INFO ON POT INITIATIVE A SMOKE SCREEN

Nobody ever said politics isn't rough and tumble. Nobody ever said politics
isn't dirty. But when our state leaders deliberately mislead us in a
publication that we count on for information, we should hold someone
accountable. Think of it. We taxpayers pay to publish a voter pamphlet. We
pay to send it to every registered voter. And our leaders have used it to
intentionally sway our votes on one issue.

Of course I'm talking about the Colorado Legislative Council's Blue Book
and specifically the description of a marijuana initiative that would make
possession of small quantities legal. Under the marijuana initiative
appears a phrase that states adults can give "up to one ounce of marijuana
to another individual 15 years of age or older as long as there is no
compensation."

This is, of course, a pure, unadulterated lie. Possession by minors would
not be allowed under the initiative because state law is already on the
books forbidding it. So my question is this: Who put that misleading
statement into the Blue Book? Who is responsible?

Well, wouldn't you know it? I checked the organization's website, and
somebody named Kirk Mlinek is director of the council. Assistant director
is Daniel Chapman. Staffers for ballot analysis include: Deb Godshall,
Cathy Eslinger and Susan Liddle. Is this their work?

I did learn that the president of the Senate appoints six members of the
Senate and the speaker of the House appoints six members of the House to
the Legislative Council. Uh, would it be asking too much to list their names?

A terrible precedent has been set. Apparently foes of initiatives now can
insert misleading, false information about any voter initiative into the
Blue Book. We might as well save some money and eliminate the publication.

Meanwhile, we should investigate how this happened. What if the initiative
were about Tabor and the council published misleading information? That
couldn't happen? Bet me.