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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
Making news? The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate . If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly.
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| OCTOBER 15, 1998
1:58 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids Jennifer Thorp, 202-296-5469, or Brian Bernhardt, 202-289-5900 |
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| Study Reveals Tobacco Industry PAC Contributions Bought Inaction on Tobacco Legislation in 105th Congress | ||||
| WASHINGTON -
October 15 - As Congress adjourns, an analysis of Federal Election Commission records
shows that tobacco PACs pumped more than $1.1 million into the election campaigns of
current House members in the last 18 months to ensure that they took no action on tobacco
this year. The study, conducted by the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, shows that the top 15 House tobacco PAC recipients include four key members who are part of the House leadership and control the chamber's inaction on tobacco: Speaker of the House Gingrich (R-Ga.), Majority Leader Armey (R-Texas), Majority Whip DeLay (R-Texas) and Republican Conference Chairman Boehner (R-Ohio).The House study examined tobacco PAC contributions made from January 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998. In the Senate, where comprehensive tobacco legislation (the McCain bill) died on the floor last June, tobacco PACs contributed almost $1.2 million dollars in campaign contributions to members of the chamber during the six year period from January 1, 1993 through June 30, 1998. The Senate study spanned six years in order to include the staggered election cycles of all current members. A closer examination of the House data underscores a pattern of contributions to Republicans designed to thwart legislative activity on tobacco issues. Of the 45 House members who accepted $9,000 or more from the industry, a full 31 were Republicans, and only four of the remaining 14 Democrats were from non-tobacco producing states. Overall, House Republicans took, on average, almost twice as much as Democrats -- $3,439 and $1,874, respectively. In the House, the top 15 takers accepted more than $12,000 in the last 18 months, and were led by Representatives Bunning (R-Ky.) $35,500 and Baesler (D-Ky.) $31,500 (both are candidates for an open Senate seat). The remaining 13 members in this category include:Etheridge (D-N.C.) $22,000; Whitfield (R-Ky.) $21,000; Bliley (R-Va.) $19,750; Jones (R-N.C.) $19,100; DeLay (R-Texas) $18,000; McIntyre (D-N.C.) $17,000; Chambliss (R-Ga.) $15,500; Coble (R-N.C.); $14,700;Gingrich (R-Ga.) $14,500; Ensign (R-Nev.) $13,500; Burr (R-N.C.) $13,000; Armey (R-Texas) $13,000 and Boehner (R-Ohio) $12,800. "On tobacco issues, the 105th Congress will go down as the 'take PAC money and do nothing Congress,' in which the tobacco industry ensured that its interests would reign," said Bill Novelli, president of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund. "This Congress did nothing to stop the marketing of tobacco to kids, while packing away millions in tobacco industry campaign contributions. Because members of Congress remain hooked on tobacco campaign money,our nation's youth will continue to be the targets of addictive tobacco product marketers." The study also analyzes the amounts of money members of Congress accepted from tobacco PACs matched against their positions on the most significant tobacco control measures of the 105th Congress: the cloture vote on the McCain bill in the Senate and co-sponsorship of either the Meehan-Hansen or Fazio legislation in the House. Senators who voted against cloture on the McCain bill -- which effectively killed the legislation -- took an average of more than four times the amount of campaign contributions from tobacco interests than those who voted "yes." In the House, members who failed to sign on to either the Meehan-Hansen or Fazio legislation -- two comprehensive tobacco control bills supported by the public health community -- took almost nine times the amount of tobacco PAC contributions as those who co-sponsored either bill. Those failing to support either the Meehan-Hansen or Fazio bills accepted an average of $3,514 in tobacco PAC contributions over the last 18 months, while co-sponsors of either or both pieces of legislation only took $396. For the period from 1993-1998, the average tobacco campaign contribution for Senators who did not support the cloture petition on the McCain bill (i.e., voted against the legislation) was $21,375,while Senators who supported the provision accepted only $5,044. From 1993-1998, 11 Senators accepted more than $30,000 in contributions from tobacco PACs: Senators Faircloth (R-N.C.) $91,416; Helms (R-N.C.) $66,750; McConnell (R-Ky.) $47,950; Thompson (R-Tenn.) $47,000; Hutchison (R-Texas) $44,923; Warner (R-Va.) $43,566; Hollings (D-S.C.) $41,500; Santorum (R-Pa.) $35,500; Burns (R-Mont.) The tobacco contributions indicate a clear strategy of giving heavily to members of the Senate Republican leadership -- those in a position to control debate on the McCain legislation. Senate Republican leadership (Majority Leader Lott (R-Miss.) and Majority Whip and Assistant Majority Leader Nickles (R-Okla.)) took an average of $20,208 between 1993-1998, while the minority Democratic leadership (Minority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) and Minority Whip Ford(D-Ky.) accepted an average of just $4,500 (Sen. Daschle accepted no tobacco contributions and Sen. Ford, who represents a tobacco-producing state, accepted $9,000). Overall, Senate Republicans accepted almost four times as much money from tobacco PACs as their Democratic counterparts -- $17,662 and $4,867, respectively. "These numbers make clear that the real issue in the congressional debate on tobacco control was money -- big campaign money from Big Tobacco," said Matthew Myers, general counsel of the Action Fund. "The money that really mattered in this debate was not the price of a pack of cigarettes; rather it was the millions of dollars that tobacco companies happily paid to buy continued allegiance from Congress. We will continue to work to ensure that the 106th is a 'do-something' Congress on comprehensive tobacco control." The House and Senate analyses include only contributions from tobacco-related PACs (a) and do not account for the industry's substantial soft money contributions. A listing of the House and Senate tobacco PAC contributions examined in the study is available upon request. ------ The Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that focuses on reducing youth tobacco use in the United States through advocacy and related activities. --- Note (a): Tobacco PACs included in the analysis: Tobacco Institute Political Action Committee; RJR Political Action Committee/RJR Nabisco Inc.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation Employee Political Action; Philip Morris Companies Inc. Political Action Committee; UST Executives, Administrators and Managers Political Action; Lorillard Public Affairs Committee; CIGAR-PAC of the Cigar Association of America Inc.; Batus Public Policy Action Committee; Smokeless Tobacco Council Inc. Political Action Committee; Universal Leaf Tobacco Company Inc. Political Action Committee; Pinkerton Tobacco Company Political Action Committee; Standard Commercial Tobacco Company Inc. Political Action Committee; Dimon Incorporated PAC; Swisher International Inc. PAC Fund; Concerned Friends For Tobacco-PAC; American Wholesale Marketers Association; Asworth Corp.(funded by employees of Conwood Co.). -0- |
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