Update 12/4/14:
"It's Official: as of 4am az time the @mikelweisser 4
US congress campaign is completed w our final FEC 2014 paperwork filed. THX
all! #2016!"
--from my Twitter
Stream on 12/4/14, 9:51 AM - 4 Dec 2014
Dear Supporters,
Now that the 2014 election cycle is officially completed,
the Mikel Weisser for US Congress campaign is suspending operations on this
site for the time being. Please continue to follow the action in this blog and @
http://saferarizona.com.
It is without hesitation that I can say, at no point prior
to choosing to become a medical patient in the summer of 2012, could I have
predicted the role cannabis reform would come to play in my life. After falling
in my primary in Aug. of that year; and then deciding to press what few
political chips I had to arrange a first few meetings w legislators to discuss
flaws in AZ’s medical marijuana program in Dec. of 2012, I met Dennis Bohlke
and Robert Clark and they asked me if I would join them in their work on
cannabis reform. Since that moment, my life has gone through what feels like a
whirlwind these past 18 months and starting tomorrow, Dec 5th, 2014,
in addition to my current role as political director of Safer, I will be
assuming the role of treasurer and finance chair of the PAC.
In keeping with our promise to advance the rights of the AZ
cannabis community in any way possible, by all means necessary, Safer AZ is
re-filing our AZ SOS political action committee paperwork and revving up for
2016, continuing to work on legalization, and partnering w MPP of AZ, in
addition to 6 other cannabis activist organizations operating here in AZ (AZ NORML,
PHX NORML, PHX Cannabis Coalition, The Human Solution, Registered Arizona
Medical Marijuana Patients, & Students for a Sensible Drug Policy) to
develop a citizens’ initiative for the legalization and regulation of cannabis
in Arizona.
To my non-cannabis consuming supporters of AZ-04: It is my
fondest hope that you will see this action as in keeping with my commitment to
citizens’ basic rights and advancing AZ into the 21st century. It is
my fervent belief that cannabis prohibition has consciously been used as a
method of social control and it is our role as activists to address this
massive social injustice, in the same way as we need to commit ourselves to the
issues of gender equality, environmental devastation, crony capitalism, and the
other ills of the conservative values agenda—this is a social movement that can
transform America. It is our honor, not our burden, to take up this mantle.
In 20 yrs, in a society freed from cannabis prohibition and
the social mental straitjacket it creates, our society will do a better job at
addressing the needs of the under-classes or exploitations of the elites. There
are a dozen or so avenues of social change that an activist could focus his
entire attention upon in the hopes of making a difference. At one point in my
campaign, I was trying to string together an agenda of the 23 grievances we’d
identified in the Kingman Occupy group. There are not enough people working on
this issue in AZ to give it the attention it deserves, and so for the time
being, I will give it the attention I have.
For those of you under-familiar with Safer AZ, please give our website a look (http://saferarizona.com/) and check out our Facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/SaferAZ).
You can scroll back through the posts in this blog and get numerous updates on
the movement. The most important one is available in this You Tube video: Safer AZ Announces 2016
Drive at PHX NORML 9/2/14 (Mikel Weisser).
(For those of you wanting to get a serious picture inside
Safer AZ’s future, there is a peek at the current business plan below.)
I really appreciate all the people who have helped advance
my work as a congressional candidate because they hoped it advanced their goals
as an activist. I promise my work in this specific field is in keeping w your
values. Please keep watching. It may take a bit until this website starts
resuming sustained activity, but rest assured, through Safer AZ we will
continue to work for the good.
Fans of this specific website design and artistic
sensibility, here is an important announcement: After 2 yrs of relentless
pasting of pics and text on this landing page, Google sites has warned we are
nearing the limits of our allotted space for a free website. Since the campaign
is committed to a 2016 run, at some point this site will become an artifact and
a new site will be erected for the 2016 campaign. Rest assured of these two
things: 1. I love the work I have done here since 2012 and will preserve access
to this site as an archive when the new campaign website launches closer to the
2016 election & 2. Whatever site it is that replaces this one, it will kick
even more ass. In the meantime, as long as I can find continuing space here, I
will post updates and set up a smooth transition to the 2016 site; but, for the
most part, for the foreseeable future my efforts will be devoted to Safer AZ’s
site, though I will continue to share blog updates w the blog.
For now and for tomorrow, please continue to believe: in me,
in yourself, in our country’s potential and our abilities to guide it towards a
better future. This past Thanksgiving, as part of my long standing tradition of
actually making contacts on the day and giving thanks to those who I
appreciated, I made 50+ calls and texts before I realized I could not possibly
address all the wonderful souls who have shared themselves hopes with me. If I
were to try to list the names of all those who have contributed time, treasure
or other support to our 2014 effort, I would be at it till 2015 and still leave
folks out.
So, just know, YOU specifically, if YOU did even one Iota to
help me, to help your favorite cause, to help somebody because you believed in
the idea more than you cared whether or not you believed in the actual man, if
you went through hell so somebody else didn’t have too (or if you recognized that
allusion), thank you.
Keep it going!
Mikel
11:56pm 12/4/14
For those wanting a peek into the future of Safer AZ, continue reading below:
Organizational Notes, Safer Arizona
Intro-After
operating principally as a volunteer organization of 4 central activists and
dozens of volunteers w little coordination and no developed income stream
beyond donations of the charter members, Safer Arizona is reorganizing to turn
our operation into a full-scale Political Action Committee, w multiple-income
streams, paid staff, media presence and legislative influence. To do so, Safer
Arizona will have to develop a focus and culture that advances a few basic ideas:
Goals:
Safer Arizona will:
1.
Actively work to advance legislation and
citizens’ initiatives to legalize and regulate cannabis on the 2016 ballot.
2.
Support political actions, organizations,
business interests and movements in general aiming to legalize and regulate
cannabis in AZ and nationally that meet w our ethical standards.
3.
Promote and coordinate the activities of other
individuals and organizations in AZ to increase our movement’s effectiveness.
4.
Challenge those opposing cannabis reform in a
variety of platforms; and work as advocates for patients and other defendants
in the criminal justice system for cannabis related offenses.
5.
Provide volunteer opportunities for members of
the cannabis community and larger activist community to take personal and group
actions on the issue.
6.
Generate funds to advance our activities.
Safer AZ will generate
income in the following ways:
1.
Web
Presence: A primary immediate revenue generating goal for SaferArizona.Com
is developing the existing website, or website elements, into a site that serves
as a nexus for the movement with its own merchandizing capabilities; AND is also
functional as a traditional political website in data collection and
fundraising capabilities (i.e. Nationbuilder or equal) w ad space marketing,
either as an exchange w other sites in the industry, or through ad space sales
to industry-aligned businesses.
2.
Merchandising:
Already Safer AZ has a recognizable product line: our green tee-shirts w our
signature phrase: “MARIJUANA IS SAFER THAN ALCOHOL,” on the front and our logo
on the back. There are already nearly a 1000 Safer AZ tee-shirts in circulation
in the state and the market for the idea is due to grow exponentially with the
legalization movement catching fire over the next two years. In addition, we
initially want to introduce a small assortment of accessory promotional
products using the same messaging and logo. Among these are logo stickers for
sale and give-away, coffee cups and ball caps. We are also in negotiations w the estate of
Len Richmond, producer/director of the 2010 documentary, “What If Cannabis Cured
Cancer?” to distribute DVDs of the film for little or no cost to use it for
fundraising and educational purposes. We will target the dispensary and smoke
shop industries primarily for our wholesale sales and focus our direct retail
merchandising at events such as “1st Fridays” and concerts, etc. in
addition to cannabis related events and meetings.
3.
Campaign
Service Vendor: Safer AZ will create petition gathering/public awareness
events and help promote and coordinate the events of other cannabis activist
groups in partnerships. These partnerships can include consulting fees to
create events or train volunteers in local activities, and most importantly, signature
gathering contracts w the central initiative campaign committee.
4.
Direct Political
Fundraising: Using traditional political campaign techniques such as email
promotions, call-time solicitations and partnership-sponsorships from aligned
businesses and organizations, Safer AZ can wield political power just like
other political action committees do. Here, besides the traditional angel-donor
approach, we will be using direct phone and public events solicitations to
encourage small-dollar recurring donors to set up monthly contributions.
Whenever possible we will direct donors to our online portal in the Safer
Arizona website; but officers can also take checks and in the short run should
be equipped w card readers and smart phone software to take card donations in
the field, both for merchandizing and for outright political donations.
5.
Events
Production: Safer AZ has various resources in the entertainment community,
especially the 420-friendly entertainment community. We can create 420-friendly
entertainment events around the state to promote the movement and generate
revenue when we get either star-power headliners or all-day festival events w
multiple acts. Ticket sales, vendor space rental and merchandising will give
events production its multiple revenue streams.
6.
Media
Marketing: Safer AZ can begin production on a KFNX’s
talk show station hosting a call-in sponsor supported talk show on marijuana
and related topics. KFNX is one of the largest talk radio stations in the
southwest and reaches apx. four million potential listeners in AZ in the
PHX-Tucson listening area. Sponsorships on the radio show could be the radio
advertising access some of those in the industry have been looking for. With
studio time running $250 per week , having as few as 4 sponsors per week would
net the production a profit. KFNX believes this is a demographic waiting to be
marketed to. Leadership in MPP of AZ believe this media access could be a huge
tool towards shaping the media in the upcoming campaign. The station is hoping
to develop this show in time for the New Year.
Safer
AZ Services
As a political action committee Safer AZ
will have to declare a mission statement of sorts or a purpose of intent. As a
collective of activists we will need to create and develop a few initial areas
of operation and can expand according to our resources, both revenue and
manpower.
1.
Public
Advocacy: Safer AZ is a voice for the public and will maintain a web and
public presence, both in creating demonstrations, entertainment and educational
events around the community around the state; but also at the state capitol as
a legislative activist organizer helping patients and others in the community
get their stories and desires to our legislators so they can better shape
public policy.
2.
Cannabis
Activist Volunteer Organization: As the 2016 campaign becomes more visible,
more and more people will want to become volunteers in the movement and will
need a place to connect. Safer AZ can be that nexus. With our two years of
experience as an organization run by people who operated in their “spare time,”
we have already proven that we can organize activists online, at public
demonstrations around the state and at the capitol. Moving forward
3.
Social Media Communications: Safer AZ
is an organization born online (when founded the 4 original activists each
lived in separate cities, with one member (Dave Wisniewski stationed in South
Korea for the first full year of operations). These days Safer Arizona has a
Facebook following of nearly 5000 and an average weekly readership over 3500.
We have created and led email and phone call campaigns and serves as a nexus
for various activists and groups to spread word of their own activities.
4.
Legislative
Action: Safer AZ successfully introduced a cannabis decriminalization bill
last session, HB2474 to address felony arrest provisions in state law. We also
led the challenges to various anti-cannabis rights legislation and blocked
several bills. Safer AZ is focused on developing the relationships w state
legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle and being a watchdog on
cannabis-related legislative activity to help the larger community keep
informed of statehouse developments.
5.
Electoral
Watchdog: Through our web pages, Safer AZ has tracked both elected
officials and candidates’ positions on cannabis related issues, creating
district level maps so voters can support pro-cannabis issues at the ballot
box.
6.
Counter-Propaganda
Force: As the national legalization
movement intensifies our opponents are increasing their campaigns of
misinformation and incarceration. In AZ the leaders of the anti-cannabis
community and the leaders of the state prosecutors and law enforcement have
banded together to power an anti-cannabis media campaign through their organization,
Matforce. Safer AZ is committed to challenging Matforce propaganda both through
our web presence and in person, by helping local activists organize
counter-protests and court support for cannabis defendants. We provide speakers
to various civic organizations, public debates, and news media needing a quote
from an authoritative source. In addition to our own members, Safer AZ has
helped organizations get additional cannabis leaders as speakers and are ready
to act around the state to challenge Matforce when necessary.
7.
Community
Volunteer Opportunity: One of the most important things Safer AZ provides
is an outlet for activists. AZ is catching the green rush and thousands of
citizens are wanting a way to act. Safer AZ is creating a database of our
nearly 200 activists around the state and developing a monthly newsletter to
keep the community informed. With a statewide reach, Safer AZ can help local
citizens develop their own programs and connect to the larger movement.
Here are the tasks
volunteers can help w.
1.
Host an awareness event in your home or in your community
2.
Letter writing to your local media and elected
officials and to state and federal officials
3.
Creating a 420-friendly entertainment event in
your community
4.
Attending and staffing demonstrations and events
in the PHX area
5.
Representing Safer AZ and the cannabis reform
community at public events and debates
6.
Manning a Safer Arizona booth at community
events
7.
Collecting signatures
8.
Share on social media
9.
Connect us to your family and friends so we can
expand our reach.
10.
Attend a local political meeting or elected
officials meetings
11.
Make $5 monthly donation
12.
Take leadership position in organizing and
training others in your area after you’ve worked w us a while.
Legislative Agenda
As a political action committee
Safer AZ has already developed connections to nearly half of the 2012 AZ state
legislature. Our model legislation, “The Harm Reduction Measure,” (which called
for removing state statute that requires that all cannabis-related arrests are listed
as felonies) attracted the attention and support of 15 AZ state legislators and
was introduced as HB2474.
This cycle Safer AZ is working
with Tom Dean, former national legal counsel for NORML, to develop model
legislations to address the following issues:
1.
A re-introduction of “The Harm Reduction
Measure” (HB2474).
2.
Supporting GOP proposed Hemp legislation.
3.
Sunset of the 25 mile rule for qualified medical
marijuana patients.
4.
Halting civil forfeitures prior to conviction.
5.
A “Good Samaritan Law” to protect citizens
helping someone who has overdosed.
6.
An AZ version of KY’s “Casey’s Law,” which
allows parents of under-aged drug users to petition for placements for their
children in rehab facilities.
7.
DUI protections requiring evidence of impairment
and video records of sobriety tests.
8.
Jury nullification court rule changes to allow
juries greater instruction and discretion in sentencing.
Staffing
Safer AZ as a political action
committee is governed by a board of directors and required to have posts of a
chair, or president, and a treasurer. In addition, Safer AZ requires having
certain areas of operations delegated to various officers and volunteers. While
there are numerous vacancies and much overlap in current operations, we are
projecting to fill in these roles:
Finance Director—Responsible for generating and managing operating
capitol, this person will work w executive director and treasurer to generate
funds and set an operating budget. As the organization expands this office may
add call-time assistants or fundraising consultants.
Executive Director—Responsible for managing office day-to-day ongoing
operations, this person will work w finance committee to generate funds and set
operating budget w the volunteer coordinator and political director. As the
organization expands this office may add a secretary/receptionist.
Volunteer Coordinator—Responsible for developing and maintaining
volunteer activities and records, this person will work w the political
director and executive director to create and direct activities of volunteers
around the state, in particular in events creation and petition gathering. As
the organization expands this office may add regional volunteer coordinators.
Currently John Howlett of Buckeye and Mark Goodman of Prescott Valley have
offered to assist in their areas.
Political Director—Responsible for creating and implementing the
strategies and directing the resources of the group, this person works w the executive
director and the volunteer coordinator to develop volunteer projects (such as
educational presentations and demonstrations), legislative activity,
communications strategy and instruments, and shaping fundraising projects. As the organization expands this office may
add legislative activist or lawyer
Communications Officer—Responsible for maintaining the Safer AZ
website, Facebook group, newsletter, press releases, internal communications
and Twitter feeds, this person will work w the executive director and political
director to create political materials, maintain a content stream for our
website and newsletters, assist w internal communications and manage the social
network of activists that gravitate to our online presence. As the organization
expands this office may add a website designer to upgrade our operations.
Events Coordinator—Responsible for creating and promoting educational
and entertainment events, this person will work with the political director and
volunteer coordinator to create and manage an ongoing educational program as part
of our outreach and for-profit large scale entertainment events. The
communications office and finance director will also assist this office.
Division of Labor
Currently Safer AZ, unofficially, has
two full-time unpaid staff, Mikel Weisser and Robert Clark. Dave Wisniewski and
Dennis Bohlke, who have both done extensive volunteer service, are also
volunteering in a part-time to half-time basis. Additionally there are other
volunteers who have volunteered as various levels of involvement and will be
invited to consider taking some of these roles from the four principals.
Division of Operations
Geographically Safer AZ has an
obligation to the AZ cannabis community to develop a statewide reach in both
our activism and our advocacy. Due to the massive area of the state, both in
terms of the cannabis consumer community and the AZ medical marijuana industry,
we will be dividing the state into operating regions for volunteer coordination
and AZ CHAAs (Community Health Assessment Areas) for fundraising and
merchandising concerns. Volunteers will be identified 1st by their
general region of the state: PHX, Tucson, Rural North & Rural South. As the
organization expands, this division can be further split up according to
congressional districts for the PHX metro area and legislative districts for
all other areas.
Timeline Projections
Dec. 4—Safer AZ completes filing final
2014 election cycle report w FEC. Safer AZ representatives kick off our
legislative activities w a meeting w newly-elected AZ LD1 Rep. Noel Campbell.
Dec. 5—Safer AZ files new AZSOS
paperwork for 2016 cycle and reopens bank account w new officers. Dave
Wisniewski and Robert Clark will be co-chairs. Mikel Weisser will be treasurer.
Dec. 18—Safer AZ delivers our
tee-shirt order in time for the holidays, re-orders including additional styles
and colors as requested.
Dec. 26-30—Safer AZ sends
legislative proposals to AZ State Legislature.
Dec. overall—update wufoo, paypal and merchant services, begin
interview process of existing volunteer network, develop donor base and legislative
agenda, establish marketing networks and operating protocols, recruit and
develop staff.
Jan. 2—Mikel Weisser relocates to PHX to take over day-to-day
operations.
Jan. 8—Safer AZ joins local protesters in Mohave County to attend
the Matforce presentation in Kingman
Jan. 12—Open day of AZ legislature, Safer AZ holds demonstration at
the capitol and assists cannabis activists in contacting their legislators
while on campus.
Jan. overall—Safer AZ begins legislator interviews, radio show
foundation work, expanded merchandising and sales route development. Safer
continues to assist w public input into drafting process of MPP of AZ’s 2016
initiative and expands our fundraising. Begin talks on website overhaul. Create
schedule of upcoming volunteer based events and begin promoting it.
Feb. overall--Safer AZ continues
legislator interviews and assisting w public input into drafting process of MPP
of AZ’s 2016 initiative, foundation work, expands merchandizing sales route.
Safer continues to and expands our fundraising. Begin radio show and website
overhaul. Begin volunteer training for petition collection. Launch newsletter
and media campaign. Negotiates a contract w MPP of AZ to be a vendor providing
petition signature collection and sundry services.
Mar. overall—Begins petition-collecting as a vendor to the
campaign, adopts sales route into an organizing route and begin volunteer based
petition-drives. Continue expanding previous operations.
2015 overall—develop income stream and operations network, hire and
train staff, exhibit continuing robust legislative presence, collect 50,000 of
projected 172,000 required signatures, assist MPP of AZ w completing signature
campaign, develop radio show following, expand market for Safer AZ tee-shirts; create
product line of additional Safer AZ merchandise, establish regional activist
groups and ongoing educational programs, create multiple large demonstrations,
create 3 profitable 420 friendly entertainment fundraisers, establish PHX storefront
office and network of rural activists, expand donor base to include both
numerous monthly small dollar contributions ($5-$10 recurring) and some larger
dollar “angel donors.”
