Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1993 TAG: 9303310232
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The bill by Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, ignited controversy in the General Assembly but was passed by a comfortable margin. Proponents had said workers should be able to smoke away from work without fear of losing their jobs.
But opponents countered that the bill would set a dangerous precedent by giving tobacco use a status almost equal to that of constitutionally guaranteed civil rights.
Wilder's veto was a fresh reminder of political shifts in Virginia, where such a slap at the "golden leaf" would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Political analysts suggested the veto may work to Wilder's advantage should he run for the U.S. Senate next year.
In his veto message, the governor said the bill would set up smokers as a "special class" of citizens.
"In good conscience, I cannot sign a bill that would elevate smokers to a protected class while the actions of that protected class can expose others to deleterious health effects which they did not invite," Wilder wrote.
"To equate these rights to those protected by the First Amendment's guarantees or to rights protecting against discrimination on the basis of race, age or sex is not persuasive. Free speech is not an acquired habit; smoking is, and does in some instances infringe upon the rights of others," he said.
Goode told The Associated Press he had little hope of mustering the two-thirds vote necessary to override the veto. The General Assembly will meet April 7 to consider amendments and vetoes made by the governor.
Anti-smoking and health advocates were ecstatic. "Hip, hip, hurray!" said Del. Bernard Cohen, D-Alexandria, whose attempts to toughen the state law regulating public smoking were thwarted during the session.
"This was bad legislation," said Anne Morrow Donley, executive director of Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public. "It was bad to put addictive behavior on the same level as a civil right. It's a slap in the face to those who fought for civil rights."
Anthony F. Troy, a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, suggested that Wilder may have been under the mistaken impression that the measure would protect a person's right to smoke on the job.
Wilder told reporters Tuesday that he feared the bill would spur lawsuits against employers who refuse to hire smokers because they might smoke on the job. "That's not the purpose of the bill," Troy said.
Robert Holsworth, a Virginia Commonwealth University political scientist, said the veto shows that Wilder is "cultivating his populist side . . . as he looks to where his political future may be. People like the anti-politician, the politician not so connected to the inside and to inside interests. The picture clearly emerging in the last four months is one of `Doug Wilder, effective as governor and who stood up to special interests.' "
Wilder took on the powerful gun lobby - and won - during the 1993 assembly with a bill limiting most handgun purchases to one per month.
Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, said Wilder's veto may cost him contributions from the tobacco industry, but hardly any votes.
"When you look at his 1989 performance in Southside Virginia [the state's major tobacco-growing belt], he had strong support among black voters and very little support among whites. His vetoing this bill is not going to change that," Sabato said.
Donley, who monitors tobacco-industry contributions to political candidates, said Wilder received $17,700 from tobacco interests during his 1989 campaign for governor. His opponent, Republican Marshall Coleman, received about $20,000.
"I think it will help Wilder to be seen as working for the interests of the people and not geared to special interests," Donley said. "When you look at the state as a whole, the majority of people don't smoke and don't work for a tobacco interest."
Wilder had until midnight Monday to act on the 1,013 bills passed by the 1993 Assembly. He signed 890, proposed amendments to 110 and vetoed 13. Some of those were vetoed because of duplications.
One of the other bills Wilder vetoed would have allowed hunters and their dogs to chase bears at night.
He also proposed several minor amendments to the state's 1992-94 budget, including restoring $1.1 million to provide Medicaid health coverage to poor children up to age 19 and adding $150,000 to establish the Arthur Ashe Health Center in Richmond to aid people who test positive for the AIDS virus.
by CNB