Smoke Free Wisconsin is at it again! Spreading lies and misinformation. On their site that the tobacco companies are fighting the FDA regulations and are trying to block the regulations from being enacted. Of course this comes compleate with a picture of a half man half devil.
Of course Big Tobacco wants to prevent FDA regulation implementation!
Of course they fail to mention the fact that a good portion of the anti-smoking groups were in bed with the biggest Tobacco Company of all. The biggest tobacco company had a seat at the table, helped draft the bill which insured their market share Is there any wonder that these anti-smoking groups and the FDA are fighting the use of the e-cigarette? Could it be that it is a non-Big Parma alternative that might actually work?
WASHINGTON — Altria Client Services Inc., on behalf of the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, spent more than $3.9 million in the second quarter to lobby for a bill that gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate the industry and other issues, according to a recent disclosure form.
Altria ( MO – news – people ) also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving health care issues and cigarette trafficking in the April-June period, according to the report filed July 20 with the House clerk’s office.
Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc. owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA and UST Inc. ( UST – news – people ), the U.S. leader in smokeless tobacco with brands such as Copenhagen and Skoal.Altria had been a strong supporter of the bill that gives industry oversight to the FDA.
The tobacco companies that are fighting it are fighting for their first amendment rights. The same rights that Smoke Free Wisconsin enjoys spreading their lies and disinformation, they would deny the tobacco companies.
Former Tobacco Control Activist has an excellent blog entry on the subject in conclusion he wrote.
If the truth is on their side, why do they lie?
Filed under: Big Pharma, Big, Bad Government, Smoke-Free Wisconsin, The Slippery Slope, Wisconsin Ban, anti insanity, reality check, tobacco industry | Tagged: Big Pharma, fda, lies, reality check, Smoke-Free Wisconsin
Allege Signature Shortfall, Convicted Felon Circulators, and More
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ — A group of Ohio hospitality industry business owners and concerned citizens met last Friday to discuss allegations of election fraud surrounding the SmokeFree Ohio Petition Initiative in 2006. According to an audit conducted since June, 2009 (via public records requests), Opponents of Ohio Bans has discovered multiple violations of elections laws, each of which carries penalties ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, and the blatant disregard of a court order. Glancing through over 9,700 petitions, only obvious violations were noted. OoOB was assured by a representative of the Secretary of State that we have “everything” relating to the 2006 SmokeFree Ohio Petition Initiative petitions. OoOB alleges the following election law violations:
Inconsistent application of the laws by Boards of Elections
Improper validation of signatures by Boards of Elections
Part-petitions that should have been invalidated
At least 47 convicted felons hired as petition circulators and/or supervisors (who completed Form 15s) – part petitions should have been invalidated
This is perhaps the most frightening part of our investigation. Felons who had been convicted of rape or who were listed on the Ohio Sexual Offender website supervised and/or collected a staggering 1,236 signatures. Whose mother or daughter unknowingly gave a rapist or sexual offender their address? Now incarcerated, one such petition circulator, with a previous felony conviction for gross sexual imposition, went to court last month for the rape of a child under the age of 13. He pled to a lesser charge. Five hundred fifty-one people gave their signatures to people who were convicted of forgery-their signatures! Circulators and supervisors also had felony convictions for drug trafficking, grand theft/theft, aggravated arson, burglary, breaking and entering, weapons, kidnapping, etc. Who let this happen?
Paid circulators provided FALSE ADDRESSES
The law required the circulators to provide their permanent address, not a motel (ORC 3501.48(E)(1). One circulator who travels state to state for the lucrative petition industry, listed 11645 Chesterdale Rd., Springdale, Ohio as his address. The Form 15 he filed listed a Florida address. The State of Ohio had a copy of the Form 15 and his petitions with conflicting addresses, yet allowed the petitions to be validated. Another circulator also listed the Chesterdale Road address as her residence, as did circulator employer Ron Lovell. The over 7,200 signatures Lovell paid for listed the Chesterdale Road address as Lovell’s business address. That address is the Extended Stay Motel in Springdale.
Serious mathematical errors on Worklog-Supplemental 2 which accounted for a 5,617 signature error.
Form 15s not filed, not timely filed or filed under a different name than provided on circulator statement
Violating 3501.381 ORC invalidates all related part petitions and is a misdemeanor. At least five petition employers filed Form 15s with the Secretary of State either after signatures were collected by their employees, filed no Form 15 at all, or filed under a different company name than was listed on the circulator statement, as evidenced by the copies provided by the SOS. The employees of these five employers submitted over 29,000 signatures.
Memo from one Board of Elections to the SOS Office asking what to do with a petition with the sole signature dated days prior to the issuance of the petition. The reply from the SOS Office was, “If this for the Smoke Free petition-this does not invalidate an otherwise valid signature”. What if it wasn’t a SmokeFree Ohio petition?
Expenditures for payments to petition companies not reported as such on the Secretary of State’s website as an expenditure for SmokeFree Ohio, as required by law.
Judge David Cain court order ignored (In re Protest of Evans Against Initiative Petition Proposing Smoke Free Workplace Act, 2006-Ohio-4690) May 4, 2006, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain (In re Protest of Evans Against Petition Proposing Smoke Free Workplace Act, 2006-Ohio-4690) ordered a “complete list of the circulators not employed by ACS but who listed ACS as their employer”. Exhibit A contained circulators from 28 counties, invalidating between 43,403-44,664 signatures. However, of Ohio’s 88 counties, 77 counties had circulators who listed the ACS as their employer, not 28 counties. We received incomplete copies of some petitions from the first supplemental, therefore we could only verify that at least an additional 3,470 signatures should have been invalidated. Why were 49 counties left off the list? Those signatures alone would have kept Issue 5 off the ballot.
September 8, 2006, SmokeFree Initiative ordered placed on ballot by SOS.
September 11, 2006, Supreme Court upheld Judge Cain’s decision
September 19, 2006 SFO told to submit additional 23,270 valid signatures
September 28, 2006 SOS received 2nd supplement of petitions from SFO; SOS told County Boards of Elections they had 2+ business days to check signatures against voting records, check data base for duplicates & properly tally the numbers
October 5, 2006, SOS declared SFO had enough signatures
Note that Issue 5 was place on the ballot 20 days before the petitions were received and nearly a month before the SOS declared enough signatures.
Had any one of these voting laws or even the court order been adhered to, the SmokeFree Workplace Act would not have been on the ballot in 2006. OoOB contends the State of Ohio was aware they did not have enough signatures. They pulled Issue 1 off the ballots after it was certified the same election year. They should have Issue 5 as well. “Clearly, the law is for sale in Ohio,” stated Bill Brown, OoOB.
It is the duty of the Secretary of State to certify the sufficiency of the petitions and investigate the administration of election laws, frauds.. (ORC 3501.05). This ballot issue wreaks of violations of numerous laws. The BOE employees did not do their jobs. The Secretary of State did not do his job. Someone needs to enforce the laws and pursue convictions. The lucrative industry of non-grassroots, bussed in petition companies must stop. Background checks must be done on all circulators and they must carry state-issued clearance photo ID. Circulators should not be able to collect signatures for competing issues, as LIN-V-CO did in 2006.
The people demand honesty and integrity in the electoral process; we had neither with Issue 5. The laws governing the petition initiative process are in place; they’re just not enforced.
A representative of ACS said this is just another desperate attempt to overturn a voter approved ban. Voters never should have been able to vote for Issue 5 had anyone done their job. “You bet we’re desperate…desperate to be able to feed our families and not lose everything we’ve invested in our businesses,” said Pam Parker, OoOB. Secretary of State Brunner said there’s no precedent to invalidate a law passed by voters. “Sure there is. It’s called the Ohio Revised Code. The State of Ohio allowed this to happen. Amend the Ohio Revised Code to allow the exemptions for family owned businesses, private clubs and outdoor patios the people voted for, which were removed after the vote. Fix it before any more doors close!” said Linda Hubbard, OoOB.
Related Web site: http://www.opponentsofohiobans.com
SOURCE Opponents of Ohio Bans
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