cannabisnews.com: Christian Coalition Fined For Election Misstep Christian Coalition Fined For Election Misstep Posted by FoM on November 03, 1999 at 07:31:20 PT By Liz Ruskin, Daily News reporter Source: Anchorage Daily News The Alaska Public Offices Commission on Tuesday hit the Christian Coalition and its Alaska affiliate with a $1,850 fine for campaigning against the medical marijuana initiative last year without complying with campaign disclosure laws. The groups printed and distributed a "voter guide" last year listing Alaska candidates and their positions on issues such as abortion, affirmative action and capital punishment. If that were all the pamphlet did, the groups would not have had to register or report its expenditures to APOC, because the brochure would have been deemed educational, the commission staff concluded. But the voter guide also contained statements about the medical marijuana initiative: "Vote NO on Measure 8. (Legalizes Drug Use)" and "A NO VOTE WILL KEEP THIS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT FROM BECOMING LAW." Anchorage attorney Jim Kentch, who worked on the campaign for the marijuana initiative, complained to APOC that the Christian Coalition should have filed reports with the commission because it was trying to influence the outcome of the election. An attorney representing the Virginia-based Christian Coalition and the Christian Coalition of Alaska acknowledged a mistake. "Because the Coalition's voter guides, generally, are not subject to regulation under federal and state election laws, when the messages concerning ballot measures were inserted in the Alaska voter guide, it did not occur to anyone that this portion of the voter guide might be subject to reporting requirements," attorney Frank Northam wrote in response to the complaint. The group printed 100,000 copies of its Alaska voter guide. They were distributed to its members and in churches. The commission staff recommended that no fine be imposed, saying the violation was inadvertent and the Christian Coalition cooperated with its investigation. But the commission, a bipartisan panel of five citizens, decided Tuesday that the groups should be fined. "There seemed to be a consensus that this was an experienced political group that should have known that adopting a position opposed to a ballot measure was an undertaking that would trigger reporting requirements under law," said APOC commissioner Phil Volland, speaking of the national organization. Deborah Luper, the former director of the Christian Coalition of Alaska, said the state affiliate is inactive these days. Voters overwhelmingly adopted the medical marijuana initiative a year ago. * Reporter Liz Ruskin can be reached at lruskin adn.com Wednesday, November 3, 1999 Copyright © 1999 The Anchorage Daily News END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by jdd on November 03, 1999 at 20:11:50 PT Christian Coalition... The problem with the Christian Coalition (and I used to be a 'card-carrying' member, too), is that, like most 'conservatives', they call for less government intrusion, while at the same time want the government to pass more laws, thus creating the very thing they rail against. I am a christian, and do not use cannabis, but I support the constitutional right of every citizen to use it. Someone has said that true freedom cannot exist, unless there is also the freedom to choose wrongly. The government is not meant to be a watchdog for every so-called vice that various groups deem as harmful. In the same way that my money, sex life, etc. is no one elses business, so too, someone's drug use is none of my business, unless it harms me. Special interest groups need to remember that my rights stop where theirs begins, and vice-versa. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on November 03, 1999 at 16:42:02 PT "Christian"...and Christians Let's see now... flashback to the '80s: TV preachers getting their hands caught in both the cookie and the nookie jars. Millions of dollars going to playhouses for the supposedly pure and righteous, where these same pure and righteous God fearing 'Christian" ministers had drunken revels with prostitutes. Do they think people are so stupid as to forget such things? Obviously, the answer is "yes". And, now, as they always seem to be, they are caught in another attempt to suborn freedoms of those they disagree with, purportedly on God's orders.A real Christian, seeing the suffering the stupid prohibition laws have created, would have followed the Master's injunction that "Whatsoever you do to the least among you, it is as if you had done it to Me" and ended this madness long ago.Yep, there are "Christians" and then there are the Real McCoys. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on November 03, 1999 at 13:48:28 PT and a lie, too! > "Vote NO on Measure 8. (Legalizes Drug Use)"Not throwing sick people in jail for using marijuana, is not the same as to "Legalize Drug Use" ... they fibbed.(Note also that the good "christians" (?) there just happened also, to forget to mention anything about JAIL. Wonder why?) [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Freedom Fighter on November 03, 1999 at 11:44:16 PT Christian Coalition Christian Coalition my ass, these heartless nazis wouldn't know a christian even if one descended from heaven into the middle of their service. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: