Posted on 06/14/2005 8:04:29 AM PDT by SheLion
When the American Cancer Society last year paid to air television ads warning of the dangers of secondhand smoke, it didn’t disclose the expenditure because, it contended, the ads weren’t supporting a proposed smoking ban working its way through the Legislature.
The state’s Public Disclosure Commission disagreed and the society eventually reported the money it spent on the ads.
But that wasn’t enough for the commission, which Thursday approved a $3,500 fine against the society for missing deadlines to report the money it spent on the ads and other so-called “grass-roots lobbying” intended to generate support for smoking ban proposals.
According to a report from the commission’s staff, “the violations are significant,” since the $64,200 the commission spent pushing the smoking ban wasn’t disclosed until after the 2004 legislative session ended. That means people watching the ads – some of which featured former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop urging them to ask their legislators to support the ban – didn’t know who was paying for them.
The smoking ban proposals, which would have prohibited smoking in bars, restaurants and most other non-tribal businesses, failed. An initiative that would have done the same thing failed to make the ballot last year, though a similar one this year appears more likely to make the Nov. 8 ballot, thanks in part to nearly $600,000 in backing from the Cancer Society.
But the society has also missed deadlines for reporting its contributions to the initiative this year, according to the commission’s report. As part of the agreement approved Thursday, if the society commits another violation or fails to meet other conditions, it will trigger an additional $4,000 in fines.
The commission Thursday also fined the American Heart Association $400 for missing deadlines to report nearly $15,000 it spent pushing the smoking bans.
And it fined Breathe Easy Washington, the group that pushed last year’s failed smoking ban initiative, $400 for missing deadlines to report $8,500 in contributions it received last year.
Kenneth P. Vogel: 360-754-6093
Smoking Bans are Choking Our Economy!
What do these people want? The package to be black with a skull and bones on it with a label saying "Cancer"?
How do you boycott the American Cancer Society? Lace your home with asbestos and put UV lamps in all your light fixtures?
That's probably another thing on their agenda.
They are so obsessed with people who smoke they can't see straight. And in the meantime, the cure for cancers is not being found.
Wonder why? Because they being so obsessed with banning smoking, they aren't using this money for nothing else.
Many of us have already started a boycott against them last month, by stopping all of our donations.
Posted on 05/12/2005 5:03:38 AM EDT by SheLion
ALBANY, N.Y. - Smoking rights' groups, tavern owners and libertarian political parties in nine states are calling for a boycott of donations to major charities, saying their support of smoking bans is a threat to small businesses and civil rights.
"No more," says Audrey Silk, founder of NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, which is leading what appears to be the first-ever boycott of the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Heart Association.
"We will stop contributing to Big Nanny," she said. "Why do we want to donate to groups that are out to ruin our businesses and demean us as human beings?"
Smokers' and libertarian groups from Minnesota to Massachusetts are targeting the nonprofits for their political activities. The smokers' rights groups complain that the charities don't just support research and people afflicted with disease, but use their considerable lobbying power to help write smoking bans in states and municipalities.
Silk says her group gets no money from tobacco interests.
Silk targeted the American Cancer Society's radio and print advertising campaign in New Jersey, which calls on residents to urge their elected officials to pass an indoor smoking ban. Such bans hurt "mom-and-pop businesses and are intended to make pariahs out of adults engaging in a legal behavior," she said.
American Cancer Society national spokeswoman Colleen Wilber said she hasn't heard of such a boycott before. But she said the organization's lobbying efforts to support smoking bans to protect workers from secondhand smoke draw local opposition.
"We know people lose their lives to secondhand smoke and we see it as our obligation to protect those people from getting sick or dying," said Karen Becker, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey, which supports New Jersey's proposed indoor smoking ban.
The boycott effort is supported by Silk's CLASH, the national Smokers Club Inc., Illinois Smokers' Rights group, Indiana Amusement & Music Operators Association, the Kentucky Licensed Beverage Association, the Metro Louisville Hospitality Coalition, the Cambridge Citizens For Smokers' Rights in Massachusetts, the Smoke Out Gary group based in Minneapolis, Minnesotans Against Smoking Bans, the Fight City Hall group of Minnesota, Taverners United for Fairness New York, the American Arborist of New York, the Madison County Chapter of the Independence Party Ohio, the Lakewood Hospitality Association of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Smokers Action Network and Tennessee's Yes S.I.R. group.
The groups are urging members and sympathizers to continue to donate to charities with similar goals including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Mary Crowley Medical Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Shriners Hospital for Children as well as local medical charities.
This is WONDERFUL news - I would like to see it happen more.
That wouldn't help...we'd still smoke 'em!! No, what they want is total backdoor prohibition. Next after bars and bowling alleys are parks and sidewalks...then your car...then your apartment...eventually your house. They want to make smoking illegal, by making it illegal to find a place to smoke. And they have a lot of $$ behind their efforts. Even before they've dispatched with smoking, they're already onto fast foods and "fat taxes". Have some fun and google Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, John Banzhaf, or Stan Glantz. Find out about the efforts behind these bans, and the plans to "sue" to enact neo-prohibitionist legislation. fun stuff.
We've got to get the word out there, Gabz. These money grubbing groups have either got to be stopped or get back to the old days when they were working on cures.
God knows, the money they all receive should be used for that and not just bashing, banning and trashing people who choose to smoke a legal commodity.
I'd LOVE for these groups to ban cigarette's outright across the United States. Can you imagine the "ripple effect" this would have? LOL!
The total-staters have definitely figured out the best way to get conservatives on board with their agenda: Make liberals their first victims. They know how well it worked with Martha Stewart.
The total-staters have definitely figured out the best way to get conservatives on board with their agenda: Make liberals their first victims. They know how well it worked with Martha Stewart.
Let me get another cup of coffee and try to figure out what you just wrote to me.
Ah, OK. I don't really think of not contributing to a non-profit as boycotting it, but I get what you mean now.
Nah, that would triple sales, especially among Goth types.
NO that is not the scandal - the scandal here is that these are TAX-Exempt organizations and many receive taxpayer money government grants. The real scandal is they are permitted to spend ANY money forcing any kind of legislation.
They have no vested interest in curing cancer, anymore than the DEA has a vested interest in stopping the flow of illegal drugs.
If cancer goes away, so do their do nothing, propagandizing, no-heavy-lifting jobs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.