Four Governors Pledge to Help Obama Work Against Their State AGs’ Efforts To Overturn Health Reform

[kpete]

Source: The Plum Line

Four Governors Pledge to Help Obama Work Against Their State AGs’ Efforts To Overturn Health Reform:

Four governors have pledged to the Obama administration that they will do everything in their power to help block efforts by their own state’s attorneys general to sue to overturn the new reform law.

The governors made the offer in a letter http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lettertoAG.pdf to Attorney General Eric Holder, dismissing the lawsuit joined by their own state AGs as frivolous and a waste of taxpayer money:

We believe their legal efforts will fail in court, unnecessarily delay the urgent need to get our citizens access to health care and waste our state dollars. As you prepare and deliver your defense of this landmark legislation, you have our commitment to work with you, at your request, to assist in this effort.

The letter is signed by governors Chris Gregoire of Washington, Bill Ritter of Colorado, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan. Full letter here.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/lettertoAG.pdf

Read more: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/sunday-roundup-14/

[Jade Fox]

1. Luv my gov...

Thanks Gregoire!

[blue neen]

2. Good job, Governor Rendell!

:)

[HopeHoops]

32. Corbett is just out to score free campaign time for his race for governor.

Corbett's a flaming asshole, but he's not an idiot. He knows damn well that the lawsuit is political bullshit and will cost PA millions in legal costs. His lame "we already have lawyers on staff" line just doesn't cut it.

[drm604]

3. Thanks to my Governor, Ed Rendell.

:applause:

[hlthe2b]

4. Good on Bill Ritter--though he admittedly has the least to lose

given he is not running for reelection. Right step to take, nonetheless and as a former Denver DA, his assessment has weight.

[DCKit]

5. Governor Granholm posted a scathing letter to her AG - MY job, MY responsibility, not YOURS.

Gotta think each and every one of these AGs is running for higher office and is, therefore, trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator - morans who vote.

[damonm]

10. Anyplace we can see that letter?

[PassingFair]

17. Here:

http://progressmichigan.org/page/community/post/chad/BWv?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheUpperHand-ProgressMichigan+%28The+Upper+Hand+-+Progress+Michigan%29

[MindandSoul]

6. Good for them. . .let's get more to act with maturity as they did!

[Crowman1979]

7. Hopefully we can get some of these AGs out of office this year.

I'll do my part to kick Troy King out of Alabama's AG office.

[PSPS]

8. I didn't expect that the Washington AG would turn out to be a teabagger.

The legislature needs to zero out his department's budget. He can beg for spare change at the freeway off ramp in his KKK hood.

[paulsby]

20. he's not a teabagger he;'s doing his JOB

which is to use the process of judicial review to look out for the rights of the citizens of WA state.

i agree with the passage of HCR. i also agree with mckenna suing, so it can be judicially reviewed.

it seems a lot of people disfavor judicial review and due process, not to mention respect seperation of powers, when it's a pet issue

[strategery blunder]

21. The State of Washington just can't afford the lawsuit

McKenna was a latecomer to the litigation; he should have just let the teabagger states sue over it. Same judicial review, but without throwing away the money of the taxpayers of the good State of Washington on litigation already commenced (and paid for) by other parties. That he jumped on the bandwagon more or less to me indicates ambition for higher office by appealing to the worst common denominator, and he's wasting taxpayer monies that the state simply doesn't have in pursuit of such ambition. He does have to buff up his teabagger cred if he's going to run for higher office, or he might not survive the primary.

We have better things to spend the money on than paying lawyers hundreds of dollars an hour, such as education...

[paulsby]

23. i think that's a bit of a stretch

whatever one thinks of HCR (i'm for it), it is a radical change, and it puts a specific burden on the citizens of the state of WA

people can call this a teabagger issue all they want, but i've read some very smart legal analysts opine on this, who are HARDLY teabaggers. calling it a teabagger thang is just facile ad hominem

most think the lawsuit will not prevail., but that's not the same thing as saying it shouldn't be adjudicated

if WA wants revenue they can get off their asses and legalize and tax MARIJUANA!

something many on the right and the left can support

[strategery blunder]

26. I only said that McKenna should've let other states adjudicate it

Since so many other states were willing to sue over it before McKenna hopped on the bandwagon, WA didn't have to expend its own resources pursuing it, and if it WAS declared unconstitutional, same result :)

I would have much rather seen single payer, partly for this reason though; the constitutionality of the government taxing people for government-administered social programs is far better established than the government mandating the purchase of a private product by mere virtue of being alive.

Also agreed with you on MJ, not only would the state be able to tax it, but the prisons wouldn't be so damn full of nonviolent bong users that there would actually be capacity left in the system to imprison hardened criminals! I don't use it, but prosecuting marijuana is also a waste.

[paulsby]

27. i agree with you, except in this state we do not throw people in prison for mere "bong use"

except just for the record, there are VERY few people in STATE prisons in WA for bong use.

seriously. mere possession gets a slap on the wrist, IF that

in 15 yrs of police work here, i have never heard of anybody nor participated in any court trial where anybody got anything beyond a day or two in jail for simple possession

iow, unless you have a big grow op, or you are possessing LARGE QUANTITIES and have FELONY PRIORS you are not going to state prison

this is simply a myth. WA state prisons (let alone jails) are not full of "bong users"

it takes a LOT to get sent to prison and mere mj usage AINT IT.

i always challenge people to present lists of ACTUAL people in our prisons and jail here for mere possession. i've been a cop here a long time and nobody has ever presented me that evidence

heck, in my jurisdiction , first time COCAINE and other "hard drug" offenses are adjudicated as MISDEMEANORS if the person is not a felon or otherwise have some kind of serious criminal record.

i am 100% for stopping this stupid war on drugs, but people in WA state are in no real danger of being sent to our prisons for "bong use"

it's simply false.

it's a boogeyman.

[strategery blunder]

30. Sorry, I come from a state that is less enlightened...

I used to live in Arizona, home of Sheriff Joe :(

I actually admit I've only lived in WA for about two and a half years, so I'm still used to the laws of other states, except for those statutes where I've had occasion to actually look at the RCWs.

Still, even if POM is typically plea-bargained away here, how much attention do city prosecutors have to waste to give bong users their slaps-on-the-wrist? Does it not require public resources to monitor compliance with SOCs and the like? Even as misdemeanors go, there are other crimes that are far more worthy of prosecution, and by extension, the time and resources of law enforcement/the judiciary.

[paulsby]

31. the time that LEO's spend on simple possession cases

of mj where i work is pretty minimal to non-existent

the first line of defense is the street cop. mnay, if not most street cops will simply have a person discard their few buds on to the street, etc. worst case scenario, they get a citation/ VERY few people get custodially arrested and booked for a small bit of bud unless they have major priors or "attitude themselves" into an arrest, etc.

this not so much about what the RCW's say. it's the ACTUAL reality of police procedure and prosecutor's office filing standards, neither of which are in the RCW's

*if* a minor possession case even gets to the prosecutors, it most likely gets plead down to some sort of deferred prosecution, where if the person stays out of trouble for a year, it's wiped from their record

many school security etc. handle small MJ cases "in house". the prosecutors never even see them. it's dealt with administratively.

i have a friend who worked phoenix PD (he works for my agency now) and he said things were roughly similar there in regards to MJ
regardless of what the letter of the law said, the actual filing standards and common practice was to treat it like a minor infraction at best

[AllyCat]

9. What? No Gov. Doyle? And he's DLC. I thought this action would appeal to him.

WI AG is an a$$. And with the guv up for election this year (Doyle not running) it seems that no one will be brave enough or have enough time with all that campaigning to actually challenge this jerk.

[robinblue]

15. The AJ in Wisc needs Doyles permission which is not likely to

happen. I believe he needs the legislators also but I am not sure of that. Doyle said no to the attorney gen a few days ago. But I have not keep up the last few days.

[customerserviceguy]

11. And these four Democratic governors

hand the issue of opposing the mandate to the Rethugs.

[shanti]

12. WHEN jerry brown is elected in november

and he will, he will be among them!

[Hawkeye-X]

13. Ritter's is not running for re-election (one termer) because he's very unpopular

by going against labor, but we have a wingnut AG, so Ritter is on the right side of the issue for once. I, for one, want Ritter to order an emergency session to impeach and remove the said wingnut from his elected position for going against the wishes of the State of Colorado.

Good for him.

Hawkeye-X

[donheld]

25. And then bring on Governor Hickenlooper!

[Hawkeye-X]

28. Amen and amen - hopefully he'll get people to support legalization of marijuana

like he did for Denver.

He made the pot-related arrests a VERY low priority, just below picking your nose in public.

Hawkeye-X

[Jackpine Radical]

14. So where the hell is Jim Doyle on this one?

Have we gotta wait until Tom Barrett takes over?

[quiller4]

22. He refused his AGs request to join the suit.

[Jackpine Radical]

29. Thanks.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Damn straight Fast Eddie should have been on that list!

:applause:

This state (PA) has over 1 million MORE registered Dems than rethuglicans.

[sandyj999]

18. Thank you Governor Granholm!

[alp227]

19. Good. The people's right to health care exceeds

selfish state's rights to dodge federal law.

[John Kerry VonErich]

24. Best way to do this....

Same way the president does. Appointment with state congressional approval.