This is a bit dated, but, the problem persists. Currently, the Kentucky legislature is attempting to pass medical marijuana laws without success.
MINORITY Leader Senator McConnell has been unsuccessful in bringing the illegal marijuana economy of Kentucky under control.
Mr. McConnell has been in office since 1984. It can be stated he is part of the problem and not the solution. Law enforcement in Kentucky has been complaining about this since 1984. Is it a coincidence the Marijuana Economy in Kentucky exists with impunity during McConnell's tenure? I think there are legitimate questions about his position with guns and this persistent drug economy in his state.
"Blowing Smoke: An evaluation of Marijuana Eradiction in Kentucy," by Potter, Gary, Beth Holbrooke and Larry Gaines. American Journal of Police, Volume:9 Issue:1 Dated:(1990), pages 97 - 116.
Article abstract:
The Marijuana Eradication Program, (click here) begun in 1982, has led directly to several major adjustments in the organization of crime. It has stimulated smaller-scale production, resulted in crop dispersal throughout the entire State, led to a significant increase in the quality of cultivated marijuana, and stimulated a system of false production which has artificially inflated the size of the total marijuana crop. The campaign against marijuana has resulted in the creation of public support for the marijuana industry. Law enforcement efforts against marijuana have resulted in the creation of organized crime groups. The marijuana enforcement program is expensive and diverts needed resources from more serious crime and social problems. Recommendations to be evaluated include: (1) whether Kentucky should cease a policy of proactive drug enforcement with regard to marijuana; (2) whether proactive drug enforcement activity should be directed at the most vulnerable points of the drug industry; and (3) if it would be more effective to allocate more funds to ameliorating the many social ills that make Kentucky so susceptible to illegal commerce. 4 notes, 32 references.
Eastern Kentucky University
...Marijuana has become Kentucky's primary drug problem.(click here) Considering all four categories of illicit drug activity, (use, cultivation, production and distribution) marijuana is easily the most widespread illegal drug in Kentucky. The Kentucky Justice Cabinet (1989) reports that the plant is being cultivated in 111 of the State's 120 counties, and that in many of Kentucky's rural counties, it is the largest cash crop and in many others, it ranks second only to tobacco. Federal estimates indicate that Kentucky, since 1982, has consistently been among the top five marijuana producing states (Kentucky Justice Cabinet, 1989), and recent estimates suggest that Kentucky is the second largest marijuana-producing state in the nation (Drug Enforcement Strategy Committee, 1987)....
California has recognized the economic contribution of this community. California took voluntary tax reporting from the industry into their state treasury.
Kentucky legislators have been dragging their feet for years on medical marijuana. Fortunately, rather than being discouraged, Sen. Perry Clark (D-Louisville) has vowed to keep working to persuade his colleagues. Sen. Clark has again introduced his bill, now known as SB 11, for the 2013 legislative session. Sen. Clark introduced similar legislation, SB 129, in 2012, when it generated significant media coverage but did not get a hearing and did not pass. Supporters of medical marijuana have already generated positive media coverage in 2013 with a Feb. 6 rally at the State House.
Please ask your elected officials to support allowing medical marijuana for seriously ill Kentuckians. Also, if you or a loved one suffer from a debilitating illness and could benefit from marijuana, or if you’re a medical professional, a law enforcement official, a clergy member, or a member of the legal community, please email state@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help. Please include your address or nine-digit ZIP code.
This is what Mr. McConnell was doing during these years. He was carrying out unsuccessful, rhetorical legislation.
March 29, 2000
Web posted at: 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT)
Currently, he has only written a bill for placement of minority members to committees, along with...
...McConnell’s office has assembled (click here) the law’s 19,842 new regulations into a stack that is 7 feet high and wheeled around on a dolly. The prop even has its own Twitter account, @TheRedTapeTower.
MINORITY Leader Senator McConnell has been unsuccessful in bringing the illegal marijuana economy of Kentucky under control.
Mr. McConnell has been in office since 1984. It can be stated he is part of the problem and not the solution. Law enforcement in Kentucky has been complaining about this since 1984. Is it a coincidence the Marijuana Economy in Kentucky exists with impunity during McConnell's tenure? I think there are legitimate questions about his position with guns and this persistent drug economy in his state.
"Blowing Smoke: An evaluation of Marijuana Eradiction in Kentucy," by Potter, Gary, Beth Holbrooke and Larry Gaines. American Journal of Police, Volume:9 Issue:1 Dated:(1990), pages 97 - 116.
Article abstract:
The Marijuana Eradication Program, (click here) begun in 1982, has led directly to several major adjustments in the organization of crime. It has stimulated smaller-scale production, resulted in crop dispersal throughout the entire State, led to a significant increase in the quality of cultivated marijuana, and stimulated a system of false production which has artificially inflated the size of the total marijuana crop. The campaign against marijuana has resulted in the creation of public support for the marijuana industry. Law enforcement efforts against marijuana have resulted in the creation of organized crime groups. The marijuana enforcement program is expensive and diverts needed resources from more serious crime and social problems. Recommendations to be evaluated include: (1) whether Kentucky should cease a policy of proactive drug enforcement with regard to marijuana; (2) whether proactive drug enforcement activity should be directed at the most vulnerable points of the drug industry; and (3) if it would be more effective to allocate more funds to ameliorating the many social ills that make Kentucky so susceptible to illegal commerce. 4 notes, 32 references.
Eastern Kentucky University
...Marijuana has become Kentucky's primary drug problem.(click here) Considering all four categories of illicit drug activity, (use, cultivation, production and distribution) marijuana is easily the most widespread illegal drug in Kentucky. The Kentucky Justice Cabinet (1989) reports that the plant is being cultivated in 111 of the State's 120 counties, and that in many of Kentucky's rural counties, it is the largest cash crop and in many others, it ranks second only to tobacco. Federal estimates indicate that Kentucky, since 1982, has consistently been among the top five marijuana producing states (Kentucky Justice Cabinet, 1989), and recent estimates suggest that Kentucky is the second largest marijuana-producing state in the nation (Drug Enforcement Strategy Committee, 1987)....
California has recognized the economic contribution of this community. California took voluntary tax reporting from the industry into their state treasury.
Kentucky legislators have been dragging their feet for years on medical marijuana. Fortunately, rather than being discouraged, Sen. Perry Clark (D-Louisville) has vowed to keep working to persuade his colleagues. Sen. Clark has again introduced his bill, now known as SB 11, for the 2013 legislative session. Sen. Clark introduced similar legislation, SB 129, in 2012, when it generated significant media coverage but did not get a hearing and did not pass. Supporters of medical marijuana have already generated positive media coverage in 2013 with a Feb. 6 rally at the State House.
Please ask your elected officials to support allowing medical marijuana for seriously ill Kentuckians. Also, if you or a loved one suffer from a debilitating illness and could benefit from marijuana, or if you’re a medical professional, a law enforcement official, a clergy member, or a member of the legal community, please email state@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help. Please include your address or nine-digit ZIP code.
This is what Mr. McConnell was doing during these years. He was carrying out unsuccessful, rhetorical legislation.
March 29, 2000
Web posted at: 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT)
...Opponents argued (click here) that the ban would infringe on freedom of expression, and that such an issue is not worthy of a constitutional amendment.
"We must curb this reflexive practice of attempting to cure each and every political and social ill of our nation by tampering with the Constitution," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). "The Constitution of this country was not a rough draft. It was not a rough draft and we should not treat it as such."
McConnell offered an amendment to the measure that would have made flag desecration a statutory crime, illegal without amending the Constitution. It failed Tuesday by a vote of 36 to 64....
Currently, he has only written a bill for placement of minority members to committees, along with...
S.Res.18 - A resolution making minority party appointments for the 113th Congress. (click here)
Not exactly an earth shaking record given his length of time in the Senate or the fact he is now Minority Leader.
Remember I stated there would be mischief with The Affordable Care Act until 2016. Right? Here it is, sponsored mischief by Senator McConnell and Orin Hatch. This is what he and his staff do with their day? Really? They are counting paper for some kind of political iconography?
“All you got to do is look at that high stack of regulation and you think, ‘How in the world is anybody going to be able to comply with all this stuff?’ ” GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, told National Journal. “And I’m confident that the more the American people know of the costs, the consequences, the problems with this law, then someday there are going to be some Democrats who are going to join us in taking apart some of its most egregious parts.”...
McConnell and Big Oil, friends forever. Over $400,000 in campaign donations in four years. Not bad, about $100,000 per year. This article is form 2010.
Sen. McConnell has raked in $8,500 from BP and $408,400 from Big Oil since 2006, (click here) landing him a spot as one of the top Senate recipients of BP cash in that period. In total, Big Oil has spent $48,401,891 to curry favor from politicians in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.
Ready for this? His oil friends have doubled their annual "Giving to Mitch." This is called corruption, it is called Quid Pro Quo. According to Merriam-Webster:
Something given or received for something else; also : a deal arranging a quid pro quo.
Submitted by Adam Smith on Fri, 12/16/2011 - 19:51
McConnell and Big Oil, friends forever. Over $400,000 in campaign donations in four years. Not bad, about $100,000 per year. This article is form 2010.
Sen. McConnell has raked in $8,500 from BP and $408,400 from Big Oil since 2006, (click here) landing him a spot as one of the top Senate recipients of BP cash in that period. In total, Big Oil has spent $48,401,891 to curry favor from politicians in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.
Ready for this? His oil friends have doubled their annual "Giving to Mitch." This is called corruption, it is called Quid Pro Quo. According to Merriam-Webster:
Something given or received for something else; also : a deal arranging a quid pro quo.
Submitted by Adam Smith on Fri, 12/16/2011 - 19:51
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (click here) announced today that he will hold the extension of middle class tax cuts hostage unless an unrelated provision about the Keystone XL oil pipeline project is included—a major handout to his Big Oil donors that could leave millions of Americans facing a tax increase in the new year.
So, who’s the biggest Senate recipient of oil and gas industry money so far in 2011? Mitch McConnell.
He has received $199,00 from oil and gas interests so far in 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
During all this time, Senator McConnell had a shrinking amount of citizen contributions. Ninety - five percent of political contributions for Mr. McConnell's campaigns have come from Wall Street.
According to the report, which analyzed FEC data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, about 16 percent of donations to McConnell's campaign committee since 1994 came in amounts of $200 or less, and that dropped to five percent of his overall haul in 2012.
Quid Pro Quo is the McConnell Policy of Choice even now facing re-election.
A really interesting report (click here) was released today by CampaignMoney.org, which follows Mitch McConnell's use of the filibuster and how money seems to pass to him when he exercises that "minority voice" of his.
The full report (PDF) highlights eight specific instances where McConnell's fortune increased commensurate with his blocking efforts in the Senate. It's more blatant than we usually see.
On March 29, 2012, the Senate voted 51 in favor and 47 opposed to cut off debate and bring a final vote on a bill to remove $24 billion in tax breaks and giveaways to the five largest oil companies in America, some of the most profitable companies in the history of the world.
[...]
His Big Oil donors are not subtle. On March 26th, just three days earlier and the very same day that Senate debate began on the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, McConnell pulled in an astonishing $131,500 in contributions from oil-‐related donors in Midland, Texas, the oil industry's base for extraction in the Permian Basin....
Mr. McConnell has filibustered jobs. The list is long and full of corruption. The reasons he should not be re-elected exists in reasons and numbers to extensive to ignore.
One of the sure fire ways to end criminality in any state is to provide jobs and decency to citizen's lives. Mr. McConnell has refused to do that and opted to bargain with Wall Street for his loyalties. If he is favoring Wall Street over the citizen, when Wall Street is KNOWN not to invest in America, what good is he?
During all this time, Senator McConnell had a shrinking amount of citizen contributions. Ninety - five percent of political contributions for Mr. McConnell's campaigns have come from Wall Street.
According to the report, which analyzed FEC data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, about 16 percent of donations to McConnell's campaign committee since 1994 came in amounts of $200 or less, and that dropped to five percent of his overall haul in 2012.
Quid Pro Quo is the McConnell Policy of Choice even now facing re-election.
A really interesting report (click here) was released today by CampaignMoney.org, which follows Mitch McConnell's use of the filibuster and how money seems to pass to him when he exercises that "minority voice" of his.
The full report (PDF) highlights eight specific instances where McConnell's fortune increased commensurate with his blocking efforts in the Senate. It's more blatant than we usually see.
For example, his Big Oil interests appreciated the filibuster of oil subsidies:
[...]
His Big Oil donors are not subtle. On March 26th, just three days earlier and the very same day that Senate debate began on the Repeal Big Oil Subsidies Act, McConnell pulled in an astonishing $131,500 in contributions from oil-‐related donors in Midland, Texas, the oil industry's base for extraction in the Permian Basin....
One of the sure fire ways to end criminality in any state is to provide jobs and decency to citizen's lives. Mr. McConnell has refused to do that and opted to bargain with Wall Street for his loyalties. If he is favoring Wall Street over the citizen, when Wall Street is KNOWN not to invest in America, what good is he?
