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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Corpus Christi Voters Approve Restaurant Smoking Ban [09/12-1]
Excerpts from: Smoking ban passes easily
By Neal Falgoust Caller Times [09/11/05]
Corpus Christi voters answered that question Saturday by overwhelmingly approving a ban on smoking in all city restaurants. It will take effect Sept. 20.
The ban passed with 16,466, or 70 percent, in favor and 6,737, or 29 percent, opposed, according to complete, unofficial returns.
About 14 percent of the city's registered voters cast a ballot in the election. Most of the action came before Saturday, with 13,219, or 57 percent of the total ballots, being cast in early voting.
Passage of the ban does not mean the battle is fully resolved. A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ban still is pending in U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack's Corpus Christi court.
"We're prepared to address any issues that may arise" to challenge the ban, said City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer. "The judge wouldn't second-guess the voters. (Opponents to the ban) would have to find some legal challenge to the ordinance."
Larry Jones, environmental and consumer health manager for the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, said enforcement will be based on complaints received from the public. The city will not send out police looking for violators, but will respond to specific complaints.
"The management of the restaurants needs to see that patrons comply," he said. "There's responsibility on their backs as well."
The fight for a smoking ban began in November 2004, when a group called Smoke Free Rights Now urged the city to ban smoking in area restaurants and bars.
Opponents of the ban, including Citizens for Choice and Common Sense and some restaurant owners, fought back, saying restaurant owners should have the right to run their businesses as they see fit.
The City Council initially passed the ban in January by amending an ordinance that set aside smoke-free tables in restaurants, but the council's action was challenged in court and opponents of the ban circulated a petition to put the matter before voters.Opponents gathered 9,384 signatures, enough to force an election on the issue.
Much of the effort in the campaign was focused on early voting. The Campaign for Smoke Free Restaurants set up a phone bank and sent out thousands of direct-mail pieces to a targeted audience encouraging people to vote.
From Aug. 10 until Sept. 2, the smoke-free campaign raised $35,624 and spent $32,800, according to financial disclosure reports.
In contrast, the opposition group Citizens for Choice and Common Sense raised $3,849 and spent $3,607 during the same period, according to the reports.
Clark James, a spokesman for the opposition group, said the smoke-free campaign had deep pockets because it accepted contributions from groups outside Corpus Christi. James said his group took money only from locals.
"I just hate it when out-of-town money comes down here and tries to influence our elections," he said.
Dr. Gerard Voorhees, a local radiation oncologist and immediate past president of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, said much of the financing for the campaign came from donations made to the society that were funneled through its state office in Austin.
"It proves the American Cancer Society cares about local communities," Voorhees said. "Everybody who ever gave to the American Cancer Society just got a big payback."
Of the money raised by the Campaign for Smoke Free Restaurants in its most recent report, $2,200 came from individuals or groups in Corpus Christi. The campaign accepted in-kind contributions totaling $32,782 from the American Cancer Society for the phone bank, posters and signs and direct mail. The American Heart Association contributed an additional $500.
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