ANTI-POT PASSAGE IN VOTER GUIDE DRAWS FIRE

OFFICIAL: Lieutenant governor's chief of staff wrote text for
pamphlet.

A statement written by Lt. Gov. Loren Leman's office opposing the
ballot effort to legalize marijuana was used almost verbatim in the
state's Official Election Pamphlet, sent to more than 300,000 Alaska
households.

While Dr. Charles M. Herndon revised the 300-word statement slightly
before signing his name at the bottom, the text was largely written by
Leman's chief of staff, Annette Kreitzer.

Proponents of Ballot Measure 2, as well as some who oppose it, reacted
angrily to the discovery, saying the lieutenant governor is supposed
to remain neutral in election issues.

"It's outrageous conduct," initiative backer David Finkelstein
said.

Former U.S. Attorney Wev Shea, who had offered to write the statement
but was rejected, said it could provide ammunition for marijuana
advocates in a court case if they lose.

"I'm just totally disgusted," he said.

But Kreitzer defended the effort, saying it was aimed not at tipping
the election but at satisfying a mandate in state law to present both
sides of every ballot measure in the election pamphlet. She put
together some notes on the issue that could be used or not, as the
author of the statement chose, she said. The notes were ultimately
sent to Herndon.

"In this case, Dr. Herndon had all the control," Kreitzer said. "He's
the one who wanted to put his name on the line. I did a little
research for him."

The wording similarity came to light last Thursday when the Anchorage
Press published a copy of a "proposed draft statement" opposing the
measure that Leman's office had e-mailed to Herndon last August.

When compared with the final statement that appears in the election
pamphlet, they're nearly identical.

Kreitzer said she got involved in the marijuana statement to help out
the Elections Division. The staff seemed stretched and overwhelmed
this summer as it prepared to publish the Official Election Pamphlet,
she said.

"I tried to help out wherever I could," she said.

The pamphlet is a huge job, according to elections director Laura
Glaiser. Hundreds of pages long and published in four volumes to cover
the entire state, it contains the photos and profiles of every
candidate who chooses to advertise in it, plus judges, agency
information and political party ads.

By law, it also must contain a summary of every ballot initiative,
including a neutral statement plus "statements submitted" that
advocate its approval or rejection.

Normally, opponents are easy to find, Glaiser said. But this summer,
with the deadline looming to send the pamphlet to the printer in
Salem, Ore., no one had submitted a statement opposing Ballot Measure
2.

The lieutenant governor's office wanted someone with a medical
background to write it, Kreitzer said. It had rejected Shea, who had
written or co-written statements opposing medical marijuana and
legalization in several previous elections.

"I didn't think that would be a good idea" to give him the job,
Kreitzer said, because he was a U.S. Senate candidate in the
Republican primary. It would have been unfair to the other Senate
candidates to let him oppose marijuana, almost like free advertising,
she said.

But Shea disputed Kreitzer's account, saying he volunteered to write
the statement shortly after the ballot measure was approved for the
ballot last January. He didn't enter the Senate race until June. He
also suggested others who could write the statement, he said.

Even as Shea was rejected for being a candidate, others were not. U.S.
Rep. Don Young signed the bear baiting statement, while Alaska Rep.
Bill Stoltze wrote the statements opposing Ballot Measure 1. Both are
running for re-election.

But as the printing deadline grew closer and no one had been
identified to write the marijuana statement, Kreitzer said, "I took it
on myself" to begin work. Kreitzer said she borrowed information from
an FBI Web site, added facts about Alaska court decisions and
initiative votes on marijuana, then submitted it to Leman for approval.

"I write a lot of speeches," Kreitzer said. "For me it was nothing
more than a draft" of a speech. She considered the compilation a set
of notes for whomever would finally write the statement "so they
didn't have to create something from scratch." Her attitude was, "If
you want it, use it. If not, trash it," she said.

By mid-August, Herndon had agreed to write the statement, and on Aug.
15, Leman sent him Kreitzer's draft.

"Thank you for considering my request for you to sign this statement,
revise it, or write a statement of your own," Leman wrote.

Because of time constraints, Leman asked Herndon to return the
finished statement quickly, "today if possible."

Herndon, the medical director at Providence Breakthrough, a drug and
alcohol disorder treatment center, said he initially didn't want to
get involved but agreed to write the statement as a private citizen
who opposes the measure.

He added one line to Kreitzer's draft, noting that marijuana "is
frequently combined with other illicit drugs or alcohol, which further
impairs the user's abilities and judgment." He also struck a reference
to the American Medical Association, deleted a short editorial clause
and changed "legally prescribed substances" to "legally prescribed
medication."

Last week Herndon said he regrets having signed a statement he hardly
wrote.

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd start from scratch and write it
totally over," Herndon said. "I wouldn't change my position," he
added. "My error in judgment was letting someone else do the writing
of it."

Kreitzer said she would do it again. Statutes require that an
opposition statement be included in the pamphlet, she said. If that
means the lieutenant governor's office has to write the statement, the
agency should comply, she said.

But previous elections officials have left out ballot statements. As
recently as 1996, the pages explaining Ballot Measure 1 list only the
neutral statement and one in support. "A statement in opposition to
Ballot Measure No. 1 was not received," the pamphlet reads.

That's not the way she interprets the statutes, Kreitzer
said.

Leman's office has been challenged several times on his treatment of
ballot initiatives, including the marijuana measure. In 2003, he
disputed the validity of signatures gathered to put legalization on
the 2004 ballot but was overruled by a Superior Court judge.

More recently, the state had to reprint about 500,000 ballots after
another judge found the language Leman used to describe Ballot Measure
4 unfair, biased and incorrect.

Finkelstein, a former legislator and participant in several ballot
initiatives, said he doesn't know whether the lieutenant governor's
office overstepped its legal authority in helping write the opposition
statement to Ballot Measure 2.

"It's more a matter of ethics," he said.

After working with three previous administrations, he added, "I never
saw any lieutenant governor pull the kind of political tricks Leman is
doing."

Kreitzer argued that the lieutenant governor's office simply wanted to
give voters a balanced look at the issue and that it wasn't an ethical
lapse for the chief of staff to help out the elections division staff.

"I've tried to help where I thought I could help without affecting the
ballot," she said.

She also suggested that a legislative review of election pamphlet laws
might eliminate some confusion.

"This is certainly one area that has proven to me that elections laws
need to be clarified," she said.