The candidates for state Attorney General sparred Tuesday over news that Oregon’s Secretary of State fined the chief petitioner of an effort to legalize marijuana. Attorney General Candidate Dwight Holton noted that his opponent, Ellen Rosenblum, received support from Robert Wolfe. He's the activist who was fined for paying his petitioners by the signature, rather than by the hour. Holton spoke on OPB's Think Out Loud:
Holton said, "This is about judgment and about the people we align ourselves with."
Rosenblum responded in a recorded interview after Think Out Loud ended.
"Well first of all I don't know Mr. Wolfe personally. I've never met him. I just read about him yesterday in connection with the signature-gathering issue and I want it to be very clear that as Attorney General I will be enforcing the laws that pertain to signature-gathering, all the laws that pertain to our initiative process," she said.
The Secretary of State's office fined Wolfe $65,000. Wolfe says the allegation is "without merit" and that his group is still collecting signatures.
