Marijuana industry finds unlikely new allies in conservatives

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-lobby-20140323,0,3970994.story



Michael Correia, a former GOP staffer who spent two years lobbying for the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, is the newest advocate for the National Cannabis Industry Assn.

Marijuana industry finds unlikely new allies in conservatives
By Evan Halper
March 22, 2014, 9:57 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Hoping to get pot legalized in Nevada, an investment firm specializing in the fast-growing marijuana industry invited the ballot initiative's backers to pitch 150 financiers at a Las Vegas symposium.

~snip~

Political contributors are not the only ones taking notice of the new realities of the marijuana business, said San Francisco-based ArcView Chief Executive Troy Dayton, who estimated his group would pump about $500,000 into pot this year. Officeholders and candidates now jostle for the stage at investor meetings, he said.

"A little more than a year ago, it would have been worthy of a headline if a sitting politician came to talk to a cannabis group," he said. "Now they are calling us, asking to speak at our events."

No clearer example of the change exists than the industry's newest full-time lobbyist, Michael Correia. An advocate for the 300-member National Cannabis Industry Assn., he is a former GOP staffer who worked two years as a lobbyist for the American Legislative Exchange Council — the powerful conservative advocacy group that has worked with state lawmakers to block the Affordable Care Act, clean energy incentives and gun restrictions.