Our very own fiefdom

My column today investigates the underhanded tactics used by the Denver City Council to deny citizens the opportunity to vote on an initiative that would make possession of pot the “lowest law-enforcement priority” in the city.

Council President Michael Hancock wants the council members to vote “yes” on the initiative, though they oppose it in principle, and wait for a court to shoot it down. Denver DA, Mitch Morrissey actually counseled the council to “refuse to put it on the ballot and have (Citizens for a Safer Denver) take it to court …” In other words, to ignore the law.

It’s somewhat, I don’t know … counterintuitive to hear a district attorney advise the council to ignore the law.

As a proponent of legalization, I would strongly urge the distinguished council members to follow Hancock’s advice. We can then look forward to my incessant praise of council members for their support of marijuana legalization.

We can also look forward to watching them lose the legal battle. Then, imagine if you can, a new poll claiming that Denverites would have voted down the marijuana initiative anyway.

Ouch.

That would probably hurt.

If the Denver City Council showed as much zeal and creativity in all their endevours as they do attempting to deny citizens the right to petition, we’d be without problems.