DELLUMS BRINGS 'HOPE' TO OAKLAND MAYORAL RACE

Former National NORML Boardmember Is Frontrunner In June 6 Election

"If Ron Dellums running for mayor gives you hope, then let's get on with
it," former US Representative Ron Dellums told a bevy of supporters who
roared their warm appreciation on Oct. 7. In a satisfying bit of symmetry,
Dellums got his political start by running for office at the municipal
level, serving on Berkeley City Council from 1967 to 1970.

Dellums, 69, represented Berkeley and Oakland in Congress for 27 years
before retiring in 1998. He said he is coming out of retirement to run for
mayor of Oakland to succeed Mayor Jerry Brown. The news media promptly
declared the local hero to be the new front runner.

The former boardmember of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws, had supported various cannabis reforms during his term
in Congress, and his his successor, popular Rep. Barbara Lee, endorsed
Oakland's Measure Z which called for regulation and taxation of adult
cannabis sales here. It was passed with 65 percent of the vote.

Solid Congressional record The mayoral election is June 6. Candidates such
as Alameda County Treasurer Don White and Oakland School Board members Dan
Siegel and Greg Hodge said they would withdraw from the race but their
campaigns were still active in late October. City Council members Ignacio
De La Fuente and Nancy Nadel vowed to stay in the campaign.

Supporters had circulated a petition for months asking Dellums to run
because they say he can unite Oakland, a diverse city that is 36 percent
black, 24 percent white, 22 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Asian. More
than 8,000 people signed the petition urging him to run.

Dellums decision is seen as beneficial for cannabis-friendly Oaksterdam.
While he was Congressman, reformers who were active in the 1970s and 1980s,
such as Gordon Brownell and cannabis historian Michael Aldrich, remember
Dellums as a friendly backer and a reliable vote for reform. He sat on the
NORML board from 1977 to 1986, and in 1979 was on it with Hugh Hefner,
Peter Lawford, Geraldo Rivera, Hunter S. Thompson, Ramsey Clark and Dr.
Benjamin Spock.

Keith Stroup, NORML's director at the time, said that Dellums "was
definitely a co-sponsor of our bill to decriminalize marijuana, an effort
led in the House by Rep. Ed Koch, later the somewhat famous mayor of New York."

For more than two decades, Dellums voted against federal bills that
encroached on civil rights and expanded Drug War excesses, such as property
forfeiture against innocent owners; sometimes as the sole voice of protest.
H.R. 956, creating a $143 million pork barrel for prohibitionist groups,
was passed by the full House on May 22, 1998 by a 420-1 vote: Dellums.

After Prop 215 passed, the congressman was one of the first five to sign
Rep. George Brown's (D-CA) letter to his fellow 51 California House members
urging them to join in a letter asking President Clinton to refrain from
imposing federal penalties on California physicians who might recommend
cannabis to patients.

The others were Tom Campbell (R), Nancy Pelosi (D), Pete Stark (D) and
Henry Waxman (D). He also signed on as a co-sponsor on Barney Frank's
"States Rights to Medical Marijuana" bill, which has been repeatedly
introduced into Congress with growing support but has not yet passed.

Ironically, the Oakland federal building that houses the DEA, where
patients and protesters repeatedly rally for marijuana reform, is named the
Ronald Dellums Federal Building in honor of his decades of political
service. Candidate Nadel and others back cannabis reform policies, as well

Dellums fight for safe access is a stark contrast to the role of his
opponent, Ignacio De La Fuente, the current Oakland City Council President
who in 2004 took aim at Oaksterdam's dispensaries and tried to have them
all shut down but one.

Fortunately, his fellow Council member, and also a mayoral candidate, Nancy
Nadel was able to cobble together a compromise that left only four
dispensaries standing and helped spur on the Measure Z campaign to regulate
the city's adult cannabis market.

Dellums is by no means the only cannabis friendly candidate in the mayoral
race. Nancy Nadel has proved to be a good friend to the medical marijuana
community. Both she and Dellum's successor, Barbara Lee, endorsed Measure Z
during the campaign, while De La Fuente kept silent on the initiative that
passed in a voter landslide. Candidate Dan Siegel also endorsed Measure Z,
and other candidates for mayor have made it known that they support reform
but have not made it into a key platform plank or actively courted the
cannabis constituency.

At a minimum, Dellums plunge into the campaign waters stirs things up and
adds needed excitement to the mayoral race; but a city campaign will
typically hinge on local bread and butter issues.

The situation in Oakland is somewhat unusual, in that voters have
overwhelmingly called for a change of policy while outgoing Mayor Jerry
Brown, the City Council's "old guard" and entrenched city bureaucrats have
stonewalled and blocked the will of the voters. As Oaksterdam and the
Uptown Arts and Entertainment district emerge together, the importance of
integrating these constituencies will figure prominently in the discussion.

What is clear is that the peripheral issues that led to the passage of
Measure Z -- unsolved violent crimes, misdirected law enforcement
resources, low-level street dealing on corners, unemployment, lack of tax
revenues for vital city services, and unequal treatment of subpopulations
like cannabis consumers and ethnic minorities -- these issues will all be
on the voters' minds in June.

A candidate who can tie them together and show how cannabis tolerance can
help solve these problems will likely find a sympathetic ear from a solid
majority of voters who are ready for change.

Dellums brings experience, integrity, and high hopes and aspirations to the
campaign in a city that is poised to break away from the status quo of
business-as-usual interests and some hope that will in turn usher in a new
era of progressive, populist leadership. Such a community appears to be
ready to hear Dellums voice of hope.