Forbes starts opposition ads to drug initiative
by David Postman
Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA Former and future? presidential candidate Steve Forbes is
working to defeat a Washington state citizens' initiative to liberalize
drug laws.

But in using the initiative to also attack President Clinton, Forbes has
angered Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a Democrat who invited the magazine magnate and
1996 Republican presidential candidate to help defeat Initiative 685.

In a radio commercial that is to begin airing in Seattle on Monday, Forbes
attacks "powerful radical special interests" that he says are backing
Washington's initiative and a medicalmarijuana measure in Washington, D.C.

It is the first sign of an opposition campaign against an initiative whose
backers have raised more than $400,000, the vast majority of which has come
from two millionaires in Arizona and Ohio.

A local opposition campaign has organized, headed by Owen and King County
Prosecutor Norm Maleng, a Republican. Their group, Concerned Citizens
Against Dangerous Drugs, has raised about $10,500, Owen said yesterday.

Last week the committee sponsoring the initiative, Citizens for Drug Policy
Reform, filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission claiming
that Owen's active opposition to I685 violated state laws because he was
using his official office and was not filing financial reports.

The PDC has yet to investigate the claim. Owen calls it frivolous and says
it is an attempt to "gag" public officials from opposing the initiative.

Bill Dal Col, president of the Forbes' group Americans for Hope, Growth and
Opportunity, said in an interview yesterday that Forbes will remain
involved through the November election.

"You've got an initiative in Washington state that is extremely dangerous,"
Dal Col said.

But Forbes is not delivering his message just to Washington voters. The ad
begins airing today in Martha's Vineyard, the Massachusetts island where
Clinton will spend his vacation.

The 60second ad doesn't attack Clinton beyond Forbes saying, "Now is the
time for President Clinton and Congress to act to stop radicals from
legalizing dangerous drugs." But in an interview, Dal Col was most
interested in criticizing Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, who also is
looking at a 2000 run for president.

"You could say that by their silence on the drug issue they are silently
supporting passage of the initiative," Dal Col said. "What we want is the
president to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to speak out against
legalizing any drugs."

The sponsor of Washington's initiative said he wasn't surprised Forbes got
involved. But he questions the politician's motives.

"I think he has no real interest in Washington or this issue," said Dr. Rob
Killian, a Tacoma physician. "He's grandstanding for a run at the
presidency. Somehow he thinks he will get national attention."

Initiative 685 would make it legal to possess socalled scheduleone drugs
including marijuana, LSD, heroin and PCP if recommended by two doctors
and if there were scientific studies saying the drug works as medicine.

It would also make as many as 300 people imprisoned for drug possession
eligible for parole; send people arrested in the future for possession to
treatment, not jail; and deny parole to people convicted of a violent crime
while under the influence of drugs.

Dal Col said Forbes decided to get involved in Washington "at the behest of
the lieutenant governor."

Owen, a vocal antidrug crusader, said that's true. He heard of Forbes'
opposition to loosening drug laws and faxed a request for help to Forbes.

But Owen was unhappy to hear that Forbes had involved Clinton in the fight.

"That's unfortunate. That's not a necessary thing to do," Owen said. "The
president has come out against these initiatives. I guess it's hard to take
politics out of political people."

The Clinton administration has denounced the initiatives that passed last
year in Arizona and California. Clinton has said that doctors in Arizona
and California could lose prescriptionwriting privileges or face criminal
charges for recommending marijuana to patients.

But Forbes aides said it has mostly been Clinton's antidrug chief, Barry
McCaffrey, and not the president himself, who has been the most vocal.

David Postman's phone message number is 3609439882. His email address
is: dposnew@seatimes.com