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Phantom,

My "illustrious" RINO state senator told me during an irate phone conversation which took place shortly after the stunning surprise vote in NY that one of the primary reasons he (Flanagan's his name) supported it was that the NY Restaurant and Bar Association finally caved in and allowed it to happen.

Here's what had to be spoon fed to this idiot: Nearly 80% of the NY Restaurant and Bar Association's membership is comprised of businesses within the NYC/Long Island area. NYC and Nassau County had just passed smoking ordinances in their own areas and they were getting SLAMMED by businesses in Suffolk County and New Jersey. THAT'S why the NY Restaurant Association wanted this law...to "level the playing field" as they like to say.

What nobody wants to talk about is that the Empire State Bar and Tavern Association DWARFS the NYRBA in membership numbers (the Empire State Assoc. has 20,000 members; the NYRBA has about 8,000 -- according to their own numbers), and they vehemently opposed this law (still do; they are suing the state, in fact).

Bloomberg and the Dems in Nassau County pushed their own agendas, then strong-armed the rest of the state into "levelling the playing field" because they knew the establishments in the non-smoking areas could NEVER compete on a REAL "level playing field."

I still can't figure out WHY the RINOs in the state legislature were so easily swayed, but let me tell you: if you could have heard the tap-dancing my "representative" was engaging in, you'd swear his name wasn't "Flanagan," but "Bojangles." There's a whole lotta back-scratching going on up in Albany...

Regards,