Wellesley Pot $hop Investor spends Big Buck$ to influence Newton

Wellesley resident, Victor Chiang -- a wealth hedge fund manager and big investor in marijuana cultivation and retailing -- has been exposed as the “money man” behind the ballot campaign committee disingenuously named “Respect the Vote Newton” (RtV).

Mr. Chiang wants to open a recreational pot shop at Elliot Street/Route 9. He stands to make millions of dollars in profits if he can influence the Newton election and open the City to allowing recreational pot shops – especially since so many communities around Newton are banning them, including: Wellesley (where Mr. Chiang lives – so there won’t be a pot shop near his home), Weston, Needham, Dedham, and Westwood.

Since 100+ Massachusetts communities have already voted to ban recreational pot shops, pot investors are desperate to locate their stores in the communities that fail to ban them. They are spending heavily and bringing out the big political guns in an effort to gain a foothold in prosperous communities like Newton where they can readily maximize their profits. Communities that don’t ban will become the focus of pot purchasing throughout the region.

The initial campaign finance disclosure (http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/92401) RtV was required to submit on Monday shows:

· Mr. Chiang’s marijuana company has been the only donor to the RtV ballot committee seeking to defeat the “ban” ballot question supported by Opt Out Newton – a local grassroots ballot committee organized and made up of actual residents of Newton.

· The form also discloses that RtV has spent over $70,000 just through mid-October, mainly on services from the national, professional political consulting company Five Corners Strategies (https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/big-marijuana-pend-big-money-big-gun-against-pot-hop-ban) that it hired to run its campaign against banning pot shops from Newton.

· Expenditures that RtV reported though mid-October include:

o $16,500 for a professionally designed full page, glossy campaign mailer to Newton households.

o $15,000 for “campaign management” by Five Corners Strategies

o $15,000 for professional, paid canvassers going door to do to contact voters to urge them to open Newton up to recreational pot shops

o $12,000+ for mail house postage and services to send out campaign materials

o $6,000 to professionally design and produce other campaign handouts and brochures

o $4,000 for graphics design and printing costs for campaign materials

o $2,500 to professionally design, produce and distribute lawn signs

As the campaign intensifies in the final week before Election Day, it is predictable that Mr. Chiang’s spending will increase. At the current “burn rate” his spending may well top $100,000.

Opt Out Newton wants to ban recreational (but not medical) marijuana shops from Newton. Opt Out Newton has to do two things, in addition to raising voluntary donations from community residents to run its campaign.

· First, the Ban ballot question to get enough “YES” votes to pass.

· Second, the Ban must also get more “YES” votes than the competing question that Opt Out Newton calls a “sham.” Thus, Opt Out Newton urges voters to vote “NO” on the 2-4 “limit” question because:

o The competing question was place on the ballot by a faction of the City Council that supports the pot shop investors.

o It is misleading because it is presented as favoring “limitation” of allowing between 2 and a “maximum” of 4 recreational pot shops. But the ballot does not make clear that number of pot shops can be increased above the so-called “maximum” at any time without voter approval.

To combat voter confusion on the complicated ballot form, Opt Out Newton has started distributing photocopies showing how to mark the ballot to keep Newton free from recreational pot shops. That illustration is attached to this article.

Resident can early vote now at City Hall every weekday. Election Day is Tuesday, November 6^th. This will be a very close election – EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!