LOCKYER WON'T GET INVOLVED IN PROSECUTION OF GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE

TAHOE CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer won't intervene in
the prosecution of the 1998 California Libertarian candidate for governor
and his wife, who are accused of growing marijuana plants at their home.

The state's Libertarian Party sent a letter to Lockyer urging his support.
But a Lockyer spokeswoman told the Auburn Journal that the attorney general
would not get involved in the case despite his support of Proposition 215,
the California medical marijuana initiative.

"Mr. Lockyer voted for Prop. 215 and supported it, but he did not go out
and campaign for the measure," press secretary Hilary McLean said.

Steve Kubby, and his wife, Michele, were arrested Jan. 19 after a search
warrant served at their Olympic Valley home resulted in the discovery of
360 plants in four rooms. The couple claimed to be growing marijuana for
medical use under a doctor's direction.

Prosecutors said they will be charged with felony counts of cultivation,
possession for sale and conspiracy at their arraignment Thursday.

Steven Kubby was a key proponent of Proposition 215, and openly described
using marijuana, during his gubernatorial campaign, for the adrenal cancer
he has had for more than two decades.

In a letter to Lockyer, state Libertarian Party chairman Mark Hinkle called
on the attorney general "to bring the full weight of your office down in
this matter and investigate the North Tahoe Task Force and Placer County
District Attorney's Office to determine the cause of this unnecessary
police action."

Hinkle also noted the more than 5 million Californians who voted for
Proposition 215 in 1996.

Kubby, 52, publisher of an online recreation magazine, ran fourth in the
race for governor last November, taking nearly 1 percent of the vote.