From: Joe@smokefree.org
Date: Sat, 11/04/06
Issue 4 is 99.8% funded by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. That should be all a
reasonable person needs to know. In case more is needed, try the following
commentary from Ann Fisher (Columbus Dispatch). Joe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY
Let's clear the air: Issue 4 is no good
Friday, November 03, 2006
ANN FISHER
Are we confused yet? Negative advertising campaigns have fully demonized every
candidate on the ballot by now. No problem there. Pick your poison if you
believe all that garbage. But the dueling ballot issues on smoking bans and the
dithering among public officials over the voteridentification rules, both for
absentee and in-person voters, have eclipsed all reason.
The confusion over Issues 4 (the bad one) and 5 (the good one) was intentional.
R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris tobacco companies together have invested at
least $84 million nationwide to defeat or support various ballot questions on
Election Day. It's a drop in the bucket of death-by-smoke to them, but that much
money can buy a lot of confusion among voters.
In Ohio alone, R.J. Reynolds, the No. 2 cigarettemaker in the nation, has
invested at least $5.4 million to push for Issue 4 (the bad one) and defeat
Issue 5 (the good one).
Columbus pollster Thomas Sawyer, president of Opinion Strategies Inc., told me
this week that his company's recent survey showed both issues passing. But
that's only a snapshot, in polling language.
I say Ohio voters are smarter than that, smarter than the greedy tobacco
companies. Ohio voters will read the ballot language and understand that if
Issue 4 (the bad one) succeeds, Issue 5 (the good one) is dead.
Issue 4 is bad because, as a state constitutional amendment, it would etch into
stone limited smoking bans in restaurants and nightclubs. That means the ban we
enjoy in Columbus - which prohibits smoking in all public buildings - would end.
Hack. Hack.
Issue 5 is good because it doesn't monkey with the Ohio Constitution to
establish smoke-free workplaces, including bars and restaurants, across the
state.
Don't be fooled and vote for both, or neither. That's what R.J. Reynolds is
banking on. The term blood money never has been so fitting.
Pickaway County native Beverly May is following the Ohio smoking wars from her
lookout post in Utah, where she also is monitoring smoking issues on ballots in
Arizona, South Dakota, California and Nevada.
She works for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in Washington, D.C.
May said the only comparable scenario to Ohio's is in Arizona, where two similar
issues also are pending. A third issue there would enact a cigarette-tax
increase, but tobacco companies are relatively disinterested in that because
some people will pay whatever it takes.
Addiction is a powerful marketing tool.
May's anti-smoking group is backing Arizona's version of Ohio's Issue 5 (the
good one). R.J. Reynolds has spent at least $8.5 million in Arizona to defeat
the smoke-free workplace ballot issue there.
If Ohio defeats Issue 4 (the bad one) and passes Issue 5 (the good one), May
said, it's unlikely R.J. Reynolds and others of its ilk will return to try again
with their evil ways.
We shall see.
Ann Fisher is a Dispatch Metro columnist. She can be reached at 614-461-8759 or
by e-mail.
afisher@dispatch.com
| 
