ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609090148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
PHILIP MORRIS spent $11.3 million from January to June to lobby Congress, federal agencies and the White House.
The tobacco industry spent millions of dollars in the first half of 1996 to thwart federal efforts to curtail teen smoking, raise the industry's taxes and restrict advertising.
Companies with tobacco interests spent more than $15 million during the period, according to reports filed with the government.
Industry giant Philip Morris led the way with $11.3 million, according to the first-ever reports disclosing groups' real expenses in lobbying Congress, federal agencies and the White House.
Philip Morris has extensive holdings in nontobacco businesses - Kraft Foods, for example - but reports indicate the bulk of its lobbying efforts related to tobacco matters.
Companies are not required to break down their lobbying spending by business category.
Congressional clerks say Philip Morris' total appeared to be the largest so far among 12,000 companies and groups that filed midyear reports over the past two months.
``We have had a lot of federal attention from regulators and the White House,'' said Thomas Lauria, a spokesman for the Tobacco Institute, a trade association. ``It's never easy communication, because tobacco is controversial on many, many levels.''
The industry, once given respect in Washington, has seen its credibility eroded in recent years by allegations that executives covered up knowledge of the damaging and addictive nature of cigarettes, said Michael Pertschuk, an anti-tobacco researcher and activist at the Advocacy Institute.
``They have the deepest pockets imaginable, and they have the most at stake,'' Pertschuk said. ``The very heart of their industry is under attack.''
Last month President Clinton declared nicotine an addictive drug and ordered the Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes.
The industry also is spending millions on campaign donations and to defend itself against lawsuits.
Thirteen states have sued to recover smoking-related health care costs. Eight class-action suits are pending, filed by smokers who claim they became hooked while the industry concealed the addictive nature of its product.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department investigates whether tobacco company officials have lied to Congress or misled lawmakers about whether they knew of nicotine's addictive properties.
A senior law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that several tobacco company researchers have been subpoenaed in recent weeks to testify in Washington before a federal grand jury that is looking into the tobacco companies' stance on nicotine.
Records show that during the first 18 months of the current two-year election cycle, tobacco companies gave $4.75 million in unregulated ``soft money'' to the two major parties - about $4 million to the GOP and about $750,000 to the Democrats.
Philip Morris' lobbying report shows In addition to 11 registered lobbyists in its Washington office, the company contracted with 22 Washington law or lobbying firms.
It reported lobbying on legislation that would restrict youths' access to tobacco, eliminate tobacco advertising costs as a tax-deductible business expense, grant FDA regulatory power over their products and restrict smoking on airplanes and in workplaces.
Philip Morris paid the Arnold & Porter law firm $240,000 to represent it on issues including FDA regulation of tobacco; former House doorkeeper James Molloy $20,000 to lobby on proposed youth-smoking regulations; and the firm of former House member Ed Jenkins $140,000 to protect it against proposed increases in excise taxes.
Company spokeswoman Darienne Dennis said the figure includes money spent to advance the corporation's interests in the food and beer businesses. Philip Morris ``has a right to lobby on matters of impact to its business, just like others,'' she said.
Dennis said the climate for tobacco is, ``as always, a challenging environment.''
Other leading spenders included the Tobacco Institute, nearly $1.3 million; U.S. Tobacco, $920,000; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, $859,670; and the Smokeless Tobacco Council, $600,000.
The lobbying law requires all interests that engage in significant lobbying in Washington to register and to disclose a good-faith estimate of lobbying expenses twice a year. The law went into effect Jan.1.
The spending may lay the groundwork for efforts next year to engineer a legislative run around FDA regulations, which are expected to be challenged in court for years, said John Banzhaf of Action on Smoking and Health, an anti-tobacco group.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB