Posted on 03/01/2008 4:20:46 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
With just two weeks to go before the Legislature adjourns, Gov. Jim Doyle said it's time legislative leaders in both houses scheduled the smoking ban for a floor vote.
"It's important for the leaders to allow it to come to a vote," Doyle said in a conference call Friday with reporters and bicycling star Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong, a cancer survivor and advocate, is coming to Madison on Tuesday to appear at a rally at Monona Terrace Convention Center with Doyle and smoke-free advocates.
Doyle noted that some lawmakers have indicated there is not enough legislative support to pass the proposal, which would ban smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars. But the governor disputed that assessment.
"I feel confident there is strong bipartisan support," he said. "If legislators just allowed this to go to the floor of each house and legislators had to vote on this and then had to answer to their own constituents on that vote, I don't have much doubt but that there would be overwhelming support for the ban because that's how the people of Wisconsin feel."
Though a high priority of the governor's, and the subject of a major push by anti-smoking advocates, the ban has been delayed for months in the Senate and its future in the Assembly is uncertain. The Senate bill, as amended, calls for a ban by 2010. The Assembly bill has an implementation date of 2009.
When asked to describe the source of the delay, Doyle pointed his finger at "old-time politics" and the Wisconsin Tavern League.
"I think the Tavern League is telling some legislators not to let it come to a vote and they're listening to them," he said.
Doyle also said it was a "myth" that northern communities in Wisconsin, unlike such cities as Madison, do not want a smoking ban. The governor said he recently spent time with the mayors of Superior, Bayfield, Ashland and Washburn, and all were supportive of a statewide ban.
Armstrong's focus
Armstrong, the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which supports cancer research, said he hopes his visit will galvanize public support for the ban.
"Our main goal and objective is to bring exposure to the issue," said Armstrong, noting he comes to the state "humbly" as a Texan.
Armstrong said the scientific data about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke is clear, as are the economic statistics that show eating and drinking establishments and their communities thrive after smoking bans are implemented.
"The main focus of my life now is this fight (against cancer), and the tobacco issue is a major link in the spoke of this disease," he said. "As an advocate and cancer survivor, I feel it's my right and duty to talk about the devastation of this disease."
Armstrong said his foundation was recently involved in a similar fight in Texas, where a measure to provide funding for cancer research ran into delays and roadblocks in the Legislature. Lawmakers eventually allowed it onto the ballot and voters approved $3 billion in bonding for cancer research.
Despite the call by some in Wisconsin to exempt bars from the ban or to allow for smoking rooms in bars, Doyle said he would not sign a bill with any exemptions. But he said he'd be willing to compromise on an implementation date.
"I'm willing to go out to the end of this year," he said.
Fine. Ban bicycles from all public roads. They’re a major health hazard.
Pathetic
Thanks for the ping!
BUMP!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopthewiban/
Great comments here. Hit the “Signatures” tab at the top.
From the article:
“I feel confident there is strong bipartisan support,” Doyle said.
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If he felt so confident why is he bringing in Armstrong to Hamstrung the issue?
It's past the point of government recommending and or promoting, now the government is demanding.
It doesn't show a pretty picture for personal freedoms.
February 29, 2008
The UAW is testing its new clout at Foxwoods Resort Casino, where the union successfully organized table game dealers in November, by trying to break up the long marriage of gambling and smoking.
http://fox61.trb.com/news/local/hc-smoky0229.artfeb29,0,6014255.story.
Both tribes plan to fight it, but interestingly enough, it's the newly formed presence of the UAW that is bring this ban issue up.
I suppose these people would say "Sure, Hitler was a bad guy, but he had some good ideas."
Sure there is. It is the for the same reasons we have public service announcements on radio and television admonishing people to put on their seat belts.
Power, control and revenue enhancement.
Well alrighty, then. Therefore he must be a self-righteous tree-hugging socialist.
I’m with you.
He may be all of that and a jerk, but he does not dope or use steroids like Roger Clemens.
Smoking must cause cancer and that means that Lance must be a closet smoker! Or could it be that excessive riding to bicycles causes testicular cancer and therefore we should ban riding bicycles on any land in Wisconsin?
Hmmm, Lance, which is it? Boy am I glad I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for his yellow wristband scam.
EFF it. I’m going to be like Lance and start smoking steroids!
>.Sure, Hitler was a bad guy, but he had some good ideas
Well, he did.
Who’d feel more at home in America today, Stogiesmoking Churchill or cigholder FDR or smokfrei Adolf?
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