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Organizers of the initiative that would remove criminal penalties for marijuana in Alaska and regulate its distribution filed suit Tuesday against Alaska Lt. Gov. Loren Leman over his office's role in drafting a statement of opposition in the Official Election Pamphlet presented to voters. While it is too late to alter the pamphlet, the lawsuit seeks a court ruling that the role of Leman's office in writing the statement was improper and violated the state constitution. It also seeks a statement from Leman acknowledging that his office acted improperly and asks that he distribute that information to voters.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Leman's chief of staff, Annette Kreitzler, wrote the statement based on information she pulled from the FBI web site. Although it was penned by Kreitzler, the statement appears under the signature of Dr. Charles Herndon, medical director at Providence Breakthrough, a drug and alcohol treatment center. The pamphlet with the statement was sent to 300,000 Alaska voters.

Initiative supporters at Yes on 2 (http://www.regulatemarijuanainalaska.org) cried foul, calling Leman's office's action outrageous. "It's clear to us that he has crossed the line of neutrality, and if he has not directly violated his office, he most certainly has violated the spirit of his elected office," initiative proponent Tim Hinterberger told the Daily News. "The only significant duty of the lieutenant governor is to run impartial elections, and he can't even get that right," Hinterberger said.

Initiative supporters weren't the only ones raking Leman over the coals over his lack of impartiality. A long-time opponent of marijuana law reform, Leman has consistently tried to block such initiatives. "Lt. Gov. Loren Leman just doesn't get it," the Daily News editorialized Wednesday. "He doesn't seem to understand that his only real job under the Alaska Constitution is to oversee state elections with complete integrity. Instead, he keeps using and abusing elections processes like a political hack on the stump."

With little more than 10 days until the election, the battle over marijuana in Alaska is heating up. Last week, deputy drug czar Scott Burns joined a number of high state officials in press conference aimed at defeating the initiative. But that may be too little too late in a state where privacy rights are jealously guarded and the frontier spirit of independence still holds sway.

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