LOS ANGELES OFFICIALS NOT INTERESTED IN INVESTIGATING BAUDLER

It's unlikely that Los Angeles city officials will pursue charges
against an Iowa state representative who admitted he lied about
having hemorrhoids and depression to obtain a medical marijuana
prescription in California, a city councilman said Friday.

"I'd rather spend our city resources on parks and libraries than
investigating some state assembly member that comes from somewhere
else trying to make his own political point," said Los Angeles
Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "It's not worth the energy on my part."

Asha Greenberg, an assistant city attorney for Los Angeles, said the
city hasn't gone after people who have allegedly lied to obtain
marijuana prescriptions largely because law enforcement authorities
are focusing their resources on more serious crime.

"We have to have, for any crime, evidence apart from a person's
admission," Greenberg said. "I would say that he probably would not
face any consequences, at least as far as the city attorney's office
is concerned, based upon his admission."

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, detailed his ruse in an October
newsletter to constituents, undertaken to show "how asinine it would
be to legalize medical marijuana."

At a Statehouse meeting Wednesday, several medical marijuana
supporters called for Baudler's impeachment, saying it's a crime
under California law to fraudulently misrepresent a medical condition
to a doctor. Conviction for a first offense could carry a $1,000 fine
or six months in jail.

Baudler said he's confident that ethics charges expected to be filed
Monday by members of the Iowa Clemency Project won't stick, partly
because he doesn't believe the person he saw was a real doctor. He
said he did not fill the prescription.

He told The Des Moines Register he may try to obtain another
prescription "if I can think of something stupider than hemorrhoids"
to use as an excuse.

"Everyone in here should go to a state that has medical marijuana and
see the effects of what's going on," Baudler said of his peers at the
Capitol. "When the Mexican drug cartel is taking over California's
drug distribution centers, it's asinine. It's the stupidest thing
that Iowans could even be thinking about. Going to medical marijuana
is just the first step to go to legalizing marijuana for recreational use."

Baudler, 71, and his story of fake hemorrhoids have become a hot
topic on news, blog and Internet sites.

An online video surfaced this week of a man questioning Baudler about
his actions. Baudler said it was one of at least two calls he has
recently received that he described as harassing. But he also said
the vast majority of responses have supported his actions.

Members of the Iowa Clemency Project, a group fighting to
decriminalize marijuana possession, on Friday provided the Register
with an Internet link showing Baudler's marijuana patient
verification posted online by the Inglewood Health Services Center in
California.

The prescription was written by Dr. Sriram Mummaneni, according to
the online document. An online biography of Mummaneni says he studied
at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan. A call made
to the office where Baudler said he obtained the prescription was not
returned Friday.

"I've heard comments from people who say this is not that big of an
issue, but it is," said Mike Pesce, a Des Moines resident and Iowa
Clemency Project member who plans to file the ethics complaint on
Monday. "It's pretty simple that you can't have lawmakers sitting at
the Capitol planning crime."