Drug crazed II
One reason the Democrats are too timid to take on the drug war may be that they like to demagogue the issue as much as Republicans.
The D.C.-based Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a fund-raising group, has been spinning U.S. Rep. Dean Heller’s votes into dastardly deeds all year, accusing him of opposing better teachers, more border security, voting to cut aid to Israel and voting against small business.
The DCCC also issued a news release calling Heller soft on drugs. It was headlined, “Representative Dean Heller Votes to Cut Funding to Fight Methamphetamine Production.”
This was a reference to a July vote on an appropriations bill that contains money for federal commerce, justice and science agencies and also contained some anti-meth money. It’s the same bill to which a California representative tried to attach an amendment to stop federal medical marijuana raids (”Patients need patience,” Sept. 13).
“Representative Heller’s vote hurts state and local law enforcement’s battle against meth—pure and simple,” said a DCCC statement.
Well, not that simple—Heller had plenty of company. 146 members of the House voted as he did, mainly because they considered the total cost of the heavily laden measure too high.
Moreover, the same day the DCCC issued its statement, Heller posted seven nearly identical announcements on his websites—allocations of federal funds for anti-meth activities in seven Nevada counties. Only the amount and the location were changed from release to release. Washoe County will receive $200,000 and Carson City $100,000. A total of $700,000 is being distributed to six counties and Carson City.