January 2002

The Board's Work

by Mark A. Panitch, Bar News Editor

Editor's note: At the time Bar News went to press, the Board of Governors was considering a resolution that would adopt the principles stated in the KCBA report on the "war on drugs."

Tacoma (Nov. 30-Dec. 1) — Your Board of Governors (BOG) walked up to the edge of the dismal swamp called the "War on Drugs," looked deeply into the muck, and — after intense debate — put off taking a position until the January meeting. The debate was triggered by a presentation from Ralph Maimon and a delegation from the King County Bar Association (KCBA) describing the KCBA's recommendations for a new approach to drug-abuse policy based on a medical rather than a legal-punitive model.

Maimon told the governors that the policy proposals were the result of a year-long process that included the KCBA, the Washington State Medical Association, the King County Medical Society, and the Washington State Pharmacists Association. The proposals were submitted to the BOG in a six-page document that argued that current anti-drug policies are a failure, that the state's policy goals should be to prevent or delay drug use (including alcohol and tobacco), and that "drug-addiction treatment should be available on request to every Washington resident who wants and needs it." The proposals also called for criminal sanctions for "nondrug criminal offenses," but offenders with drug problems should have access to treatment.

"We are not advocating legalization of drugs," Maimon told the governors, "but we are looking for a long-range solution. We are looking at health care instead of criminal sanctions." Maimon said the proposals relate only to persons arrested "for possession for personal use, and distribution of small amounts to support personal use." Stephen DeForest, a member of the KCBA Drug Policy Project, supported Maimon, stating that "the DARE program is simply not working. It's a very ineffective use of money and scarce resources."

The proposals sparked a heated debate, with several governors arguing that the war on drugs was both a failure and a sham. Other governors and staff argued that the BOG needed to retain credibility and should "not go off on a tangent."

President-elect J. Richard Manning spoke strongly in favor of the proposals, saying emphatically that "treatment works." Manning noted that treatment is a process, not a one-time event. He said that in the first year after treatment, recidivism is more than 50 percent, but after the second year it is less than 15 percent. Governor William Hyslop (2nd Dist., Spokane) said he "had an easier time with treatment and prevention than with the sanctions part." Governor Jon Ostlund (1st Dist., Bellingham) stated that 10 percent of the money spent on the war on drugs would pay for the needed treatment. He urged the BOG to adopt the KCBA recommendations.

WSBA Director of Legislative Affairs Gail Stone urged the BOG to use restraint. "This is a mandatory bar association, and our positions should reflect the membership." She also noted that the KCBA plan was "too detailed" and should be studied carefully before the WSBA signed on to the entire proposal.

Whitman County Prosecutor James Kaufman, liaison for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (WAPA), urged the BOG not to take a position on such a politically explosive issue. Although favoring drug treatment, he said WAPA would oppose the changes proposed by the KCBA.

The governors' positions on the volatile issue were challenged when Governor Jenny Durkan (7th East, Seattle) moved that the BOG support the principles of the KCBA proposal, but not adopt the actual report. In what one governor later described as "putting our hearts ahead of our heads," the BOG defeated the Durkan motion by a vote of 9-4.

After more than an hour of debate, the BOG was unwilling to accept the Durkan resolution as too weak, and apparently unable to adopt the KCBA proposals as too detailed and daring. At that point, Governor Hyslop moved to table the issue until the next meeting. Showing almost the same division, the BOG voted 8-5 in favor of the motion, and the drug-policy debate was carried over to the next meeting.

James Bamberger of Columbia Legal Services urged the governors to support continued funding of legal services and other access to justice programs. WSBA President Dale Carlisle noted he had already sent a letter to Governor Locke urging continued funding for legal services and other civil-justice programs.

A debate over court funding followed, led by Bellevue attorney Randolph Gordon and Ralph Maimon. Gordon asked the governors to support an effort by representatives of the KCBA, Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, Washington Defense Trial Lawyers and others to develop a plan for long-term court funding.

WSBA Executive Director Jan Michels noted that counties are "not concerned about courts, per se, but about law and justice which includes prosecution, public defenders and jails, as well as courts."

Governor Lucy Isaki (7th West, Seattle) warned that the WSBA has to "craft a message showing that we are team players in tough times. We aren't going to get 100 percent, and we have to protect as much as we can." Victor Moore, representing the Administrative Office of the Courts, told the governors that the latest budget forecasts show a drop of $900 million in revenue since June, with an increase of $300 million in demands for services. "That's a $1.3 billion problem," he said. "Washington's unemployment is now the highest in the United States, but the state budget will have to be cut 10-15 percent at a time when the need for state services is growing."

Tacoma lawyer Henry Haas, a partner in the Tacoma firm McGavick Graves PS, received the WSBA Local Hero Award at the board luncheon in recognition of outstanding service to the residents of Pierce County. As a member of the City of Tacoma Library Board, he helped pass and implement a bond issue to rehabilitate all city library facilities. He has been a board member and president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pierce County, serves as a member of the Tacoma Urban League, and is a founding member of City Club of Tacoma. Mr. Haas was instrumental in establishing a volunteer legal services program for the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association.