A state Attorney General official said Grand Traverse County Sheriff Harold Barr’s decision to allow jail inmates to help put out flyers opposing a NORML ballot initiative to decriminalize marijuana possession in Traverse City may have violated state election laws. The assertion comes nearly one month after Traverse City NORML President Bill Bustance, who helped to spearhead the initiative, filed a complaint with the secretary of state alleging that taxpayers dollars were used to influence a political campaign. According to Michigan law, an organization that knowingly violates campaign finance rules could be fined $20,000.
Michigan Attorney General spokesman Chris Dewitt said the use of inmates “certainly would be questionable under Michigan’s law.”
Marijuana law isn’t any more important than election law and we are appalled that [those against the initiative] had to break the law to beat us,” said Bustance, who is seeking a new election. “What would have happened if they hadn’t used taxpayer’s dollars against the taxpayers?”
Voters narrowly rejected the proposal this past August.
For more information, please contact Bill Bustance of Traverse City NORML at (616) 264-9565.