Posted on 09/04/2003 11:38:00 AM PDT by Just another Joe
The bolding of certain comments is mine. JaJ
Moments before the Maine House of Representatives voted on a bill that outlawed smoking in bars and pool halls, state Rep. John Eder told lawmakers about Charles Greer.
Eder, a Green Party member who represents a piece of Portland, said Greer was an Old Orchard Beach teacher so beloved that classes were canceled the day of his funeral. He said Greer was very dear to the students whose lives he had touched.
And he said Greer moonlighted for 20 years in a Portland tavern.
The cautionary tale here, Eder told fellow lawmakers last June 3, is that (Greer), who did not smoke, but worked in this bar for 20 years, was exposed to secondhand smoke and died of lung cancer ... I thought it was a story that should be told.
But according to his friends and family, Greer was nearly a lifelong smoker.
He smoked for years and had quit five or six years before he died, Thomas Greer, Charles brother, said. His comment to me was that he quit smoking, but not soon enough.
We all smoked, said Kathleen Donnellon, a Hollis resident who taught alongside Greer, and we smoked like chimneys.
Some representatives credit the mention of Greer, which was brought to the Legislature as a special sentiment used by lawmakers to honor noteworthy Mainers, with smoothing the passage of An Act to Protect Workers From Secondhand Smoke and Promote Workplace Safety, the bill that extends the restaurant smoking ban.
The measure, LD 1346, passed in the House with no argument and made Maine the fifth state to ban smoking in bars, after California, Delaware, New York, and Connecticut. It goes into effect Jan. 1.
David Lamoine, a Democrat from Old Orchard Beach, said Eders comments drove home the need for the smoking ban in a personal way that statistics couldnt, quieting the opposition.
Eder, in a recent interview, said supporters of the bill congratulated him after the vote, and an opponent told him he planned to speak against the bill but didnt because of his comments.
Eder said it made my jaw drop that nobody spoke in opposition to the bill. He said he received all his knowledge about Greer from a trusted constituent who asked him to honor the teachers impact. He learned later that his remarks were inaccurate.
That was news to me at that point, he said.
Other lawmakers, noting that the measure passed overwhelmingly, doubted the effect of Eders words. Some said they didnt remember hearing the special sentiment, while others said they came to the Statehouse that day with their minds already firm on the anti-smoking bill.
I needed no persuasion, said state Rep. Thomas Murphy, a Republican from Kennebunk who supported the ban.
But some opponents of the smoking measure say the Legislature was misled by Eders comments and they question the timing of the special sentiment.
The Legislature, Donnellon said, was sold a bill of goods.
John Michael, a maverick former lawmaker from Auburn now gathering signatures to overturn the smoking ban, claims the timing of Eders special sentiment shows how political parties work the legislative process to get the results they desire.
Theyre just a bunch of manipulative little dogs, Michael, an independent, said. The leadership has control of the calendar. They have control of what comes up when.
Robert Daigle, a Republican lawmaker from Arundel, agreed the Democrats who control the House leadership govern the agenda and said the scheduling is often politically motivated. Thats the way it works, he said, no matter which party is in power.
Its all scripted, Daigle said. Its all intentional.
But Douglas Rooks, spokesman for Speaker of the House Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner, said it was entirely coincidental that Eders special sentiment came before the vote on the smoking ban.
And Rooks said the speaker regrets that inaccurate information was presented to lawmakers.
Were concerned whenever there is a misrepresentation, he said. We expect members to represent the facts accurately, but we have no way of enforcing that.
Eder said he requested that his measure honoring Greer come on the same day as the smoking ban vote, but was pleasantly surprised that it came up immediately beforehand.
I wanted it to be as fresh in the mind of folks as it could be, Eder said, (but) that was sort of a quirk of fate.
The Portland representative doesnt believe lawmakers were misled by his comments nor does he think that he significantly altered the outcome of the smoking ban vote.
To be honest, I dont think my little effort to put the two together had much effect, he said. Id like to think that the floor leader of the Green Party would have that kind of influence, but I dont.
Eder says that while the specifics about the revered high school teacher may have been inaccurate, his comments speak to a larger truth about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
It doesnt change my view that environmental smoke in the workplace, after 15 years of exposure, can cause someone to come down with lung cancer, he said. There are other people out there who have come down with cancer from working in bars.
Buncha no guts wussies
He learned later that his remarks were inaccurate.
Suuurrre he did.
Rep. Thomas Murphy, a Republican from Kennebunk who supported the ban.
A RINO from Kennebunk
But Douglas Rooks, spokesman for Speaker of the House Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner, said it was "entirely coincidental" that Eder's special sentiment came before the vote on the smoking ban.
Entirely coincidental that all 19 hijackers on 9/11/01 were muslim extremists.
"It doesn't change my view that environmental smoke in the workplace, after 15 years of exposure, can cause someone to come down with lung cancer," he said. "There are other people out there who have come down with cancer from working in bars."
Name one person that has gotten lung cancer from ETS that there is scientific proof that ETS caused the cancer.
They'll ge going after perfune and hairspray next.
They zone everything so that there are no bars in the workingman's neighborhood, lower the BAC to .08 and ban smoking in bars that they'll never see the inside of.
Nice trifecta for putting the saloon owner on the unemployment rolls.
Johnny "The Red" Baldacci, our unesteemed governor, is from Bangor and his family owns a couple of smoke-free restaurants.
I've been asking the owners of the workingman's bars that I frequent if the governor has ever stopped by for a drink, even on the campaign trail.
The answer is always no.
"Kathleen Donnellon of Hollis, a former coworker of Greers, said she doesnt believe he would have supported a ban on smoking at bars in Maine because he was such a firm believer in individual freedoms. And he certainly wouldnt have wanted to be a poster boy for the smoking ban, she said."
See how fast the "Republicans" cave to the touchy-feely stuff?
Maine, the testicles-free state.
What with the economy in Maine and business's struggling, all our lawmakers can think about is keeping the adult smoker out-of-site.
The wait person knows beforehand that if they take a job in a bar/tavern, there is going to be smoking. This goes without saying. I just received the following letter (in response to my letter to Gov. Baldacci), from Health and Human Services on this issue:
This letter is in response to your correspondence to Gov Baldacci regarding the legislation banning smoking in bars. Because the earlier legislation banning smoking in restaurants didnt include bars, we did have an UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD. With this legislation bars have the same restriction.
Smokers have not lost their right to smoke. (HEH) Adults who smoke have a RIGHT to smoke where their SMOKE doesnt harm the non-smokers.
Sincerely,
Mary Bourque, Public Health Educator
PARTNERSHIP FOR A TOBACCO-FREE MAINE
Can you see ANY of us going outside in January, February or March to grab a cigarette in the harsh bitter cold winters that WE GET?
Nothing is good enough for these people. They take the taxes from the adults who choose to smoke and use that money to stick it to us.
I still cant believe they think they can go into a private business and tell them how to run it. They just wont leave well enough alone. A lot of us smoke in Aroostook, and until the Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine put ideas into the non-smokers heads, everyone was happy.
Like I said: if smoking is so bad for us why doesnt our Maine government just ban it! Pull it off the shelves. Oh! But wait! Then they wouldnt be lining their pockets with OUR MONEY!
Anyone can voice their displeasure at the following email address's:
That not to say the man would't have gotten lung cancer, had he never set foot inside a bar.
Hey Joe! Well, I will work on scanning this letter and posting it in here for you all to see.
Their letter head states:
And you have a POINT. However, Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine works under Human Services in the State House.
Human Services collects the taxes from Maine smokers and divies it out to Partners so they can control and restrict the Maine smokers. Also, they are using our tax dollars to put on TV a few nasty azzed ads!
I have sent them information in the past, but since they have "tunnel vision," they would just throw back the same old song and dance. Truth? They don't want to HEAR the truth!
Well, just damn Max! That's great.
Any statistics yet on how many cars have been keyed by the tolerant diversity-loving crowd?
"But, in regard to the oft-quoted stat that there is only one smoker in Maine for every three non-smokers, what does he think his chances are? "I think theyre pretty good actually," he says. "The petitions are no problem."
And once it gets to a vote, "the chances are very good," he says, "because lets say two out three are non-smokers, but two out three Mainers are not Nancies. So the problem that the other side is going to have is convincing people in Maine that they should violate other peoples freedom, and thats going to be a tough sell for them. By the way, the non-smokers are signing that petition, so its not the issue, its the principal thats being put forward here."
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