PETERSON RAISES TOKEN ARGUMENT IN AD ATTACKING PALLA

"It has been a very negative campaign."

That's one of the opening lines in Ken Peterson's new radio commercial,
which takes aim at Cathy Palla, one of three candidates trying to take
Peterson's job as 4th District supervisor.

We can debate whether or not the 4th District race has indeed been
negative, but one thing seems clear: Nothing spoken, written or intimated
thus far in the campaign has leaned as dramatically in that direction as
Peterson's commercial, which criticizes Palla for having used recreational
drugs as a teen-ager.

"Did you know that Cathy Palla said she did illegal drugs because everyone
else was doing it?" says an actor. "I want a leader who leads. Not one who
does things because others are doing it."

In defending the ad as fair and relevant, Peterson seems to be describing a
different script.

"If you listen to the commercial," Peterson said Friday, "my offense is not
(toward) somebody who took drugs, it's (toward) somebody who jokes about it."

Peterson is referring to a forum held last month at Cal State Bakersfield.
The moderator asked the candidates a question posed by a student in the
audience: Had any of them ever used illegal drugs? Peterson and Wasco Mayor
Michael White said they had not. Palla and Delfino Neira said yes, in their
youth they had.

Palla's answer included a quote she attributed to comedian Robin Williams:
"If you remember the '60s, you weren't there," a reference to drugs'
preponderance, especially among youths, during that time.

As it turns out, Palla, 48, wasn't merely clipping out articles from People
magazine; she was quoting a friend. Williams was a classmate of hers at
Redwood High School in Marin County. "Rob," as he was then known, was a
year ahead of Palla, a 1970 graduate. The two often commuted together to
school from nearby Tiburon.

Palla, who went away to college at San Diego State, says she did not use
drugs after graduating from high school.

Peterson said it was not Palla's use of drugs, per se, that inspired the
commercial, but the flippant tone of her response to the student's question.

"We're in a war on drugs and this is not a laughing matter," Peterson said.

Fair enough, but that's not what his radio ad charges.

Peterson's ad questions Palla's credentials to serve (while altogether
ignoring Neira and White) based on her past use of drugs and her alleged
inability to escape the influence of peers who presumably led her down that
road. (The ad also alleges that Palla would allow Kern County to become "a
bedroom community for Los Angeles," a phrase she says she uttered as part
of a statement that was cut off by the time-keeper in a candidates' forum.)

Palla has been trying to defend her actions as a teen-ager in the four days
since the ad hit the air.

"This all happened when I was a kid," Palla said Friday, "and because of
what I saw, not what I participated in, I changed. Basically, it's because
of that generation that we've changed our whole attitude about drugs.
Nobody's parents knew what was going on in the late '60s, and neither did
we (as youth)."

Did Palla err by appearing to treat the subject of illegal drug use with
something less than the seriousness it deserves? Probably. But if Peterson
wants to take her on, based on her statements at that candidates' forum, he
needs to change the dialogue in his ad. By referring simply to her admitted
past drug use, he runs the risk of condemning by association other
responsible citizens who also tried drugs in their youth -- including, as
Peterson admits, his presidential candidate of choice, George W. Bush.

Speaking of drugs: If you thought Bakersfield mayoral candidate and
marijuana advocate Maynard Reed Palmer was the most relaxed of the nine
candidates at the KGET/Bakersfield Californian forum broadcast on Feb. 27,
you were not alone. "I was so relaxed I was in a trance," Palmer says. But
he wasn't stoned, he says.

Palmer, who has listed his professions as actor and professional hypnotist,
supports the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but he sees no reason
why the sick and suffering should be the only ones who get to light up.

"I support responsible recreational use," he says. "There's no need to hide
behind 'medical use.' I'm just trying to protect the midnight tokers.
Unlike the 42nd president of the United States, I have inhaled."

Palmer says he's not getting much campaigning done these days because he
has no car. When he was contacted Thursday afternoon, Palmer said he was
"kicking back watching MTV."

[snip]