Advocate hopefuls clash over weed-tax cash
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BY KEVIN DUGGAN
These pols are stirring the
pot!
Hopefuls battling to become
the city’s next Public Advocate
recently lit up the race
with its fi rst hot-button issue:
how to use extra cash generated
from taxing marijuana if
the now-forbidden drug is legalized
in the state.
Bushwick Democratic
Councilman Rafael Espinal
raised his profi le as a contender
for the soon-to-be vacant
seat by panning another
public offi cial’s call to use the
windfall from potential pot
taxes to fi x the city’s ailing
subway system, instead urging
that any such revenue be
directed towards helping those
most penalized by the prohibition
of the drug, such as lowincome
residents of the city’s
public-housing complexes.
“Let’s fi x Nycha, invest in
bail programs to bail out lowlevel
offenders, and fund economic
development programs
that will focus on helping
minority and women-owned
businesses in the marijuana
industry scale up,” Espinal
said on Dec. 6.
Espinal’s recommendation
clashed with that of former
Democratic Council Speaker
Melissa Mark-Viverito, who
is also running for the Public
Advocate post that Letitia
“Tish” James will soon vacate
to become New York State
Attorney General.
The former Manhattan
pol earlier that same day announced
she would look to
shore up the beleaguered subway
system with funds from
a potential pot tax, after eggheads
at New York University
released a study that argued
any tax revenue from legalized
recreational cannabis —
which the state’s Department
of Health estimated could be
as high as $678 million annually
— could be used to fund
the system.
But Mark-Viverito’s plan
is wack, according to Espinal,
who, without mentioning
her by name, referenced
the catchy “Weed for Rails”
slogan she gave her proposal
when declaring that not using
the funds to help communities
most affected by current pot
laws would be a mistake.
“Not using the funding for
these aims is tone deaf to historic
realities that make legalizing
marijuana necessary in
the fi rst place,” Espinal said.
Flatbush Democratic Councilman
Jumaane Williams,
another prominent contender
for the citywide offi ce that
some of his colleagues are trying
to eliminate, joined Espinal
in calling for any would-be
pot-tax revenue to be invested
in communities of color that
he said bear the brunt of drugrelated
law enforcement.
“Above any other considerations,
revenue from the cannabis
industry must be used
to revitalize the very communities
of more color that have
been targeted by these unjust
policies for too long,” Williams
said.
Supporters of Mark-Viverito
quickly fi red back against
the councilmen’s criticism
of her plan for potential pot
taxes, however, with a rep for
the former pol accusing both
men of not studying her proposal
thoroughly enough.
“Maybe wiser to read ‘Weed
for Rails’ plan before criticizing
… (her) plan includes ‘legalizing
marijuana in a manner
that provides redress for
the many thousands of people
who have been arrested,’ ”
Monica Klein tweeted .
Espinal, Williams, and
Mark-Viverito are among the
Public Advocate hopefuls who
will tout their platforms at the
race’s next candidates forum,
which members of political
club the New Kings Democrats
will host on Dec. 18 at the First
Unitarian Church in Brooklyn
Heights.
• • •
Two Southern Brooklyn
pols introduced nearly identical
bills to expand voting access
to non-English speaking
constituents — on the same
day.
Councilman Mark Treyger
(D–Coney Island) on Nov.
28 put forth legislation that
would require the Voter Assistance
Advisory Committee,
which is part of the city’s
Campaign Finance Board, to
provide interpreters for the 10
most commonly spoken languages
citywide at poll sites
across the fi ve boroughs.
The city’s Board of Elections
already provides Chinese,
Spanish, Korean, and
Bengali interpreters in election
districts where 50 or more
people identifi ed one of those
languages as their primary
language in the 2010 United
States Census, as required by
federal law.
Should the Coney pol’s bill
pass, however, interpreters for
Russian, Arabic, Haitian-Creole
— as well as Yiddish, Italian,
Urdu, Polish, and French
— would be installed inside
poll sites across the city.
And Councilman Justin
Brannan (D-Bay Ridge)
proposed similar legislation ,
which would guarantee that
polling places specifi cally
provide Arabic-speaking interpreters
at poll sites in districts
that represent 50 Arabic
speakers or more.
PARTY LINE
TALKING BORO POLITICS
WITH KEVIN DUGGAN