Westword’s Michael Roberts:
This week, Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh asking him not to send seizure threats to any Boulder medical marijuana dispensaries conforming to state and local land use regulations. When asked about the note, Walsh’s spokesman said his boss would respond directly to Garnett — the implication being that the U.S. Attorney wasn’t thrilled about this communique, on view below along with our earlier coverage, having been made public. But Garnett has no regrets.
“I’ve been in conversation with John’s office for quite a while about these issues,” he points out, referring to letters ordering dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools to shut down by a certain date or risk having the feds take the property and everything on it. “And as I say in the letter, I have enormous respect for John. I think he’s a great prosecutor and a great guy, and he has a great staff. But I’ve also had a lot of discussions with municipal leadership in Boulder County, and they’ve been frustrated by the uncertainty of where they stand in regard to this issue. And since the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not hesitated to be quite public about its position, I thought it was appropriate to respond as I did on the issue, which I see as an issue of local control.”
Regarding possible displeasure on the part of Walsh and company that he released his letter to the media, Garnett stresses that “his office is the one that’s decided this is a matter that needs to be played out in public. They’ve repeatedly talked about it and repeatedly threatened action against dispensaries. So I felt a public response was appropriate.”
The full letter from Boulder DA Stan Garnett follows. This is the latest example of official pushback from Colorado against federal efforts to crack down on our state’s tightly regulated medical marijuana problem, after Rep. Jared Polis’ repeated efforts to get federal authorities to clarify their intentions. While marijuana activists frequently end up doing their agenda more harm than good, officials are able to make a more reasoned case–or at least a case boosted by the heft of their offices. It will be interesting to see what U.S. Attorney John Walsh’s response to DA Garnett is, we suspect it might not be as casually dismissive as he is to, say, Rob Corry.
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Stan Garnett should know better. This is pandering at its worst. It is no different than what Cory Gardner is doing in your other post. Helping a campaign contributor at the expense of good judgment. Bad call Stan
Keep in mind this is Boulder where you have a substantial majority think that marijuana should be fully legalized. This is just Garnett listening to his constituents.
Rob Corry and his pals held fundraisers and donated to Stan Garnett’s race for AG. This letter is simply a pay back for those donations. Nothing more nothing less.
Did it cost lobbyists $ 10,000 to attend ?
Were there exotic boat trips ?
Stan Garnett publicly received endorsements from medical marijuana supporters, and campaign benefits were publicly held for him by medical marijuana supporters. Cory Gardner met with lobbyists behind closed doors.
Usually “payback” occurs after someone wins. Garnett didn’t win. I wouldn’t think he owes anyone a damn thing.