HEMP AT THE ROOT OF RADIO AD BATTLE

Marijuana has become an issue in the legislative race in House
District 18.

Both candidates say they oppose an initiative to legalize it, but
state Rep. Con Bunde says in an ad that Anchorage Assemblywoman Pat
Abney hasn't taken a position against it.

Bunde, a Republican, ran a radio ad Wednesday saying as much. Abney, a
nonpartisan, came back with two radio commercials Thursday accusing
Bunde of misrepresenting her position.

All the fuss is about Proposition 5, a state initiative that says
people 18 or older shouldn't be prosecuted for possessing,
cultivating, distributing or using marijuana.

Bunde pounced when he saw a recent television news story that said
Abney hadn't taken a position on the issue.

"Pat Abney may not have made up her mind on the hemp initiative, . . .
but I have, and it's a bad idea," Bunde says in his ad.

He also says, "With Alaska's youth already facing deadly challenges
from alcohol and inhalant abuse, the last thing we should do is
encourage them to experiment with yet another drug."

Abney, who had bought time on about 10 radio stations for another ad,
substituted it with a quick two-ad counterattack on Thursday.

In the first, she says she was interviewed for the television news
story a month ago but had since formed an opinion.

"I had not had the opportunity to study the initiative and its
ramifications," she says in the ad. "And anyone who knows me knows
that I study an issue before I take a position on it."

Her second commercial criticizes Bunde for suggesting her undecided
position somehow encourages drug use.

"This is unacceptable," a male voice says. "Just because one month ago
Pat was undecided on this issue, what? This means she's encouraging
drug use? This is quite categorically over the line."

Bunde isn't budging. "In my opinion, you need to do all you can to
oppose further drug experimentation," he said.

He hasn't decided whether to stop running his commercial.

"I'll listen to her ads and her explanation," Bunde said. "Maybe the
lady doth protest too much."

Abney wasn't the only person critical of information in Bunde's ad.
When a portion of the ad was read to him, Free Hemp in Alaska chairman
Al Anders said it doesn't fairly represent the measure.

Bunde says in the ad that the initiative would free convicted drug
dealers and pay them for their time in jail.

The initiative doesn't propose to pay people for their time in jail on
pot charges, Anders said. It calls for an advisory panel, appointed by
elected officials, to study whether to compensate people for
pot-related punishments. Even then, the Legislature and the governor
would have to agree to pay the restitution, he said.

"All those people are opposed to restitution," Anders said. "I don't
know what they're crying about."