KAMENA RECALL HOT BUTTON ISSUE

Paula Kamena would like everyone to please stick to the subject. District
Attorney Kamena is quick to remind anyone who will listen that the petition
to put her recall election on the ballot had only to do with family law
court issues stemming from the Carole Mardeusz case, and nothing to do with
her stance on medical use of marijuana or anything else.

As voters prepare for the May 22 election, each will have to decide whether
to consider the wide range of other concerns being voiced by recall
supporters. In fact, the pro-recall statement on the ballot will be limited
to the subject matter of the petition, so that pro-recall chances may
depend on whether those who vote are well-versed in the subject before
entering the polls.

Recall proponents say that Kamena's record in office was hemorrhaging with
problems that all the various claims have substance and validity and that
it only took creation of the proper forum to bring them all out.

Some of the pro-recall arguments appear in the February 2000 issue of the
Coastal Post (see www.coastalpost.com). A couple additional appear below.

County Jail Cover-up

Prisons are one of the fastest growing industries in the United States.
Prisons benefit financially by staying as full as possible and operating at
a low overhead.

Claims of inadequate medical treatment in prisons are common. Paula Kamena
did not single-handedly invent this status quo, but, in Marin County,
responsibility for handling those claims ultimately falls to the District
Attorney.

Right now, there is at least one case in federal court that names Paula
Kamena as having turned a deaf ear to complaints of inadequate medical
attention and treatment in the Marin County jail. The case, which includes
a number of other allegations related to Marin's judicial system, has
passed the "merits test" and is on its way to trial.

Sanford Gossman, who filed the suit, also alleges that Deputy DA Jack Ryder
unofficially but forcefully guided Judge William McGivern to a course of
action which profoundly and unlawfully restricted Gossman's right to due
process by creating a situation in which Gossman was prematurely and
wrongfully incarcerated. Gossman believes that Deputy County Counsel John
Govi participated with Ryder in orchestrating this event.

Gossman alleges that lack of treatment while incarcerated led to serious
deterioration of and risk to his physical and mental health. Gossman says
that this lack of care not only violated my civil rights, but is a crime
pursuant to California Penal Code 673, thereby constituting a crime that
would fall under the District Attorney's jurisdiction to both investigate
and to prosecute. He says that neither Kamena, nor anyone else in her
office, took any affirmative action on his repeated requests for assistance.

Gossman's claims that medical care in the Marin County jail can be slow in
coming and shy on arrival are not rare. Another example is that of John
Alioto, Jr. John Alioto Jr. went into Marin County jail with conditions
requiring multiple medications, and an intensive care foot injury. In
anticipation of this, he sought to make advance arrangements to ensure
proper treatment.

Inside, he says he was immediately refused two important medications,
developed a staph infection in his foot which led to chronic bone
infection, was given neosporin instead of an IV antibiotic, was refused a
trip to a hospital even as his foot was turning black, and had it explained
to him, by a jail physician, that The judge does not determine what
medicines we choose to give you, echoed by a Sheriff's department officer
present, who said, we run the jail, not the judge.

Alioto says he never fully recovered after his release. For approximately 8
months, he was effectively incapacitated by extremely strong antibiotics.
He is currently struggling to keep from losing his foot. Alioto says that
his ongoing ordeal has kept him from completing his community service
requirement and fears that he will therefore be sent back to prison.

Alioto recently asked Kamena whether she could help him address his
situation. Her response, he says, was That's not my department. Gossman and
Alioto both say that the jail is very clean and attractive on the surface.
Both believe that Kamena, along with others, is willfully allowing criminal
lack of care for inmates.

Hidden Agendas?

Lynnette Shaw, Director of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, feels
that Kamena misled people prior to Kamena's election. Shaw herself took out
a slate ad that included support of Kamena's DA bid, based on Kamena's
apparent friendliness toward medical marijuana use while she was an
Assistant DA Although Marin voted in favor of Proposition 215 by over 70%,
Kamena issued guidelines which Shaw says amounted to a militaristic attack
on 215.

Having looked further into Kamena's politics since joining the recall
effort, Shaw now believes that Kamena kept many of her personal values
"meticulously hidden" in order to win the DA seat.

For example, Shaw says, although the DA race is nonpartisan, Kamena was
registered Republican until switching to Democrat about a year before the
election, and that Kamena was a resident of Point Richmond until she rented
a Marin residence for the purpose of running for DA

Shaw believes that Kamena also consciously concealed an anti-choice stance
on abortion in order to win the support of womens groups. Shaw points to
Kamena's positions favoring an initiative criminalizing youthful offenders
(Prop. 21, March 2000, voted down by 57% in Marin) and opposed to an
initiative allowing treatment programs instead of jail for offenses of drug
abuse (Prop. 36, November 2000, favored by 72% of Marin voters), as more
evidence that Kamena is out of step with the majority of Marin. People in
Marin believed they were getting a progressive DA, but they didn't they got
Paula Kamena. Shaw also believes that Kamena deliberately gathered
endorsements early, vis-a-vis the recall, before both sides of the debate
could be fully disseminated.

Kamena's Defense

Kamena says she is doing a good job and deserves to retain her office. She
terms the recall The work of a small-minded group of disgruntled litigants
who had their day in court and lost She says her recall was sparked by the
Mardeusz case, but carried by "opportunistic marijuana dealers." At a press
conference, Kamena raised suspicions that financial backing for the recall
came from "the people who sell drugs to our kids." In an interview with the
Chronicle, Kamena calls the aims of recall supporters "thuggish."

"Thuggish?!" objects Shaw. She must be joking. We're talking about 75 year
old grandmothers with glaucoma and diabetes, people with AIDS and cancer, a
Korean war vet, a former DEA agent, people like that. Sure, some of them
are not having their best day by the time Paula Kamena gets to see them,
but thuggish?!" She's off her rocker. And nobody I know is selling drugs to
kids.

Kamena says that from 1998 to 2000, 73 people were charged for cases which
medicinal use was cited as the defense. She points to this figure as a
balance of effectiveness and compassion.

Shaw believes that the vast majority of cases took place in a much narrower
timeframe: after Kamena issued her guidelines in September of 1999. Shaw
adds that, Kamena's guidelines about marijuana for medical use invent and
impose unreasonable limits.

The text of proposition 215 did not limit the number of plants that may be
grown for medical purposes, but reads that patients and their primary
caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the
recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or
sanction.

According to Shaw, 34-47 of those charges were brought against people who
were already properly documented Marin Alliance members. She calls the
charged cases, just the tip of the iceberg, saying that over 300 legitimate
patients have been harassed and had their medicinal supplies destroyed.

The American Medical Marijuana Association, a medical marijuana advocacy
group favoring its nationwide legalization, has said it is contemplating
recall efforts in Sonoma, Placer, Shasta and El Dorado counties. Based on
this, Kamena says it is also important to defeat the Marin recall "so it
doesn't spread throughout the state."

Even with the popular support of medical use of marijuana in Marin, the
recall is working so well here because there are a host of other skeletons
on Kamena's doorstep, counters Shaw.

Recall Financing

Although Shaw believes that fundraising for petition gathering is not
subject to the same reporting requirements as a campaign, she has decided
to disclose contribution sources rather than let the point become a
distraction from pro-recall issues.

According to Shaw, $1,753 was collected in 6 glass jars placed at various
locations for public contributions, petition gatherers donated
approximately $7,000 worth of labor, and Shaw herself donated $6,378 from a
car insurance settlement instead of using it to repair her car.

What does Shaw hope to gain if recall efforts result in DA guidelines
friendlier to medical use of marijuana? ORetirement from patient rescue,
says Shaw. Actually, KamenaOs policies make it necessary for more people to
get their medicine from my dispensary, since they keep having their own
supplies torn out. Appropriate guidelines would allow sick people to grow
their own supplies in peace. What I hope to gain, if you want to put it
that way, is the well-being of a group of people I care about, a group of
people who have been wrongfully criminalized for simply seeking relief from
chronic illnesses and pain.

Shaw now calls on Kamena to disclose the amount of money spent
investigating and prosecuting people for medicinal use of marijuana,
including raids, stings, and situations in which no charges have been
filed; and on the Alan Ager and Carol Mardeusz cases.