Missoula County commissioners voted Wednesday to narrow the scope of a ballot initiative that deprioritizes adult marijuana crimes, despite the unwieldy presence of community members who opposed any changes.

The tone of the hearing shifted when Van Valkenburg said that he had proposed the amendments because of a “gut feeling” that Missoula voters were not “detail-oriented” enough to understand the complete scope of the initiative.

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Van Valkenburg’s “gut feeling” statement did not sit well with the crowd and many of the testimonies shifted away from the marijuana issues and argued that the commission should uphold on account of the voters’ wishes and in the spirit of democracy.

“It’s not really about marijuana. It’s not even about the initiative … It’s about democracy,” said John Masterson, who is the chair of the committee that oversees the implementation of Initiative 2.

“Amending the initiative at this early juncture would violate the trust of the voters,” he said.

Initiative 2 as it was passed is nothing more than a suggestion to county law enforcement agencies, which they can choose to comply with or ignore. As such, the initiative itself, as well as this amendment, are simply symbolic. As one speaker so succinctly put it:

Amending this initiative is akin to taking a constituents letter, crossing out what you don’t like, and writing in what you think they meant.

Your “gut feeling” does not supersede the Democratic process, Mr. Van Valkenburg. Jean Curtiss, Barbara Evans (the two county commissioners who voted for amending the initiative), and yourself should be absolutely ashamed to call yourself public servants.

Is there even a point to voting any more if Democracy can so easily be subverted by two people?

It should be noted that County Commissioner Bill Carey was the single dissenting vote, sanely saying “I think we ought to accept the amendment voters approved”. Please take a moment today to thank this man for being the only commissioner willing to stand up for the will of the people. We won’t forget come election time.

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