TOBACCO EXECUTIVE TRIES TO LIGHTEN UP

Big Tobacco paid a visit to the city that first scorned it and received a
surprisingly civil welcome.

A week after a comprehensive tobacco bill was killed in the U.S. Senate, RJR
Nabisco Chairman and CEO Steven Goldstone came to San Francisco on Thursday,
the first city in the country to file suit against the tobacco industry in
an attempt to recover taxpayers' money spent on smoking-related illness.

"I love San Francisco," Goldstone told a gathering of tobacco opponents and
members of the Commonwealth Club of California, sponsors of the luncheon.
"We'll just have to let the lawsuit play out. That doesn't affect my view of
The City."

Goldstone vigorously defended his industry and criticized White House and
congressional leadership and public health advocates for the defeat of the
tobacco legislation, which contained portions of a multibillion-dollar
agreement reached last year between the tobacco industry and the attorneys
general of 40 states.

Last week, the Senate killed the $516 billion bill that would have raised
the price of a pack of cigarettes by $1.10 over five years. The measure also
would have granted the Food and Drug Administration the authority to
regulate nicotine, and would have severely limited the industry's ability to
advertise.

The bill aimed to cut teen smoking but Republicans attacked it with the help
of a multimillion-dollar tobacco industry campaign labeling it a tax
increase rather than a health measure.

On Tuesday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
introduced a new anti-smoking bill that provides significant funding for
public health programs, bans tobacco advertising geared to children and
ensures FDA jurisdiction over nicotine.

House Republicans released a one-page outline Thursday for a narrow bill to
combat teenage smoking and drug abuse, emphasizing anti-smoking commercials
and penalizing youths who smoke.

Goldstone said Congress fell victim to public policy advocates who pushed
for the tax increase instead of implementing the agreement that was reached
last year.

"It is wrong to say last week's event was a victory for tobacco companies,"
Goldstone said. "We tried last year . . . to chart a new course and that
effort has completely failed. Last week only proved that."

When asked how his company felt about the numerous ordinances and movements
in California and the Bay Area to combat smoking, such as the anti-smoking
law in bars, Goldstone said his company disagreed with the policies on
principal, but had no problems with states determining their own regulations.

Several of his opponents in the audience disagreed with that statement,
pointing to industry funding of smokers rights groups that have challenged
the laws.

"Either he doesn't know what his underlings are doing or he's not being
forthcoming about how much influence (the industry) has at state and local
levels," said Lisa Goldman, spokeswoman for the Berkeley-based Americans for
Nonsmokers' Rights.

City Attorney Louise Renne said she was impressed with Goldstone's
presentation but didn't buy the arguments.

"His speech certainly ignored a lot of the history of the tobacco industry,"
said Renne, who is overseeing her office's case against RJR Nabisco and five
other tobacco companies. "Obviously he is still hoping that the June 1997
settlement will be passed."

Renne said her office is still fighting efforts by the tobacco industry to
consolidate several California lawsuits for one trial to be held in San
Diego. Currently, she said, the lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in March
at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Dr. Stanton Glantz, a UCSF professor of cardiology and leading anti-tobacco
advocate, criticized Goldstone's portrayal of the tobacco industry as a
law-abiding corporation under unfair attack. "They deserve to be demonized,"
Glantz said of the $60 billion industry. "They should get out of the tobacco
industry. Lots of things are constitutional but not responsible or ethical."

1998 San Francisco Examiner

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett