Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Pubdate: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 Author: Dan Bernstein LONGTIME POT-SMOKER SEEKS TO BE GOVERNOR Libertarian candidate trying to shake up race He is against the death penalty and for the legalization of marijuana, which he smokes every day for health reasons. He is against any form of gun control, even if that means allowing people to walk the streets with military-style assault weapons. And he wants to phase out California's income tax, thereby cutting state government spending in half within four years. He is Steve Kubby, the Libertarian candidate for governor. An author, magazine publisher and outdoorsman who brims with self-confidence, Kubby played a key role in the successful 1996 campaign for Proposition 215, which legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. Now, Kubby hopes to shake up the governor's race, saying that the major party candidates, Republican Dan Lungren and Democrat Gray Davis, agree on almost every issue and offer stale solutions to the state's problems. "I think voters are spoiling for a real fight and they haven't got that yet," said Kubby, a 51-year-old Tahoe City resident. "The debates have been like watching Tweedledee and Tweedledum. You haven't had the loyal opposition up there." Like all minor-party candidates, Kubby is struggling to attract media attention. But he is also doing a few novel things to distinguish himself from the rest of the field. For example, half of his ballot pamphlet statement is written in Spanish, a not-so-subtle effort to woo Latino voters. The statement concludes with a bang: "Kubby opposes such governmental agencies as the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), which terrorize the citizenry; government welfare agencies, which destroy people's independence; and the war on drugs, which disproportionately punishes Hispanics." Kubby, who has written two books on his political views and publishes Alpine World, an on-line recreation magazine, said he joined the gubernatorial race because the Libertarian Party of California asked him to run. He said the only office he previously sought was membership on the board of the Northstar ski resort. He served from 1986 to 1988. A Libertarian Party official confirmed that Kubby was recruited, even though he has been a dues-paying party member for only a few years. "He seems to have a good head on his shoulders," said Mark Hinkle, chairman of the Libertarian Party of California. "He communicates well, and is firmly grounded in Libertarian principles." Kubby said many of his political views stem from his experience with the medical use of marijuana during the past two decades. That experience began in 1975, when Kubby was diagnosed with cancer of the adrenal glands. After two major operations to remove tumors in his abdomen, he said he was told in 1976 that he had only six months to live. During that period, he said, friends gave him some marijuana to cheer him up. To his surprise, he said, it stabilized his blood pressure and heart rate. Today, Kubby's cancer is in remission. Although doctors have been unable to explain a connection between marijuana and control of the disease, Kubby said he is convinced that smoking marijuana regularly has kept him alive. "This medicine moderates my blood pressure and allows me to pursue an active lifestyle," he said. "When I go off this medicine, the symptoms of my disease return." Since he began using marijuana, Kubby said, he has lived in constant fear that his home would be raided by police, and he would be arrested and sent to prison. It has never happened, but Kubby said he resents that the government has the ability to prosecute him for trying to stay healthy. "I have had to spend 23 years as a well-respected member of the community, knowing that at any time police could kick down my door and take my child away," he said. "It has sensitized me to what minorities have to deal with on a daily basis. "We've got to grow up and realize that drugs are here to stay, and it is better to deal with them the same way we deal with alcohol -- by regulating them instead of trying to prohibit them." Kubby said the United States should emulate England and Switzerland. The crime rates in those countries dropped, he said, after their governments decided to provide heroin addicts with the drugs they craved. Kubby's criticism of the U.S. government's "war on drugs" figures prominently in two books he has written: the Politics of Consciousness, published in 1994, and Why Marijuana Should be Legal, published in 1996. Kubby said his central belief that people should be allowed to do anything they want as long as it does not harm others extends to possessing weapons. "Every year, more and more guns are seized, and more laws are passed against ownership of guns," he said. "But communities that have gun control are more likely to have burglaries and crime. . . . These feel-good laws end up entrapping law-abiding citizens and they get hurt." Asked if he would be willing to allow people to carry assault weapons in public as long as they don't fire them, Kubby paused for a moment, and then answered "yes." But he added that juveniles should not have that right. Although he believes in tough sentences for violent criminals, Kubby said he opposes the death penalty -- at least in the hands of the government. He noted that both Lungren and Davis have touted their strong support for the death penalty. But he claimed they are "wimps because the death penalty they call for hardly ever gets instituted and has no deterrent value." "The death penalty is appropriate when someone breaks into your house and tries to rape your wife," Kubby said. "I'd like to see citizens empowered to use lethal force to defend themselves." Kubby also is a strong believer in vouchers for public school students, saying that market forces will improve teacher performance and rid schools of drugs and violence. "A centrally-planned, government-run school system like we have here is more appropriate for Russia or North Korea." Among his goals is to phase out the state's income tax, which generates about $27 billion a year, or half of the state's general fund budget. Kubby said he could still balance the budget by eliminating all state "prevention programs" and clearing most non-violent criminals out of prisons. Despite running a full-time campaign, Kubby is realistic about his political prospects, saying he would be "thrilled" to get 5 percent of the vote on Nov. 3. Hinkle, the party chairman, said he would be pleased if Kubby gets at least 2 percent, which would exceed the 1.7 percent received by Richard Rider, the 1994 Libertarian candidate for governor. - --- Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson