Letter from Pat Steadman State Senator, District 31 to one of our members re: our Jan 14 Off the Steps and into the House Rally

Hello Mr. Chengelis:

Thanks for contacting me to advise me of this event. Several things you should know:

First, Thursday the 14th is the day of the Governor’s annual “State of the State” address. That’s why the media will be all over the building. It also means the House and Senate will be meeting in joint session that morning to hear his address, and we won’t be able to interact with constituents during the speech. The building is always quite crowded on the day of this speech, and security is heightened. Neither chamber usually conducts business on the floor after the conclusion of the speech, and the speech sometimes extends into the lunch hour. I’m not sure why you’ve selected this date for this event, but you’re going to face some logistical challenges and the news media will be focused primarily on the Governor and your event will likely be portrayed as a side-show. You’ll get press, but the event will likely be upstaged by other news.

Importantly, I’m a strong supporter of Amendment 20 and will be working to ensure that legislation to regulate caregivers, dispensaries and growers does not restrict access or violate the terms of our state constitution. I hope you will count me as an ally. I also support de-criminalization, but I don’t see the legislature going that far this year. Instead, I will be carrying sentencing reform legislation for drug possession offenses that eases some the criminal penalties by increasing the quantities that determine the severity of the offense (e.g. increases the amount that is a petty offense up to four ounces and a misdemeanor from 4 to 16 ounces). A small step perhaps, but in the right direction.

Finally, I appreciate your instructions to the people attending this event to be prepared to be respectful and professional. I hope that will be the case. I’m sensing a certain skittishness among many of my colleagues in the legislature about the topic, and I hope this event doesn’t push people in the wrong direction. At a time when the right to medical use is facing a serious threat, I worry about overloading the legislature with messages concerning legalization or hemp.

Hope I’m not coming off as too much of a Nervous Nellie, but I thought you might like to know the context for the event and the potential for it to not be effective, or worse, backfire.

I am the state senator for downtown, so please make a point to try and find me while you’re there next Thursday and introduce yourself. I’ll look forward to our conversation.
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Pat Steadman
State Senator, District 31
1257 Corona St.
Denver, CO 80218
303-866-4861 (Capitol)
303-861-1514 (home)
720-530-7047 (mobile)
http://www.PatSteadman.com