Former lobbyist for medical marijuana goes to work for Gov. Pawlenty

(Minnesota Independent) Former Rep. Chris Delaforest, R-Andover, will be joining his Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s staff this summer as Director of Legislative and Cabinet Affairs. Delaforest retired from the legislature in 2008 and became a key lobbyist for Minnesotans for Compassionate Care, the main group advocating for medical marijuana in Minnesota.

Delaforest, a conservative Republican, lent his ideological bent to the raging debate over the medical use of marijuana. “To me, this is the ultimate conservative issue,” he told the Star Tribune in 2008. “It’s about keeping the government out of the doctor-patient relationship.”

How dedicated to a cause are you when you’ll go to work for the man who single-handedly thwarts your cause?  I guess for some people, paychecks outrank principles.

I understand that Delaforest and Pawlenty are, outside of medical marijuana, near ideological equals, but if you’re going to be lobbying on behalf of sick, dying, and sense-threatened individuals, shouldn’t your concern for them run a bit deeper than this?  Yeah, everybody needs a job, but you’re going to work for a man who has decided that people should suffer needlessly, in direct opposition to the position you claimed to champion.  Yeah, I know your new job has nothing to do with medical marijuana, but you are dedicating your talents to the man who stopped medical marijuana.  It would be like me quitting NORML and dedicating my IT talents to a private prison company.  It would be like Ellen quitting her talk show, divorcing Portia, and joining the Mormon church.  It would be like former deputy drug czar Andrea Barthwell claiming marijuana isn’t medicine one day and going to work for a company that’s making medicines out of marijuana the next day (oh, wait, that did happen!)

Note to Mssrs. Soros and Lewis: next time one of you want to pony up a high-six-figure salary to a medical marijuana lobbyist, pick one who really believes in it.  Then maybe, just maybe, when they run out of your money they won’t take jobs from the opposition.

You can express your disappointment with former Stash guest (2/17, 4/14) Chris Delaforest at chris@delaforestconsulting.com.  Just like I did, below:

I am very disappointed to read in the Minnesota Independent that you are now going to work for Gov. Tim Pawlenty.  How do you reconcile trading your talents and effort for a paycheck from the man single-handedly responsible for blocking the relief for sick and dying people you claimed to have been fighting for?

You may feel it’s just an issue, one of many, something to do to get a fat MPP/Lewis check until the next gig arrives, but for thousands of sick and dying Minnesotans, your new appointment must feel like the ultimate betrayal to them.  The fight is not yet over, there remains a constitutional amendment battle in the next session, but now the opposition has silenced the most vocal proponent of medical marijuana for the most visible pro-medical marijuana group in the state.  You may have thought of your lobbying as just a job and your new appointment as just a job, but for thousands in Minnesota and hundreds of thousands listening on my show, your voice was their voice of hope at the capitol.