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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM O CTOBER 23, 2013 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 3 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Elections Cash Piles Up PEACE Millions spent over power struggle in the State Senate PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED By Rachel La Corte The Associated Press Young people from Community Centers around Seattle held a candle light vigil around a bon fire at Golden Gardens Friday Oct. 18 to honor those lost to violence during the finale of the “Week Without Violence.” The week- long event, which is sponsored by Seattle Parks and Recreation, features a variety of activities for teens including “skate for peace,” a free teen swim and Youth Service Awards. The Future Medical Pot Market How will licensed pot stores compete with medical dispensaries? By Gene Johnson The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — As the proprietor of a medical marijua- na dispensary in Seattle, Dawn Darington has seen patients wracked by AIDS and cancer. She’s also seen ``patients’’ who show up for a free pot brownie and never come back. Now, Washington is pushing forward with plans to entice the latter into its new world of legal, taxed recreational pot, and advocates like Darington say they’re worried about where that’s going to leave those who actually need cannabis. A state work group on Mon- day is due to release its recom- mendations for how to regulate Washington’s freewheeling medical marijuana industry — recommendations that could include reductions in how much pot patients can have, an end to the collective gardens that have supplied the sick and the not-so- sick for the past 15 years, stricter requirements for obtain- ing medical marijuana authori- INDEX News .....................2,3,6 Calendar ....................2 Opinion .......................4 A&E ..........................2,8 Bids/Classifieds............7 zations and taxes on medical pot. ``I’m terrified a bunch of that, if not all of it, is going to be lost — that the recreational users have thrown us under the bus,’’ said Darington, of Choice Well- ness Center. ``When they put a tax on the sale of Viagra is the day I am willing to sit at the table and discuss putting a tax on this medicine.’’ Voters in Washington and Col- orado last fall legalized marijua- na for recreational use, and the states are preparing to allow its sale at licensed stores. In Col- orado, medical marijuana is already regulated and subject to sales tax, with 109,000 regis- tered patients, and it isn’t clear to what extent it might under- mine the recreational market. But in Washington, lawmak- ers and state officials are con- cerned that licensed pot stores won’t be able to compete with medical dispensaries selling unregulated, untaxed marijuana — thus cutting into the amount of tax revenue Washington See POT on page 3 OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The ongoing power struggle in the Washington state Sen- ate has made one upper chamber race in an off-year election the most expensive legisla- tive contest in state history. The 26th District race between Democrat Nathan Schlicher and Republican chal- lenger Jan Angel has already seen a com- bined spending of $1.9 million, with about half of that money being spent by third- party groups. Schlicher, an emergency room doctor from Gig Harbor, was appointed to the Sen- ate seat in January to replace Democrat Derek Kilmer, who was elected to Congress. Angel, of Port Orchard, has served in the House since 2009. Both currently represent the district they are vying for, a swing district that includes the southeastern Kitsap peninsula from Bre- merton and Port Orchard to Gig Harbor in Pierce County. A predominantly Republican Majority Coalition Caucus controls the Senate with the help of two Democrats, giving the majority caucus a one-vote advantage in the chamber. Republicans would like to increase the cushion of their hold of the upper chamber heading into the 2014 elec- tions that will see half of the Senate up for re-election. ``The stakes are very, very high this year,’’ said University of Washington political sci- ence professor Matt Barreto. Angel’s spokesman said she wasn’t giving any more media interviews between now and next month’s election. But he noted that she’s been elected by voters in the district three times, most recently with 59 percent of the vote. ``She’s clearly in step with her district, and they’ve reaffirmed that several times,’’ he said. Angel, 66, previously worked in business See SENATE on page 3 ‘Unusually Civil’ Tom Foley Dies at 84 He served 30 sessions in the U.S. House, including years as speaker Nicholas K. Geranios and Alan Fram The Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Tom Foley was born in 1929, the year of the great stock market crash, and grew up in Spokane dur- ing World War II. These experiences shaped his viewpoint during a long political career, which culminated with him becoming the first Speaker of the House to hail from west of the Rocky Mountains. Foley, who died Friday at the age of 84 of complications from a stroke, also became the first speaker to be booted from office by his constituents since the Civil War, suffer- ing defeat during the 1994 ``Republican Revolution.’’ Cornell Clayton, director of the Foley Institute for Public Policy at Washington State University, said Foley’s defeat signaled a change to the more con- frontational politics of modern times. ``He was the last major leader to grow up in the Depression and World War II era,’’ Clayton said. ``They gave him a different perspective on viewing policy disputes.’’ Members of that generation worked in a more bipartisan manner, Clayton said. ``They saw us all on the same team.’’ See FOLEY on page 3
