MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE: TIME TO 'FREE THE WEED' IN VOW TO RECALL
MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL SCHUETTE

MIDLAND -- Declaring it's time to "free the weed," a medical marijuana
advocate said he'll try a second time to target Michigan Attorney
General Bill Schuette for a recall.

Lansing resident Richard C. Clement Sr. 54, tried but failed Monday to
persuade the Midland County Election Commission to OK recall petition
language that targeted Schuette over the state's medical marijuana
law.

"We still want to free the weed," Clement said.

Clement, a self-described "computer geek," was undeterred with the
Elections Commission rejection of the petition language at a clarity
hearing.

"I'm pretty proud today of what I did as a citizen," he
said.

He said he could refile within 10 days or less. Clement is a member of
Michigan NORML, a marjuana advocacy group that stands for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In petition language, the former state employee accused Schuette of
insubordination, conduct unbecoming a state employee, and misuse of
state property over enforcement of the medical marijuana law.

An attorney representing Schuette, R-Midland, successfully argued to
the Election Commission the language was too general to understand and
"functionally incomprehensible" to OK a petition drive against the
state's top elected law enforcement official.

Further, a legal response declared the petition's allegations
"unclear, ambiguous, unidentifiable, and appear to be simply untrue."

Rusty Hills, a spokesman for Schuette, said the attorney general will
carry out what the public elected him to do.

"Bill Schuette was elected to uphold the laws, defend the
Constitution, protect the public," Hills said. "That's what we've been
doing. That's what we'll continue to do."