The LEAP Report: Issue III

A note from (LEAP) Assistant Speakers Bureau Coordinator Jodi James: LEAP would like you to help us welcome David Doddridge as our newest speaker. David had a distinguished career in law enforcement, including a tour undercover in L.A. Retiring after 21 years of service, David recognizes the greatest harms associated with drugs are the drug laws. You can read more about David Doddridge and all of LEAP’s incredible speakers on our bio page. With the addition of David Doddridge, LEAP boasts active speakers in 26 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and abroad. Speakers Bureau Update: February started with a bang as Lou Dobbs spoke about LEAP, referring to LEAP’s efforts as “idiocy.” Terry Nelson spoke only for a few moments. We can’t be too hard on Dobbs, though. He’s certainly not the only one still in the dark about this issue. Josh Billings, an early American humorist, said it best: "The trouble ain't that people are ignorant: it's that they know so much that ain't so." And any press is good press, folks. This little piece gained us at least one new speaker who I’ll talk about next month. Where In the World Are LEAP Speakers? Florida Jerry Cameron was a hit at a debate in Jacksonville going up against a professor from Florida Coastal Law School. A packed crowd including many of the professor’s own law students filled the seats. The urgency of LEAP’s message was especially evident given the recent and devastating shooting in Jacksonville the previous week. New York—Florida Peter Christ left Upstate New York and the snow for, where else? Florida. Rick Ostrander, Ethel Rowland and Jodi James worked on a two week tour for Peter that started on February 12th. He opened up with another first-timer for LEAP—the Polk County Tiger Bay Club (TBC). The TBCs in Florida are unique bi-partisan political clubs. We had previously tried several times to get our speakers in front of their crowds. Ricky worked his magic and nailed this group for Peter to speak to. The event was covered by the local newspaper and the ABC affiliate out of Orlando. It was a great beginning to 12 days of presentations across Central Florida. Peter is also known as LEAP’s pied-piper: he invites people to join at every engagement and signs up 40-50% of his audience. Peter signed up more than 100 new LEAP members on this trip alone. Jerry Cameron spoke to a businessman’s club in Jacksonville, FL. I know I keep saying it but chambers of commerce or business owners groups are another example of a great group of people for LEAP to be speaking with. California Over on the other coast, Judge Jim Gray was speaking to a Rotary club in Orange County, and getting filmed doing it, too. A film company is working on a docu-drama and wanted to include actual footage of a LEAP speaker telling an audience “the way things are”. Up the coast away, James Anthony took time off from his practice to speak at the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) conference. PSR and LEAP have a unique relationship: one of PSR’s founding members is Dr. Mike McCally, father of LEAP speaker Matt McCally. PSR has an outstanding reputation---one that could involve LEAP. Anyone have friends at any of the PSR chapters around the country? Washington—Canada Norm Stamper presented at a special event at the University of Washington Medical School, explaining how drug prohibition affects public health. Across the Puget Sound, Hunter McDonald, retired RCMP, was making his first LEAP presentation at the 8th annual Cannabis Convention at the University of Victoria. Now, for those who like irony, having Hunter do this gig was very interesting since he was once the head of security at UV and one of his duties was escorting one of the Cannabis Convention organizers off the campus several years earlier. It was all done very professionally, of course. I sure wish I had been there when the guy Hunter had once escorted off campus guy introduced him to the crowd that day. The Victoria BC newspaper covered the event and Hunter received kudos. Retired Vancouver cop Tony Smith spoke to the Abbotsford, BC Businessman’s club. Local activist Tim Felgar is working on getting engagements in the “Bible belt” of Canada. Tony is nearby so Tim will be competing with new SB booker Steve Finlay, a North Vancouver resident. New Hampshire—AZ Moving on to the northeast, Jack Cole and Tony Ryan attended the Liberty Forum in New Hampshire, meeting anti-drug war TV host John Stossel. Tony is doing a bit of traveling—he lives part of the year in Tucson so when he returned to AZ after the NH conference, he had a nice crowd at the Flagstaff Rotary to listen to the LEAP message. Montana Finally, the month was finished out with Jim Doherty’s visit to Montana. The ACLU sponsored Jim’s visit to speak to several civic groups, the media and VIPs. Jim spent 4 days doing the rounds that were arranged by Tom Daubert, a dedicated Montana activist. This is the second Montana tour done by LEAP and Tom is expecting us back for the Sheriff’s Convention in the summer. LEAP spoke to four church congregations in February which is a new record…terrific audiences for LEAP. About 80% of Americans believe in God and between 26-40% of all Americans attend church regularly. Churchgoers vote. Also, another record for a single month was the seven college engagements in which LEAP participated and there’s more on the horizon. Colleges offer a unique place for LEAP speakers. Consider the classes: history, sociology, criminal justice, economics, political science— these teachers are always looking for a new perspective. I bet that a lot of folks reading this know a teacher at a college…c’mon, make the call. A few words about the speaker’s bureau staff: Helping me get all of the administrative work performed is Barbara Humphrey, a long time activist in the Syracuse area. Barbara has an extensive background in city government operations and was the director of a non-profit organization. She’s doing the much needed work— confirming engagements, following up on the presentations and seeing what we did right and where we can improve. She reports events to the staff and makes sure that they match what Joe Bokan has on the events page of the LEAP website. Jodi James is the other person helping me run the speakers bureau and she has run through the organization like a whirlwind, showing Barbara and myself how to better organize our work through task items. We’re more efficient with reports because of her contributions and Jodi has written the bulk of the protocols needed for vetting speakers, communications with venues and getting the training and communications upgraded for all of the speakers. Jodi has been involved with the reform movement for several years and is active with the Democratic Party and League of Women Voters too. LEAP has many speakers sitting idle and there are plenty of venues to book them into. Why not join us and help us get these eager speakers busy? C’mon, you know you want to!!!!!