cannabisnews.com: Marin D.A. Recall Backers Accused of Deception





Marin D.A. Recall Backers Accused of Deception
Posted by FoM on November 18, 2000 at 07:20:56 PT
By Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
A recall petition filed against Marin County District Attorney Paula Kamena sparked an angry reaction yesterday from people who say they were tricked into believing that it was a petition supporting the use of medical marijuana. The petition with 20,671 signatures -- nearly 7,000 more than are needed for certification -- was filed Thursday by an odd alliance of medical marijuana advocates and divorced parents angry with the family court system. 
When it was filed, the medical marijuana supporters lambasted Kamena for taking what they said was a hard line against marijuana use, but the petition itself says nothing about the issue. The Marin County League of Women Voters and several other people called and sent letters to the county registrar of voters yesterday complaining about the misleading tactics of those who collected the signatures. "I don't know anything about Paula Kamena," said Cindi Bunten, 39, a Novato bartender, who said she was asked outside a Target store in Novato whether she supports medical marijuana and signed the petition believing that was what it was about. "Frankly, this scares me. I assumed it was illegal to misrepresent what your cause is on a petition." The wording on the petition actually castigates Kamena for the prosecution of a woman named Carol Mardeusz, who was convicted in July of falsifying a court order in an attempt to gain custody of her daughter from the father. The imbroglio started as an effort to recall Kamena and three family court judges by a group of divorced parents unhappy with the outcome of their child custody cases. Mardeusz, who was one of them, became their cause celebre. Lynnette Shaw, the founding director of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said her organization joined the recall effort, and when the campaign against the judges fizzled, they shifted the focus to Kamena. "As far as I know, nobody deliberately misrepresented what the petition was all about," Shaw said. "We told the petitioners they had to be very clear about it because it was already a confusing issue." But several registered voters supported Bunten's version of events. The Marin County League of Women Voters sent out a notice earlier this week warning the public that the "petition circulators are concealing from the voters whom they approach the true purpose of the petition drive." "This is definitely one of the worst examples we've seen of misleading voters," said Judy Binsacka, a former league president who said she was approached on two different occasions by petitioners who said the petition was in support of medical marijuana. "It's an egregious abuse of the initiative process, and it could well be fraud." Kamena said yesterday that even she was approached at a shopping center. "One person stopped me and asked if I would sign a petition to recall the district attorney," Kamena said. "I said, 'Why should I do that?' and he said, 'Because she is illegally prosecuting people who have medical marijuana.' " The county registrar of voters is collecting the names and telephone numbers of those who believe that they had been misled, but the office has no regulatory power. Jim Flageollet, the deputy county counsel, said misrepresenting the contents of a petition is a misdemeanor. He said the investigative task falls on local police and sheriff's investigators and the state attorney general would have to prosecute, but their job is a difficult one. "A case like this is virtually impossible to prove," Flageollet said. "Obviously, there are more important crimes to be solved than to try and go back and find out who was soliciting petitions in front of Safeway a month ago. The bottom line is people should read the petition before signing it." Bunten said the issue is particularly disturbing now that the entire election process is under scrutiny because of vote-counting discrepancies in Florida during the presidential election. "It's larger than the issues involved in the petition," she said. "What's irritating is that there doesn't seem to be a system in place to make sure this doesn't happen again. It's not right that people can get away with this." The Marin County registrar of voters can be reached at (415) 499-6456. E-mail Peter Fimrite at: pfimrite sfchronicle.comNote: Petition signers say they were misled. Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, November 18, 2000 Copyright: 2000 San Francisco ChronicleContact: chronletters sfgate.com Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/Related Article:Custody Battles Concern Marin County Residentshttp://mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1714/a03.htmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
END SNIP -->
Snipped
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: