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Maryland Notebook: Secrets of Grass-Roots Organizer's Success 

Most Annapolis insiders know Vinnie DeMarco as an indefatigable advocate for universal health care, beloved by progressive Democrats and dismissed by conservatives. As executive director of the nonprofit Maryland Citizens Health Initiative, he's a familiar face to reporters: a friendly nudge, always looking for publicity for his causes.

Now comes a book by Michael Pertschuk, a consumer advocate and a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, that immortalizes DeMarco and his story as a template for successful grass-roots organizing.

"The DeMarco Factor: Transforming Public Will Into Political Power," scheduled to be published in the spring by Vanderbilt University Press, chronicles DeMarco's successful campaigns against the National Rifle Association, the tobacco lobby, Wal-Mart and the health-care industry.

Pertschuk explains how DeMarco, a former leader of the Maryland Young Democrats, has, since the 1980s, organized broad coalitions of health policy advocates, unions, churches and faith communities and even some business interests to help defeat the state's gun and tobacco lobbies with tougher gun control laws and higher cigarette taxes.

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CRONIN: Is the EU in the sway of Big Tobacco?  

Maybe there's still hope for journalism when the News of the World manages to squeeze in a story or two unrelated to Michael Jackson. "European zealots", the paper told us on Sunday, are demanding a ban on smoking outside pubs and offices. The ever-reliable Godfrey Bloom, newly re-elected MEP for Ukip, was rolled out to fulminate against this latest affront to his nation's sovereignty. "It's beyond the nanny state," he said. "It's the bully state. Do they want to close down the English pub?" . . .

the sad fact is that EU officials have not been sufficiently tough in standing up to the tobacco industry representatives that have been strenuously lobbying against an EU-wide smoking ban. The lobbyists have resorted to a sophisticated and sometimes duplicitous campaign in trying to advance their threadbare case that smoking isn't really that harmful. Top-level officials have been quite literally bought by the tobacco industry. Pavel Telicka, the former EU commissioner for health, now works for British American Tobacco, setting up appointments for the firm with his old colleagues in officialdom. Others have been charmed into submission; one former commissioner told me he was convinced that Philip Morris represented the progressive side of the industry. It never dawned on him that the firm had sunk gargantuan sums into making him believe just that by, for example, setting up a medical institute bearing its name.

No national administration would allow paedophiles a say in setting child welfare policies. So why should the views of Big Tobacco on issues of health be taken seriously? And no, I don't think this analogy is too extreme. According to the World Health Organisation, half of the children on this planet have to breathe air polluted by smoke.

This week's move towards creating a "smoke-free environment" across the EU by 2012 is superficially positive, but in reality quite a timid move. The commission's ban will not be legally binding but will rely on the goodwill of national governments to put it into effect. . . .

At the cost of five million lives each year, smoking is the top cause of preventable death in the world. The industry that seeks to profit from this misery is beneath contempt – it's about time our policy-makers started treating it that way.

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• Big Tobacco Spends Less On Lobbying 

What a difference a decade has made in the tobacco wars — at least to judge by the lobbying expenditures.

Ten years ago, with a bill providing for new tobacco regulation and a cigarette tax pending in the Senate, tobacco companies spent nearly $60 million to fend it off. Lobbying firms benefited handsomely, with multimillion-dollar payments going to Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, then home to a pair of former Senate majority leaders, Democrat George J. Mitchell of Maine (1980-95), and Republican Bob Dole of Kansas (1969-96); Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, whose name partner Haley Barbour went on to become the current GOP governor of Mississippi; and Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, whose most prominent lobbyist was yet another former Senate majority leader, Tennessee Republican Howard H. Baker Jr. (1967-85).

But as Congress this month cleared legislation to grant the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, K Street’s haul, over the preceding 15 months, turned out to be less than half of what tobacco clients spent to defeat the 1998 legislation.

The decline is due mainly to corporate mergers and industry disunity.

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LAKIN: Tony Strickland sides with tobacco companies again 

IN A MOVE THAT WILL SURPRISE absolutely nobody, State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) voted in committee last week against a proposal to tack a tax on cigarettes to raise about $1.2 billion annually for the state's ailing general fund.

He also recently voted against two measures, SB 602 and SB 603, which would make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes.

The senator joined two other Republicans in voting no on SB 600, despite the fact that polls, such as one conducted after the May vote and another done in April by Field Research Inc. say an overwhelming majority of state residents favor an increase in tobacco taxes and don't want to see drastic cuts to health-care programs for low-income and disabled residents and children.

In the last 10 years, tobacco companies have spent millions in California to keep taxes on tobacco products here among the lowest in the nation. Strickland alone has been the recipient of a whopping $91,550 in tobacco contributions since he entered politics.

According to tobacco-facts.net, California's tobacco tax rate of 87 cents per pack is 32nd in the nation. Rhode Island is No. 1 with $3.46 a pack. Some city governments in other areas of the U.S. have imposed their own taxes as well. . . .

STRICKLAND HAS A LONG HISTORY of siding with Big Tobacco on legislation, especially when it comes to sales of tobacco products to minors. Beyond the recent votes against bills to curb youth smoking, while in the Assembly he voted against allowing the Department of Health Services to conduct stings on businesses selling tobacco to minors. It passed into law anyway. He also voted against restricting non face-to-face sales of cigarettes. The measure was signed into law by Schwarzenegger.

In May, he voted against SB 4 which prohibits smoking on any state coastal beach or state park unit, except in adjacent parking lots.

The Ventura County Republican Party has been well funded by tobacco dollars as well, with $50,000 deposited into its account in May of 2008 by Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris.

Other county tobacco donations include $28,650 for Assembly member Audra Strickland (R-Moorpark), $20,900 for Assembly member Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita), and $18,900 for Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster). None of the current Democratic legislators have accepted tobacco money.

Watch to see how all these politicians vote when the bills come before them. . . .

Of the two senators who sided with Strickland in the Senate Health Committee, both have also accepted tobacco money. Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) accepted $26,800 and Sen. Sam Aanestad (R-Grass Valley) took $10,100.

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IPCPR Fights California Tobacco Tax Proposals 

California legislators are grasping at tax straws that don't exist as they seek to raise billions of dollars that don't exist for a balanced state budget that doesn't exist, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

Two legislators - Democrat Assemblyman Tom Torlakson of Contra Costa County and Democrat State Senator Alex Padilla of Los Angeles - have introduced AB89 and SB600, respectively. The bills propose to increase tobacco taxes to as much as $2.10 per pack of cigarettes on top of the current $.87 per pack state tax and recently increased federal taxes of $1.00 per pack plus correspondingly stiff increases on other tobacco products like cigars and pipe tobacco.

"It's easy to call these 'tobacco taxes', but the truth is they are discriminatory taxes that target some 15 percent of California adults who enjoy tobacco in one form or another , whether they smoke cigarettes or savor hand-made cigars" said Chris McCalla, legislative director of IPCPR.

"Real people pay these taxes; real people at all economic levels who vote and who have had enough overspending by government.

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• Big Tobacco: A history of its decline 

* Tobacco industry once known for big spending on campaigns, effective lobbyists

* As public opinion has turned on Big Tobacco, courts and Congress has too

* Despite moves against industry, "tobacco wars are anything but over," author says . . .

"My own view is that in many ways, the tobacco industry invented the kind of special-interest lobbying that has become so characteristic of the late 20th- and earlier 21st-century American politics," said Allan Brandt, dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The industry was known for its giant spending on political campaigns and effective lobbyists. The industry's representatives often had experience in politics or close ties to major power players.

"Today obviously, that lobby is much less powerful and successful than it was a generation ago," said Brandt, author of "The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America." . . .

And just last month, in what Brandt considers "one of the most significant racketeering and fraud litigations" the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's ruling in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, case, which found the tobacco industry guilty of engaging in a decades-long conspiracy to defraud the American public about the health risks of tobacco.

"Given the character of Kessler's findings -- and now the fact that her findings have been upheld by the appeals court -- this is really in a way a road map to tobacco regulation," Brandt said.

Stanton Glantz, a longtime anti-tobacco advocate and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, said the RICO ruling is what the public health community should use in its fight against the tobacco industry.

"I think it really can undermine the power of the industry politically by going to politicians and saying, 'These guys are crooks. They are crooks according to the D.C. Court of Appeals. Not just me,' " Glantz said.

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Reynolds Says North Carolina Tax Plan Imperils Jobs (Update2)  

Reynolds American Inc. said North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue is putting manufacturing jobs at risk with her proposal to raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack.

“We want more jobs, not taxes,” Daniel Delen, chief executive officer of Reynolds’ R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. unit, said today during a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital. “Taxes cause direct job losses.”

More than 400 Reynolds employees gathered to urge legislators to reject raising cigarette taxes in the state that grows the most tobacco in the U.S. and is home to Reynolds and Lorillard Inc.

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• MARLONE: How Tobacco Firms Woo Smokers  

The tobacco industry has cleverly gone beyond a merely defensive cam-Marlboro Man: From the Wild campaign to one which is positive and West to the Far East pro-cigarettes.

Other industry tactics include creating doubt without actually denying medical evidence linking smoking and cancer, philanthropy to buy friends and social respectability, and using trade agreements, bribery and lobbying to force entry into closed markets.

The tobacco industry has also used its slick promotional skills to perfect a "customised" approach to marketing products and brands by identifying and "hunting" segments of population, including the women, teens and children of the developing world.

Unfortunately, many developing countries provide a conducive atmosphere for tobacco companies to test their latest insidious tactics to get around strict legislation in developed countries. . . .

In Uganda, while still waiting for the National Environment Management Authority and the Police to enforce the Control of Smoking in Public Places legislation enacted in 2004, the vulnerable tobacco consumer needs to have an overview of the tobacco industry tactics and their corresponding goals -

- Intelligence Gathering - Monitor opponents and social trends to anticipate future challenges

- Public Relations - Mold public opinion using the media to promote pro-industry positions

- Political Funding - Use donations to win votes and legislative favours from politicians

- Lobbying - Cut deals and influence political process

- Consultancy Programmes - Produce "independent" experts critical of tobacco control measures

- Smokers' Rights Groups - Create impressions of spontaneous, grassroots public support

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• Tobacco gurus brace for striking back 

Representatives of the tobacco industry are scheduled to meet the director general implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) here today (Thursday) to demand an extension in the January 1, 2010 deadline for incorporation of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and outers, credible sources informed 'The News' here on Wednesday.

Rumours are also rife in health circles about the tobacco industry's intention to persuade the Ministry of Health against the use of shocking and fear-arousing photographs and to settle on graphics and images that are 'mild' and 'light' -- deceptive terms, which the industry itself prints on cigarette packs to mislead consumers and to promote the false impression that brands with such inscriptions offer lower tar exposure and risk, compared to other varieties. Such terms have the potential to influence health-concerned smokers to delay or prevent quitting.

The meeting will be attended by DG Implementation FCTC and head of the Tobacco Control Cell Shaheen Masud, health education advisor Mazhar Nisar, and Abdus Sattar Chaudhry. The tobacco industry will have its point of articulated by representatives of Pakistan Tobacco Company and Lakson Tobacco Company. . . .

If the World Health Organisation can prohibit its staff from meeting persons associated with the tobacco industry, why can't the Ministry of Health institute similar curbs? In an interesting development, one of the tobacco giants operating in Islamabad has appointed its 'tobacco guru' working in Indonesia, as the head of government and media relations in Pakistan to counter the blitz of negative media and continuing onslaught of the regulators against the tobacco industry.

The decision is said to have been taken in view of the company's frustration with the waning influence of retired senior bureaucrats working for it against hefty salaries.

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VIDEO: Reynolds American workers rally over cigarette tax hike 

Hundreds of Reynolds American employees reported for duty early Tuesday to protest Gov. Bev Perdue’s proposal to raise the cigarette excise tax $1 per pack to help close the state’s $4 billion budget deficit.

More than 400 workers gathered in the Deacon Stadium Parking lot by dawn for the hour long trip ahead. The crowd shouted, “No more taxes. No more taxes," as they prepared to board the buses.

Employee Randy Thompson said he went to support his company.

"The state is in trouble – a big budget deficit I understand and certainly steps have to be taken to close that deficit one way or another. But I think to add a tax on one group of people just because they consume a legal product is not the right way to go," he said.

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Hundreds of Tobacco Workers Protest Against Proposed Tobacco Tax Hikes 

More than 400 employees of Reynolds American Inc. and its operating companies rallied in Raleigh today to express opposition to N.C. Governor Perdue's proposed $1 per-pack increase in the state's excise tax on cigarettes.

The rally was preceded by a march around the General Assembly building. Employees, many of whom wore T-shirts reading, "North Carolina needs more jobs, not more taxes," carried hand-made signs protesting proposed tobacco-tax hikes.

"What a great turn-out from our employees," said Daan Delen, chairman, president and chief executive officer of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. "We are sending a clear message to the governor and those who support an increase in these taxes. The production and manufacture of tobacco remains vitally important to our state's economy. The governor's proposed $1 per-pack tax increase will cause job loss and economic hardship for thousands of North Carolinians. . . .

Also joining the protest were the mayors of Winston-Salem, Tobaccoville and King as well representatives from the North Carolina legislature.

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• Senators say tobacco votes based on regulations, not campaign contributions  

The 17 senators who voted against allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco included some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from tobacco manufacturers.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss is the third highest recipient of the group.

The historic anti-smoking legislation that the Senate passed Thursday sped to final congressional passage on Friday. Lawmakers and the White House quickly declared that it would save the lives of thousands of smokers of all ages. Even more important, they said, the measure could keep countless young people from starting in the first place. . . .

"I voted against the FDA tobacco bill because I'm opposed to the overregulation of an industry that's already highly regulated, from farmer to manufacturer," Chambliss said. "The bill saddles the already overburdened FDA with even more oversight duties, and does nothing to reduce the rate of smoking among Americans -- cigarettes already on the shelves will remain on the market."

Bunning, whose campaigns received $42,500 from R.J. Reynolds, says his vote reflects his state's interests. According to 2007 figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Kentucky ranks second in overall tobacco exports, and the crop pumps $386.4 million into the state's economy.

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Money, Congress, and We the People 

If you want to know what a conflict of interest looks like, here are some examples. First from Yahoo! News:

Influential senators working to overhaul the nation's health care system have investments and family ties with some of the biggest names in the industry. The wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, the lawmaker in charge of writing the Senate's bill, sits on the boards of four health care companies.

Members of both parties have industry connections, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, in addition to Dodd, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Judd Gregg, John Kyl and Orrin Hatch, financial reports showed Friday. . . .

Congressional and Presidential elections aren't the same - but even so, it would be hard for any of these people to justify letting any conflict of interest get in the way of doing right by the people.

Senator Burr, for instance, faces a potentially competitive re-election campaign next year. Senator McConnell, on the other hand, doesn't face the voters again until 2014. And yet both felt the need to break from the vast majority of their colleagues to vote against the best interests of the people of our nation.

Members of Congress are supposed to represent We the People. That's why we have a Congress in the first place. If a lawmaker won't do right by We the People, then what does that tell you about their integrity - and whether they're fit to stay in Congress?

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400 Reynolds American Employees to Rally in Raleigh on June 16 'North Carolina Needs More Jobs ... Not More Taxes!' 

More than 400 employees of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) and its operating companies will be in Raleigh to rally in opposition to Governor Perdue's proposed $1 per pack increase in the state's excise tax on cigarettes.

Planning to join the employees will be the mayors of Winston-Salem, Tobaccoville and King as well representatives from the North Carolina legislature. Tobacco growers, suppliers and friends of the industry have also been invited. Employees will march around the capitol then hold a rally immediately after.

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Tobacco: Money to Congress: Top 20 Members 

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Top 20 Members

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