Source: Contra Costa Times (CA) Contact: http://www.hotcoco.com/index.htm Copyright: 1998 Contra Costa (California) Newspapers Inc. Pubdate: 19 Oct 1998 Author: Ethan Rarick Times Capital Bureau Section: Page A1 FOUR OTHER CANDIDATES WALK PATHS LESS TRAVELED OLYMPIC VALLEY -- Steve Kubby must be one of the few aspiring politicians in America who doesn't care if you know he has smoked marijuana regularly for years. In fact, Kubby says his experience using marijuana -- which he regards as a medicine that has kept his adrenal cancer at bay for two decades -- helped shape his Libertarian views. For years, he has known the government could arrest him, perhaps seize his house, maybe take his child away, all because of "what I was doing to stay alive." "The fact that I had to live with that every day has totally colored my politics," Kubby said recently as he sat in the kitchen of his house overlooking Squaw Valley. The experience inspired him to help put Proposition 215, which legalized the medical use of marijuana, on the ballot two years ago. Now, Kubby is seeking his first substantive elective office, and he's starting at the top: He is running for governor. Along with the other minor-party gubernatorial candidates, he struggles to publicize his message in a huge state where political communication is usually limited to multimillion-dollar television ad campaigns. As a Libertarian, Kubby prescribes less government. He wants to phase out the state income tax and believes people should be able to possess anything - -- such as guns or drugs -- as long as they don't hurt anyone else. He views speeding tickets as "highway robbery," and says the CHP should give up its cruisers for tow trucks. Dan Hamburg of the Greens and Gloria Estela La Riva of the Peace and Freedom Party support roughly similar platforms of liberal positions, such as stronger environmental protections and abolition of the death penalty. Both parties essentially view the Democrats as too conservative. On the other end of the spectrum, the American Independent Party sees the Republicans as too liberal. Its candidate, Nathan Johnson, says he would try to have abortion clinics declared "public nuisances," opposes the school bond issue on the November ballot and supports the creation of educational vouchers to help parents send their kids to private schools. Harder to characterize ideologically is the Natural Law Party, which is running Harold Bloomfield, a San Diego area psychiatrist. Bloomfield wants to emphasize preventive medicine, stress-reducing meditation and organic farming. For example, he would require HMOs to cover stress-reduction classes and nutritional education. Diverse as they are, however, the minor-party candidates share one view: They struggle to get media and voter attention. "The hardest work of all is convincing people to come and listen to you," said Kubby. Sometimes it takes creativity. Kubby remembers attending the PTA convention in San Diego earlier this year. He had been invited to speak, but when neither Gray Davis nor Dan Lungren showed up, convention officials canceled the speeches by the gubernatorial candidates. Kubby went outside, climbed atop a wall, and gave his speech anyway. - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski