Pubdate: Fri, 30 Nov 2001
Source: The Post and Courier (SC)
Copyright: 2001 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:   http://www.charleston.net/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author: Schuyler Kropf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

DEMS TAKING KUHN TO WOODSHED OVER ALLEGED MARIJUANA STATEMENT

It's A Race For The State Senate But Also A Battle Over Who Said What About 
Marijuana.

Democrats are alleging that Republican candidate John Kuhn is pro-pot based 
on remarks he made to students weeks ago at Stall High School. Kuhn, 
meanwhile, says that Democrats are taking the incident out of context and 
that he's a parent who is 100 percent opposed to drugs.

Whatever the case, the dispute has smoked its way heavily into the race in 
the form of thousands of mail-outs to Senate District 43 voters.

Before the October primary, 12th grade government teacher Willie Desinger 
invited all the candidates to individually speak to his class.
Democrat Leon Stavrinakis accepted, and so did Republican Kuhn. Kuhn, 
according to Desinger, expressed to him during a phone call that he also 
had some Libertarian views.

"I told him I'd ask him some questions about that political philosophy," 
Desinger said during an interview this week.

When Kuhn showed up, Desinger had prepared questions for the students to 
ask, including one that read: "Do you favor decriminalization of 
marijuana?" Kuhn answered: "Yes," according to Desinger, and then he 
reportedly went on to describe the war on drugs as a failure.

The teacher said that no one at the school seemed shocked at Kuhn's answer, 
given that Libertarians are known to have fairly liberal views on an 
individual's choice to use drugs. Desinger also quoted Kuhn as saying he 
was personally against drug use and felt drugs were bad for anyone.

But the S.C. Democratic Senate Caucus is now using the incident for 
political gain sending out hundreds of oversized political flyers to Senate 
District 43 voters that portray Kuhn as favoring decriminalizing pot. They 
feature a picture of Kuhn and another picture of a teen-ager lighting a joint.

"Say no to John Kuhn and his dangerous ideas," it reads.

Stavrinakis, a former assistant prosecutor, said that Kuhn's answer shows 
his true feelings about the war on drugs and that he should not have taken 
his answer so lightly, especially around school students. "It was 
irresponsible," he said.

Kuhn said his stance has been taken out of context and that he was 
"role-playing," and acting out what he thought a Libertarian candidate 
would say.

"It was a civics lesson," he said, saying he went to play the role of a 
Libertarian. "Never in a million years did I see that being twisted into my 
being in favor of decriminalizing drugs."

No recording exists of the exchange, but Desinger told The Post and Courier 
he never asked Kuhn to play or adopt any role about political views.

Desinger, who calls himself an independent and first met Kuhn while the 
candidate was walking house to house in the district, also said the 
Democrats have warped some of Kuhn's response. For instance, their mail-out 
says look out for "John Kuhn's idea to legalize drugs."

"John Kuhn didn't have a plan to legalize drugs," Desinger said. "He did 
not address other drugs (during his talk) and did not use the word 
legalization."
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