CIGARETTE MAKERS YIELD TO SUBPOENA FOR DOCUMENTS

POLITICS: Papers obtained by Congress are key to a Michigan lawsuit to
recover money spent on sick smokers.

WASHINGTONThe nation's largest cigarette makers ended a confrontation with
a congressional ally Friday by complying with subpoenas to release more
than 800 documents that they had fought to keep secret.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Billy, RVa., put the papers under
lock and key while he determined how to establish "a bipartisan process for
reviewing and disclosing the documents."

Bliley subpoenaed tobacco companies Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown &
Williamson and Lobular In. late Thursday after the companies ignored his
monthlong demand to provide Congress with the papers, which he called vital
for lawmakers to see before they consider legislation that could protect
tobacco firms from future lawsuits.

The papers are at issue in Minnesota's massive antitobacco lawsuit, which
seeks to recover money spent treating sick smokers. A Minnesata court
official who has reviewed the documents has said they contain evidence of
crime and fraud, saying they show companies misled the public about the
dangers of smoking. A Minnesota judge is considering whether to allow the
documents to be used when the trial begins nest month, but so far they
remain under court seal.

Bliley's subpoenas add to the strain building between the oncestaunch
tobacco ally and the industry since last summer, when cigarette companies
secretly negotiated the $368 billion legal settlement without congressional
consultation and critics said the deal could hurt tobacco farmers and
others in the Virginia regions that Bliley represents.

Bliley for years defended tobacco. When he became chairman of the Commerce
Committee in 1994, one of his first acts was to cancel an investigation of
the industry.

But now as committee chairman, he will play a leading role as Congress
debates whether to make the tobacco deal law. Observers say it is crucial
that lawmakers not be surprised by damaging tobacco evidence as they
debate the deal.

"Congress has a right to examine these documants as part of its
consideration of the proposed tobacco settlement, and today's development
will give Congress the information it needs to make more informed and
responsible decisions," Bliley said in a statement Friday.

Tobacco spokesman Scott Williams declined to comment.

Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III commended Bliley "for
helping to pry open the over 800 secret documents the industry has long
fought to keep hidden."

But "these documents are only the tip of the iceberg," he added. Minnesota
court officials are reviewing 200,000 other secret industry papers to see
if they, too, contain what Humphrey alleges is evedence of fraud.

Hearings on the proposed tobacco deal, which would settle some 40 state
antitobacco lawsuits and protect the industry from future legal battles,
are set for next week but no action is expected before spring.