Men's Wearhouse Founder George Zimmer for Legal Pot in California

More

You're gonna like the way California looks with marijuana as a legal substance. George Zimmer guarantees it.

The Yes on 19 campaign to legalize marijuana in the Golden State, via the Proposition 19 ballot measure that California voters will consider next week, is airing its first TV ad of the election cycle, and they're doing it, in part, with money from George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse.

In the ad, retired San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara warns that the war on marijuana has failed and that Prop. 19 would help law enforcers focus on violent crime. The campaign has committed several hundred thousand dollars to air it and hopes to raise more to expand the purchase of air time. It will air first in the Los Angeles market.

At the end of the ad, Zimmer's name appears in the disclaimer. "Yes on 19, Tax Cannabis 2010. Sponsoered by S.K. Seymour LLC, a medical cannabis provider, DBA Oaksterdam University, a cannabis educator with support from George Zimmer."

Zimmer is one of a few big-time donors known as sympathetic to marijuana legalization. Others are George Soros and Peter Lewis, the chairman of Progressive Insurance. The Prop. 19 campaign has been waiting for much of the election cycle to see whether such big donors would support them.

Zimmer donated $50,000 to the campaign last week, according to Yes on 19's financial disclosures with the California Secretary of State's office. Lewis donated $69,500 the week before. Another donor, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital, donated $70,000 last week.

There is "lots of interest" in supporting the campaign among big donors, according to a spokesman.

Internal polling currently finds Prop. 19 passing, though respondents polled by live interviewers appear to be skeptical. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Prop. 19 failing 53 - 43 percent in early October.

See the new ad below:


Jump to comments

Chris Good is a political reporter for ABC News. He was previously an associate editor at The Atlantic and a reporter for The Hill.

Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

'I Thought It Was Really Funny, but No One Else Did'

A day with New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator

Video

New Yorkers: The Winemaker

Make your own wine ... in New York City

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

A Video Letter From the Editor

Highlights from the May 2013 issue

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

The Rise of Environmentalism

Tracking 50 years, from the Love Canal disaster to Greenpeace

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Writers

Up
Down

More in Politics

In Focus

2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest