By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief
The Pacific Palisades Republican Club is not your daddy’s Republican club.
It has issued its list of recommended ballot measures for the March 7 election, and there are some surprises on it.
The venerable club, which thrives in a town and a city that recently voted 80 percent-plus Democratic, recommended that its members vote in favor of Measure M, which regulates the use of cannabis and lays out permits for a possible future marijuana dispensary in the area.
The measure suggests if you can’t ban something, tax it instead—effectively a sales tax of 10 percent, plus other business fees familiar to the “sin taxes” on alcohol and cigarettes.
It also lays down a code for those selling cannabis for leisure users, including some of the two-thirds of Palisadian voters who backed decriminalizing the noxious weed last November.
Those who try to set up dispensaries near schools or similar institutions without permits will face fines, nuisance abatement orders and their water and power disconnected.
“Some thought this [recommendation] was unthinkable, but we are pragmatic. We cannot stop cannabis being sold, but we can make it tough for it to get into the wrong hands,” said a Palisadian Republican last week. “And raise money for the problems that will follow its decriminalization.”
Perhaps even more shockingly, the Republicans are backing a new tax: Measure H, a .25 percent sales tax for the next 10 years that will support emergency spending on the homeless.
The Republican Club opposes Measure S, which is effectively a two-year building moratorium on some larger developments.
This will be discussed at the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting at the Palisades Branch Library on Thursday, Feb. 23.
They have also nailed their colors for some high-profile contenders in the Los Angeles City Council and LAUSD races.
They are supporting registered independent Y.J. Draiman against Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Draiman is a former Realtor from Northridge who stood for the office in 2013. Today he said he stands for “principles and integrity over profit and gain.”
The club has also backed Palisadian Allison Holdorff Polhill who is standing against Steve Zimmer for LAUSD District 4—she has been characterized as slightly more pro-charter school than the incumbent—and Democrat Mark Ryavec against Mike Bonin for District 11.
Ryavec was upset when the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club endorsed Bonin without, he said, listening to what he had to say.
But is being endorsed by the Republicans any more helpful?
He said, “I did not ask them to do it, and I did not know
about it.”
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