From: afoxland@gj.net
Date: Tue, 12/05/00
December 5, 2000
This 1993 document, Grasstops Government Relations, is a basic
but very thorough description of the strategies Philip Morris (PM) uses
to achieve such powerful influence over legislation in the U.S.
PM has analyzed virtually every part of a legislator's world, and misses
no opportunity to exert influence, even to the point of currying favor
with a legislators' spouses:
"...We also make sure that we know the legislator's -- and
his or her spouses -- favorite philanthropies and try to support them."
PM gives legislators to trips to "promotional and cultural events" in
nice places. One passage in this document cites a trip for a group
of American legislators to Brussels, Belgium:
"We make sure legislators are aware of, and invited to,
promotional and cultural events funded by Philip Morris. {CITE ALEC 1992
TRIP TO BRUSSELS AS AN EXAMPLE}"
The document also mentions several times how PM dodges media focus by employing
third parties to "carry its baggage," as in these two examples:
"...we try to keep Philip Morris out of the media on issues
like taxation, smoking bans and marketing restrictions. Instead,
we try to provide the media with statements in support of our positions
from third party sources, which carry more credibility than our company
and have no apparent vested interest..."
and
"...we create coalitions of third party sources to help
carry our baggage on issues. For example, on excise taxes, we work
with state and local CARTS, the acronym for Committee Against Regressive
Taxation...restaurant owners on smoking bans...retailers on the minimum
age issue...and influential groups like the Association of National Advertisers
on marketing restrictions."
PM's strategy of eliminating discussion of health and safety issues
by altering the focus of the issues at hand is also outlined very frankly:
"...Finally, we try to change the focus on the issues.
Cigarette tax become[s] an issue of fairness and effective tax policy.
Cigarette marketing is an issue of freedom of commercial speech.
Environmental tobacco smoke becomes an issue of accommodation. Cigarette-related
fires become an issue of prudent fire safety programs. And so on.
PM has the money, manpower, organization and determination to carry
this off at the upper levels ("grasstops") of government, and they do,
and certainly not just in the U.S. But the long-term failure of American
legislatures to enact meaningful tobacco control in the face of recognition
of the current epidemic of tobacco-induced disease is testimony to the
astonishing effectiveness of this one company in controlling the machinations
of governments.
Title: Grasstops Government Relations
Type of Document: Speech, presentation
Author: Tina Walls, Philip Morris
Recipient: N/A
Date: 19930330
Site: Philip Morris Tobacco Company document site
http://www.pmdocs.com/
Page Count: 14
Bates No. 2024023252/3265
URL: http://www.pmdocs.com/getallimg.asp?DOCID=2024023252/3265
Litigation Usage: None yet (but keep your fingers crossed)
Found Using Search Criteria: "grasstops"
Quote:
I want to start by stating without qualification that Philip Morris
U.S.A. cannot grow without a strong, well-organized and well-thought-out
legislative program. We need that legislative program to prevent
excise tax increases, marketing restrictions and smoking bans from making
our products unaffordable, unpromotable and unacceptable.
I will give you an overview of our legislative program from the grass
tops, which is political jargon for decision makers at every level: state,
regional and local government...
...Our job in government affairs is to build credible relationships
with the people who decide which legislative proposals become law and which
don't. We have to maintain access to them, to understand their problems
and to help them find solutions that will benefit them and not penalize
our consumers...
In pursuit of this goal, we work to prevent legislation that
obstructs the channel from us to our consumers...and we promote
legislation that advances the interests of our company....
....[L]et's move on to how we work at the grasstops. Let's
look at the tools we use to sell our point of view to the people who make
the laws that affect our products...
II. Our Grasstops Strategy and How We Implement It [SLIDE OF
SIMPLIFIED MODEL OF A LEGISLATOR'S WORLD].
...We call this the Influence Wheel because it illustrates the factors
that influence a legislator's political actions and decisions...
[POINTING TO IDEOLOGY AND BELIEFS] For example, the legislator probably
has strong ideas on certain issues, like taxes or over-regulation of business.
[POINTING TO MEDIA] Like most politicians, his opinions on an issue
are probably influenced by the media.
[POINTING TO SPECIAL CONSTITUENTS] Every politician wants to form
alliances with individuals or groups that can strengthen his hold on office
and advance his agenda.
[POINTING TO DIRECT CONTACT] A legislator is never too busy
to talk about things like political contributions, fundraising for a coming
election campaign and programs to benefit his district.
[POINTING TO AVOCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PET CAUSES AND CHARITIES]
Politicians like to be associated with good works and seen at sports and
cultural events.
[POINTING TO VOTERS] These are the people who decide whether
or not a legislator stays in office, so he certainly pays attention to
what they have to say.
Every one of these influences on a politicians decision offers PM
USA's Corporate Affairs Department an opportunity to convey a message on
behalf of an issue.
Let's take a closer look at how we apply our resources to the elements
of that influence wheel....
When [for example] an excise tax proposal emerges in a particular
state, we've already done our homework. We know who the key legislators
are and their positions on the issue...{SLIDE: AVOCATIONAL ACTIVITY}
We make sure legislators are aware of, and invited to, promotional and
cultural events funded by Philip Morris. {CITE ALEC 1992 TRIP TO BRUSSELS
AS AN EXAMPLE}
{SLIDE: PET CAUSES AND CHARITIES} We also make sure that we
know the legislator's -- and his or her spouses -- favorite philanthropies
and try to support them.
{SLIDE: DIRECT CONTACT} I said before that there are many opportunities
to meet a state legislator face to face. Here are some of them...
{SLIDE: SPECIAL CONSTITUENTS] Tobacco isn't the only industry
threatened by excise taxes...so we strengthen our position by forming alliances
on issues with third parties...
{SLIDE: VOTERS} Influencing the legislator means keeping voters
informed of issues like taxes by sending communications like these to legislators'
home districts. {MENTION CONSTANTLY GROWING CONSUMER DATA BASES THROUGH
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, MARKETING...}
{SLIDE: MEDIA} Legislators are sensitive to media.
Therefore, we have to get our point of view into print as often as possible.
We try to have a third party, like an authority on taxes, write articles
in our behalf...
{SLIDE: POLITICAL ACTIONS} Depending on the situation, we will
use these spokes of the influence wheel selectively or all at once....
...Now that I've told you what we do and how we do it, let me give
you a basic idea of the basic strategies that make the influence wheel
go around...
{SLIDE: BASIC POLITICAL STRATEGY} First, the nature
of our issues demands that our focus be on all 50 states....Our RD's retail
lobbyists, pollsters, public relations firms and other professionals who
know the local issues and have contacts among the operative people in government
and the media to help us...
Second, we try to keep Philip Morris out of the media on issues
like taxation, smoking bans and marketing restrictions. Instead,
we try to provide the media with statements in support of our positions
from third party sources, which carry more credibility than our company
and have no apparent vested interest...
Third, we create coalitions of third party sources to help
carry our baggage on issues. For example, on excise taxes, we work
with state and local CARTS, the acronym for Committee Against Regressive
Taxation...restaurant owners on smoking bans...retailers on the minimum
age issue...and influential groups like the Association of National Advertisers
on marketing restrictions.
Finally, we try to change the focus on the issues. Cigarette
tax become[s] an issue of fairness and effective tax policy.
Cigarette marketing is an issue of freedom of commercial speech.
Environmental tobacco smoke becomes an issue of accommodation. Cigarette-related
fires become an issue of prudent fire safety programs. And so on.
{PAUSE}
...The last issue I want to discuss is restrictions on the use of
products by our consumers. The more restrictions imposed on public
and workplace smoking, the fewer opportunities our consumers have to use
our products--and buy new ones. This is indeed a problem.
I mentioned earlier that the Environmental Protection Agency recently
declared ETS a class a carcinogen, meaning that it ranks with WHAT AND
WHAT as a cause of cancer. That this decree has been widely denounced
as "junk" science based on flawed data has not had much effect. The
word is out, and anti-tobacco people in the states are using the EPA declaration
to call for even more public smoking bans...
Part of our response to the ETS issue is to shift it from a health
matter to a social one by acknowledging that some people find tobacco smoke
annoying. We recommend -- again through third parties like restaurant
owners and hospitality organizations--accommodation of smokers and non-smokers
as an alternative to total smoking bans.
Other counter tactics include supporting dissemination of studies
showing how badly smoking bans have hurt business in other localities...and
we propose counter-legislation proposing separate sections for smokers
and non-smokers....
Our goal is to replace no-smoking signs with our accommodation logo....
.....Agreement by a legislator to lower a proposed tax increase by
just a few cents can mean millions of dollars in sales in a particular
state...
To accomplish our objectives -- to persuade legislators to listen
to us and act favorably on our position -- we have to practice what became
known in the 1992 election as retail politics. We have to [treat]
the legislator as we would a customer and sell our point of view to help
him make a decision that solves his problems without penalizing our consumers--
or us.
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