DeVilbiss begs dismissal in pot lawsuit

PALMER — Former Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss has formally asked to be dismissed from a lawsuit against the borough regarding the marijuana initiative on the October ballot.

Borough Public Information Officer Patty Sullivan issued a press release Tuesday evening that included remarks from the borough’s 135-page response to the lawsuit, crafted by Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos.

Spiropoulos said that removing the marijuana proposition from the ballot, per the plaintiffs’ request, would “virtually destroy the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s ability to conduct a clear and organized election” and “jeopardize the accuracy and results of all other questions on the ballot, cause confusion, and disrupt the orderly conduct of the 2016 Borough regular election.”

Included in the opposition is a list of signatures from all the initiative sponsors attached to an affidavit by Borough Clerk Lonnie McKechnie as Exhibit A. DeVilbiss is not listed.

“The Borough’s position is that he signed nothing and was not a sponsor,” Spiropoulos wrote in an email.

DeVilbiss gave his own response to the lawsuit, which was in keeping with the answer provided by Spiropoulos. DeVilbiss ended his two-page, hand-written response with the following prayer for relief:

“As a resident of the city of Palmer I was not qualified to sponsor the initiative referenced in this lawsuit. I did not sign it and was not even allowed to collect signatures for the initiative.

“I therefore beg to be dismissed from this lawsuit,” he wrote.

The initiative and signature page are recorded as received by McKechnie on May 22, 2015, at which time DeVilbiss was borough mayor.

In a Frontiersman article dated May 30, 2015, titled, “Initiative would prohibit marijuana businesses,” reported that DeVilbiss “had sought approval from the borough assembly for an advisory vote in support of a ballot measure” that would allow voters to opt out of marijuana commercialization, but the measure was rejected unanimously earlier that year.

DeVilbiss claimed at the time that he was motivated by the need for clarity from local voters who, in the unincorporated areas of the borough and in Wasilla, rejected Ballot Measure 2 — the statewide proposition legalizing marijuana — in 2014. Palmer voters approved the measure by a 4 percent margin, but later rejected commercialization within city limits.

Pending a judicial decision on the borough lawsuit, Proposition 1 regarding cannabis commercialization in unincorporated areas of Mat-Su will go before voters on Oct. 4.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.