TAXPAYERS CAN'T FINANCE PRIVATE DRUG CAMPAIGNS

BRAD Owen hates drugs so much that he will do anything, it seems, to
stop them: Give speeches to critical teenagers. Create a rock band to
sing anti-drug songs. Even step outside the law to push a public vote
toward his anti-drug convictions.

The state lieutenant governor's $7,000 settlement with the state
Executive Ethics Board for his fight against Initiative 685 shows the
deliberate separation a public official must make between his personal
passions and professional responsibilities.

Owen ran for lieutenant governor in 1996 on an anti-drug platform and
won, urging prevention, education and enforcement as the keys to safe
communities. Then he turned his office into a taxpayer-financed bully
pulpit.

The trouble began last year with I-685, which would have legalized the
medicinal use of marijuana, heroin and other drugs, and decriminalized
most personal drug possession and use.

Owen could have stuck to his First Amendment right of expressing his
contempt for the initiative. He could have followed state law by
responding to individual inquiries for information. Instead, his
office became a mini-campaign headquarters of sorts. The ethics board
contends he used public employees, equipment, federal grant money and
his own working hours to illegally distribute countless letters, press
releases and documents against the initiative.

Owen's logic is compelling: If he is passionate about his job, and if
his job includes anti-drug work, isn't it a natural extension of his
work to fight a pro-drug campaign?

No, for the same reason a school superintendent can't send a thousand
faxes from his office begging people to vote "yes" on a school levy.
When the government gets involved, it becomes a government-financed
campaign. For a state employee to use public money to kill a state
initiative is even worse, undermining the intent of the initiative
process.

Initiative 685 failed, thankfully. Its reasonable cousin, the
medicinal marijuana Initiative 692, passed this November - no thanks
to Owen, who helped lead the "We Said No!" effort against it. State
fines and laws can't keep Owen from shouting hyperbole during his free
time, but they can remind him not to do it at the voters' expense.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady