Group seeks to compel drug czar to report expenses

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An organization pushing a petition to legalize small amounts of marijuana has filed suit in the Nevada Supreme Court to force federal drug czar John Walters to file campaign expense reports when he campaigns against the issue in this state.

The Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C., says Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval was wrong when his office said Walters did not have to submit a list of his expenses when he campaigned against a similar drug petition in the 2002 election.

The group pointed out that Walters has already campaigned in Nevada this year against a new petition on marijuana.

Those who support or oppose ballot questions must file their expenses and contributions report with the secretary of state's office.

The lawsuit seeks to compel Secretary of State Dean Heller to enforce the law.

"At this point we're following the advice of the attorney general," Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said Wednesday.

The group filed a complaint in 2002 with Heller's office on Walters' conduct during that election season. The organization maintained that Walters in October 2002 traveled to Nevada "with security detail in tow" to challenge the ballot issue.

"He (Walters) had a motorcade to shuttle him between television appearances in Las Vegas and Reno" and the federal officials had hotel expenses, according to the organization.

It asked Heller to require Walters to file a campaign report or be subject to a fine of up to $5,000. Walters did not file a campaign report.

A federal attorney for Walters said the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was exempt from Nevada law. The state attorney general's office followed up with an opinion that Walters did not have to file campaign expense and contribution reports because he was acting within the scope of his federal duties when he appeared in Nevada in 2002.

The new lawsuit, filed April 22, said this was an important issue of "significant statewide impact in the regulating its (Nevada's) own election."

The 2002 proposed constitutional amendment that sought to legalize three ounces of marijuana was defeated at the polls, 305,479 votes to 196,571.