Re: OT: Proposed Tobacco Tax

[Guest guest]

WRONG TAX

More alcohol is consumed than tobacco, so why not double the tax and bring in

line

with tobacco??????????????

Bob

W. Pfeiffer, DC, DABCO

P. O. Box 606

Pendleton Or 97801

541-276-2550

OT: Proposed Tobacco Tax

The last time a tobacco tax was proposed the Oregon Republicans rejected the

concept. The Democrates sent the issue to the public for a vote.

The following article points out a possible reason why the Republicans were

pro-tobacco.

DeSiena

House Republicans are bought and paid for by Big Tobacco

By Kari Chisholm

On Tuesday, PolitickerOR reported that the Oregon House Republicans had accepted

a $100,000 check from tobacco giant Reynolds American -- the parent company of

R.J. Reynolds, and the maker of Camel brand cigarettes and dozens of others.

As the House Democrats noted, it was a payoff to the GOP for being good allies

in the 2007 session:

“Last session, House Democrats passed legislation to ban smoking in bars and

restaurants. And we asked voters to raise the price of cigarettes to pay for

health insurance for children. That issue went to the ballot only because House

Republicans refused to increase tobacco prices during the session. Now, House

Republicans are getting paid back for doing the bidding of big tobacco with this

$100,000 contribution,†said Michele Rossolo, executive director of FuturePAC.

“Future Pac has refused to accept any donations from Reynolds or any other

tobacco company.â€

Because I'm a data nerd, I hustled myself on over to ORESTAR and did a little

research of my own. Aside from the big $100,000 check - how many other House

Republicans (and Democrats) took checks from Big Tobacco?

It turns out that there are basically two tobacco companies that play in Oregon

politics - Reynolds and Philip . And their donations go almost exclusively

to House Republicans.

In addition to the big $100,000 check, the Oregon House Republicans caucus took

another $20,378 and their individual members took another $49,000 -- for a total

of $169,378.

The Democrats? The caucus, FuturePAC, took zero -- and two members took $4000

total.

That's right. The House Republicans took 42 times as much Big Tobacco money as

the House Democrats.

Here's the totals, just for this election cycle. First, the Republicans:

$120,378 Promote Oregon Leadership PAC (House GOP)

$7,500 Bruce Hanna

$6,500 Huffman

$6,000 Nelsen

$4,000 Gene Whisnant

$3,500 Vic Gilliam

$3,000 Bill Garrard

$3,000 Cameron

$2,500 Bill Kennemer

$1,000 Andy Duyck

$1,000 Sal Esquivel

$1,000 Bob Jenson

$1,000 Greg

$1,000

$1,000 Gilman

$1,000 Lim

$1,000 Phyllis Thiemann

$1,000 Kim Thatcher

$1,000 Wayne Krieger

$500 Jim

$500 Jim Weidner

$500 Ron Maurer

$500

$500 Tim Freeman

$500 Dennis

And the Democrats:

$2,500 Dave Hunt

$1,500 Mike Schaufler

------------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Dr Grice,Tobacco should not be a Republican or a Democratic issue. The fact is Big Tobacco has chosen to invest in the Republicans and the Democrats at an 85% to 15% ratio since the Nixon days. Both the Republicans and key Democrats have accepted the money happily. The partys used the money for funding election campaigns and re-election campaigns. With the money comes with commitments. If they did not support Big Tobacco's interests no money would come for future elections. Unfortunately, 5 million people will die from tobacco use this year alone. This is an epidemic. How do you curtail this epidemic? Some people suggest taxes and legislation protecting non-smokers health. What do you suggest? Any other suggestions from any of

you ? DeSienaFrom: rongrice01 <rongrice@...> Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2008 6:56:53 PMSubject: OT: Proposed Tobacco Tax

Dr. Desiena.

I am a Republican, and proud of it. So what. This money did not seem

to get the anti-tobacco legislation stopped, did it?? I am as much

against smoking as the rest of you, and my restaurant has been smoke

free from its beginning. However, you seem to be trying to smear

Republicans here. I don't think Democrats can afford to live in glass

houses if you know what I mean.

This kind of smear tactic is very offensive to me and all of the other

good, tax-paying, OBCE license holding Republican DCs on this list.

Also, I wouldn't be too proud of your statistics as the two Democrats

would be well in the top 10 money grabbers.

Proud Republican,

Grice, DC

Albany, OR