Newsclips 2001 – 2003

HANNITY & COLMES, Fox News Channel

Sean Hannity, Alcee Hastings
3,141 words
8 January 2001
09:00 pm
Fox News Channel: Hannity & Colmes

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Welcome to HANNITY & COLMES. We’re glad you’re with us. I’m Sean Hannity.

I’d first like to welcome Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings to the show. He’ll be filling in for Alan Colmes tonight. And the congressman, by the way, made news this very weekend, challenging Florida’s electoral votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALCEE HASTINGS (D), FLORIDA: Mr. President — and I take great pride in calling you that — I must object because of the overwhelming evidence of official misconduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: We will be debating that. We are going down that road.

(CROSSTALK)

HASTINGS: Right down that road.

HANNITY: Coming up in just a few minutes.

And also coming up tonight: Should a President Bush pardon a soon-to- be former President Clinton? Tonight analysis from Ohio Congressman, our good friend, John Kasich.

Plus: Are smokers’ rights being violated? It seems that many cities are cracking down on smoking even outside and in your own apartment. Can you believe this? We’ll ask the grandson of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco about that.

But first, leading out debate across America this Monday: Two Bush cabinet appointees are under fire. Labor secretary-designate Linda Chavez was already facing criticism for her views on Affirmative Action and sexual harassment. She’s now accused of housing and possibly employing an illegal immigrant in the early 1990s. Marta Mercado immigrated from Guatemala and stayed with Chavez for about a year. And Mercado occasionally did jobs around the house and received money but claims she was not formally employed by Chavez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

News; Domestic

How Far Should States Go to Keep Tobacco From Kids?

Sean Hannity, Alcee Hastings
2,599 words
8 January 2001
09:20 pm
Fox News: Hannity & Colmes

Federal Document Clearing House.

HANNITY: And welcome back to HANNITY & COLMES. I’m Sean Hannity.

Coming up later in the show: Congressman Hastings and I — we’re going to go one on one on the issues that he was involved in this weekend, the controversy. You’re always stirring up trouble wherever you go. We’ll get into that.

Plus, former congressman John Kasich will stop by for a look ahead at the first 100 days of the Bush administration.

But first, for our top newsmaker this Monday on HANNITY & COLMES: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging restrictions in Massachusetts that ban tobacco ads within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds. In a 1998 settlement, tobacco companies agreed to pay about $250 billion to states and stop advertising on billboards, in malls, arenas and stadiums. And Massachusetts — well, they’ve taken it a step further, and some tobacco companies say that they’ve gone too far. And now many cities around the country are cracking down on smokers, some even suggesting that people can’t even smoke in public areas outside and in a person’s own apartment. Currently, many Los Angeles restaurants don’t even allow smoking. And the city of San Diego is expected to approve an ordinance barring smokers from lighting up outside within 1,000 feet of public playgrounds. And in Anchorage, Alaska, new ordinances ban smoking from most workplaces, restaurants, bowling alleys and sports arenas. So is it all over for you smokers?

Joining us now from Los Angeles, Patrick Reynolds. He is the president of Tobaccofree.org, and he’s also the grandson of R.J. Reynolds.

And for those that don’t know you, Patrick — you and I have debated for years — you have also dedicated your life to fighting your family on the issue of smoking.

PATRICK REYNOLDS, WWW.TOBACCOFREE.ORG: Well…

HANNITY: And the family business, I should say.

REYNOLDS: My father died from smoking, R.J. Reynolds, Jr.

HANNITY: Right.

REYNOLDS: So I dedicated — I have dedicated…

HANNITY: Right.

REYNOLDS: … my life not to fighting my family but to keeping our kids tobacco-free and helping smokers to quit.

HANNITY: Listen, I — that’s all fine and good. And you know what? I — I suggest to everybody to quit smoking. It’s not healthy. It’s not a good thing to do. I’m against drug legalization because we also have the factor of — of people in a lost state of consciousness walking the same streets. But that’s not the case with smoking. If people want to smoke, Patrick, it’s really their business.

REYNOLDS: Two things. One, it’s as addicting as heroin. And two, 90 percent of smokers, Sean, got addicted before reaching their 19th birthday. So it’s only children from 12 to 19…

HANNITY: Right.

REYNOLDS: … that are starting and getting addicted.

HANNITY: And — and the big government has been warning people since ’64 not to smoke. And it’s illegal for kids to buy cigarettes. And all these measures have been in place for an awful long period of time, Patrick, but yet people make the decision that they want to do this. Do we really want the government intruding into every single aspect of their life like this?

HANNITY: You don’t even want people to smoke outside! You don’t want restaurants to set their own policies! You don’t want people even smoking in their apartments now! Don’t you think that’s going a little too far?

REYNOLDS: I think you’re — you’re — you know, Sean, you got to open your eyes and pay attention to the sign of the times. These are reasonable laws, on the whole. Most of them are very reasonable laws that aren’t about smoking outside. We’re talking now — the Supreme Court is reviewing whether cigarette advertisements should be within 1,000 feet of schools, whether cigarette displays on countertops should be where they’re right now, at child eye level. Shouldn’t they be above child eye level, where kids can’t get to them?

You know, when I lecture to kids — and I talk to a lot of schools, high schools and middle schools, and I focus much more on that now than on politics. But the kids don’t know that every convenience store where you see a countertop display of tobacco is getting about $100 a month or so to keep that display right there. The kids don’t know that. They kids think it’s a popular, acceptable product, and that’s why the store put it on the countertop.

HASTINGS: Mr. Reynolds, let me…

REYNOLDS: They don’t know they’re getting paid.

HASTINGS: Let me ask you — this is Alcee Hastings, sitting in for Alan Colmes. Give us some of the empirical information with reference to what has transpired since there have been smoking bans in some of these cities. For example, in California, how about lung cancer. Has it been reduced in some respects, or teenage smoking generally in California?

REYNOLDS: Lung cancer in California has fallen dramatically, and we believe it’s directly correlated to the rate of smoking in California. And the states which have the most regulations on tobacco — penalties for minors, compliance checks, or sting operations, if you want to call them that, of sending kids into convenience stores to try to buy cigarettes –the states with the most regulations have the lowest teen smoking rates.

And the states with the least regulations, like South Dakota, have the highest teen smoking rates.

HASTINGS: Let me ask you just one more thing with reference to the president-elect. What do you see happening with reference to regulation in a Bush administration or him using the bully pulpit to continue the kind of efforts that folk like yourself and others have been putting forward?

REYNOLDS: Well, Governor Bush — I mean, the biggest donor to the Republican Party is Philip Morris. Ninety percent…

HANNITY: Oh, here it comes!

REYNOLDS: … of big tobacco…

HANNITY: Here it comes!

REYNOLDS: Ninety percent — Sean, I’d like to finish here. Ninety percent of big tobacco‘s…

HANNITY: No, I — it didn’t take you long to get…

REYNOLDS: … political contributions

HANNITY: … into Republican-bashing.

HASTINGS: Let him answer!

HANNITY: It didn’t take him long!

HASTINGS: Let him answer!

HANNITY: We got to take a break. But we’ll get back to Patrick in just a minute, and we’ll let him answer in full. That’s all straight — you know don’t him the way I do. He doesn’t like Republicans. You’ll see when we get back.

And also coming up next: Former congressman John Kasich will join us. What does he think of President-elect Bush’s cabinet? And also, should the president pardon Bill Clinton when Bill Clinton gets out of office?

And then Congressman Hastings and I go one on one in a battle over his controversy this weekend. That’s all straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY & COLMES. I’m Sean Hannity.

Congressman Alcee Hastings. He’s in for Alan tonight. And it’s a great night to have him because he was causing all sorts of trouble and controversy over the weekend as he was challenging Florida’s electors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JANUARY 6, 2001)

HASTINGS: Mr. President — and I take great pride in calling you that — I must object because of the overwhelming evidence of official misconduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: He and I will debate that as we go one on one. That’s coming up later in the program.

We’ll also be joined by Congressman John Kasich — I guess now former Congressman John Kasich — and get his take on whether or not Bill Clinton should be pardoned and the appointments by George W. Bush.

But we continue with Patrick Reynolds talking about these new laws about smoking.

Can you explain why we should have a law on the books, why somebody who pays rent, in their own apartment, should not be allowed to smoke? Is that something you support, too?

REYNOLDS: Well, Sean, those are laws I regard as being on the fringe. You know, what the Supreme Court, again, is reviewing is whether cigarette ads should be within a thousand feet of schools and whether…

HANNITY: All right, but — I know you want to go back to that, but please…

REYNOLDS: … whether tobacco — tobacco displays should be at child eye level. But what I think —

Yeah, let’s go back to the congressman’s earlier question. What about the Bush administration and some of these Cabinet appointees? I want to talk about John Ashcroft as the attorney general, head of the Department of Justice. He’s had a very pro-tobacco record, and he is all but sure to cancel the federal government’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry, which will save the tobacco companies around $200 billion…

HANNITY: Hey, Patrick, you know, there are a lot of Democrats in those — in those Southern tobacco growing states that also have been supporting the tobacco companies, so we don’t need to go down that road.

HANNITY: Let me ask you this question. I — you want to — every time you’re on the program, we run out of time, and I don’t get a chance to ask you. You — you — your family has — you’ve inherited millions from your family that have gotten money from tobacco money. You live the life that you do because of that money. Do you think — I mean, do you not view it as blood money and wouldn’t you want to just give it all away?

REYNOLDS: You know, Sean, I use the money I inherited to…

HANNITY: All right.

REYNOLDS: … fuel my campaign at tobaccofree.org, and I’m —

Again, I want to get back on Ashcroft as — he’s going to cancel the Bush…

HANNITY: I notice you’re ducking that question.

REYNOLDS: … the federal government’s —

You know, we’re just — you’re using up time so I can’t talk about what’s going on politically, and that’s more important to me.

HANNITY: All right. Here’s Congressman…

REYNOLDS: I get along fine with my family.

HASTINGS: Let me ask you, Mr. Reynolds — one of the concerns when smoking bans began was that revenue was going to be reduced. Particularly restaurateurs and bars in California came to that view. Do you have any empirical data reflecting on that view as to whether or not any revenues have been reduced?

REYNOLDS: Absolutely. And the tobacco industry fanned the fires with panic, saying, “Oh, the restaurant revenues will be reduced.” In fact, there was an increase. In sales tax studies — and sales tax doesn’t lie — there was an increase in restaurant revenues in California and in Massachusetts where these studies were done. So the — the anti-smoking laws didn’t affect restaurant revenues.

Again now, back on Ashcroft for a second, I believe he’s going to cancel the federal…

HANNITY: He can’t help himself.

REYNOLDS: … government’s lawsuit against big tobacco. It will save the tobacco industry $200 billion. That’s 50 percent of the Medicaid damages, which — the federal government’s been paying half of Medicaid, and it’s a $200-billion special protection for big tobacco. Why? Because Philip Morris is the biggest donor for the Republican Party.

HASTINGS: What is the — what is the position that you feel is going to be taken by the anti-smoking interests or — as pertains to the Ashcroft nomination?

REYNOLDS: Please. It’s not been in the media…

HANNITY: Quickly, Patrick.

REYNOLDS: … but all of the anti-smoking forces are against Ashcroft, against Tommy Thompson. These men have a long history of pro- tobacco votes, support of the tobacco industry. It’s like putting the fox in charge of the hen house…

HANNITY: All right. They…

REYNOLDS: … to put Ashcroft as attorney general and…

HANNITY: Patrick…

REYNOLDS: … Tommy Thompson as secretary of HHS.

HANNITY: They’ve been warning people since ’64 of the dangers of smoking. My father quit after 40 years. If he could do it, anybody could. It’s a matter of people make choices. You’re blaming the wrong people.

But, anyway, it’s good to see you, Patrick.

REYNOLDS: It’s kids who have made this so-called choice, Sean. Our kids.

HANNITY: All right. Patrick, always good to see you. Thank you for your passionate debate. We’re glad you could join us.

And coming up next, former Congressman John Kasich. He’ll join us. We’ll get his thoughts on Linda Chavez, the other appointments by George W. Bush.

And also later, Congressman Alcee Hastings and I will do battle over his busy weekend protesting Florida’s electoral votes.

Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

Content and Programming 2001 Fox News Network, Inc. Transcription 2001 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user’s personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, Inc.’s and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.’s s or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.

Document hac0000020010711dx190005z

Tobacco opponent says Idaho should do more for youth with settlement funds

381 words
26 April 2001
05:20 am
Associated Press Newswires

The Associated Press.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) – The grandson of the founder of the nation’s second-largest tobacco company is critical of the way Idaho uses its share of settlement money from cigarette manufacturers.

Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds, told an audience at the College of Southern Idaho Wednesday that the tobacco industry absolutely targets a young field of potential customers.

“I hear from a lot of teens who say, ‘Oh, Mr. Reynolds, tobacco advertising doesn’t have any effect on me,”‘ he said.

But he said their tobacco use increased 73 percent in 10 years beginning in 1988, the year R.J. Reynolds introduced the Joe Camel mascot. The company’s internal memos reveal they were aiming at customers between 14 and 24, a group dubbed “tomorrow’s cigarette business.”

“Nine out of 10 smokers in the United States become addicted before reaching their 19th birthday,” Reynolds said.

He was critical of Idaho’s use of tobacco settlement money. He said the state ranks 40th for the amount it has directed toward youth prevention out of the 46 states that received those funds.

But in March, Idaho lawmakers approved allocating nearly $2.8 million in interest earnings in the Idaho Millennium Fund trust, containing the state’s tobacco settlement payments.

Among the expenditures are for a media campaign against tobacco use, the Youth Asset Building program, youth courts in schools and money for the status offender program in the Twin Falls area.

Reynolds also was critical of the Bush administration’s seeming disinterest in continuing with a federal lawsuit against the major tobacco companies. Reynolds advocates campaign finance reform to diminish big tobacco‘s influence on politicians.

Reynolds said he was a 9-year-old the last time he saw his father, who was lying on the floor gasping for air.

“He was dying from emphysema caused by smoking,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said he sold his stock in the company – the maker of Winstons and Camels – in 1979 because he did not want to make money off of it. Since 1986, he has been an anti-smoking advocate, lobbying for anti-smoking legislation and higher cigarette taxes.

“I believe a tobacco-free society is coming,” he said.

Rush

National/Foreign

ANTISMOKING SUIT IS LOW ON FUNDS

Wayne Washington, Globe Staff
647 words
27 April 2001
The Boston Globe
A.2

WASHINGTON – Antismoking lawmakers and activists are worried that the Justice Department is backing down from its legal fight against the tobacco industry.

In its most recent budget proposal, the Justice Department asked for $1.8 million for a lawsuit filed against the industry in September 1999. Department lawyers previously estimated that they needed $57 million this year to keep working on the case.

“The Department of Justice is proceeding with the case, and I support the department’s position,” Attorney General John Ashcroft said in testimony to Congress yesterday. “I have not made any indication about any reassignment of attorneys; I have not made a decision about the case.”

But Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Lowell and cochairman of the Congressional Task Force on Tobacco and Health, said the $1.8 million figure is “woefully inadequate” and “effectively heralds the end of the lawsuit.”

His views, expressed in a letter to Ashcroft released yesterday, were shared by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who wrote his own letter to the attorney general.

Dropping the lawsuit would be seen by political observers as a concession to big business by the Bush administration.

“This is a very sad day for all of us fighting tobacco,” said Patrick Reynolds, executive director of the Foundation for a Smokefree America and the grandson of the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. “Bush has been utterly silent on tobacco until now. Now, he’s showing his true colors.”

Meehan argues that Ashcroft did that months ago when, as a US senator from Missouri, he questioned the wisdom of the suit. In a letter to a constituent, Ashcroft wrote: “While I am deeply troubled by the increase in tobacco use by teenagers today, I do not believe that this lawsuit will help in the fight to curb teen smoking.”

He took a different stance in his confirmation hearings, however, saying that he had no “predisposition to dismiss that lawsuit.”

Rachel Tyree, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, said Bush’s election changed the nature of the fight against smoking. “We are definitely working with a different administration than the one eight years ago,” she said.

The $1.8 million figure is the same amount that Janet Reno had requested for 2001 and 2002. It would cover the salaries and staff costs of the litigation team in the government-supported lawsuit. Justice department lawyers were seeking as much as $57 million to pay for legal work, including gathering and analyzing millions of documents that the tobacco companies have asked to see.

Tyree said her organization remains hopeful the Justice Department will not let its lawsuit fade.

“We don’t want to point fingers,” she said. “We don’t want to overreact. Nothing’s been dropped.”

The Justice department’s budget, said Meehan, shows the administration’s true commitment. “That’s a laughable level of funding,” he said. “This suit is about making big tobacco change its ways. The suit has to proceed.”

The US government is seeking $100 billion from tobacco companies, who are accused of marketing their products to children and misrepresenting the dangers of smoking. Massachusetts was one of 46 states in 1998 that agreed to a joint settlement worth $208 billion.

Tobacco companies contributed more than $5.37 million to political campaigns in 1999 and 2000, according to a report by Common Cause, an advocacy group. Republicans received about 88 percent of those donations, the report said.

“I think the proposals coming from the administration on health care and on the environment would be dramatically different but for the millions and millions of dollars contributed to the Republican Party by those industries,” Meehan said.

THE NATION

Caption: An antismoking advertisement from yesterday’s Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal. The ad was paid for by Florida’s “Truth Campaign.” / AP PHOTO

LOCAL

Tobacco scion gives anti-smoking lecture

NANCY SANDERSON
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

Hemet, CA
462 words
2 June 2001
B01

HEMET

Students at West Valley High seemed to think Patrick Reynolds’ anti-smoking talk at the school Friday, although sometimes scary with its graphic visual aids, was right on target.

“It was true, fact not fiction,” said senior Audella Dowell.

Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company founder R.J. Reynolds, told students how he watched his father, oldest brother and other relatives die from cigarette-induced illnesses.

Reynolds acknowledged that he had quit smoking 11 times and finally made it on the 12th try. He didn’t pull any punches and explained that as older smokers die from their addiction, the tobacco companies use advertising that targets young people to replace them as customers.

It might not have been the kind of message that would have warmed the heart of his grandfather, but the students liked it.

Raul Butto, a senior, said he is a nonsmoker. He said his parents quit smoking seven years ago.

For student Renee Arthur, the effects of smoking have hit home. Her grandfather is in intensive care in a San Bernardino hospital with a smoking-related illness, she said.

“I would never smoke,” Renee said. “Too many bad things can come from it.”

Reynolds, founder of The Foundation for a Smokefree America, said: “We call Joe Camel, Joe Chemo.” He showed a drawing of the smoking icon in the hospital, dying of lung disease.

His overall message was simple: Smoking isn’t cool. If you smoke, quit, and if you don’t smoke, don’t start, he said.

Reynolds said smoke-free tobacco is just as dangerous as cigarettes, and he stressed a basic theme: “You can quit.”

Reynolds became one of the first tobacco-industry figures to turn his back on the cigarette manufacturers when he spoke to Congress in favor of a ban on cigarette advertising. He has appeared all over the country, speaking out against the industry that made his family wealthy.

The Foundation for a Smokefree America is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help bring about a smoke-free society.

As he closed his talk at the high school, Reynolds gave an inspirational message of hope for the future and urged the students to stay healthy so they can enjoy the amazing things that will come about in their lifetimes.

His appearance was the final program in the Hemet Unified School District’s campaign against smoking called TUPE, for Tobacco Use Preventive Education. As part of the program, certificates were issued to students who remained smoke-free for 30 days.

“We issued 159 certificates at West Valley,” said Valerie Velez, Health Education Program consultant for the district. “Districtwide, we’re hoping to issue 300 this year.”

PHOTO; Caption: Patrick Reynolds

FLORIDA/METRO
CAPITOL WATCH

Blowing smoke profitably

JOHN WARK
576 words
23 June 2001
Tampa Tribune
FINAL
1

A few months ago, Jim McDonough, Florida’s drug czar, spoke to a class at Florida State University about the war on drugs. There is a correlation between the use of hard drugs and marijuana and also between hard drugs and alcohol and tobacco, he said.

Legalizing marijuana is not a good idea because ease of access would increase the number of people who use such drugs as cocaine and heroin. So goes the argument.

Outlawing alcohol and tobacco, by this reasoning, would reduce hard drug use. But there is no way society is ever going to go along with that, McDonough said.

Illnesses, including emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease, are directly linked to cigarette smoking and are well-documented. An estimated four of every 10 smokers die from the addiction. Each year, an estimated 420,000 people die nationwide, 29,000 in Florida.

Big Tobacco‘s attempts to make smoking attractive to younger generations has stirred such moral outrage in the past few years that a public campaign got under way to reduce teenage smoking.

PATRICK REYNOLDS, a grandson of the tobacco company founder R.J. Reynolds, has been at the forefront of the campaign. His Web site (https://www.tobaccofree.org/children.html) says his family’s “cigarette brands, Camel and Winston, killed his father and eldest brother” and spurred him to become the “first tobacco industry figure to turn his back on the cigarette makers.”

According to the Web site, the World Health Organization predicts that “in coming decades, cigarettes will kill 500 million people … 9 percent of the present world population … almost 1 of every 10 people now alive on earth will die because of cigarettes.”

The excessive cost to taxpayers of caring for ill smokers prompted the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to work in league with a few lawmakers to craft a law that allowed the state to sue to recoup some its expenses from cigarette makers.

Florida won a settlement worth $13 billion over 25 years. Much of the money goes into the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund and is spent on programs for children and the elderly.

About four years ago, at the same time Florida and other states were suing cigarette makers, Florida withdrew about $900 million worth of pension funds invested in tobacco stocks. It was a political and moral statement.

TEN DAYS AGO, however, Gov. Jeb Bush and two Cabinet members decided to begin reinvesting the pension fund in tobacco stocks. Had the state not stopped the tobacco investments the state would be $300 million richer.

Said the governor: “We have a fiduciary responsibility with the pension fund to put aside personal views and political perspectives and make the most prudent decision.”

The tobacco industry gave Florida Republicans $227,250 during the 1998 election and helped put Bush in the governor’s office. Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro, was one of the largest donors to the Florida Republican Party, giving $125,000.

Republicans in the 1999 Legislature, most of whom vehemently opposed suing cigarette makers, promptly killed a proposed Clean Indoor Air Act that would have let local governments ban smoking in restaurants and other public places.

Does any of this indicate that political perspectives are being put aside?

Does it represent an acceptable balancing between public and private interests? Is it the best policy we can hope for on a legal, profitable, addictive, deadly substance?

Tobacco Control Board releases third round of ads

372 words
23 July 2001
05:09 pm
Associated Press Newswires

The Associated Press.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board debuted its third round of anti-tobacco ads Monday, a series of television and radio spots that claim the industry has misrepresented the dangers of using tobacco.

One TV spot shows a former cigarette model who had her larynx removed. Another features Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds, who tells viewers that cigarette companies don’t print the contents of cigarettes on the packages because they don’t want smokers to know what they’re inhaling.

Bill Elliott, dean of the Marquette University communications college and member of the tobacco board, said advertisers are allowed some excess in their advertisements, often called puffery. But he said the tobacco industry’s claims that the cartoon character Joe Camel was not developed for kids are ludicrous.

“That’s not puffery. That’s a lie, and they’ve done that constantly,” he said.

Tom Ryan, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, said the company supports efforts to prevent youth smoking and educate the public about the health effects of smoking. But it does not think some of the ads are appropriate.

He had not seen the latest Wisconsin ads.

“We have seen ads that are not truthful or accurate about our programs or policies at Philip Morris,” he said. “Those ads which denigrate the industry are inappropriate.”

The third round of ads are directed at young people, who the board says tobacco companies often target in their advertisements. The ads will run over the next few months.

The 22-member Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board distributes and manages the $5.9 billion the state is to receive over the next 25 years as part of a 1998 settlement it and 45 other states reached with the tobacco industry.

The Legislature allocated $23.5 million of that money in the current budget for an anti-tobacco initiative.

About $6.5 million of that is being spent on the ad campaign. A fourth round of ads aimed at minority communities is slated to run this fall, said David Gundersen, executive director of the Tobacco Control Board.

—

On the Net:

Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board: http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/wtcb

Urgent

Teens take on tobacco industry with ads

DENNIS CHAPTMAN
Journal Sentinel staff
534 words
24 July 2001
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Final
02B

Teens take on tobacco industry with ads

Youths bring credibility to campaign highlighting firms’ marketing practices

By DENNIS CHAPTMAN

of the Journal Sentinel staff

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Madison — A third round of anti-tobacco ads, aimed at preventing Wisconsin youth smoking by highlighting the marketing practices of the tobacco industry, kicked off Monday.

The state Tobacco Control Board began airing the television and radio spots as part of the youth-led FACT campaign, which stands for Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco.

“This campaign aims to educate Wisconsin residents about the real and calculated ways the tobacco industry has acted to addict our youth to tobacco products,” said board Chairwoman Earnestine Willis.

The FACT campaign was developed by youths statewide; almost 300 from 50 counties met in Madison last month as a first step toward developing local FACT chapters to spread the anti-tobacco message.

“It’s time that Wisconsin youth did something about the fact that they’ve been targeted by tobacco companies,” said Kristi Morrissey, an incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a board member.

Mike Domask, 17, a senior at Ozaukee High School, said he hopes the campaign will persuade youths to avoid smoking and reject marketing ploys by tobacco companies.

“Every minute, $17,000 is spent advertising and targeting us. Why? Because we are regular potential customers,” Domask said. “Once they get us hooked, they know they have us for life.”

Chelsea Tubbs, 16, a junior at Beloit Memorial High School, said it is crucial that youths be heavily involved in the campaign in order to build credibility with other teens.

“Teens listen to teens,” Tubbs said. “We will use FACT to talk to our friends about how the tobacco industry is targeting them and how they can make a difference. In our communities, we are planning activities to tell our friends the truth about tobacco.”

David Gundersen, the board’s executive director, said teens are angry about the way the tobacco industry has targeted them.

“They don’t like being referred to in tobacco industry memos as `replacement smokers’ or `the young and ignorant.’ Youth don’t like being viewed as percentages and not people,” Gundersen said.

The latest round of ads features a tobacco industry lobbyist talking about how he lied for the cigarette makers and an ex- cigarette model who speaks in a raspy voice due to the removal of her larynx.

In one of the ads, Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of cigarette magnate R.J. Reynolds, talks about how tobacco companies don’t want consumers to know what’s in cigarettes.

“My family’s name is printed on 7 billion packs of cigarettes every year,” Reynolds says. “Why am I telling you this? Because I want my family to be on the right side for a change.”

Domask said he hopes teens will heed the messages.

“I’m not going to be like the 71 people daily in Wisconsin who are starting to smoke,” Domask said. “I’m not going to be one of 21 people in Wisconsin to die today (from tobacco-related illnesses). Man, I’m going to live.”

Document mlwk000020010724dx7o0003g

LOCAL

TOBACCO CONTROL BOARD RELEASES 3RD ROUND OF ADS

Associated Press
363 words
24 July 2001
St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Wisconsin
B3

St Paul Pioneer Press.

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board debuted its third round of anti-tobacco ads Monday, a series of television and radio spots that claim the industry has misrepresented the dangers of using tobacco.

“That’s not puffery. That’s a lie, and they’ve done that constantly,” he said.

He had not seen the latest Wisconsin ads.

“We have seen ads that are not truthful or accurate about our programs or policies at Philip Morris,” he said. “Those ads which denigrate the industry are inappropriate.”

The third round of ads are directed at young people, who the board says tobacco companies often target in their advertisements. The ads will run over the next few months.

The Legislature allocated $23.5 million of that money in the current budget for an anti-tobacco initiative.

PAUL PIONEER PRESS

LOCAL/STATE

ANTI-SMOKING ADS TARGET TEENAGERS

Matt Pommer The Capital Times
336 words
24 July 2001
The Capital Times
FIRST
4A

Young people are keys to curbing smoking by their peers, the head of the State Tobacco Control Board said Monday.

“Youth listen to other youth,” said Dr. Earnestine Willis, chairwoman of the board.

Her comments came at a morning press conference at which the board unveiled a six-week, $350,000 anti-smoking campaign aimed at young people. The ads running as part of the campaign were selected by the 300 teenagers who attended a conference here in June.

At that meeting, the teenagers chose Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco (FACT) as the name for their efforts.

One of the selected ads has a raspy-voice ex-tobacco industry model saying: “You may not get cancer. But I doubt you’ll get truth from cigarette companies. They keep saying you can’t get hooked on cigarettes even though many smokers who lose their vocal cords can’t quit.”

Another has Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds, a tobacco firm pioneer. The grandson says:

“Do you know what’s in cigarettes? No, because the last thing the tobacco companies want is for you to know how many poisonous chemicals are in their cigarettes. So they just don’t tell you.”

Another uses a message from the late Victor Crawford, who lobbied for the industry for five years.

“Tobacco companies know that 90 percent of smokers start as children … before they know better.”

Money for the Wisconsin ad campaign comes from the state’s share of the master settlement with the tobacco industry. Forty six states, including Wisconsin, had sued the industry to recover the public health costs of treating smokers.

The Tobacco Control Board was appointed by former Gov. Tommy Thompson to reduce tobacco use in Wisconsin.

The board estimates that 38 percent of high school children in Wisconsin are smokers. It also estimates in Wisconsin 18 percent of pregnant women smoke. That’s 32 percent higher than the national average, according to the board.

Tobacco Control Board allocates reduced funds

445 words
12 November 2001
05:54 pm
Associated Press Newswires

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Tobacco Control Board allocated $10.2 million Monday for next year’s anti-smoking efforts, almost half of what it gave out for 2001.

The board was forced to slash anti-smoking efforts after its funding was cut in the budget Gov. Scott McCallum signed in August.

“We’re just not doing as much as we could and should, which means more people are going to die of tobacco-related disease,” said David Gunderson, board executive director.

The board’s biggest cut was in its media campaign, which was reduced from $6.5 million this year to $2.5 million next year.

The campaign has featured TV spots showing a former cigarette model who had her larynx removed. Another features Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. Reynolds, who tells viewers cigarette companies don’t print the contents of cigarettes on packages because they don’t want smokers to know what they’re inhaling.

The board received $20.8 million for grants for the year that ended June 30. It has $15 million for grants in each of the next two fiscal years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Rep. John Gard, R-Peshtigo and co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said the state doesn’t have any extra money to give the board.

The governor has said the state could take in $300 million to $1.3 billion less than expected for the two-year period that began July 1.

“They’ve just got to wake up and realize this state’s in an economic downturn,” Gard said.

The board was created to distribute and manage the money the state was to receive as part of a 1998 settlement it and 45 other states reached with the tobacco industry.

The state will sell its tobacco payments for about $1.3 billion under the budget McCallum signed. The board will continue to receive money after the payments are sold and is slated to receive $25 million a year after the current budget.

Carrie Sullivan of the Smoke Free Wisconsin Coalition said it’s imperative the board receive the increased funding. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Wisconsin spend at least $31 million a year on anti-smoking efforts.

“The fact of the matter is that we’re just not doing enough in our state in terms of resources. The tragedy is we know what to do and we know it will work and we just need our legislators to have the will to make it a reality,” Sullivan said.

—

On the Net:

Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board: http://www.wtcb.state.wi.us/

Urgent

Tobacco opponent says Idaho should do more for youth with settlement funds

381 words
26 April 2001
05:20 am
Associated Press Newswires

2001. The Associated Press.