Let Montgomery and Polk argue against legal pot

I disagree with Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk about whether marijuana should be legalized. I believe it should. They adamantly believe it shouldn't.

However, I don't think they should be constrained, or subject to petty accounting machinations, in publicly advocating their position. Including in the context of a ballot measure to legalize marijuana.

Public advocacy is part of the job of an elected official. And in a sane world, there would be a recognition and acceptance that a certain amount of the administrative expenses of their office would go to support their public advocacy.

But, when it comes to elections, Arizona politics doesn't live in a sane world. We have laws that say that not a penny of taxpayer funds can be spent to influence the outcome of an election.

Montgomery and Polk asked Attorney General Mark Brnovich for guidance about how they could engage in public advocacy about the marijuana ballot initiative without violating the law. Brnovich issued an opinion, then retracted it, and now promises to issue a new one.

Brnovich's difficulty is understandable. This is something that is better left to common sense and public scrutiny than bright-line law.

Obviously it would be untoward if Montgomery and Polk used office funds to produce ads against the marijuana initiative. But is it really untoward if a single scheduler working for their office handled their calendar, rather than requiring there to be a separate scheduler for campaign appearances? Or if they took a campaign call on their office phone, rather than stepping outside to converse on their cell?

These petty restrictions, in addition to fueling gotcha politics, make no sense in the context of ballot measure campaigns.

If the Legislature were considering legalizing marijuana, there would be no restrictions on the ability of Montgomery and Polk to use the resources of their office to advocate and even lobby against it. Why should these petty restrictions be applied when it is the electorate, acting as the legislative body, making the decision?

Usually it's the left that overlegislates and wants to subject politics to picayune regulations. In this case, it was done by the right.

Reach Robb at robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com.