cannabisnews.com: DA Rips Recall Bid 





DA Rips Recall Bid 
Posted by FoM on February 08, 2001 at 19:13:47 PT
By Richard Halstead
Source: Marin Independent Journal 
Marin county District Attorney Paula Kamena yesterday came out swinging at the people who have forced her into a May 22 recall election, saying that they perhaps included drug dealers."I am fighting a recall that is the work of a small-minded group of disgruntled litigants who had their day in court and lost. This is a really bizarre situation," Kamena said at a press conference.
The District Attorney repeatedly emphasized that the group that gathered the 13,942 valid signatures, which made the $500,000 special election necessary, has refused to reveal who paid for hired signature gatherers."Until they come out of the shadows and we know who they are, then we might be led to believe this recall effort is perhaps supported by drug dealers," Kamena said. "Are these the people who sell drugs to our kids? I don't know but I sure would like to." Kamena's sharp words were echoed by retired Marin Superior Court Judge William Stephens, one of four people who spoke on her behalf yesterday.Stephens described the recall as "a fraud being perpetrated on the citizens of this county" and "a form of political terrorism.""The primary interest of those seeking to advance the petition is to have the District Attorney look away when marijuana is used by those beyond the intended purpose of the (Prop. 215) initiative," Stephens said.Kamena also was given a strong vote of confidence by Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle, Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke and Patricia Garbarino, president of Marin Resource Recovery Center. A enthusiastic group of more than 50 cheering supporters turned out for the press event, held at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in San Rafael.Some who were not there, however, reacted differently to Kamena's statements."I think Paula Kamena is in very deep trouble - if this is her way to defend herself by attacking me with lies and allusions to this drug war hysteria," said Lynnette Shaw, who spearheaded the recall effort, after it was initiated by a group angry over child-custody decisions in the Marin courts.Shaw insists that the law allows her to withhold information on the source of her funds, although the state's Fair Political Practices Commission disagrees."They're just witch-hunting," Shaw said, regarding the request for names.Shaw is the founding director of Marin's only medical marijuana dispensary, Fairfax's Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana. She contends the District Attorney has failed to properly implement Proposition 215 because Kamena told local law enforcement officers she will prosecute anyone who possesses more than six mature marijuana plants, twelve immature plants, or more than a half pound of dried marijuana.Kamena noted yesterday that the petition requesting the recall made no mention of medical marijuana or Proposition 215. Nevertheless, some people who signed the petition have said they were told otherwise, Kamena said."Please remember," said Shaw. "We turned in 20,691 signatures. Out of all those, only four people complained they were misled or confused on the concept." Kamena explained that the recall petition actually accused her of acting in a criminal conspiracy by prosecuting Carol Mardeusz of Novato for committing perjury and attempting to abduct her own daughter.Custody of the girl had been granted to the father after a Sonoma County court battle that included accusations of drug use and child abuse. Mardeusz got in trouble after trying to take custody of her daughter by serving fraudulent papers on officials at the girl's school. This was after a Sonoma judge had barred Mardeusz from seeing the girl in 1998 because Mardeusz refused to comply with a court's order that she undergo a mental evaluation. After she submitted to an evaluation last year, prison psychologists found that Mardeusz suffered from a "delusional disorder." In July, a Marin jury convicted Mardeusz of five felonies and two misdemeanors, after deliberating for less than a day. She is currently serving a nine-month sentence at Marin County Jail in San Rafael. Kamena said yesterday that although her recall was sparked by the Mardeusz case, the effort was appropriated by "opportunistic marijuana dealers."She noted that she is not the only district attorney under attack due to their enforcement of marijuana laws.The American Medical Marijuana Association, an advocacy group supporting the legalization of medical marijuana nationwide, has said it is contemplating recall efforts in Sonoma, Placer, Shasta and El Dorado counties.Shaw has said members of the association helped gather signatures for the recall petition.Steve Kubby, the association's founder and national director, has said the success of the recall effort in Marin sparked interest in launching similar campaigns elsewhere.Authorities confiscated 265 marijuana plants from Kubby's Olympic Valley home in January, 1999. A Placer county jury deadlocked 11-1 on the marijuana charges and prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek a retrial.Kamena said it is important to defeat the Marin recall "so it doesn't spread throughout the state."The District Attorney made available envelopes yesterday for submitting contributions to defeat the recall. She currently has $13,156 in her campaign account, which could be used in the effort. Of that amount, nearly $7,000 has been contributed since the recall petition was submitted in November.So far, no one has filed papers to run against Kamena in the recall. Prospective candidates have until Feb. 21 to make up their minds.Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)Author: Richard HalsteadPublished: February 8, 2001Copyright: 2001 Marin Independent JournalAddress: 150 Alameda del Prado, Novato, CA 94949Contact: opinion marinij.comWebsite: http://www.marinij.com/Related Articles & Web Sites: Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana http://www.cbcmarin.com/American Medical Marijuana Associationhttp://www.drugsense.org/amma/Marin D.A. Calls Foes Thuggishhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8603.shtmlMedical Pot Backers Warn of More Recalls http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8565.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Stripey on February 10, 2001 at 02:21:31 PT
War is war.
Sorry, ma'm, but we didn't start this war. You pols have stepped outside of your authority, then dragged legal means in behind you. You've been manipulating the system to allow your means of enforcement. Everyone pretends they don't see, but we see. We're watching.And we're learning. (Here it is, Kap. . . ;)Your continuous abuse of the system has taught us how to do it. Your weapon has become our weapon. Be careful. . . you're first, but mayors and governors will follow. Then congressmen and senators. And then . . . who knows. . . Just remember who showed us how to use the system as a weapon. Remember.It's on the horizon. Just watch. And then learn from us.
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on February 09, 2001 at 05:12:38 PT:
Mores signs we are winning.
Some here are looking for reassurances that we are winning. I submit the following:First, the antis said that MMJ would never get to the ballot in California. Then it did.Then the antis launched a propaganda campaign designed to smear those who were proposing it, loudly proclaiming that 'outside interests' with 'deep pockets' (and what, then, is the Federal government?) were plotting to trick the people into voting for across the board legal cannabis (not so; read the original documentation).The people voted for Prop215, anyway. Panicked, the California antis had their Big Brothers in Washington DC actually get on national TV and, simultaneously, state that the citizens there in California were 'duped' (Duh, duh, dat means 'stoooopid', huh?) and that Reno, Barry, and Shalalalalalala were going to come down hard on any doctors who recommended cannabis as medicine. The doctors struck back, smacking this evil triumvirate on their porcine snouts with a lawsuit. In the discovery phase of the lawsuit it was learned that Barry had illegally gathered a gaggle of anti groups and favorite journalistic mouthpieces like Abe Rosenthal to plot to overturn the will of the people. Not even trusting his 'bitches', Barry had even tape-recorded conversations with those mouthpieces like Rosenthal, to make sure he wasn't 'misquoted'. (Children, can you say, 'blackmail'?) The fallout from this very dirty political nuke has yet to start falling. There's enough here for lawyers specializing in Constitutional law and the violations of the Hatch Act forbidding civil servants from using government facilities in partisan politics to keep busy for the next ten years. Hint, hint, hint.Then they start going after the Compassionate Use Clubs, shut some down, and others go underground. But they make a big mistake, and now the case is going to the Supremes...where the whole sordid mess of cannabis prohibition can be finally aired out in the light of day.They go after individuals, like the Kubbys, and Peter McWilliams and Todd McCormick. They kill McWilliams - and create a martyr. They go after the Kubbys...with mixed results. And now the kubbys and others are fighting back.And this anti Kamena is now, wonder of wonders, playing right into our hands by trying trying to sound that she is the injured party, after her goonish Buddies in Blue have harrassed desperately ill people.The antis have been receiving fore- and back-handed slaps to the face since 1996. They've been rocked back on their heels, and are starting to realize this is going to be a real fight. No more beating up on cripples with impunity...like they're used to doing and getting away with. This time, they are going to receive a taste of what they have been dishing out for years. And what's the first thing some of them do, the big, bad agents of justice? They who have all the guns and show little restraint in threatening peaceful people with them? They cry. They whine. They shed tears about how we're 'unfair'. That we're 'thugs' to be 'picking on them'.I can't help but laugh.
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Comment #5 posted by mungojelly on February 09, 2001 at 04:24:23 PT:
anti-democratic?
When Prop 215 passed, they called it a fraud that had been perpetrated upon the people. When the people try to vote to remove those government officials who will not enforce Prop 215, they call it a fraud perpetrated upon the people. How many times must the people vote for Prop 215 before it will be enforced as the law? Who here is perpetrating fraud? 
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Comment #4 posted by dankhank on February 09, 2001 at 00:58:23 PT:
Recall Her Ass ......
DA Paula Kamena is whining as a small child would that was frustrated in getting her way. If you want to hear about a REALLY bizarre situation try this: Medical Marijuana is legal in CA, but most law enforcement is actively fighting the law. In a truly free, compassionate society, the kind we claim to live in, law enforcement would listen to the will of the people as spoken in a proposition. Errors would be committed, but leaning toward helping the citizen instead of hurting. Constant threats of how she intends to arrest and try anyone who approaches the, legal, limits instead of trying to help citizens would seem to prove her lack of compassion. Prohibition is responsible for the ease that children have getting illegal drugs. Legal drugs are harder for children to get. Responsible marijuana advocates don't want children smoking or drinking anything., and I submit to you that most marijuana advocates ARE responsible. It would seem that DA Kamena has shirked her responsibility to be a servant of the people. Who she really serves is a mystery. Someone who will support Prop215 fully and proactively needs to run for DA. There is need of compassion in America today. Thank You ...  
HEMP n STUFF
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Comment #3 posted by Toker00 on February 08, 2001 at 22:04:23 PT
Spoiled brat.
She sounds like that SPOILED BRAT girl who lived just down the road from me when I was a kid. When she didn't get her way, she STOMPED HER FOOT and SPOUTED CUSSWORDS at everyone around. (This recall thing sounds like just the weapon we need to spank these little Anti's asses with)Sounds like just the thing we have been needing in our fight. I'm gonna learn everything I can about how this is put into use. I suggest you all do the same.PEACE. REALIZE, THEN LEGALIZE.
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Comment #2 posted by Frank on February 08, 2001 at 21:02:18 PT
Kick District Attorney Paula Kamena Out of Office
Stephens described the recall as "a fraud being perpetrated on the citizens of this county" and "a form of political terrorism."The real terrorism is when the Swat Team breaks down your door over a roach in the ashtray and put a gun to your head and then tells you "just move" or slaps your wife around in the process. I sure love to see these vermin on the receiving end of their own system. They call a recall election "Political Terrorism"? Kick her out of office!
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Comment #1 posted by Duzt on February 08, 2001 at 20:41:53 PT
the beginning
If we can get her out, it will be the start. She's saying we are drug dealers, selling to children. Wow. I'm almost speechless. I use marijuana for medicinal purposes. A doctor sat down and explained the possible benefits to me. Marijuana has helped me live a decent life. I don't buy or sell marijuana. I grow my own. I harass nobody, I am a good person. I worked in Brazil for three years and started a project there for street children. I would never hurt anybody, I smoke marijuana. I also live in El Dorado county and would like to see our DA go if he doesn't change his attitude towards medical marijuana. That doesn't make me a drug dealer who sells to children. What a sick person this lady is.
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