Tobacco Documents Online

n w THE TOBACCO INSTITUTE 1875 [ STREET, NORTH%VEST WASHINGTON. DC 20008 "~0~_,'457..4800 • 800/424-g876 SAMUEL D. CHILCOTE, IR. President February 6, 1985 Dr. I. W. Hughes Chairman, Chief Exehutive Officer Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. 1500 Brown &-Williamson Tower Louisville, KY 40232 #b Dear Wally: All of us here hope you will be out of the hands of the medics with due haste. Meanwhile, I want to give you a summary report of our activities which I think you will find encouraging. EXCISES At the state level, the record so far this year is 35 increase bill pending in 22 states, 11 of them calling for 8-cent increases contingent on the federal "sunset", and no final action on any of them to date. In Washington, several bills are pending to extend and/or earmark the excise. We are developing petitions for retail shops, appropriate Congressional Record inserts, and numerous forms of ally support. Among these: O The probability that the liberal-labor Save Our Security Coalition will adopt a formal resolution opposing -~ earmarkfng of cigarette excises for Medicare. O The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has written all Hispanic Members of Congress insisting they oppose all excise legislation. O Former Undersecretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts has written supply-siders in Congress (Kemp, et. al.) and urged them not to be sidetracked by minor tax legislation while tax reform is being debated. We have identified at least one local economic expert for each Member of Ways & Means and Finance, and for each state in excise Priority I. Altogether, 42 are available for testimony, private meetings and public communica-

¢ tions. All were assigned last week to write and place op-ed pieces in the home district newspapers of Members of the two key Congressional committees. At least six have already reported they are working on the assignment. We have placed economists on the agendas of professional economics society meetings being held regionally. These individuals are talking about tax reform and problems with excises. (Legislative staff serious about tax policy attend these sessions.) O O We have placed economists on programs featuring Members of Ways & Means. These sessions are being held in home districts and are an attempt to get the Member to go on = record publicly against excises. The first is next week in Atlanta. Others are planned in New York and possibly Oakland~ i" The National Association of Convenience Stores should have its anti-excise study ready soon and the National Hispanic University should be ready with its analysis within the month. Both are prepared to help with lobbying. O Philip Morris is generating letters, telegrams and phone calls to about 700,000 influential people nationally. Early responses have been good, they say. Objective is to have those people object to further cigarette taxes in letters to Ways & Means members. I will offer a plan to other companies within a day or two to supplement this effort. O Dan Milway's analytical and research staff is working on assignments to develop the full story of excise regressivity for private use in our excise fights; on a study of the excise impact on tobacco farmers in terms of reduced demand, for similar use; and on the matter of asserted health costs of smoking. On the latter, at t-h% moment, we are pulling together the relevant literature" ~ as a possible prelude ~o any further investigations. We are quite interested, for example, in the recent report from the American Health Foundation that nonsmokers tend to use out-patient health care facilities more frequently than smokers. Another major area of uncertainity at this time is the comparative burden on Medicare resources, which has been subject to charges about smokers but no apparent actual study. PUBLIC SMOKING O Repace/EPA: Our consultant, Dr. Schwartz of Georgetown, has finished his critique of the Repace nonsmoker "death estimate." In addition, we have gathered full 01

r ° w o O O documentation on Repace's anti-smoking activities over the past six years. Our next step will be a visit, immediately, with Barnes, the EPA deputy administrator- designate, by John Rupp, Schwartz, a partner of John's who is well acquainted with Barnes, and one of our Senate lobbyists. The object is to gain an agency disavowal of the Repace "study," and to encourage a "macro" rather than "micro" (cigarette smoke only) view of indoor air by the agency, to the extent it involves itself in the indoor matter at all. After several years of considering the issue, it appears we have gotten the ASHRAE committee responsible for proposing indoor ventilation standards to opt for a single suggested standard, thereby reversing a dual standard approach: one for building, permitting smoking, the other for smoke-free structures. The ramifications, in term~ of building costs and discrimination against smokers are significant. The review is continuing but the trend is good. Our Environetics study is complete. It tells us that corporate space planners are uniformly opposed to smoking restrictions. Materials are being developed based on the study and will be ready for general use soon. C&B has advised us of six additional scientists who are available to testify on public smoking issues. They are not, however, prepared to respond to media needs, and we are continuing to try to remedy that significant problem. o Department of Transportation: With consultant help our monitoring of any possible reopening of the aircraft smoking restriction issue is quite adequate, and we are prepared to take any necessary action at a moment's notice. We are keeping open lines with key airline industry people. o A major unlon and a major professional society have requested our help in developing fair policies to govern smoking in the workplace. Our consideration of the request is being brought to the Committee of Counsel today. O O The President of the American Association of Affirmative Action Officers has agreed to take a public position against workplace restrictions. He is writing an article and may push for a formal resolution from the group in the near future. We are examining the feasibility of conducting business seminars in top markets to counter the seminars on Q0

t °o o. O workplace restrictions being offered by anti-smoking groups. Preliminary work with the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce is under way. REDACTED o We have completed a half-dozen local opinion surveys, as requested by field staff, on workplace smoking restrictions. The latest, in South Dakota, is credited = with enabling defeat of such legislation in the State Senate. GENERAL COALITION-BUILDING : Our most significant progress is with labor and liberal groups: O The Hispanic community: LULAC, Mexican American Sports Association, Mexican American Political Alliance, Hispanic Caucus. O Black groups: we have made some headway with the Urban League, and we have placed a staff member on the advisory board to the Black Caucus of the NCSL. We are working effectively with the American Association of Affirmative Action Officers. We've just scratched the surface here. O Women's rights groups: Because of discrimination against women smokers in the workplace, and discriminatory insurance rating policies, we are exploring opportuni- ties. American Motorcyclists Association: It has proposed i coalition of individuals and groups concerned with continued sponsorship of sporting events by cigarette companies. This will include NASCAR, the sports car people, rodeo cowboys as well as the motorcycle race promoters. Early indications are very good. Labor: Going well. The labor-management tobacco issues seminar earlier this week was a success with more than 80 individuals from BCTWIU, IAM, the paperworkers, RTWDU and several construction trades in attendance. Followups will be subject to immediate planning by the Committee, including further publication of the "We are the tobacco industry too" message which has proved to be a good rallying statement. Ol 00

FIRE PROGRAM O Several fire education projects developed with TI support are about to be made available to fire departments and others nationally. They include: promotion of smoke detectors among the rural and inner city poor; fire education for =he elderly; and a means for fire educators to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs. We are represented on the boards of two prominent fire service groups and credited with "being the best thing that ever happened" to the National Volunteer Fire Council. We are guest lecturing at the National Fire Academy and are, in many ways, building our reputation ~s a partner with the fire service. O Specia~ attention is being paid to working with the fi~e service in states where self-extinguishing legislation has been a problem, and in the districts of Members of the two Commerce Committees. We are active in more than half those places and will be in all of them by mid-1986. "RESPONSIBLE LIVING" PROJECT: Continuing magazine promotion has been ordered for the first half of the year, in accord with the Executive Committee's approval of our plan last week. Your personal promotion within the Urgan League is under way. We have increased our print orders for the "Helping Youth Decide" booklet to 300,000 and response to public requests is moving toward that level. In addition: With continuing cooperation from NASBE, we are extending the program with a pamphlet for parent leaders on how to use the booklet, with "discussion starter cards", and other devices to make the basic booklet more useful. Working with field staff, we are going into priority states t~ work with educators to put the program in ~° place. Mrs. Davidson, past Chair of NASBE is working with us in this endeavor. NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE: After its Advisory Council voted to send Ms. Heckler a letter urging her support for a cigarette ad ban, we sent each of its 10 members a letter asking consideration of the literature which demonstrates that brand advertising does not cause more smoking, and describing our own "Responsible Living" project. We have sent similar material to chief executives of leading advertising associations to ask for their help in warding off any Heckler agreement with the NIDA proposal. (Regarding her recent proposal to the President on the extension and earmarking of the cigarette excise, we have determined that he did not accept her proposal and that she does not intend to further it.)

°0 STAFFING: We have four key vacancies. By Friday, we expect to hear whether the current state legislation director at the Manufacturing Chemists Association has accepted our offer made earlier this week for the state activities job vacated by Mike Kerrigan when he joined the Smokeless Tobacco Council. Otherwise, we are progressing on the Liebengood replacement, on the new federal agency liaison position, and on an added issues manager in the Public Relations division. REDAGIED WINTER MEETING: Arrangements are complete. Lead speakers will be Rep. Gray, chairman of the Budget Committee, and Sen. Wallop, member of the Senate Finance Committee. The focus of the Board of Directors meeting will be the public smoking issue -- how it has developed, what we are doing about it, and what we must do about it in the near future. TOBACCO FARM PROGRAM: We are cautiously making no public statements on this despite the heavy publicity on schemes to change or eliminate the program, other than pointing out that we are confident Congress and the agricultural community will resolve the matter appropriately. On a related subject, the International Tr~d~ Commission last week voted 4-I not to impose leaf import restrictions, coinciding with The Institute's position in our statement filed with the ITC. MEDIA AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS: O Since September we have improved or created new personal relations with 400 key journalists in the top 50 markets. We are ready to begin placing issues consultants on the air with our speakers. Examples: Jolly Ann Davidson and Walker Merryman on the Responsible Living program; Bob Klotz (our law enforcement expert) and Bill Aylward on the problems of enforcing minor ordinances. These teams cn .j ca o b

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