Action on Smoking and Health A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions    Search  | Info About  | ash.org| To Join |  Email Page

Excerpts from: Tobacco lights up for Bush
 Industry sees Bush as pro-business,
 anti-litigation, better for bottom line

For more information, and the graph, click here:  Tobacco lights up with Bush - Oct. 23, 2000

 By John Chartier, CNNfn [10/24/00]

 NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Anyone who watched the three presidential debates over the last few weeks may have noticed one subject conspicuously absent - tobacco.

 We had Medicare. We had the Middle East. We had education, but we didn't have tobacco.

 That does not mean it's no longer an issue. Neither of the candidates wants to rattle that cage just now, industry watchers said.
 Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore don't want to come right out and say they are anti-tobacco or pro-tobacco just a few short weeks from the election.

                                               Without a doubt, cigarette makers are pushing for Bush. The
                                                Republican candidate has said that if elected, he would end the
                                                Department of Justice lawsuit filed earlier this year charging Big
                                                Tobacco with racketeering violations for misleading consumers in
                                                advertisements about the health effects of smoking.

                                                On the other hand, Gore has repeatedly said he would support
                                                the lawsuit and pursue severe cigarette ad restrictions and FDA
                                                regulation of nicotine as an addictive drug.

                                                Taking a glance at tobacco's bottom line, it's easy to see why
                                                Bush is the industry's favorite.

 Just a few short months ago, anti-tobacco advocates seemed to have the industry on its knees. Hundreds of class action suits
 brought by smokers have resulted in huge payouts from the tobacco companies, which have also been subject to higher excise
 taxes. A Florida jury handed smokers an incredible $145 billion judgment against the companies (Florida has since placed caps on
 such settlements). And just two weeks ago, tobacco executives admitted before the World Health Organization that nicotine is
 addictive and that it kills.

 But take a look at the industry now and it's obvious the broad leaf has not withered. In fact,
 tobacco margins have improved sequentially over the past four quarters.
So what happened?

 So it's no wonder that of the more than $6 million tobacco has given to candidates in 2000, $5 million has gone to Republicans.

                                      Bush, whose top political strategist Karl Rove is a former Philip Morris
                                      consultant, has a history of vetoing legislation to prevent local governments
                                      across Texas from regulating tobacco use and distribution.

                                      Tobacco also opts for Bush because he is pro-business, Gurkin said, adding
                                      that his comments during the campaign suggest he would oppose future rate
                                      hikes on cigarette taxes at the federal level. Tobacco companies are already
                                      heavily taxed, having paid $5.2 billion to the government in 1999.

                                      If cigarette prices were to increase, Gurkin said, consumption would drop.

                                      Gore has said he would raise federal excise taxes on tobacco by 25 cents a
                                      pack, said Sandya Raju, a tobacco analyst with Merrill Lynch.

                                      Raju also said Bush supports tort reform that would place caps on the amount of
                                      damages companies could be fined in class action suits.

                                      "I think it's just the fact that they prefer to have someone in the White House
                                      who isn't going to pursue direct litigation claims against them," Raju said, adding
                                      that the next president would also likely end up appointing at least one new
                                      Supreme Court justice, influencing sentiment toward tobacco.

On the other hand, Gore, has been criticized for his anti-tobacco stance since his family derived
 much of its income from tobacco in Tennessee, one of the largest tobacco producing states.

 Since Gore's 46-year-old sister died from smoking-related lung cancer in 1984, critics have said
 they believe the vice president is emotionally tied to the tobacco issue.

 David Adelman, a tobacco analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, agrees that tobacco
 prefers Bush, but believes Gore would not be as anti-tobacco as he and President Clinton have
 been in the past since other issues such as health care, prescription drug prices and school
 violence have moved to the forefront.