WWW . THESKANNER . COM
O CTOBER 23, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 3
25
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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-
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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