Councilmember Rose Herrera’s plan to ban pot clubs from making political contributions to campaigns comes back to the Rules and Open Government Committee today. The idea was deferred at the Jan. 22 meeting.
Herrera wants the measure to come before the City Council as an ordinance banning collectives from financially supporting anyone’s campaign, much like the prohibitions in place against the city’s two card clubs. She wants the ordinance passed in time to apply to this election cycle, in which she’s running for mayor.
The proposed ban would bar any collective owners, their employees and their spouses from donating to candidate campaigns and candidate-run committees.
Herrera’s proposal comes as the city aims to come up with regulations for local pot clubs, which are currently outlawed by federal law but permitted with certain restrictions by the state.
As noted last time this came before the Rules Committee, it’s unclear who benefits and loses from a policy like this. There’s no pro-pot candidate in the running. Plus, it would be pretty tough to enforce such a provision since it would require the city to keep track of who works for collectives and who they’re married to.
More from the San Jose Rules and Open Government Committee agenda for February 5, 2014:
• Declawing cats is inhumane and should be outlawed in San Jose, says Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, who recently sponsored a documentary screening about the practice.
• David Wall says he has Councilman Johnny Khamis figured out. That ordinance to allow trappers to shoot wild pigs tearing up yards in Almaden isn’t just a pest control measure. Oh no, Wall says. Khamis is more “shrewd, calculating and clever” than that.
“I believe Councilmember Khamis is laying the foundation for the granddaddy of all council district fundraising events,” Wall wrote, “creating a BBQ monopoly and making District 10 ‘The Barbeque Capital of Silicon Valley.’”
• A state bill that would allow cities to create closed-off “bikeways” protected from vehicular traffic just passed committee. The city wants to support the proposed legislation, which would allow for bike a pedestrian paths with no crossover from motorists.
WHAT: Rules and Open Government Committee meets
WHEN: 2pm Wednesday
WHERE: City Hall, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
INFO: City Clerk, 408.535.1260
This council does not have a clue about how to run a city. Pot, cats and pigs is all they can come up with. What a joke!
Oliverio doesn’t think the city should be involved in education, but it should be involved in cat declawing? Are we trying to catch up to SF in the nuttiest department?
Gee imagine that , they want to silence a Voice that does not agree with them. This Mayor and Council are NOT Stupid , they know exactly what they are doing to San Jose. everything that they do is strictly to benefit themselves and/or their friends . They could truly careless about San Jose
> everything that they do is strictly to benefit themselves and/or their friends .
Well, DUH!
Isn’t this the way representative “electoral democracies” work?
You were expecting, maybe, that they would be your personal fairy godmothers?
News bulletin: Obama doesn’t really like you. He’s just faking it.
I’m pretty sure , He REALLY doesn’t like you. no faking
This is absolutely absurd! It is infuriating to hear a city council member of SJ, needless to say a city with dozens of dispensaries and thousands of people who run the industry and benefit from the medical usage, is actually considering a restriction of these people to help fund campaigns for office. Our political system is so screwy, and even though money needs to be eradicated as the main support of campaigns, it currently resides as the hand guiding people in positions power along. Denying people their right to support a candidate’s campaign of their choice by legally attained money should be seen as lunacy. We all have a right to be represented by our government. It seems Rose needs to see beyond her checkbook and look at the city she’s trying to work for.