify signatures on other possible initiatives. “Those kind of games are misleading and disingenuous,” said Taylor Morgan with Count My Vote.
Back to the UMCA (although there’s much in the story about various initiatives for your interest), Herbert continued to mischaracterize it as “too lax” and claiming (incorrectly) that under the Act, cannabis would no longer “be treated as a controlled substance.”
Of course it would. So the Gov giveth and the Gov taketh away… …and he also drifted into his tendency to get “cute” on the topic, which we might find goofily endearing if he wasn’t using his high office to keep tens of thousands of sufferers from serious relief with real medicine….
“You can’t just sprinkle a little seed, you know, into your muffins and brownies and say that’s good and trial and error,” he told reporters.
Oh, Gary….
#MMJ #UTpol #Gov #UPC #UMCA #UtahNext #TRUCE
See full article – Governor Herbert weighs in on more ballot initiatives, says people shouldn’t remove signatures from petitions