
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 5, 1990                   TAG: 9006050213
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                  LENGTH: Medium

WILDER BANS SMOKE IN CAPITOL OFFICE

Gov. Douglas Wilder, who has signed into law a measure to restrict public smoking, is preparing to order a ban on smoking in his Capitol office, a spokeswoman said Monday.

"He said, `There's no way I can sign clean-air legislation and allow that to be done up here,' " said Laura Dillard, the governor's press secretary.

The new law, the Clean Indoor Air Act, is to take effect July 1. It will impose statewide restrictions on public smoking and set standards for local ordinances.

The General Assembly adopted the measure this year after two months of legislative maneuvering between anti-smoking activists and the tobacco industry, which tried to limit the extent of state restrictions and the power of local governments to enact their own ordinances.

Wilder, a former state senator whose district represented the heart of Richmond's cigarette industry, has directed his office in the past to lead by example on other issues, such as recycling.

Less than two weeks before the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, he ordered his office and his Cabinet secretaries to recycle their trash.

The restrictions on smoking will not be difficult to enforce, Dillard said, because only a few of the 30 to 35 governor's office employees who work on the third floor of the Capitol smoke.

Page H. Sutherland, regional director of The Tobacco Institute, an industry organization, called Wilder's action "his prerogative," but questioned whether the governor was going too far by prohibiting smoking entirely.

"I would have hoped he would have set aside a smokers' lounge or a portion of an office where people could smoke," Sutherland said.

Anti-smoking activist Anne Morrow Donley welcomed the governor's action, but said he could do more by ensuring that all state agencies comply with the new law.

Donley, executive director of Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public, or GASP, said she has received complaints from state employees who say their bosses may not carry out the law. "It's really up to the governor and the state agency heads," Donley said.

by CNB