Marijuana issue exposes the hypocrisy of WA AG Bob Ferguson

I’m not sure I have seen any politicians more hypocritical than Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. This week’s marijuana issue perfectly illustrates that hypocrisy.

McKenna: Nothing state can do if feds crackdown on pot

On Thursday, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the federal government will enforce federal laws regarding marijuana, even in states such as Washington that have legalized pot. Bob Ferguson on Thursday said, “Over the past year, Sessions has demonstrated a stunning lack of knowledge about our state’s marijuana laws.”

This is all a stunning reversal of Bob Ferguson from just over two years ago.

Have you ever heard of the Kettle Falls Five?

In 1997, the voters of Washington legalized medicinal marijuana in our state.

Fast forward to 2012. Obama’s federal government, led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, decided to enforce federal marijuana laws even in states that had legalized marijuana.

As this 2015 KIRO Radio story tells it, there was a family outside Spokane that had a small farm where they grew their medicinal marijuana. All the members of the family had medical issues, including the father who was dying of pancreatic cancer. That didn’t stop the Obama administration and AG Lynch. They ordered the Gregg family arrested.

Rolland Gregg was eventually sentenced to 33 months in prison. His wife and mother received one-year sentences.

As KIRO Radio previously reported:

The state has remained silent in the case. Gregg and his attorney are mystified and angered attorney general Bob Ferguson has not come to their defense and refused to even file a friends brief.

A spokesman for Ferguson told me it wasn’t appropriate for the office to get involved in the case.

One of my listeners was furious that Ferguson wouldn’t intervene. He contacted our state AG. He received a letter back from Bob Ferguson’s office.

On Wednesday, however, Rhonda Lee Firestack-Harvey, Michelle Gregg and Roland Gregg had their convictions vacated and charges dismissed Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice in Spokane. The Spokesman-Review reports federal prosecutors asked for the dismissal, which ends the widely-publicized case.

RELATED: Convictions of remaining Kettle Falls Five wiped out

In that letter, Ferguson wrote:

Thank you for your message regarding the “Kettle Falls Five” case. We are familiar with the case, and many people have expressed concern about it.

You suggest that our office should take “action to intervene” in the prosecution. The Attorney General of Washington does not have any legal authority to intervene in a federal criminal prosecution being conducted in federal court pursuant to federal law.

Read the whole letter here.

As I said, a stunning reversal.

Two years ago, Bob Ferguson couldn’t care less if the federal government came into our state enforcing federal laws. Now, he claims to be outraged that the federal government is going to do just that.

What has changed? Well, in 2015 it was President Barack Obama and AG Loretta Lynch. In 2018, it’s President Donald Trump and AG Jeff Sessions.

It is scary and dangerous to have someone like Bob Ferguson in the AG’s office. This political hack has proven that he does not care about the law and he does not care about the people of this state.

Bob Ferguson only cares about two things:

• The Democratic Party
• Bob Ferguson

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