Where Do You Stand, Wisconsin? The Smoking Ban Resurfaces

So here it starts. Yesterday the Wisconsin Senate chose to resurrect the State smoking ban (SB 150) and passed it through their committee which allows it to go to the floor now.

This is not acceptable.

I started phase one by sending out email letters, and since that didn’t gain me much I am now sending out hard copies of my letter along with packets of information regarding smoking ban damage and the lack of hard evidence regarding second-hand smoke.

Phase two starts now. I have put together an informal petition that I hope to get circulating around Wisconsin to help guage response as well as gather data.

This is where I need help. Anybody in Wisconsin who reads this, please sign the petition here and forward it on to everybody you can. We need the power of the people more than ever now, as the Governor Doyle and the Wisconsin legislature has proven to us time and again that they don’t care about anybody unless they make a ruckus. So you know what? It’s time to make a ruckus. It’s time to be as annoying and in-your-face as the anti-smoking crowd.

Remember, this isn’t about smoking. This is about freedom and rights. This is about the right of a person to choose their own path. It’s about the right of a business owner to run their business as they want.

Remember, the more we allow them to take away, the more we lose in the long run. Is this the future that we really want?

Below is my commentary on SmokeFree Wisconsin’s asinine press release on the Senate move:

SmokeFree Wisconsin: Statement on the committee vote on smoke free legislation
1/9/2008

For further information:
Maureen Busalacchi
(608) 268-2620

MADISON—The Wisconsin State Senate Public Health Committee took an important step today in advancing Senate Bill 150, legislation that would make all public places and workplaces in the state smoke-free. Unfortunately, amendments were added to the bill by the committee that create loopholes for Big Tobacco and delay health protection for restaurant and bar workers for two years. A coalition of public health and business groups urge a vote on the Senate floor as soon as possible to correct and pass SB150.

[See, here's the problem with the anti-smoking crowd. They want all or nothing. There is no such thing as a compromise with them. They want it their way or no way... And of course, no way is not an option. They also want things to move along as quickly as possible, which I think is a ploy to make sure laws are in place before anybody has a chance to argue another side of the equation.]

“This legislation is long overdue; it is time for everyone who lives and works in Wisconsin to have basic health protection from secondhand smoke,” said Maureen Busalacchi, Executive Director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. “The bill needs to be corrected through amendments but we are looking forward to finally having action on the Senate floor.”

[She sounds like she is taking this personally. Shouldn't the passage of restrictive legislation be based on objective reasoning over personal feelings? I mean, we're talking about stripping away the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsin residents and business owners in the name of public health - something that they cannot definitively prove anyway.]

A last-minute amendment was passed that exempts “a place of employment operated by a manufacturer, importer, wholesaler, or distributor of tobacco products” as well as “a tobacco storage facility” from the law (quoted from amendment LRBa0722/1). These broad and undefined exemptions would exempt tobacco company-owned businesses and possibly open up broader loopholes. For example, Reynolds American recently entered the bar and restaurant business by opening an establishment in Chicago. Such an establishment would be clearly exempted under this amendment.

[Here we go with the lack of compromise or exemption. What is the deal? Why such an all-or-nothing stance?]

“It is outrageous that tobacco companies still have a say when we write laws to protect health,” said Busalacchi.

[Here we go... The big, bad, evil tobacco companies are running the government. Yeah, right. This is a personal issue to people like Ms. Busalacchi. She's on a personal mission here. She hates tobacco. She hates smoke. She hates smokers. She would rather see a blatant violation of freedom than allow big, bad tobacco to get one over on her.]

“The delay in implementation of the law is also a problem,” said Alison Prange, Wisconsin Government Relations Director of the American Cancer Society. “Why should people have to wait two full years to breathe free inside a restaurant or bar?”

[As always, I can't help but to ask why it is that people supposedly have no choice? If people do not want to be exposed to ETS, they have the choice not to patronize establishments that allow smoking. Is it that hard to figure out? And stop throwing around this "breathe free" thing. Breathing free is having the right to breathe whatever we choose, not being told what to breathe. Give me a break!]

The measure is now available to be scheduled on the Senate floor where advocates believe a majority of Senators, including members from both parties, will pass the bill. If the bill becomes law, Wisconsin would become the 23rd state to require all restaurants and bars to be smoke-free.

[That's because these people are placing the importance of pandering to special interests over freedom which is wholly unacceptable.]

Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including 69 carcinogens. An impressive coalition of health and business advocates have joined together to support SB150, including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, SmokeFree Wisconsin, Wisconsin Medical Society, Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Wisconsin Innkeepers Association, and others.

[Ah yes, the evils of ETS. It'll kill you faster than Plutonium according to the surgeon general. Yet... OSHA has not put any limits on exposure. So if I worked somewhere where I was exposed to the same array of chemicals in a non-ETS related capacity, I wouldn't have to take precautions, yet when it's ETS you have to ban it to protect everybody. I don't want to hear about biased coalitions who want to see the abolition (or at least the complete cessation) of smoking. There's no objectivity to these people. If they are going to slap us with nanny-state laws and infringe this severely on our rights and freedoms, I want objective data. No opinions. No personal vendettas against smoke. No personal hatred of big tobacco.]

[Read the Comment thread via the original post at Pro Patria]