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Daily News letters

March 29, 2007

Smoke ban would trade carcinogens in the bar for carcinogens in the car

You know how darned cold it’s been this winter. Well, Anchorage had often surpassed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency minimum air-quality standards as a result of such cold temperatures, trapping car exhaust close to the ground. That’s why the municipality started the “Plug It In” campaigns. And it’s been very successful. Warm engines help to cut down on polluting emissions in colder weather.

vGuess what. We may be stepping backward as a result of the recent smoking ban campaigns.

We live in Alaska, not California, Hawaii or New York, where smoking bans are in effect. People in Anchorage who smoke are not going to stand outside in the freezing weather to have their cigarettes (and get frostbite or pneumonia). They’ll have their cigarettes in their cars, with cold engines running. When smoking is banned in Anchorage bars, picture hundreds of cars idling in parking lots all over town at any given time. Which is worse: Having a choice whether to patronize a smoking establishment, or having frequent air-quality advisories municipalitywide (negating everyone’s choice to breath clean air) and fines levied against the municipality by the EPA?

I applaud the intent of these smoking-ban groups. But I wish they’d direct more energy toward public education and quit-smoking campaigns, rather than squelching the liberties of independent Alaska adults and, inadvertently, every Anchorage Bowl resident.

— Chas Jones
Anchorage

Protect your property rights, vote yes on Prop. 1

March 28, 2007

The real question that will be answered Tuesday in the vote on whether Anchorage’s ban on smoking in public places should be repealed is simple: Do you believe in private property rights?

The Assembly in 2000 banned smoking in almost all work places and public buildings, but to win that, members offered exemptions for bars and bingo halls, among other places. Last year, ostensibly to further protect us from secondhand smoke, it lifted many of those exemptions, notably for bars and bingo halls.

It appears, using the Assembly’s rationale, that gambling and drinking, which kills hundreds of thousands of people annually, are approved uses of private property. Smoking is not. The wider ban, the predictable embodiment of government incrementalism and do-goodism, will go into effect July 1.

An Alaska Libertarian Party group, Stomp the Ban, gathered more than 12,000 signatures to put on Tuesday’s ballot the question of whether the wider ban should be repealed, but the real question goes to the heart of freedom.

Does an owner of private property, say a bar or a tobacco shop or a bingo hall, have the right to determine what happens on the premises, as long as it is legal? Smoking, after all, is not illegal. Is it proper for a government driven by this whim or that to ban legal acts on privately owned property? Clearly, it is not and is as far removed from the constitutional principles that protect our individual rights as one can get.

Debate over the ban included whole schools of red herring. Supporters argued there would be little economic cost for the private property owner. That is not the issue. They also alleged secondhand smoke is linked to lung cancer, although that can be debated, and that the ban could save lives and health care costs. It should be noted that there are as many studies on either side of the secondhand smoke issue as there are zealots to argue their conclusions. So what? That is not the question, either.

At the core, the issue is whether private property owners have the right to use their holdings for the legal purposes they choose. If they cannot, the Constitution is not worth the paper it is written on. If a government whipped into a frenzy by the latest health or security scare can arbitrarily override individual rights to protect us from ourselves, and we willingly and silently tolerate that, we are no more than serfs.

Too many of us have lost our way, our will to stand for what is right. Government nowadays feels it can pretty much do what it wants, if only it does it a little at a time. Welcome to the Nanny State.

You have a chance Tuesday to tell government “No” by voting “Yes” on Proposition 1, although, frankly, we have little hope. Too many of us have lost the fire of a free, thinking people, and this city will be the worse for it.

Smoking ban ignites defense
APRIL 3 BALLOT: Efforts for same-sex partner benefits also attract election money.

March 6, 2007
By KYLE HOPKINS, Anchorage Daily News

Two big issues on the April 3 ballot — a local smoking ban and public employee benefits for same-sex partners — generated big money for groups looking to influence the election.

One coalition, called Keep Anchorage Workplaces Smokefree, has collected more than $90,000 according to its treasurer. The group plans to air commercials telling voters to keep Anchorage’s strict new anti-smoking rules on the books.

Another group, Alaskans Together, wants to preserve public employee benefits for same-sex partners. It’s raised nearly $60,000.

Only Anchorage voters will answer the smoking question, which would repeal new rules banning smoking in bars, restaurants and most public places before they start.

On the same day, people across the state will vote on whether same-sex partners should get public employee benefits such as health insurance, though the vote will be advisory, not binding. It asks people if there should be a vote in 2008 to amend the constitution, but wouldn’t change any rules.

Two other coalitions want people to vote against benefits for same-sex partners.

One, Alaska Family Action, plans to advertise and raise money, but as of Monday’s campaign disclosure deadline, hadn’t collected any cash said chairman Jim Minnery.

“Hopefully you’ll hear a lot more from us in the next couple weeks,” he said.

The other, Vote Yes for Marriage, has raised $6,185, said chairwoman Debbie Joslin of Delta Junction.

“Certainly we’re concerned that they’ve raised more money,” Joslin said of her opponents, “but we are raising money and expect to raise more.”

Joslin’s group formed in mid-February and is an offshoot of the Eagle Forum Alaska. It lists Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, as a deputy treasurer.

Though his group has a fundraising edge, Alaskans Together campaign manager Jesse Cross-Call said he’s focused on low-cost voter outreach efforts such as knocking on doors, phone calls and house meetings. Branches of the group have started in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau and are planned elsewhere, he said. The largest donation to Alaskans Together was nearly $26,000 for an opinion poll paid for by the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, according to a report filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

While candidates can receive only a limited amount of money from any single donor, the rules are more relaxed for ballot groups.

“They can get their money from any source, in any amount,” said Chris Ellingson, APOC assistant director.

This year some of the largest checks have gone to Keep Anchorage Workplaces Smokefree, led by the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association of Alaska, and the American Heart Association.

Alaska Regional Hospital and Providence Health System each gave $15,000, while the AARP donated $10,000 to the group, said treasurer Theda Pittman.

Some of the group’s largest expenses were $30,000 to marketing and public relations firm Northwest Strategies, and $10,000 to Hellenthal & Associates for polling, Pittman said.

Chairman Eric Myers said the group hasn’t started advertising yet, but plans radio and TV commercials.

A group called Alaskans for Freedom of Choice formed but soon dissolved after raising $12,000 for a poll related to the new smoking rules, said treasurer Jerry Lewis.

“It was used to determine whether or not we basically wanted to spend a lot of money to get the (ban) overturned,” he said.

Lewis declined to discuss the results of the poll.
Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins can be reached at khopkins@adn.com.

Group against smoking ban sues the city
PROPOSITION: Municipality denies claims that it’s trying to influence April vote.

By KYLE HOPKINS, Anchorage Daily News
February 27, 2007

A group that wants to stop the new smoking ban in bars, bingo halls and other public places filed a lawsuit Monday, saying the Anchorage city government is illegally campaigning on the issue.

Last year, the Assembly voted to expand the city smoking ban to almost everywhere people still smoke in public. But a group calling itself Stomp the Ban said the new rules go too far. It has collected thousands of signatures to wipe out the changes before the new law kicks in July 1.

That petition drive puts the question to voters, who will decide whether to repeal the expanded ban on April 3.

Now the Stomp the Ban folks say the city is trying to sway people to preserve the smoking ban in its public notice published this month in the newspaper and on the city Web site.

The 400-word notice describes what might happen to the local economy — and to people’s health — if the ban repeal succeeds. It says less secondhand smoke would mean fewer people would get expensive illnesses and miss time at work, and insurance premiums for everybody would fall.

“Reduced health costs related to further limits on secondhand-smoke exposure will not be realized if Proposition 1 is approved,” the notice says.

The notice also cites a University of Alaska Anchorage study that found “no significant” loss of jobs after a city ban on smoking in many public places took effect in 2001.

Alex Crawford filed the suit. Besides his affiliation with Stomp the Ban, he is an Assembly candidate and Alaska Libertarian Party member. He said the city is telling only one side of the story, and its campaign against his group’s referendum is against municipal law. The city is supposed to remain neutral, he said.

The lawsuit calls for the city to stop publishing the notice, which is called a “summary of economic effects,” and to write a retraction.

City attorney Jim Reeves said the municipality has nothing to apologize for.

“The reason they don’t like (the public notice) is because it’s not making their argument for them,” Reeves said.

Crawford, who said he works as a temporary file clerk for an oil company, filed the lawsuit on his lunch break Monday. Wearing a Columbia jacket and khakis, he described his case in biting cold outside the Anchorage courthouse.

He said the problem with the city’s description is what it doesn’t say — that Anchorage businesses told the Assembly they would lose money if the ban were expanded, for example.

“By presenting only one side, they can swing an election,” he said.

Reeves said the city can back up everything it published and has complied with city laws.

“I don’t think there’s any question that there are public health effects of secondhand smoking,” he said.

Members of the Alaska Libertarian Party have said the effort to repeal the expanded smoking ban is about government infringement on people’s rights.

Crawford said he doesn’t even smoke, at least not tobacco.

“This is a pot smoker defending tobacco smokers,” he said. “I don’t smoke cigarettes. … But this issue is an important issue because it’s one more case of the government going too far.”

The new anti-smoking rules were proposed by Assemblymen Dan Coffey and Dick Traini, whose father died of lung disease.

Ban would extend to bars, private clubs, hospital vicinities

Anchorage voters will be asked on April 3 to repeal a smoking ban slated to start July 1 that would outlaw smoking under the following circumstances:

• In homes when child care is being provided for a fee.

• In workplaces with one or more employees.

• Within 50 feet of a hospital or clinic entrance.

• Within 20 feet of city or school offices.

• In bars.

• In tobacco shops.

• In private clubs that are open to the public.

Libertarian Party sues city of Anchorage
by Jill Burke
Feb. 26, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Libertarian Party is suing the Municipality of Anchorage over what it calls biased language used to describe the economic impact of the city’s smoking ban.

The group headed efforts to allow voters to repeal that ban during the upcoming election in April. According to officials from the party, public announcements printed about the ballot item are slanted in favor of upholding the ban.

The Libertarian Party wants a retraction and different wording to be used in future announcements.

Smoking ban opponents challenge city on language details
PROPOSITION 1: Muni’s Web site touts benefits of ban, is mum about other side.

February 24, 2007
By KYLE HOPKINS, Anchorage Daily News

Supporters of an effort to block the city’s upcoming smoking ban are steamed at the way the city is describing their proposal to voters and are threatening to sue.

The ban resistance, championed by members of the Alaska Libertarian Party, would stop a sweeping ban of smoking in public places. Thousands of Anchorage voters signed a petition to put the ban repeal question on the April 3 ballot as Proposition 1.

In the Feb. 17 issue of the Daily News and on the city Web site, the municipality has posted a “summary of economic effects” describing benefits of the smoking ban and what might happen if it were repealed:

“Expanding the smoking ban would reduce the likelihood of some adults and children contracting diseases caused by secondhand smoke, and would reduce health care costs to treat the diseases. It would reduce the costs of lost work time due to smoking-related diseases. … Reduced health costs related to further limits on secondhand smoke exposure will not be realized if Proposition 1 is approved.”

The city’s analysis makes no argument in favor of Proposition 1. It links secondhand smoke to lung cancer and says that while there’s no direct proof that businesses would be hurt by tougher smoking rules, it cites a University of Alaska Anchorage study which — according to the city — showed that barring smoking in public places didn’t hurt employment in 2001.

In a letter delivered to the city clerk Friday, ALP member and Assembly candidate Alex Crawford asked the municipality to stop publishing that description and to issue a retraction within one week.

“It was basically campaign material,” Crawford said.

He said the city is ignoring testimony from local businesses that said the tougher anti-smoking rules would cost them money.

The city disagrees and does not intend to retract or change its description of the ballot proposition, said Julie Hasquet, spokeswoman for Mayor Mark Begich.

“We stand by the way it’s written, the information that’s there, and there’s no plans to change anything,” Hasquet said.

The Anchorage Assembly voted to ban smoking in most public places and workplaces in 2000, then voted to expand the ban in 2006. The expanded rules haven’t taken effect yet, but will ban smoking in bars, any workplace with at least one employee and many other public areas. The city says the goal is to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke.

The city’s description of the ban will not appear on the April ballot. It was written by the Office of Management and Budget, with the help of the treasury division, Hasquet said.

She said the repeal supporters are simply worried they’ll lose at the ballot box. “They’re looking for any opportunity they can to muddy up this process.”

Crawford said the city is breaking its own rules, which say the muni can’t campaign for or against referendums. His letter warns that a lawsuit will follow if the muni doesn’t retract the descriptions of the repeal effort.

“The regulations are real simple, and they really simply weren’t followed,” Crawford said.

Another supporter of the repeal effort, ALP chairman Jason Dowell, is also running for Assembly.

Along with their cease-and-desist letter, the repeal supporters gave the city copies of studies they say show how businesses lost money after smoking bans. Hasquet said the city will review the studies, but at this point believes there’s nothing illegal or inappropriate about its description of the smoking ban.

Politics to blame for lack of a limit on secondhand smoke exposure

January 16, 2007

In response to Jim Thiele’s letter, “If I set up a target range, will city sue for secondhand bullets?” (Jan. 5): Indoor shooting ranges are nothing new and in fact are present in many cities and use air handlers to limit exposure to lead and other toxins.

The biggest problem with his analogy is while I bet there are records of people actually being killed in shooting ranges, there has not been a single documented case of anyone being killed by secondhand smoke.

Then we have the lady from American Lung Association of Alaska (“New clean indoor air ordinance intended to protect workers’ health,” Jan. 6) using the propaganda statement of the U.S. surgeon general.

The statement that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke is clearly a lie, especially when you understand that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration even has personal exposure limits set for radioactive materials; thus anyone reading the claim of no safe level of secondhand smoke can be rest assured the surgeon general has no idea what he is talking about.

The only reason OSHA does not have a standard for secondhand smoke is purely political. Of all the fatalities claimed to be caused by secondhand smoke, all are purely computer generated; not a single death certificate to my knowledge has ever claimed the cause of death was secondhand smoke or even attributed to secondhand smoke for that matter.

Bart Williams
Fairbanks

Smoking ban repeal succeeds in getting on the Ballot in Alaska; Movement may go national

December 21, 2006
By Eric Dondero, CEO, Mainstream Libertarians

Over 12,000 signatures were collected in Anchorage to get the initiative to repeal the smoking ban on bars and bingo halls on the ballot. 7,086 valid signatures were needed. The Div. of Elections office for the City of Anchorage validated enough of the signatures to qualify. The initiative will now be on the ballot for the April 3, Municipal elections.

The sponsor of the initiative was the Libertarian Party of Alaska, and its offshoot Stomp the Ban headed by Jason Dowell and Zachary Keeton. Assisting with the effort was the Texas Firm of Pro-America Political Campaigns. The outfit is now looking into similar drives all over the United States, most especially in Houston.

For regular updates on the groups efforts and to learn how you can help visit www.mainstreamlibertarian.com

Smoking ban opponents collect repeal signatures

12/05/2006

The Anchorage city clerk says opponents of an expanded smoking ban in Anchorage have enough signatures to put a repeal on the ballot. Smoking has been prohibited in restaurants, offices and most Anchorage public buildings since 2001. A law passed by the Anchorage Assembly in August would extend the ban to bars and bingo halls starting July First.

A group of Alaska Libertarian Party officials put together a petition drive to repeal the new law before it takes effect. They had to collect 7,100 signatures of registered voters to put the repeal on the ballot April 3rd. Voters will be asked if the second-hand smoke ordinance should be repealed.

Grassroots campaign one step closer to stomping city’s plans to ban smoking in public places

By Jarold Lee, CBS 11 News Reporter KTVA
12/04/2006

A local, grassroots campaign is one step closer to stomping the city’s plans to ban smoking in public places. Nearly 8,000 petition signatures were verified by city officials, paving the way for a possible repeal.

Jason Dowell and Zack Keeton are two organizers of Stomptheban.com. Their organization is igniting an effort to reverse the city’s ban on smoking in local bars, restaurants and bingo halls. The ban was passed by the Assembly in late August. In the last three months, Stomptheban.com has gathered more than 14,000 petition signatures for a referendum to the Muni’s decision. That’s a lot more than the 8,000 signatures needed to take the issue to vote this April.

“It’s not about smoking, it’s about property rights, it’s about a business owner’s right to choose how they want to run their business. And that’s awesome, when people in the community start to grab the concept that, ‘No, this isn’t really a smoking issue,'” said Keeton of stomptheban.com.

Critics would snuff out smoke ban
PETITION: Stomp the Ban has more than enough signatures to put repeal on ballot in April.

By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA, Anchorage Daily News
November 23, 2006

Opponents of the smoking ban in Anchorage bars and bingo halls showed up at City Hall on Wednesday with 12,000 signatures on petitions to put the issue on the April 3 city election ballot. That’s well over the 7,100 required by law to put the question before city voters.

The petitions call for a referendum that asks voters, simply: Shall the second-hand smoke ordinance be repealed?

Leaders of Stomp the Ban — a group formed by Alaska Libertarian Party officials — held a news conference, but held off turning signatures in until after the long Thanksgiving weekend at the request of the city clerk. The clerk will have 10 days after the petitions are in to check the signers against registered-voter lists.

Smoking has been against the law since 2001 in most of Anchorage’s public buildings, such as restaurants, offices and government buildings. The Assembly in August approved an extension of the no-smoking law to bars and bingo halls, some of the only public places smokers have left. To give businesses time to adapt, the Assembly made the law effective on July 1, 2007.

Stomp the Ban hopes to get rid of the new law before it ever takes effect.

Zach Keeton and Jason Dowell of Stomp the Ban said their campaign to overturn the smoking ban has to do with people’s rights, not smoking per se.

“It’s a property rights issue to me,” Keeton said in an interview. “It’s just another infringement on the business owners.”

But in their appearance before reporters, held in the Assembly’s meeting room at City Hall, Keeton and Dowell also pooh-poohed the validity of a surgeon general’s report on the harm of second-hand smoke.

At the end of their press conference, an American Lung Association of Alaska volunteer burst from the back of the room and accused the Libertarians of completely disregarding the truth. He quoted the surgeon general as saying that scientific evidence is clear: Smoking causes premature death.

The volunteer, Eric Myers, said afterward that he couldn’t hold back any longer.

Pollster Ivan Moore said there’s no way voters will repeal the ban: “In a million years, it is not possible.”

Moore said an opinion survey he did last summer, when the Anchorage Assembly was considering an expansion of the anti-smoking ordinance, showed 62 percent of registered voters polled supported the ban.

Dowell, who is chair of the Libertarian Party and an Alaska Pacific University student, said Stomp the Ban raised and spent $16,000 gathering signatures after the Assembly vote. The group paid signature-collectors $1 for each signer, and $2 apiece during the last couple of weeks, Dowell said. Volunteers also collected many signatures, he said.

Bingo hall and bar owners helped out financially, Keeton and Dowell said.

Jack Powers of Tudor Road Bingo Center Casino said he personally donated $2,500 because he thinks 35 percent of his customers will quit coming if the ban stays. Powers says bingo operators will really lose out because, instead of buying pull tabs during the bingo games’ intermission, smokers will be going outside to have two or three cigarettes.

“It’s happened in a couple of other states,” Powers said. “Their pull tabs are going to go right down the toilet.”

Powers said he’ll bet Moore $10 that Moore is wrong and that voters will, in fact, repeal the ban.

If a statewide advisory vote on health benefits for same-sex mates of public employees is held on the same day, “Oh boy, we’re going to get a hell of a turnout,” Powers said. Legislators just passed a measure calling for a state advisory vote to coincide with Anchorage’s city election.

Assembly member Dick Traini, one of the main backers of the anti-smoking ordinance, said the surgeon general’s report convinces him.

“Only a fool couldn’t understand: second-hand smoke kills.”

“I trust the public to be bright enough that they realize we don’t want smoking,” Traini said.

Protesters of smoking ban gather outside Anchorage City Hall
11/23/2006
Opponents of a smoking ban in Anchorage bars and bingo halls have collected enough signatures to put the issue on the city election ballot in April. The 12,000 signatures are well over the 7,100 required by law to put the question before city voters.
The petitions call for a referendum that asks voters whether the second-hand smoke ordinance should be repealed. Leaders of Stomp the Ban, a group formed by Alaska Libertarian Party officials, collected the signatures
The city clerk still has to check the signers against registered-voter lists. Smoking has been against the law since 2001, in most of Anchorage’s public buildings, such as restaurants, offices and government buildings.
The Assembly in August approved an extension of the no-smoking law to bars and bingo halls. The Assembly made the law effective on July First 2007.

Group Attempts to Overturn Anchorage Smoking Ban

Aug 31, 2006

A petition drive is underway in Anchorage to allow voters to decide on a smoking ban.

The Assembly passed a ban on smoking in bars, bingo halls and sports arenas earlier this month. The petition was started by an individual who says he is non-political, but he’s finding support from the Alaska Libertarian Party.

Supporters need to collect 7,086 signatures in just under three months to put the issue before voters in April.

“We started the petition because of course the Assembly passed the ban, which we tried so hard to prevent from being passed and that’s just the next step, you know, you gotta take it to the ballot, let the voters decide if the politicians won’t do it,” says Neal Boyd of the Alaska Libertarian Party. “It’s been generally good. We have quite a few signatures so far. We have a lot of volunteers who are willing to help us circulate the petition, and like I said, we have a lot of support from the business community.”

The Libertarian Party has the petition available at the State Fair and at several bars.

Boyd says so far there has been a lot of support.

Petition is begun to let voters decide whether to overturn smoking ban

August 30, 2006

ANCHORAGE — A group of people opposed to the smoking ban the Anchorage Assembly recently passed are collecting signatures on a petition to ask voters whether they want to overturn the ban.

The petition language was approved by the city clerk’s office last week. Now the petitioners have 90 days to collect at least 7,086 valid signatures of registered voters in Anchorage — 10 percent of the number who voted in the last mayoral election, said City Clerk Barbara Gruenstein.

The new law prohibits smoking in bars, bingo halls and sports arenas, some of the last public spaces where smoking is still legal. The law will take effect July 1 unless voters overturn it in the April city election.

The Alaska Libertarian Party is backing the referendum, said Neal Boyd, elections committee chairman: “We feel the smoking ban is an atrocious violation of the property rights of businesses to run their businesses the way they choose.”

Zach Keeton, who calls himself nonpolitical, proposed the petition drive to the Libertarians.

“I’m a smoker, but it’s not really even that,” Keeton said. “It’s one of those things that really outraged me. I just feel businesses should be able to operate the way they want to.”

Some citizens trying to overturn smoking ban

08/30/2006
Jarold Lee
A group in Anchorage is collecting signatures on a ballot petition that could overturn the city’s recently approved smoking ban at bars and other commercial operations. And believe it or not, it could happen.

Petitioners have just three months to collect at least 7,086 valid signatures of registered voters in Anchorage. That’s the required 10 percent of the number of people who voted in the last mayoral election. The new ban prohibits smoking in bars, bingo halls and sports arenas. But Neal Boyd, elections committee chairman for the Alaska Libertarian Party, which supports the petition, says the ban is an issue of personal freedom and civic rights, not public health.

“I am a smoker, but we feel this is more about property rights than smoking. We feel it’s an atrocious violation of property rights against business owners to run their businesses the way they choose to,” said Boyd.

Smokers like Thomas Deugaw, who also opposed the assembly’s decision to pass the ban, are adding fuel to the petition’s fire, honing in on business owners’ worst fear.

“I think the business owner does have the right to have a smoking establishment or not. But on the other hand, if you have a smoking establishment, you can’t take it away from me, or I won’t come back,” said Deugaw.

Anchorage’s new ban on smoking will become effective in July 2007, unless voters overturn it in the April city election. So far, petitioners say they have several hundred signatures and they hope to get a lot more at their exhibit at this year’s Alaska State Fair in Palmer.

If you’re a business owner or a smoker, and you want your John Hancock on the petition, you can contact organizers at stomptheban.com.