MADISON: On June 2, 2010, the Appleton Post Crescent published an editorial, “Bipartisanship becoming political flaw.”
Here is a portion of the Editorial:
The public typically likes the word “bipartisan.” It doesn’t like fighting between parties — especially when it takes over debate and gets in the way of Madison or Washington getting things done for us.
We say we like it when both sides work together for the public good, even if that has to include a compromise sometimes.
But what we say and how we act and vote are growing apart. Increasingly, moderates from both the Republican and the Democratic parties are losing power. Increasingly, just working with the “other party” poses political risks. — Appleton Popst Crescent. “”Editorial: Bipartisanship becoming political flaw, June 2, 2010.
The editorial inspired me to write the following, which was submitted to the Post-Crescent but not published, so here it is, revised for this venue:
As a longtime medical marijuana advocate and frequent Capitol visitor, I personally have observed how bipartisanship has withered away in the state legislature.
MADISON: Several national activists who visited Wisconsin in support of the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act during the 2009-2010 session campaign to pass it will be appearing at a Michigan Medical Cannabis Seminar this July.
Mieko Hester Perez , James Gierach, and Brandy Zink will be joining 420 University’s “Science and Compassionate Care Seminar” in July 10 and 11, 2010 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mieko Hester Perez “Marijuana Saved My Son’s Life” and James Gierach Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) both appeared at the Feb. 6 T.H.C. Expo in Berlin and lobbied at the State Capitol the day before. Brandy Zink joined other Michigan medical marijuana advocates in testimony at the Dec. 15, 2009 combined legislative hearing for the JRMMA that ran over 8 hours.
Other medical cannabis advocates speaking at the seminar include cannabis cultivation guru Ed Rosenthal, no stranger to Madison, Michigan medical cannabis attorney Matthew Abel, Illinois patient and activist Julie Falco, along with Claytonia activist Cheryl Shuman. Julie Falco was also a participant in the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, held in Washington DC in September 2003.
MADISON: Is My Medicine Legal YET? Founder Jacki Rickert, the namesake of Wisconsin medical cannabis legislation, urged supporters to not give up hope and to keep pushing until their medicine is legal at a “Vigil for Victims of Medical Marijuana Prohibition” Monday on Capitol Square. She also promised supporters she would be back for next year’s vigil on June 7, 2011, and reminisced about her late friends Cheryl Miller, Mary Powers and Joe Hart, all medical cannabis activists.
Rickert was among several speakers at the vigil at the King St. corner of the State Capitol Square in downtown Madison.
I was another, explaining to attendees, onlookers and passersby about why medical cannabis patients and advocates were gathering downtown on a Monday evening with signs and a memorial table. I also talked about the loss of Mary Powers, the Army veteran and Wisconsin medical cannabis leader taken by cancer in October 2009. I noted how a year earlier, Mary had told vigil attendees that she “knew what her demise would be.”
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MADISON: Mary Powers was one of those speaking at the First Annual Vigil for Victims of Medical Marijuana Prohibition on Sunday June 7, 2009 at the State Street entrance of the Wisconsin State Capitol here in Madison. The vigil was organized by the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Is My Medicine Legal YET? (IMMLY).
Powers, an Army veteran and leader in the Wisconsin medical cannabis movement, died of cancer on Oct. 22, 2009, just 4 ½ months later. Mary, in her wheelchair, was a familiar figure at the Capitol. In the six months before her death, she and I visited over 80 different legislative offices talking to lawmakers and staff about the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, AB554/SB368, which was formally introduced about a month after her passing by Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison). Mary Powers’ state legislators, Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) and Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison), both cosponsored the JRMMA.
