On being called an idiot

At the March 15th city council meeting I spoke to my desire (shared by pretty much all of the council) to support an “equity” carve out for a marijuana retail business. We are working through the complex task of deciding how we will treat our current medical marijuana shop, how many locations, where they would go, and whether we would follow state guidelines on helping people who have previously been excluded from opportunities in this space. My argument was admittedly inelegant, making it sound like I wanted to give preference to, for example, people who had been arrested for marijuana use in the past. A better statement would be to have said that persons who were arrested for marijuana use would not be disqualified and given an equal chance at a license (hence the use of the word equity = equal). Still, there are some who may even disagree with that, saying they should not be forgiven for this past use of drugs.

So, after the meeting we received several notes from residents pushing hard to not allow retail marijuana at Canyon Point. I certainly respect their right to make that argument and they have provided some good talking points. But also I was informed by a few people that on Nextdoor, I was specifically called, “an idiot” and someone asked rhetorically I assume, “who voted for this guy?”. So to confirm their suspicions that I am an idiot, I will prove it, by responding. By the way, I don’t read Nextdoor, nor Facebook, nor Instrgram etc. The only social media I do is Strava.

First of all, I received 1413 votes for city council, and while I had no opponent, I also canvased and received quite a high vote total for this off year election. But I can’t answer the question of who voted for me, because that is private information. So…point taken, I can’t answer “who voted for this guy”. Secondly, as their main point was, people should not be rewarded for prior illegal behavior, I would repeat, that they should be given equal access. In fact, I’ll go further, we over incarcerate people, creating a high recidivism rate that destroys lives. Once a felon, always a felon in this country. We claim to punish people commensurate with their crime. But the data don’t bear that out. We often NEVER forgive people for the crime they were convicted of, even if they served time, and they forever pay a price in hiring, opportunities, etc. And poverty is at the root of this too. Marijuana use by race is about the same across the board. But arrests for marijuana use, and convictions are higher for non-whites, and the poor ,who can’t get good legal counsel. So back to the equity piece, how many financially better off people were able to mount a defense, get a deferred sentence, or no penalty in the past? Did that limit their ability to get a license to open a retail business? Were they made a criminal for life? Probably not, they paid no price, or little. So overcoming prior inequity is important too. Being poor is not a crime but due to unequal justice we have made it so.

Finally, I know this argument is idiotic. It is idiotic in the sense that a person convinced of their views on this matter is not going to change their views based on my brief discussion here. But, whether it is perceived as idiotic or sound, I want you to know it is at least informed, and therefore not ignorant of a set of facts that back it up. I did not run for office because I’m a politician and seek higher office or even some secret reward that accrues to office holders. I ran because I care about Golden and want to keep it an awesome place. If you care to know more how I feel about these types of attacks, read this piece on Grace or this one on Public process.