[RelaxationExpress]

Recently (Aug 21st) Supervisor Roy Wilson announce his resignation as a Supervisor due to heath issues. Due to his stepping down, a replacement to complete the remainder of his term needs to be found and can be appointed by the Governor. Wilson suggested and endorsed a seated Senator, Sen John Benoit. There are two issues with this choice when it comes to the patients of the Riverside County area:

One, Benoit was elected to his current position in Nov 2008, yes, he has spent less than ONE YEAR in the office he was asked to serve! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Benoit) If he is appointed then a special election, at a cost to tax payers when the budget is such a mess, would be required. As residents of Riverside County, do we really want a POLITICIAN on our board of Supervisors that doesn't care if the tax payers have to spend money the state doesn't have to make sure he's able to run for this seat as an incumbent? Do we want a POLITICIAN with the baggage of having to pay for special elections to replace him? How effectively can our region be represented, when our representatives do not fulfill their terms and campaign for other positions when they have not even completed ONE term in the position they ran for?

Two, Benoit is a prohibitionist and doesn't 'believe in the decriminalization of marijuana' and that 'It is a gateway drug and encouraging its use would only lead to more people trying and abusing harder and more dangerous drugs'; you can see more in this post (Response from Senator Benoit regarding AB 390) from a response I sent, asking for him to support for AB390. This would be a BIG DEAL for patients in this region since Roy Wilson has been favorable to Medical Marijuana Patients in his past voting on this issue. If Benoit is appointed it would replace a seat that has been friendly (well, as friendly as can be expected in this area) with a seat that WILL NOT be friendly. He has introduced legislation like this: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3855065.shtml and seems to be in favor of replacing civil rights with his moral agenda that has been formed during his 31 years of law enforcement.


IMO if we can organize enough letters to the Governor asking him NOT to put the electorate through ANOTHER special election, just so a seated Senator can abandon his constituency in favor of a cherry picked political position, maybe the MMJ community can make a difference and be looked at as a political force and not just some some dumb that don't vote. Maybe if the Senator misses this opportunity because of these letters, he might be more open-minded about this topic in the future or maybe other candidates might like to gain the support that he doesn't? We really have nothing to loose since Benoit doesn't believe in us anyways.

Gov's email: governor@governor.ca.gov