http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/7867 Buying Initiatives A House committee is marking up a bill on May 22 that could strike at the heart of ballot initiatives nationwide, significantly undermining the efforts of drug policy reformers. A little-known segment of a bill reauthorizing the mission of the nation's anti-drug agency could give the drug czar authority to use taxpayer dollars to pay for media campaigns directly targeting state ballot measures. If the bill passes, and agency chief John Walters uses public funds to hammer initiatives the administration opposes, it would run counter to the whole purpose of ballot initiatives, establish a disturbing precedent for federal electioneering and hobble advocates pushing for saner alternatives to the War on Drugs. [snip]