Anne Landman's Collection
FYI Re Pima Co., Douglas and Tombstone
Abstract
This 1999 Philip Morris (PM) email reveals the extent of the cigarette maker's interference in efforts to enact public health smoking regulations at the most local level.
In the email, PM's Arizona public relations consultant Joanne Ralston discusses efforts to defeat smoking ordinances in the southern Arizona towns of Tucson, Douglas and Tombstone and Pima County. Ralston says that county supervisors in Pima are "...hiding behind the 'health issue" and are "likely to go forward with a ban stronger than Tucson." She expresses frustration with the Arizona Restaurant Association (ARA) over their refusal to act as a PM third party ally, saying
"ARA Tucson is weak...and not wired into supervisors at all. We offered help with a phone bank and they rejected it because we'd have to say 'Philip Morris.' Tucson bars also offered to help and were rejected by ARA/Tucson, which didn't want to be connected to tobacco and alcohol...So that's why I'm having trouble getting op-eds signed by Tucson restaurant folks."
Ralston concludes that the Arizona Restaurant Association has "a serious head in the sand mentality," and complains about the restaurant owners' realization that they, and not PM, would be the ones to bear the cost of PM's proposed "ventilation" solutions:
"...We have a model ordinance, but it requires ventilation, negative airflow over smoking sections...and minimum size requirements. Tucson ARA won't buy it. Their attitude is that we'd [be] spending their money, sans facing cost reality of separate facility vs. ventilation."
Ralston continues,
"I have asked PM to bring in Will Fox and put him on the ground in Douglas and Tombstone to stir up a firestorm of local opposition and Ginny is working on it."
That a big corporation like Philip Morris would take the time and effort to clandestinely "stir up a firestorm of opposition" to a public health effort to control smoking in an isolated southwestern U.S. community of 1,300 (Tombstone, AZ) shows the incredible extent to which this company will go to manipulate lawmaking to benefit itself.
In the email, Ralston discusses efforts to defeat smoking ordinances in several southern Arizona towns and counties, including Tucson, Pima County, Douglas and Tombstone. Ralston says that county supervisors in Pima are "...hiding behind the 'health issue" and are "likely to go forward with a ban stronger than Tucson."
She expresses frustration with the Arizona Restaurant Association (ARA) because they would not become a PM ally, saying "ARA Tucson is weak...and not wired into supervisors at all. We offered help with a phone bank and they rejected it because we'd have to say 'Philip Morris.' Tucson bars also offered to help and were rejected by ARA/Tucson, which didn't want to be connected to tobacco and alcohol...So that's why I'm having trouble getting op-eds signed by Tucson restaurant folks."
Ralston concludes that the Arizona Restaurant Association has "a serious head in the sand mentality," and complains that restaurant owners have discovered that they, and not PM, would bear the cost of a "ventilation" solution to the smoking problem:
...We have a model ordinance, but it requires ventilation, negative airflow over smoking sections...and minimum size requirements. Tucson ARA won't buy it. Their attitude is that we'd [be] spending their money, sans facing cost reality of separate facility vs. ventilation."
Ralston indicates her desire to "stir up a firestorm of local opposition" to the ordinance, saying
"I have asked PM to bring in Will Fox and put him on the ground in Douglas and Tombstone to stir up a firestorm of local opposition and Ginny is working on it."
That a big corporation like Philip Morris would take the time and effort to clandestinely interfere in the goings-on in an isolated southwestern U.S. community of merely 1,300 to "stir up a firestorm of opposition" to a smoking ordinance (Tombstone, AZ) shows the incredible extent to which this company will go to manipulate lawmaking to benefit itself.
Fields
- Notes
Tombstone, Arizona (whose slogan is "The town too tough to die") is located about 70 miles southeast of Tucson and has a population of about 1,300 people. It is the location of the famous "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." Pima County, in southwest Arizona, has about 825,000 people total. The town of Douglas, Arizona, is located near the Mexican border in Cochise County, and has a population of around 14,000.
- Quotes
Juno e-mail printed Fri, 30 Apr 1999 10:16:45, Page 1
From: joann-ralston To: sduffy@sprintmail.com Subject: FYI re Pima Co., Douglas and Tombstone
Per 9 a.m. conference call today, learned that Pima Co. Bd. Health rejected Tucson ord. Wednesday, which now includes bars, bowling alleys and restaurants, and sent resolution saying ETS is hazardous, but recommended no ban.
However, the issue will move forward quickly! Supervisors are likley to go forward with ban stronger than Tucson -- i.e. added bars and bowling alleys. They are hiding behind "health issue" and has only let health types speak Wednesday. The "Cleaning the Air" gang has been spurred on by the Tucson victory...they remain aggressive and are pressing ahead full steam.
...ARA [Arizona Restaurant Association] Tucson is weak...and not wired into supervisors at all. We offered help with a phone bank and they rejected it because we'd have to say "Philip Morris." Tucson bars also offered to help and were rejected by ARA/Tucson, which didn't "want to be connected to tobacco and alcohol." ??? So that's why I'm having trouble getting op-eds signed by Tucson restaurant folks.
Restaurants are now trying to flood city with exemption requests based on receipts; bringing in an independent accounting firm. All of which is water over the dam. They are also trying to come up with a model ordinance to shop around, but there is no draft yet. They are totally disorganized and have a serious "head in the sand" mentality.
We have a model ordinance, but it requires ventilation, negative air flow over smoking sections (which does NOT require physically separate facilities) and minimize size requirements. Tucson ARA won't buy it. Their attitude is that we'd [be] spending their money, sans facing cost reality of separate facilities vs. ventilation.
...The same environment exists in Cochise Co.--operating out of Sierra Vista -- and we now hear that Tombstone, in addition to Douglas, is also considering the Tucson ordinance. I have asked PM to bring in Will Fox and put him on the ground in Douglas and Tombstone to stir up a firestorm of local opposition and Ginny is working on it.
At any rate, urgency is high and we need to hit the ground running in all 3 markets. Joanne
- Company
- Philip Morris (a division of Altria Group)
- Author
- Duffy, Steven_J. (Attorney with PM lobbying/law firm in Arizona)Parnter in Ridge & Isaacson, Attorneys at Law, Phoenix, Arizona
- Recipient
- Xxted
- Duffy, Steven_J. (Attorney with PM lobbying/law firm in Arizona)Parnter in Ridge & Isaacson, Attorneys at Law, Phoenix, Arizona
- Region
- United States
- Arizona
- Type
- EMAI, E-MAIL
- Litigation
- Feda/Produced
- Named Person
- Fox, Will (RJR Partisan Movement Field Coordinator for AZ, CO, NM & WY)
- Corwin, Ginny (PM Lobbyist, State Gov't Relations, Colorado, c. 1998)Ginny Corwin is also registered as a lobbying for Philip Morris in Colorado. Prior to working for PM directly, Ginny Corwin served as a consultant to Philip Morris promoting their Accommodation program.
- Xxsteve
- Operation/Project
- Accommodation
- Named Organization
- Arizona Restaurant Association (ARA) Tucson
- Cochise County
- Lamaster
- Lorillard
- Philip Morris
- Pima County
- Pima County Board of Health
- Ventana Canyon (Resort)
- Yuhas
- Subject
- secondhand smoke
- secondhand smoke strategy (Corporate strategy to deal with ETS issue)
- smoking restriction
- Ventilation (Design)
- Corporate strategy
Document Images
