Dear supporter of psychedelics healing,
This is the third installment of my postmortem of MA’s Yes on 4 campaign, intended to strengthen our movement. You can read the three, currently available sections on Substack through these links:
The latest release, Part 2.2, is also attached to this email as a PDF. This section continues the analysis of the campaign’s costly handling of controversial activist James Davis.
Starting in fall 2023, Davis set out to use an obscure state law to get his dream psychedelics bill on the ballot alongside New Approach’s. He faced major headwinds: the substance of his proposal was likely unconstitutional, the legislative tactic he sought to use had never been successful, and he was, to my knowledge, not taken seriously by the legislature. But he was taken seriously by the Yes on 4 campaign, which, having already donated $35,000 to Davis’s nonprofit, paid Dewey Square Group $150,000 for lobbying, more than nearly all of Dewey Square Group’s other Massachusetts state-level lobbying clients, ostensibly largely or entirely to thwart his plan.
No other Massachusetts ballot committee active in 2024 reported any lobbying expenditures.
In addition to the up to $150,000 in lobbying, the campaign opted to counter Davis through another channel, providing exclusive after exclusive to obscure local journalist Jack Gorsline, starting months before Jamie Morey and I were hired by the campaign. Campaign strategic leadership’s preferential treatment of Gorsline continued after Morey and I were hired, including authorizing special off-the-record communication between Gorsline, Morey, lead spokesperson Emily Oneschuk, and myself. But an overreliance on Gorsline may have come at the expense of a more effective response to Davis.
Part 2.2 dives into these decisions and more.
Thank you for your continued support and commitment to this cause.With gratitude,Graham Moore(Former Yes on 4 Staffer)