ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
LEGAL OR not, a three-day congressional getaway at an Arizona golf resort sponsored by the Tobacco Institute is as slimy as spit from a juicy chaw.
Ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting recreational trips, but not from educational and fact-finding missions on issues important to their constituents. So the Tobacco Institute paid for air fare, lodging and meals - but not golf fees - for more than 100 legislators and congressional aides. A lawyerly distinction.
The lobbying group did not explain what facts could be found in Arizona that would have eluded lawmakers in a meeting room in Washington, D.C.
A spokesman for the institute did take pains to make it clear to the press, though, that the meeting was private. "Since the furthest thing from our minds is making news, it's not public."
Of course not. The weekend was bought and paid for by a private group. What business is it of the public - and, therefore, the press - to be prying into what was said and done? What business - except, perhaps, the obvious: The guests of honor were the public's elected representatives, and the main course being carved up and served just might have been the public interest.
Ethics rules allow "educational" junkets if they align with the interests of a legislator's constituents. Certainly, individuals who rely for their livelihoods on tobacco - from farmers to factory workers to marketers to manufacturing executives - are among the constituents of many lawmakers. But the Tobacco Institute is a deep-pocketed lobby adept at pushing a special-interest agenda usually at odds with the larger public's interest.
For decades, the industry has used secrecy and obfuscation to promote Big Lies: that the link between cigarettes and disease is scientifically arguable; that nicotine is not addictive. So be it. If, however, the nation's lawmakers want to hear Big Tobacco's pitch, they ought to do so outside private smoke-filled rooms.
We share, in fact, some of the industry's concerns with new federal tobacco regulations that improperly are assigned to the Food and Drug Administration and that meddle with advertising content. Of course the industry's views should be heard fully - but openly.
They should not be peddled to public servants sequestered from the public they serve and pampered with amenities designed to ingratiate.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB