Initiative showed voter intent

span.deletedtext { background-color: red; background-attachment: scroll; background-repeat: repeat; }span.embeddedtag { background-color: yellow; background-attachment: scroll; background-repeat: repeat; }span.note { background-color: lime; background-attachment: scroll; background-repeat: repeat; } Thursday, May 5, Gov. Brian Schweitzer and three Republican state legislators came to Whitefish to give their view of what was accomplished during the 2011 legislative session. The panel consisted of state senators Bruce Tutvedt, a local rancher, and Ryan Zinke, a retired Navy Seal commander, and Rep. Derek Skees, who works is a construction company vice-president.

I attended the affair, planning to ask a question as to why this session of the legislature spent so much time on the issue of medical marijuana, as this is an issue that was decided by the voters in 2004 by a statewide initiative, Initiative No. 148, "Montana Medical Marijuana Act."

With the plethora of pressing problems of critical concern we face in this state, not the least of which is unemployment at more than 10 percent in the valley and more than 20 percent in other counties in Montana, and long lines at every food bank in Montana, it turned out that many people who attended this function had essentially the same question.

The medical marijuana initiative that was passed in 2004, by 62 percent of the voters in Montana, was simply not an issue that should have dominated the 2011 legislature - but it did. Mr. Zinke, the state senator from Whitefish, who is a former Navy Seal and a role model by any standard, gave us his assessment of why that was.

He expressed the opinion that the situation we have now is really not what 62 percent of the voters had in mind in 2004, stating that the current situation is encouraging use of marijuana in our schools and is discouraging industry from coming into Montana.

Unfortunately, however, none of the Republicans who have so diligently pursued repeal of this voter initiative has provided any supporting documentation whatsoever to support either of these claims. Be that as it may, Mr. Zinke made it clear that he felt that 150 state legislators, for the most part very well off retired folks and/or wealthy ranchers or businessmen, are better equipped to decide what was intended by the 2004 initiative than are Montana voters themselves.

The street in front of Whitefish Middle School was filled with more than 300 demonstrators who could not have disagreed more with Mr. Zinke's assessment. Judging from the response from the capacity crowd inside the Performing Arts Center auditorium, where the affair was held, they did not agree with him either. Sympathy was clearly with the crowd in the street.

The governor expressed agreement with the obvious sentiment of the crowd with his statement to the effect that if this issue needed to be revisited, it should have been done by a statewide voter initiative, the same way the issue was originally addressed in 2004. The governor went on to express his disappointment with the entire matter, indicating he vetoed the earlier version of Senate Bill 423, House Bill 161, but that he would probably do nothing as to this version of the bill.

He had until May 8 to veto or sign the bill. If he does nothing, it becomes law effective July 1. If this happens, there will be many who will be very disappointed in a governor they have learned to expect more of. Then, also, the advocacy groups will probably file one or more lawsuits before this law can take effect, and taxpayer money will continue to be spent with regard to an issue that has already been decided by the voters.

It would seem from this experience that as voters, we all need to do a much better job expressing in clear terms what priorities we expect from the people we send to the legislature every two years for 90 days, making it emphatically clear to each and every one of these people that we are not sending them to Helena to repeal statewide initiatives which have been voted on and overwhelmingly agreed to by a large majority of Montana voters.

Jim Lockwood lives in Whitefish.