The ACMC

I have been straight out in the last week helping to write a minority report for the seven member Acton Commercial Marijuana Committee, forever to be known inside my brain and out as the ACMC.  It wasn't like the three of us were really out numbered.  But we were definitely out gunned. 

The handpicked chairman, a retired state legislator, comes off as a genial old man who encourages all viewpoints. It took me two meetings to realize this guy was a shark. He could twist the discussion in the direction he preferred.  His laid back demeanor hide the tightly wound unbending, not willing to change his mind no matter what, Republican mentality.

His partner in crime is a Price Waterhouse Coopers employee who has had 35 years in the trenches of big business acquisition.  He carries himself in a professional way, always speaking softly with just a slight bit of condescension. His original stated opinion was that he was open to commercial marijuana if it would make money for the town of Acton.  His true colors came out on the first meeting after our first conference call to some town in Colorado.  The other two folks holding up the majority have been barely involved, but have proven their haste in rubber stamping anything their big gun buddies want.

In the beginning, I was a lone voice tilting at this well constructed windmill.  It was apparent I was a novice.  I made many minor mistakes for which I was slapped down for.  But having grown up in the political bear pit that were family dinners in my youth, I stood up well and kept up my nuisance attacks.

This went on for a couple of months.  More conference calls and massive trolling of the Inter webs later, Mr. Price Waterhouse released his first draft of our report, a report I was supposed to fall in line with like a good little soldier.  I began my usual resistance when suddenly the two members who had been usually quiet jumped all over that report.  I was smart enough to let them go for it.  In less than ten minutes, the normally calm Chairman had lost his composure and was pounding on the table, "We have to ban marijuana.  We have to ban marijuana."  I looked to my left and what I saw made my day.  The big guns were sporting bulging eyes and red faces. 

That was when I knew some power had exchanged hands.  Since then, the three of us have turned that report from one with a serious bias to one that is closer to the objective report we thought we were tasked with coming up with.

It has been a real education. ....................................