Jump to full article: Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, 2004-03-19
Author: AL CROSS
Intro: But some lobbyists say Fletcher is having trouble gaining their clients' endorsement and help because they have not had enough time to analyze the complex plan and his would-be allies have other priorities -- getting an array of other bills through.
Ronny Pryor, a longtime lobbyist with several clients, said he has been lobbying against Fletcher's plan for Lorillard Tobacco Corp. because it would raise the state cigarette tax to 29 cents a pack, from 3 cents, now the nation's second-lowest.
"It's difficult at best to get tax modernization adopted under the best of circumstances, or it would have already been done by now," Pryor said.
"I've seen no sense that any group is actively expending a lot of political energy with their organization, with their membership, with their reputation, to make this happen yet," Pryor said. "That could change tomorrow, that could change over the weekend. The governor's very persuasive and has lots of tools in his arsenal."..
I think the time for action is probably overdue," Tom Porter, a retired farmer from Nebo in Hopkins County, said after hearing Fletcher's appeal.
Porter and his wife, Kathleen, said they still worry that a cigarette-tax increase could prompt tobacco companies to file a lawsuit that would block or delay payments that the companies are making to tobacco growers.
But some other Farm Bureau members visiting Frankfort dismissed that possibility, and one of them, Hampton "Hoppy" Henton of Versailles, said the cigarette tax should be higher than 29 cents a pack.
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