©1998 San Francisco Examiner

BAR SMOKING BAN STILL CONTROVERSIAL

Lobbyists from both sides camping out in the Capitol

SACRAMENTO -- Ever since the state banned smoking in taverns and cardrooms,
barflies and crusty bar owners have become Sacramento's newest crop of
lobbyists.

It's all part of an orchestrated effort to sell the human side of one of
the hottest debates in the Capitol: whether to lift the month-old ban on
smoking in bars, taverns and cardrooms.

A slick campaign with the face of a grass-roots movement is being run by
the National Smokers' Alliance, a tobacco-industry group, and
Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest public relations firm and a tobacco
industry client.

The Virginia-based Smokers' Alliance has opened a World Wide Web site and
has distributed posters and drink coasters in bars that read, "I'm a
constituent, not a criminal." Bar patrons are asked to write their names on
the coasters, and the bar owner is given an envelope to mail them to
elected officials.

The well-funded group, which receives money from Philip Morris, Brown &
Williamson and Lorillard, has arranged for face-to-face meetings with bar
owners and lawmakers.

On the other side, a coalition of health groups, doctors and labor unions
launched their counter-offensive Tuesday, promising to blitz lawmakers with
letters and phone calls and to drum up support from bar owners, customers
and workers who support the ban.

A group called BREATH, which is under contract with the state to publicize
the ban, has already run a large ad in the New York Times listing several
bars that support the ban, including 11 establishments in San Francisco.

Bar owners and workers are being recruited to show how the ban protects the
health of employees and customers -- and may even help business.

"Overwhelmingly, we have people saying, "Now I can wear decent clothing to
a bar and not go home smelling like an ashtray,' " said Lon Bartlett,
manager at the Castro neighborhood nightclub Midnight Sun, which appeared
in the Times ad.

The anti-smoking coalition includes the American Cancer Society, the
American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the California
Medical Association, the California Nurses Association and the state Labor
Federation. All promised to mobilize their members to lobby the
legislature.

The smoking ban, which took effect Jan. 1, is a delayed result of a law
approved several years ago that already has eliminated most indoor
workplace smoking in the state.

Last month, the Assembly approved a measure to repeal the ban, just as it
did last year before a similar measure was stopped in the Senate. Senate
leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, promises the new measure will get a
full hearing during this session.

The actual economic impact of the smoking ban likely won't be known for
months, when state economists and tax officials calculate sales receipts
and look at hiring trends at bars and cardrooms. Burton said he wants to
wait for those figures before making a decision on lifting the ban.

The Smokers' Alliance has been distributing a "Prohibition News Update" to
reporters with stories from outraged bar owners and customers.
Burson-Marsteller distributes a regular report of news clippings, most of
them about the drain on businesses from the smoking ban.

The Smokers' Alliance claims it isn't orchestrating much more than that.
"We ain't got the staff to do (more than) that," said Gary Auxier, vice
president of the Smokers' Alliance. "The papers are filled with this stuff.
We've been shocked. We've done lots of these grass- roots campaigns, and
this is the easiest. You've got very enthusiastic bar owners out there who
are hurting."

It may be difficult for the public -- and lawmakers -- to separate facts
about the smoking ban from the rhetoric hiding inside the "grass-roots"
campaign.

Bartlett, manager of the Midnight Sun, said he found it funny that bar
owners were complaining about a drop in business since the ban went into
effect. He said business always drops in January, in part because people
have made New Year's resolutions to stop drinking and have less money to
spend after the holidays.