Pubdate: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 Source: North County Times (CA) Contact: 2002 North County Times Website: http://www.nctimes.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080 Author: Ramona P. Griffin NOT DECEIVED BY ISSA'S NEW CLOTHES I am gratified that Rep. Darrell Issa (Letters, Sept. 21)is not so intractable to his constituents' interests, at least during an election year, when he is feeling the heat from Dr. Mike Byron's write-in campaign ( http://www.ByronForCongress.org ). Now Issa has shown that he is able to alter his previous radical stance regarding the death penalty for drug users, which he articulated during his failed 1998 Senate campaign. Issa now advocates a one-strike for those who sell drugs to minors. Considering that the draconian drug laws are designed against and enforced primarily upon minorities (otherwise, the political career of W. would have been cut short while he was still governor), is Issa prepared to jail for life a young person who recently turned 18 and who sells some amount of substances to a friend who is nearing the age of 18? As we saw in Florida, it works for Republicans like Issa when minorities are unable to vote. We are not deceived by Issa's new clothes as a "moderate" Republican. Now that he's publicly turned away from death penalties for drug users, I suppose Issa will return to his main avocation, that of undermining the Constitution and depriving us of our rights (the so-called Patriot Act). Ramona P. Griffin Oceanside - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk