The website, www.tobacco.money.com, also encourages lawmakers and legislative candidates in Oklahoma to sign a pledge to not accept campaign contributions, meals or other gifts from any tobacco company political action committee or from any registered lobbyist for a tobacco company or tobacco trade association.

Dr. Robert McCaffree, co-director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, said a clear correlation exists between tobacco industry contributions and the suppression or opposition of legislation intended to reduce tobacco use in the state.

Since 2006, state legislators now in office have accepted $242,719 in campaign contributions, meals and other gifts from tobacco lobbyists and tobacco company political action committees, according to the website. Nine representatives and 11 senators have accepted at least $3,000.

The website’s author, Doug Matheny, is the former director of tobacco prevention at the state Health Department; he retired in February 2011 after 28 years of service. “For decades, we’ve watched tobacco lobbyists manage to kill bills they oppose and pass bills they support,” he said.

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“The tobacco industry is seeing a major return on its investment in Oklahoma’s political system,” said Robert McCaffree, MD, Co-Director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center. “There’s a clear correlation between tobacco industry contributions and the suppression or opposition of legislation intended to reduce tobacco use in our state, particularly among legislators accepting campaign contributions from tobacco company PAC’s.”

Since 2006, Oklahoma state legislators now in office have accepted $242,719 in campaign contributions, meals and other gifts from current tobacco lobbyists and tobacco company PAC’s. Separately, over $50,000 has been accepted by various statewide House or Senate election committees. The highest total amount taken since 2006 by any individual representative is $6,298 and by any individual senator is $11,239. Nine representatives and 11 senators have accepted a total of $3,000 or more.

“The more light we can shine on industry efforts to stop meaningful tobacco prevention measures, the less effective those efforts will be,” says Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking & Health (ASH). A national leader in the fight on tobacco, ASH is focused this election year on political contributions. “Oklahoma’s website is a model we hope to help replicate in all states, said Huber.”

According to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, there are 11 individuals currently registered to lobby the Oklahoma legislature on behalf of tobacco companies or tobacco industry trade associations. The tobacco lobbyists and listings of their clients are shown on the website.

“For decades, we’ve watched tobacco lobbyists manage to kill bills they oppose and pass bills they support,” said Doug Matheny, the website’s author. “Even if it never influenced legislation, money distributed by tobacco lobbyists should be refused as a matter of principle. Accepting money or gifts from representatives of an industry that addicts young people to deadly products is inconsistent with Oklahoma values. Most tobacco lobbyists in Oklahoma take direct orders from companies that federal courts recently found guilty of racketeering.” Matheny is the former director of tobacco prevention at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. He retired in February 2011 after 28 years of service.

“Speaking on behalf of physicians now starting practices in Oklahoma, our legislators need to take a stand for health,” said Chris Sudduth, MD, MPH of Tulsa. Dr. Sudduth is Chair of the Oklahoma State Medical Association Resident and Fellow Section. “These powerful tobacco lobbyists and their money should be rejected. Business as usual must change.”

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Top Recipients of Tobacco Lobby Money in the Oklahoma House of Representatives*

Top Recipients of Tobacco Lobby Money in the Oklahoma Senate*

* Since January 1, 2006

Health & Economic Impact of Tobacco in Oklahoma*

• Number one cause of preventable disease and premature death, killing an estimated 6,000 Oklahomans each year.
• For every person who dies from tobacco use, another 20 are suffering with at least one serious tobacco-caused disease.
• The vast majority of tobacco users become addicted as young people. If current trends continue, an estimated 87,000 Oklahoma youth alive today will ultimately die early from smoking.
• Most current tobacco users in Oklahoma want to quit and have tried many times.
• Every pack of cigarettes sold costs Oklahoma’s economy an estimated $7.62 in medical expenses and lost productivity caused by premature death and disease.

Federal Racketeering Conviction of Major Tobacco Companies*

• On August 17, 2006, Philip Morris, Altria, R.J. Reynolds, Brown and Williamson, Lorillard, American Tobacco, and British American Tobacco Company were found guilty in U.S. District Court of racketeering and conducting a conspiracy. The decision noted that they have not ceased engaging in unlawful activity and that “their continuing conduct misleads consumers in order to maximize Defendants revenues by recruiting new smokers (the majority of whom are under the age of 18), preventing current smokers from quitting, and thereby sustaining the industry.”
• On May 22, 2009, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a unanimous opinion upholding the District Court judgment.
• On June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals in the case, thereby allowing the federal racketeering conviction to stand.

ABOUT TOBACCOMONEY.COM

The purpose of tobaccomoney.com is to help expose and eliminate the influence of the tobacco industry in the Oklahoma State Legislature through public awareness and by encouraging the refusal of all campaign contributions and gifts from all registered tobacco lobbyists and tobacco company PAC’s. No disrespect towards any individual person is intended. The databases on the website are compiled using information available to the public from the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. For more information, please contact Doug Matheny at contact@tobaccomoney.com or 405-474-8381.

In a letter addressed to Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), an umbrella organization of groups and individuals from medical and professional organizations, faith-based youth and environmental groups involved in upholding tobacco control laws, opposed the candidacy of the Agrarian Development Association (ADA) whose nominees are closely identified with the tobacco industry.

ADA, a party-list group representing farmers, was accredited by the Comelec but lost during the last sectoral election, is again vying to get a seat in the 2013 elections. The party-list law requires that 20 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives should comprise of marginalized groups.

A check on the Comelec web site reveals the following ADA nominees: Eric Singson, Eric Singson Jr., Rodolfo Salanga, Blake Clinton Dy, Grace Kristine Singson Meehan and Victor Manuel Jr.

“The four nominees of ADA belong to the affluent, the influential and the powerful by reason of their individual or familial wealth or the political and economic ties they have honed and developed through the years. They are neither marginalized nor underrepresented. They are rich people who use the poor, marginalized sector, in the hope of gaining a seat in Congress,” said FCAP in its letter to the poll body.

Eric Singson was the former representative of Ilocos Sur’s Second District, while his son, Eric Singson Jr., is the incumbent representative of the same district. Salanga is a longtime president of the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI), while Dy operates the Anglo-American Tobacco Corp.

FCAP reminded the Comelec that Section 2 of Republic 7941, or the Party-List System Act, requires nominees of sectoral parties to “belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties.”

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Cheyenne International LLC of Grover, N.C., and Xcaliber International LTD LLC of Pryor, Okla., each gave $200,000 this month to the fight against the proposal, according to reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

The tobacco tax increase, which has been labeled Proposition B, would generate at least $284 million for public schools, state colleges and universities, and smoking cessation programs.

Proponents say the proposal also would save the state money by reducing long-term health costs linked to smoking.

Missouri currently has the lowest cigarette tax in the country — 17 cents per pack. Proposition B, which was placed on the ballot by an initiative petition drive, would raise it by 73 cents per pack.

Because of the way the proposal is written, the impact would be even greater on cigarettes made by smaller tobacco companies, such as Cheyenne and Xcaliber.

Companies that didn’t participate in the national tobacco settlement in 1998 currently can sell cheaper cigarettes in Missouri than major manufacturers, such as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., can.

The larger companies pay the state about $150 million a year under the settlement, to help cover diseases caused by smoking.

Companies that didn’t sign the settlement pay a portion of their revenue into a state escrow fund, but they have been allowed to recoup their money at the end of each year.

The ballot proposal would eliminate that advantage.

As a result, the off-brands could face an additional cost of 57 cents per pack, on top of the 73-cent tax increase, said Ron Leone, executive director of the Missouri Petroleum & Convenience Store Association.

“That’s why they have even more skin in the game,” Leone said.

The association’s PAC is running the opponents’ campaign. Their ads will focus on “this outrageous and unfair 760 percent tax increase,” Leone said, citing the impact on the smaller companies’ brands.

The ballot proposal also would impose smaller tax hikes on other tobacco products, such as cigars.

The opponents’ campaign had $116,694 in the bank on July 26, before the recent surge.

Though Big Tobacco’s money is noticeably absent so far, retailers are helping out. For example, U-Gas Inc. of Fenton, Mo., recently chipped in $50,000 while Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. added $25,000.

Missourians for Health and Education, the committee campaigning for the proposal, has already spent $1 million on the initiative and had $126,452 in the bank, at last report.

The American Cancer Society, which has provided much of proponents’ funding, added $11,564 this week. Other big checks came from World Wide Technology Holding Co., Inc. of St. Louis, which kicked in $25,000, and Gray Ritter & Graham, a St. Louis law firm, which contributed $10,000.

By Virginia Young St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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