Humboldt Growers Association Fundraises for Paul Gallegos

For years the growers of Humboldt hid their identities.  Growers kept to themselves. They didn’t often allow outsiders into their world  and they didn’t engage openly as growers with the outside world at all.  Certainly, they didn’t engage overtly in politics (though marijuana money supported the environmental movement, non-profits, and some political campaigns.)

This last month has changed that.  Humboldt Growers Association (HGA) first raised money openly for Bonnie Neely and, last night, held a fundraiser for District Attorney Paul Gallegos at one of the most beloved of Southern Humboldt gathering places, the Beginnings Octagon. At that building, the grower community has celebrated birthdays, weddings, and mourned the deaths of its members.  Last night, mostly undeterred by pouring rain, growers had a coming out party to support one the most important local positions in Humboldt.The Times Standard has said the DA’s “is arguably the most powerful office in the county.” Last night the HGA stepped forward to support the candidate they feel will best represent their values in that job.

Natalynne Delapp, Gallegos’ campaign manager stated that the fundraiser “went wonderfully well.”  She said that in the spring they were worried. “We really needed a group of people to help us down in Southern Humboldt. Then she said the HGA approached them and helped organize the area.

Joey Burger, President of the HGA, said that “Despite the rainy weather we had a great turnout and a great dinner provided by Sue Malone….Paul gave a very inspiring speech.  He has been a protector of this community.  He has fought to keep corporate entities from walking all over the little guy.”

Two bands, Solitary Men and Blue Rhythm Review, provided dance music and local businesses donated items for a silent auction.  The proceeds have yet to be added up but Delapp said she left the fundraiser “with a bunch of money in a box” as well as a large number of checks.  “I think we did pretty well,” she added happily.

Thadeus Greenson of the Times Standard has an excellent piece on the Gallegos/Jackson race that should be read by all Humboldt’s registered voters.

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Richard
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Richard
13 years ago

It was a great party. It’s nice to see these folks coming out into the daylight and why shouldn’t they if they are operating as legal farmers and distributors? The law applies equally to us all, as it is also what offers us all the same protections which is the source of our very freedoms as Americans.
Good for the HGA and good for SoHum for coming out and supporting Paul Gallegos!

Discouraged Democrat
Guest
Discouraged Democrat
13 years ago

Anyone thinking of voting for Allison Jackson should read her ad on page 3 of the NC Journal. She says, in a long “note from Allison”:
“When I was 21, my parents were killed in a car wreck…Valentine’s Day…young man, drunk and driving 100 miles an hour…my life was forever changed…. As a result I became not just an attorney,… but a prosecutor who held perpetrators fully accountable…. I believe my parents would be proud of the work I have done….”
Boy, if I had been undecided on this race, this letter would definitely have set off alarm bells about her…. Sounds like she’s still trying to punish the guy who killed her mom and dad. Understandable though that may be, it is not the vantage point I want driving the attitudes and actions of my DA.

Discouraged Democrat
Guest
Discouraged Democrat
13 years ago

Anyone thinking of voting for Allison Jackson should read her ad on page 3 of the NC Journal. She says, in a long “note from Allison”:
“When I was 21, my parents were killed in a car wreck…Valentine’s Day…young man, drunk and driving 100 miles an hour…my life was forever changed…. As a result I became not just an attorney,… but a prosecutor who held perpetrators fully accountable…. I believe my parents would be proud of the work I have done….”
Boy, if I had been undecided on this race, this letter would definitely have set off alarm bells about her…. Sounds like she’s still trying to punish the guy who killed her mom and dad. Understandable though that may be, it is not the vantage point I want driving the attitudes and actions of my DA.

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

So the pot growers actively support Gallegos? Shameless.

j2bad
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Fred Mangels

So the pot growers actively support Gallegos? Shameless.

How so?

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

So the pot growers actively support Gallegos? Shameless.

j2bad
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Fred Mangels

So the pot growers actively support Gallegos? Shameless.

How so?

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

Think about it: Pot growers, for the most part, are criminals, at least for now. So, you have a group of people engaged in criminal activity supporting the guy that’s supposed to be prosecuting them. Add to that, the number of criminal defense attorneys supporting Gallegos, and you see a pattern emerging.

Criminal interests support Gallegos. Criminals shouldn’t be supporting a district attorney, assuming he’s doing his job. Shouldn’t work that way.

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

Think about it: Pot growers, for the most part, are criminals, at least for now. So, you have a group of people engaged in criminal activity supporting the guy that’s supposed to be prosecuting them. Add to that, the number of criminal defense attorneys supporting Gallegos, and you see a pattern emerging.

Criminal interests support Gallegos. Criminals shouldn’t be supporting a district attorney, assuming he’s doing his job. Shouldn’t work that way.

j2bad
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Fred Mangels

I see what you mean now, but that doesn’t make your position any more comprehensible to me.

I’m pretty sure that criminals who haven’t been prosecuted are called “citizens,” and as such, they have just as much right as any other citizen to organize, to express an interest for candidates they hope will reflect their values, etc. That doesn’t sound any more shameful to me than any other group supporting a candidate that they hope will support their interests. It is, in other words, democracy.

And those criminal defense attorneys? They’d have to be citizens too, to appear before the court. So, again, they have the right to vote and to organize and to support whoever they want. Not shameful, just not your view. D.A.’s exercise a great deal of discretion over the types of cases they pursue, and it isn’t unreasonable to make a judgement based upon the evidence of that discretion. Personally, I’m kinda glad that there’s a D.A. who might choose not to waste my tax money hounding marijuana growers in my community. There’s plenty of crime out there, after all.

I would ask you – Is it shameful when anti-abortion groups advocate for politicians who share their views? Abortion is legal, and you could make the same argument that those people are advocating for a policy that would violate current law, supporting people who run for public office who argue that they’ll work to overturn that law. I might disagree with them, but I wouldn’t call them shameful for voting for their perceived interests.

And I’ll point out that Steve Cooley – the current D.A. from L.A. who’s running for Attorney General as a Republican – has said that he plans to prosecute medical marijuana collectives even if Prop 19 passes. I might call that shameful – an A.G. refusing to uphold the law – but I wouldn’t call anti-legalization or anti-marijuana advocates shameful for supporting him. That’s what elections are all about.

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

Wait up, Fred. Kathleen Bryson ran against Gallegos and she is a marijuana cultivation defense attorney. It’s in the newspaper, it’s in the phone book.

All other arguments pro/con Gallegos aside, how is being “supported by criminals” a strike against a lawyer> Criminals supports lawyers. Sure crimes, different levels of prosecution, perception fair vs. unfair lawyering… but that’s all criminals of some type.

Supported by cops, now there is a strike against a lawyer.

Mr. Nice
Guest
Mr. Nice
13 years ago

Wait up, Fred. Kathleen Bryson ran against Gallegos and she is a marijuana cultivation defense attorney. It’s in the newspaper, it’s in the phone book.

All other arguments pro/con Gallegos aside, how is being “supported by criminals” a strike against a lawyer> Criminals supports lawyers. Sure crimes, different levels of prosecution, perception fair vs. unfair lawyering… but that’s all criminals of some type.

Supported by cops, now there is a strike against a lawyer.

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

I can’t believe you don’t see the problem here. I understand your comments, but I don’t see how you can accept a sitting D.A. attending a fundraiser held by pot growers and who defense attorneys endorse.

Unbelievable. This makes me sick.

j2bad
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Fred Mangels

I know what you mean. I can’t believe that there are people who think climate change isn’t a problem worth addressing, but there you go. That’s the nature of disagreement, and that’s especially true for political disagreements. I think you’re insane to want some kind of police-state D.A. out there, rabid to drive my very nice neighbors into overcrowded prisons just because they like to grow weed, and you think I’m a degenerate because I prefer a D.A. who appears to have met my neighbors. (I might be unfairly representing one of those sides…)

As far as that goes, I feel much worse about the fact that elected officials regularly attend fundraisers held by churches, corporate lobbies, privatized prison operators, gun clubs, real estate developers, hedge fund managers, etc., etc., etc.

Look, California has, in fact, legalized some cannabis production, and it is seriously considering legalizing even more in just a few days. You’re free to think that my farming neighbors are less worthy of exercising their political rights than the organizations that you find more deserving, but there’s nothing inappropriate about the D.A. meeting with an organized group that wants to support an industry that has and does exist here, legally (in some cases). And that’s even more true now, when the whole state is considering a legislative change that could bring that industry out of the shadows even more. It’s not like your D.A. is not sitting down with Mexican drug lords and accepting sexual favors; he’s having a shitty chicken dinner with some of our neighbors. It’s not such a big deal.

Fred Mangels
Guest
13 years ago

I can’t believe you don’t see the problem here. I understand your comments, but I don’t see how you can accept a sitting D.A. attending a fundraiser held by pot growers and who defense attorneys endorse.

Unbelievable. This makes me sick.

j2bad
Guest
13 years ago
Reply to  Fred Mangels

I know what you mean. I can’t believe that there are people who think climate change isn’t a problem worth addressing, but there you go. That’s the nature of disagreement, and that’s especially true for political disagreements. I think you’re insane to want some kind of police-state D.A. out there, rabid to drive my very nice neighbors into overcrowded prisons just because they like to grow weed, and you think I’m a degenerate because I prefer a D.A. who appears to have met my neighbors. (I might be unfairly representing one of those sides…)

As far as that goes, I feel much worse about the fact that elected officials regularly attend fundraisers held by churches, corporate lobbies, privatized prison operators, gun clubs, real estate developers, hedge fund managers, etc., etc., etc.

Look, California has, in fact, legalized some cannabis production, and it is seriously considering legalizing even more in just a few days. You’re free to think that my farming neighbors are less worthy of exercising their political rights than the organizations that you find more deserving, but there’s nothing inappropriate about the D.A. meeting with an organized group that wants to support an industry that has and does exist here, legally (in some cases). And that’s even more true now, when the whole state is considering a legislative change that could bring that industry out of the shadows even more. It’s not like your D.A. is not sitting down with Mexican drug lords and accepting sexual favors; he’s having a shitty chicken dinner with some of our neighbors. It’s not such a big deal.

Ivan B. Nobody
Guest
Ivan B. Nobody
13 years ago

“he’s having a shitty chicken dinner with some of our neighbors. It’s not such a big deal.”

Actually he was eating a sushi plate and gypsy stew with sourdough bread.
I have decided that the best restaurant in SoHum is….Beginnings!
Paul was also spotted in the kitchen actually working.

Fred Mangles you are either a i-net troll or a fascistic bastard.

Ivan B. Nobody
Guest
Ivan B. Nobody
13 years ago

“he’s having a shitty chicken dinner with some of our neighbors. It’s not such a big deal.”

Actually he was eating a sushi plate and gypsy stew with sourdough bread.
I have decided that the best restaurant in SoHum is….Beginnings!
Paul was also spotted in the kitchen actually working.

Fred Mangles you are either a i-net troll or a fascistic bastard.