The campaign's Rob Corry defended the filing -- but he's now amended it to put a value of $1,250 on the weed. And that's not all.
The filing, listed under the No on Prop AA outfit's formal moniker, No Over Taxation, sports five separate $100 contributions from Corry in regard to office space, which had also been previously set at one penny, plus assorted $100 donations individually listed as an "offset record added due to change or deletion of previously filed item." The latter are credited to Corry's kids.
In an interview with Westword earlier this month, Corry argued that ascribing a cash value to the joints giveaway was inaccurate."Under current law, marijuana cannot be sold," he stressed. "No recreational marijuana can be sold until January 1, and after that, only recreational marijuana grown in a licensed facility can be sold. And none of that exists now."
As such, he maintained that the marijuana given away at rallies in Denver and Boulder, as well as at a Yes on Proposition AA fundraiser protest built around dab buses, "has zero value. The reason it even shows up in our disclosures is because we want to be extra-transparent -- and the reason its cost is set at one penny is because everything's done online, and the program the Secretary of State uses won't accept a zero."
But Corry also expressed a willingness to alter the filing if Colorado Ethics Watch would back off -- and now that he's done so, CEW director Luis Toro has taken steps to withdraw its complaint.
"We are glad that voters considering how to vote on Proposition AA will be equipped with accurate information about both campaigns," Toro points out in a statement. "Political contributions, whether in cash or in kind, reveal the amount and source of material support for a campaign. Voters have a right to know this information, and we are glad the No Over Taxation committee agreed to disclose this information without the need to go to a hearing."
More from our Marijuana archive: "Marijuana: Did anti-pot-tax group break campaign law with joint giveways?"
