The easy time that Windsor County State’s Attorney Robert Sand is having with his re-election to another four-year term may indicate, once again, that voters are far ahead of politicians when it comes to marijuana decriminalization.

Sand, a Woodstock resident who turns 52 in November, was unopposed in the Democratic primary and also will be the Republican nominee for the county’s top prosecutorial job, thanks to the fact that he won 58 write-in votes in the GOP primary.

That’s happened before with Sand, but this is the first time he has faced voters since tangling publicly with Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in 2007 over marijuana policy. As far back as 2004, Sand has been calling for reform of the state’s marijuana laws, saying current policy wastes prosecutorial time and resources.

He favors a law that would tax and regulate marijuana. » Read more

Vermont Democrats were trying to unify yesterday after a razor-close gubernatorial primary, but they agreed on one fact - party turnout of more than 72,000 in the primary bodes well for them in November.

By comparison, only about 28,000 Vermonters voted in the GOP primary. In fairness, Republicans didn’t have a captivating five-way governor’s race, but they did have contests for lieutenant governor, U.S. House and secretary of state. » Read more

U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., last week ripped into Republican Kelly Ayotte for suggesting she might be open to amending the Constitution to take away citizenship rights for children born in the United States of parents who are illegal immigrants.

Ayotte said Washington should first secure the borders, enforce existing laws and make English the official language, then see if tinkering with a clause of the 14th Amendment is warranted. As in other states, the issue has become part of the U.S. Senate campaign in New Hampshire, where Hodes is the presumptive Democratic nominee and Ayotte is trying to hold off rival Republicans.

Hodes released a statement that said Ayotte “would trample on the rights of Americans simply to score political points. I will not support any proposal to weaken, rewrite or repeal the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.” » Read more

Former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, now seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, yesterday launched two television advertisements intended to capitalize on her work winning a death penalty conviction against Michael Addison, who shot and killed Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006.

In the ads, relatives of the slain police officer applaud her work in making “a lot of tough decisions” and making sure “justice was done” in the prosecution. The lead investigator in the case, Detective Nick Willard, says, “There hasn’t been an attorney general in my 21 years who has been more respected by law enforcement than Kelly Ayotte.” » Read more