Major late contributions are flowing into the coffers of Michigan and Missouri political action committees that have been set up to support or oppose marijuana ballot initiatives in those states, Marijuana Moment’s latest analysis of campaign finance data shows.
In Missouri, physician Bradley Bradshaw continues to pour money into the Find the Cures committee in support of Amendment 3. For October, since filing third quarter reports, the group reported $343,000 in cash contributions from Bradshaw. He had contributed $7,500 in cash in the third quarter and provided $186,121 in loans. Find the Cures is also getting late support from legal firms, with five practices contributing $45,000.
New Approach Missouri, which supports Amendment 2, reported that it had received $125,000 from Washington, D.C.-based New Approach PAC.
A committee set up to combat Bradshaw’s Measure 3, Patients Against Bradshaw Amendment Formally Known As Find The Cures Political Action Committee, reported only $757 in contributions in a filing made Oct. 29, 2018. Missourians For Patient Care reported no cash contributions in its “eight days before election” report, but disclosed a $450 contribution in a late contribution report.
In Michigan, the two largest marijuana initiative committees have seen a quarter-million dollars in contributions in just the last three days since third quarter figures were filed Oct. 26, 2018. The pro-legalization Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol officially reported a $25,000 donation that had been announced last week by the Drug Policy Alliance. National group New Approach is also a force here, donating an additional $58,650 to the committee over the weekend, bringing its October 2018 contributions in the state to over $300,000.
Meanwhile, the largest committee working against the initiative, Healthy and Productive Michigan, is reporting a sizable new contribution of $75,000 from national prohibition organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which has already provided over $1 million in cash and in-kind services to the effort. The prohibitionist committee also reported $100,000 from Dow Chemical Co.
DTE Energy executives continued to weigh in against the initiative, with David Meador, vice chairman of DTE Energy, and David Ruud, president of DTE Power & Industrial, each giving $2,500 to the anti-legalization committee. The group had already reported a total of $70,000 in donations from DTE Energy Chairman Gerard Anderson, company President and COO Jerry Norcia, DTE Electric President Trevor Lauer and DTE Gas President Mark Stiers.
In total, Healthy and Productive Michigan has racked up $310,000 in late contributions since Oct. 20, 2018, while the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has brought in $151,150. For each committee, these new donations in the last nine days equal about one-third of their total cash previously raised in all of the third quarter, from Aug. 20 to Oct. 20, 2018.
This article has been republished from Marijuana Moment under a content syndication agreement. Read the original article here.
