Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Big Tobacco Money = Ok? Federal School Money = Not Ok? What's Wrong With This Picture?

The opinion of Alan Keele, Candidate for Utah House.


As my wife Linda and I have knocked on thousands of doors throughout District 60 here in central Orem, people repeatedly ask what the differences are between the challenger Alan Keele and my opponent, the incumbent Bradley Daw. I reply that I take the word representative in the term House of Representatives very literally. If I am elected, my job would be to represent the interests of a maximum number of citizens and their families from our district. Standing in the middle, I can reach out along both sides of the spectrum, as long as my arms stretch. If I were already on one of the extreme ends, my arms could hardly reach back across the spectrum.

To illustrate my point, I ask you to consider two recent legislative cases. I’d be interested in whether you think Mr. Daw really represented your interests in these two instances:

Case One: This year, 2010, as I learned from someone in our District who works for the American Cancer Society, Representative Daw voted against an increase in the tax on each pack of cigarettes sold in the state, a tax which was designed to combat smoking, especially youth smoking, and pay for such educational initiatives as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (whose funding was eliminated by the Legislature in 2009).

Mr. Daw would naturally argue that as a libertarian he is opposed to tax increases of any kind, but this claim instantly lost its credibility for me when I discovered that on August 11, 2008 Brad accepted a substantial campaign donation from Altria Group, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies (formerly called Phillip Morris) which also deals globally in beer and wine.

(In fairness, it must be admitted that Mr. Daw's overall voting record on tobacco questions has not been consistent and easy to understand. Based on some of his earlier votes, he even likes to portray himself as an opponent of tobacco, and he apparently did start out opposing certain kinds of smokeless tobacco products. But for Alan Keele the question isn't whether Brad Daw ALWAYS voted with Big Tobacco. The problem is that after he took their money, in 2010 he undeniably DID vote with Big Tobacco. And from Alan Keele's point of view, even one vote in Utah for Big Tobacco is a vote too many.)

I was further astonished to learn from the public record that in 2007 and 2008, while they debated the merits of the tobacco bill, Utah lawmakers, including Daw, accepted a total of $42,000 from Altria as well as from the RJ Reynolds tobacco company. (And this was just the tip of a very big tobacco iceberg: Altria alone made $101 million in campaign contributions in the US between 1998 and 2004! Source on Altria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altria.
Source on Altria’s contribution to Daw: http://gva1.utah.gov/disclosures/PublicArchive.aspx?type=CORP)

In 2009, the amount going to Utah lawmakers from Big Tobacco increased to an even more astonishing $67,000. (Sources: http://www.no-smoke.org/goingsmokefree.php?id=167 and http://www.tobacco-facts.net/2010/01/big-tobacco-kicked-big-bucks-into-utah-politics

So, with $109,000 (42k + 67k) in Big Tobacco money greasing the palms of certain Utah lawmakers for three straight years, not surprisingly the bill originally failed (2009). This year, however, (2010) a watered-down version finally managed to become law, albeit with approximately half the originally called-for increase – about $1 per pack of cigarettes. (To provide some perspective on the magnitude of Big Tobacco’s interest in our state: the total amount of Big Tobacco money being spent on marketing tobacco products in Utah each year is $58.7 million dollars. Nationwide it’s a staggering $12.8 billion per year. Source: www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/toll.php?StateID=UT)

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids can now go forward in Utah again, no thanks to Brad Daw and other Utah lawmakers who took Big Tobacco money (the long list of names include such leaders as: Killpack, Wimmer, Bramble, Herbert, Valentine, Waddoups, Clark, Grover, and Shurtleff. Source: http://gva1.utah.gov/disclosures/publicsearch.aspx)

These people obviously forgot that they represent us, the majority of people in the districts and in the state. (Did Brad ever ask you what you thought about the tobacco bill? He certainly didn’t ask me or anyone else I know in our district.)

Case Two: Did Mr. Daw ask me or you recently whether we wanted 101 million dollars of our federal tax money from the US Department of Education (Utah’s share of the 10 billion dollar Education Jobs Fund of 2010) to come back to the state to help prevent the layoffs of an estimated 1,800 more teachers in Utah this year?

Mr. Daw and other members of the extreme Patrick Henry Caucus in the Legislature have vowed to sue to prevent the state from accepting the money, despite huge shortfalls in the education budget in Utah this year, and even though it is clear that the US Department of Education can legally give the money directly to the school districts over the objections of the legislature. (I’ve had people repeatedly insist there must be sinister strings attached – citing other cases like Federal Highway Funds which come contingent on seatbelt use, for example, -- but I’ve looked at this case carefully: there simply are no strings attached.) And the Utah Attorney General’s Office recently found that the transfer of our tax money back to the state for our use was entirely legal and constitutional. (For more information on this question I invite you to look at articles such as: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50213313-76/money-state-legislature-education.html.csp)

I’d like to hear what you think about this tobacco tax case, including the $109 thousand in campaign contributions from Big Tobacco to Utah lawmakers like Brad Daw. I’d also like your views on accepting the $101 million from the Department of Education. Please write me an email at akeele@gmail.com!

As for me and my house, I can’t believe campaign donations don’t influence votes. I think this is just good, old-fashioned, corrupt influence peddling, pure and simple, more of Utah pay-to-play politics. And from Big Tobacco, no less! In Utah??!! These familiar words from LDS scripture ring in my ears: “In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days.” (Doctrine and Covenants section 89: “The Word of Wisdom”)

Does any responsible person in our state really think it’s ok for our kids to start a life-long habit that may eventually kill them, meanwhile costing society millions in increased health-care and other costs? (1,100 Utahns die annually from their own smoking, 230 from second-hand smoke. 26,000 kids now under 18 and alive in Utah will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murder, and suicides combined, and this does not count other tobacco-related causes such as fires from smoking, nor does it tally in the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco products or account for the much larger number of tobacco-related health problems that are not fatal. In terms of money, smoking directly causes $345 million in annual health care costs in Utah, including $104 million from the state Medicade program. Additionally, the state suffers $294 million annually in smoking-caused productivity losses. Each Utah household bears an annual extra tax burden of $523 from smoking-caused government expenditures. Source: www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/toll.php?StateID=UT)

As more and more Brad Daw signs and exorbitantly expensive billboards go up throughout Orem, I have to ask myself: Was this sign paid for by a contribution from Big Tobacco? It's creepy to think about.

I also can’t believe Utah doesn’t deserve its $101 million back from Washington to help us keep up to 1,800 Utah teachers in their classrooms this year!

Still, I want to continue to learn from you, so write me a note (and remember to vote on November 2nd)!

Cordially, Alan and Linda Keele