Just to remind, our first email to Emily Paxhia, Managing Partner of Poseidon Investment Management, outlined how our advocacy organization had been libeled by Erich Pearson, CEO of SPARC, one of Poseidon’s major investments.
Here is Ms. Paxhia’s response, followed by our own:
On 10/18/2023 10:38 AM, Emily Paxhia wrote:
Hello Gil & The Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group,
Thank you very much for your email and for spending time to understand the ethos and values of Poseidon.
We are sorry to hear that you have had this experience and I am based in the Bay Area, so would be very open to meeting you to hear this first hand.
We will work with Erich after that, but we would like to gain a fuller perspective first so we can be most productive on our end.
I am traveling for a few days. Would you have time to meet the week of October 30th? I could come up to Sonoma.
Warm regards,
Emily
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Our reply:
October 22, 2023
Hello Emily,
Thank you for your response. Though we appreciate your willingness to speak with us, we don’t believe it would be appropriate at this time.
We are seeking redress for the harm caused by Erich Pearson’s accusation that the Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group has accepted money from any source attempting to influence our organization’s support for Sonoma citizens’ access to cannabis. Indeed, the Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group has never solicited nor received any funding from any outside source.
The minimum outcome for a successful resolution to this issue is a public retraction by Mr. Pearson of the errant statement he made in front of the Sonoma City Council on April 19, 2023.
Again, we have to question why a corporation would align itself with someone who has deliberately made false statements against a reputable grass-roots organization that exists solely for the benefit of Sonoma’s residents.
We would like to resolve this issue privately, but should it become apparent that this is not possible, we will highlight this trespass publicly. We are an advocacy group with years of experience promoting our cause for access in Sonoma. If necessary, we will apply those talents to campaign even more vigorously against what we view as a serious injustice that damages our standing in the community.
Sincerely,
Gil Latimer, Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group
Cc: SVCG Policy Committee
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SVCG Blog
A Hollow Victory
This sidebar once declared in its headline, “Success!”. And it was true at the time. After 4 long years of cajoling and discussion, the city of Sonoma had finally come to permit 2 walk-in retail cannabis dispensaries.
Unfortunately, that good cheer was short-lived. Though the first dispensary plans to open this spring, its owner, Erich Pearson of sparc, along with his personal lobbyist, Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, have worked with the Sonoma City Council to stop the process for a second dispensary.
Mr Pearson chose to misrepresent his financial situation to the Sonoma City Council in order to convince it to support what amounts to a city-sponsored monopoly, rather than face any competition that would provide medical patients with better prices, more product choices, and additional services.
Ms Jenkins, who runs her own lobbying firm, Precision Advocacy, and is also the Legislative Advocate for the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA), is a native to Sonoma. Her ties to the local community afford her a unique position to influence local policy. She was a contributor to the campaigns of cannabis-friendly candidates Rachel Hundley in 2018 and Sandra Lowe in 2021.
Appearances are everything. Contributions can create avenues for corruption, either grand or petty. Cronyism and favors to rig a market are unacceptable.
Thanks
We thank everyone in this group and on our mailing list for their support, for signing the petition, for writing the letters and contributing to the discussions.
Thanks to Ken Brown and Jewel Mathieson for their years of advocacy for patients’ access to safe, legal medical cannabis. Their goal of local access has finally been realized.
And thanks to our past city council allies Amy Harrington and Logan Harvey for leaning forward on this issue. They helped define Sonoma as a city of progressive values in Sonoma County.
In the meantime, the Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group will continue to keep you informed on all the latest developments in 2022.
Best Regards,
Gil Latimer
Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group
The Voice for Cannabis in Sonoma Valley since 2017
The mission of Sonoma Valley Cannabis Group (SVCG) has been to assist the city of Sonoma form a compassionate cannabis policy that will ensure safe and legal access to medicinal cannabis for the residents of Sonoma and Sonoma Valley.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
On January 20, 2021, the city council voted to amend our ordinance to permit an additional walk-in retail dispensary. The newly revised ordinance went into effect on May 19.
A second retail outlet would improve service to the 45,000 people living in the greater Sonoma area. Competition can provide folks here with easy, safe access to more product choice, better services, etc. That’s what the free market is all about, isn’t it? Everybody wins, the city, adult consumers and *especially* medical users.
However, there have been forces within the industry that are working against the second dispensary option and would prefer that the new permit process be slow-walked. You can read about it in this post.
The Story Part 8
All about Erich Pearson Coming Soon
One Cost of Hate Speech
Please do not support the business of hate. The world is in a bad enough state without folks unknowingly patronizing businesses operated by those whom the press appears to have associated with prejudice and racism. The following column was published in a recent...
Are California Cities Intentionally Misinterpreting Landmark Cannabis Legislation?
Local jurisdictions must have ordinances by 2024 allowing medical cannabis delivery, but some bureaucracies are sticking to “outside-in” models. And this is exactly why we lobby for a second, competitive dispensary in the city of Sonoma. "From the League of California...