From: bill@smokescreen.org
Date: Mon, 03/10/03
SMOKING BAN FOE SAYS HE FEARS A TREND
By Laura Yuen
Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader
2003-03-08
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/5345743.htm
The Mount Vernon legislator behind an eleventh-hour attempt to snuff out
Lexington's chances of banning public smoking said he feared one ban
could start a trend across the state.
But state legislators from Lexington predicted his legislation would
die, and one said she'd try to kill it herself.
State Rep. Danny Ford, R-Mount Vernon, said he was championing the
rights of business owners when he introduced an amendment Wednesday in
the House that would allow voters, not local government, to decide the
issue of public puffing.
His maneuver has stirred a frenzy of speculation and outrage from city
leaders -- and some of his peers in the legislature.
"What's the problem with these people?" he said, chuckling over the
phone from his Somerset real estate and auction office. "I just wanted
people to have a choice. I couldn't care the least about what happens
with Lexington."
Ford's amendment is expected to be challenged, and would have to move
through several steps before passing.
State Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said Ford's document was stacked
with provisions that would make the local options he proposes close to
impossible.
Stein said she was "furious" with Ford's attempt to take control from
the Urban County Council, which has been mulling a ban for nearly a year.
The county's health department is pondering its own clean-air
regulations for bars and restaurants.
"I'm outraged that Danny Ford would seek to get involved in what is
clearly a local issue," Stein said. "The Urban County Council appears to
be doing a good job by holding public meetings and talking to the
community."
Ford tacked his amendment onto a Senate bill that pertains to pesticide
use.
Out of the bills waiting to be heard, he felt this was the one that
could best carry his amendment; pesticide and tobacco are both related
to agriculture, he noted.
But Stein and two other state legislators from Lexington -- Ruth Ann
Palumbo, a Democrat, and Stan Lee, a Republican -- say public smoking
does not sound germane to spraying crops.
Stein said she will challenge the amendment on this ground.
Urban County Councilman Dr. David Stevens, who has been leading the
anti-smoking ban drive on the council, said he has alerted the Kentucky
Medical Association and will contact the Kentucky League of Cities about
Ford's maneuver.
The medical association, Stevens said, will "put their lobbyists to work."
With the legislature winding down and most attention focused on the
state budget, Lee suspected the amendment would fizzle. "My guess is I
wouldn't have to vote on it," he said.
Countered Ford: "I've seen a lot of things done in a lot less time in
Frankfort."
Ford's amendment would allow local referendums to decide whether to
regulate public smoking.
It pre-empts any local ordinance or regulation.
Fifty percent of the number of registered voters in the precinct must
sign the petition.
Critics have sneered at the percentage, which is much higher than most
voter turnouts in a typical election year.
Ford said he intended for the legislation to require 50 percent of the
number of people who voted in the last election, but said the new
language shouldn't make the local options impossible.
Ford said he has not been approached by any tobacco lobbyists but said
other legislators from tobacco counties were concerned with Lexington's
lead on the ban.
"Once it starts in one city," he said, "it's apt to follow in others."
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