Marijuana: John Hickenlooper-Eric Holder A64 call still a mystery despite activist's efforts

By Michael Roberts Thu., Feb. 21 2013 at 4:20 PM

Hickenlooper.

Editor's note: Medical marijuana critic William Breathes's latest review, which is usually published at 4:20 p.m. on Thursdays, has not quite finished curing; look for it in this space soon.

In the meantime, we share the story of a marijuana activist and his efforts to discover what was said during a key conversation between Colorado's governor and the U.S. Attorney General....

Shortly after Amendment 64's passage, Governor John Hickenlooper participated in a conference call with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, presumably to talk about the contradictions between A64 and federal law. Afterward, Hickenlooper released a brief statement about the chat, but no details have emerged, prompting a months-long effort by one activist to find out what was said. He's frustrated by what he sees as governmental stonewalling.

The provocateur in question is Corey Donahue, who appeared on Westword's cover in December 2011 due in part to his controversial activities on behalf of Occupy Denver.

Corey Donahue as he appeared on Westword's cover in December 2011.

Long before the birth of the Occupy movement, however, Donahue was well known in the marijuana-reform community for his aggressive pursuit of change. In July 2011, for instance, he was arrested after disrupting a Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act meeting. Shortly thereafter, he was named on a warrant after allegedly taking Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division public records without paying for them.

Unsurprisingly, Donahue wasn't satisfied with the following statement, released by Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown after the November 9 conversation involving the governor, Holder and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers:

Governor John Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers talked to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder by phone [Friday]. They emphasized the need for the federal government to articulate what its position will be related to Amendment 64. Everyone shared a sense of urgency and agreed to continue talking about the issue.

From Donahue's perspective, the real urgency in this case involved a need for full disclosure -- so he filed a Colorado Open Records Act request asking for access to any information about the teleconference.

Finally, last week, Donahue received a reply from the office of Stephanie Donner, Hickenlooper's deputy legal counsel: No records were responsive to his inquiry. When he followed up to ask specifically about the possible existence of minutes or recordings, Donner replied via e-mail, "The Governor did have a conversation with the Justice Department, however, there are no documents or recordings from that conversation."

Donahue's reaction to this rejection speaks to his frustration.

Continue for more about Corey Donahue's open records request and the conversation between John Hickenlooper and Eric Holder.

We Recommend

Case

3 Like

Weak, Westword! Super-weak! After weeks and weeks of Donahue harassing you in the blog comments to pursue this matter, this is the best you can do?

Westword agrees this story is important enough to write about, but it is not important enough for them to actually investigate. Missing emails and no records of phone conversations with the feds?! This sounds pretty important to me, but WW once again passes the buck and ignores the opportunity to pursue real investigative journalism. Sigh. As WW goes, so goes the rest of the info-tainment "news" business, posing as real reporters.

The Boulder Weekly, a REAL newspaper with REAL investigative journalists, just did an expose' on the problem of getting CORA requests filled anywhere in Colorado. There seems to be a coordinated effort to deny citizen's access to public records all over the state:
Transparency Trouble (2/14/13) - Boulder Weekly
http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-10638-transparency-trouble.html

The Colorado Press Association has a paid attorney on staff that will pursue this matter AT NO COST to Westword, assuming WW is a member in good standing of the CPA.

Why does WW refuse to dig deeper into this matter???? Are you afraid you won't be able to do better than lone wolf activist Corey Donahue? Are you embarrassed, or just lazy???

CoreyDonahue topcommenter

3 Like

@Case I like the lone wolf activists, quote. Thanks!

DonkeyHotay topcommenter

2 Like

@Case "Are you embarrassed, or just lazy???"

Queen Patty does allow Westweed employees to get stoned on the job.

Charles Gleason

3 Like

Jennifer, please explain why it is NOT important to have a recording or any record of a conversation between the Federal Government and the Governor regarding the implementation of a newly enacted constitutional amendment?

tutonehcc

Those of us who know the use of cannabis don't turn to Hickenlooper and Holder, we turn to Clover Leaf consulting. Hickenlooper and Holder aren't going to make the rules in Colorado. Regular cannabis loving Coloradoans make the rules in Colorado.

http://youtu.be/YSpmjzPzFoM

Monkey

1 Like

@tutonehcc Clove leaf? I thought medical weed was dead, right high country. Maybe it's just your common sense that's dead.

tutonehcc

And a very happy birthday to Wayward Bill!

CoreyDonahue topcommenter

4 Like

@tutonehcc ¨Regular cannabis loving Coloradoans make the rules in Colorado.¨

No you don´t A64 was written by Steve Fox of Marijuana Policy Project in Washington DC.

DonkeyHotay topcommenter

2 Like

@CoreyDonahue @tutonehcc

More accurately called the -- Marijuana McLawyer Future Revenue and Wealth Creation Project.

CoreyDonahue topcommenter

4 Like

Thus far, Donahue doesn't have the answer. But you can bet he won't stop demanding one.

Sounds very dismissive, why am I the only one demanding an answer? This is not important? Explain to my why this conversation is not important.

Sherman

Is this truly a story? I mean, we've had to read this same crap week after week in every single friggin marijuana post, sometimes twice when he posts as both himself and Charles Gleason. Enough. We get it, can we friggin move on now? Christ what's next, will you take all of Donkey's rants and make a story out of that too?

Jennifer Phillips

Calling the governor "Nixonlooper" just proves that Donahue is childish. This is a complicated issue which Governor Hickenlooper is trying to navigate. He's been pretty diplomatic in my opinion. Maybe it's because I'm from Texas and have had to live with Bush and Perry as governors, but picking on Hickenlooper and resorting to name calling is the wrong way to go.

David Kotzebue

Whats like, wow

imahead

4 Like

u gotta give that donkey points for consistency... always spreading the love.

i wonder if he hates pharmie users too?

alcoholics?

junkies?

dm_co

3 Like

@imahead "Some men just want to argue with stoners"

whofartedinhere

It was more fun to watch Corey lose his shit in every single Westword weed comments thread. Now you had to go and act like his request has a slight whiff of poignancy. Who cares what the governor discussed with the AG? Who cares that they didn't record it? Was there a law being broken, or just some misguided principle of total openness that Corey dredged out of his addled brain? The relevancy to the situation is nil.

Maybe at the very least he'll go find another almost-dead horse to ride into the ground now that you've given him yet another "victory" to crow about.