Drug czar spurns complaint from marijuana group

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Federal drug czar John Walters is claiming immunity from the Nevada law that otherwise would have required him to file a campaign expense report for his efforts to defeat the Nevada marijuana initiative in the last election.

Walters, through his general counsel, Edward Jurith, notified Secretary of State Dean Heller Tuesday that he is refusing to respond to a complaint filed by the Marijuana Policy Project. The organization is alleging that Walters violated Nevada law.

The complaint against Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was filed Dec. 10 by the Marijuana Policy Project. It said Walters authorized and approved a series of anti-marijuana commercials that aired on television during the closing months of the campaign. Robert Kampia, executive director of the marijuana group, said those commercials were designed to defeat the ballot petition.

He said any money spent to air the commercials should be considered a campaign expense. Kampia said in his complaint filed with the secretary of state's office that the activities of Walters in Nevada "signal a dangerous new tack by the federal government to subvert state campaign finance laws."

Heller said he is going to ask Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval for his opinion as to whether Walters should have filed a campaign finance report. Heller said that Jurith failed to cite any laws that show the drug czar is exempt from complying with the law.

The ballot question that called for the legalization of up to 3 ounces of marijuana was rejected by voters in November. Walters traveled to Nevada in October to speak against the proposed constitutional amendment. He made numerous television appearances in Las Vegas and Reno to oppose the amendment.

Jurith, Walters' lawyer, told Heller that "as a federal official acting within the scope of duties, including speaking out about the dangers of illegal drugs, Director Walters is immune from enforcement of Nevada's election law. As a result, Director Walters and the Office of National Drug Control Policy respectfully decline to respond to the complaint."

But Walters was not just speaking out about the dangers of drugs when he was in Nevada, Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Washington D.C.-based marijuana organization, said.

"He was campaigning against Question 9 specifically and energetically," Mirken said. He said Walters was quoted in newspapers as coming to Nevada to "challenge" the initiative petition.

Walters has "moved from ignoring the law to actively defying it," Mirken alleged.

Citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a state law cannot intrude or interfere with the activities of the federal government, Mirken said, "It's a helluva stretch that reporting what he spent in the campaign against the amendment would interfere with his activities."

Mirken and Kampia's organization filed its own reports indicating that more than $1.3 million was spent on their campaign, most of it coming from the national policy project. It ended up with a surplus of $1,613.