By Payton Guion | NJ Advance Media
The mayor of the first town in New Jersey to ban legal marijuana sales has also spent most of the past year on the payroll as a lobbyist for a prominent anti-marijuana group in the state. But he hasn’t always been upfront about that connection, raising questions about ethics and conflicts of interest.
Mayor Stephen Reid oversaw Point Pleasant Beach banning marijuana businesses in December 2017, and he has since become one of the leading voices in opposition of legal weed in the state. More than 60 towns in New Jersey have taken some step to ban marijuana businesses from their borders. Reid has traveled around the state, offering his hand to other towns considering a ban as the mayor of a town that’s already done it.
But Reid is representing more than just his or his town’s stance on marijuana. Since May 2018, Reid has been a paid lobbyist for New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana, and Reid’s potential conflict of interest is the subject of lawsuit filed Monday against Point Pleasant Beach. Reid was also named executive director of RAMP last May.
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The mayor of the first town in New Jersey to ban legal marijuana sales has also spent most of the past year on the payroll as a lobbyist for a prominent anti-marijuana group in the state. But he hasn’t always been upfront about that connection, raising questions about ethics and conflicts of interest.
Mayor Stephen Reid oversaw Point Pleasant Beach banning marijuana businesses in December 2017, and he has since become one of the leading voices in opposition of legal weed in the state. More than 60 towns in New Jersey have taken some step to ban marijuana businesses from their borders. Reid has traveled around the state, offering his hand to other towns considering a ban as the mayor of a town that’s already done it.
But Reid is representing more than just his or his town’s stance on marijuana. Since May 2018, Reid has been a paid lobbyist for New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana, and Reid’s potential conflict of interest is the subject of lawsuit filed Monday against Point Pleasant Beach. Reid was also named executive director of RAMP last May.
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https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2019/02/this-nj-mayor-is-getting-paid-to-fight-legal-weed-heres-why-thats-causing-trouble.html- A guy named Patrick Duff has sued to get copies of the mayor's emails, apparently in an attempt to find out whether he was already on the payroll when he passed his town's anti-cannabis ordinance (mayor denies that this was the case).
- The mayor had been a paid anti-cannabis lobbyist for at least five months before he registered (as a paid lobbyist) with the state of New Jersey.
- The article mentions that there is currently NO state law in New Jersey banning sitting/elected politicians from being paid lobbyists. Personally, I think this should be a federal law. That's the "adult me" speaking, by the way. When I was a child, if someone had asked me if we needed such a law, I might have replied, "Of course not, it's about as necessary as a law forbidding people from marrying their pet dog." You know, kind of a common sense / morality thing, why would anyone need to legislate that? Of course, having grown up in the time since then, I have realized what utter corrupt shits people can be...
- Again, someone has filed suit in an attempt to find out if this @sshat was on the payroll for "anti-cannabis" when he passed the anti-cannabis ordinance. Me, I'm wondering if someone whispered into his ear... "If you do this thing, we'll line your pockets afterwards, when it is legally safe for us to do so." Because even (most) criminals aren't stupid enough to send communiques such as the hypothetical one I'm wondering about in such a way as to leave a paper-trail (virtual or otherwise). In which case, even a full search of the guy's emails wouldn't find any evidence. I mean... Think of all the ridiculous legislation that has been passed (or stalled) by all the politicians, who have then later left office - and coincidentally gotten lucrative gigs in the very industries that the laws they either passed or blocked happened to help the most.
- "Paid lobbyist" ought to be a capital crime, NOT a profession (IMHO).
