NEWS

Here are 10 million reasons for yes on 50

Tobacco industry ads claim to defend state constitution

October 14, 2007

Hey, buddy, can you spare a dime? How about $10 million? You can if you’re the tobacco industry. Three companies — Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American and Altria Corporate Services Inc. — have contributed more than $10 million toward defeating Oregon’s Measure 50.

Now, why do you suppose they’re trying to sway the Nov. 6 election?

We suspect it’s not simply because they’re fine, public-spirited corporations that believe in an enlightened electorate. Led by $5.8 million from Philip Morris, the tobacco industry’s contributions have demolished previous records for ballot-measure spending. That’s even when the figures are adjusted for inflation. More…

Posted on October 14, 2007

Tobacco casts constitution as pristine, but reality is otherwise

By JULIA SILVERMAN / Associated Press

The way tobacco companies tell it, Oregon’s constitution is a pristine document that would be badly damaged by the proposed inclusion of a tax on cigarettes, which would pay for an expansion of children’s health care coverage.

R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris have poured a record $9.1 million into fighting Measure 50, the proposed cigarette tax in Oregon, the most ever spent on a ballot initiative in the state, and much of the money has gone to drive home that point.

Now, concerns over the constitution appear to be resonating among voters, according to activists from both sides. More…

Posted on October 12, 2007

Tinkering with the Constitution an Oregon tradition

JANIE HAR
The Oregonian

In ominous TV commercials and mailings unleashed across Oregon this fall, opponents of Measure 50 argue voters shouldn’t sully the state constitution by chiseling in a specific tax.

Indeed, it does seem odd to add an 85-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes to Oregon’s 150-year-old founding document.

Or is it?

This is Oregon, where direct representation rules. And where voters have tinkered with the constitution 240 times since they voted back in 1902 to adopt an initiative system that made it easier to do just that. More…

Posted on October 11, 2007

Oregon’s Congressional Delegation Denounces President’s Veto of SCHIP and Calls on Oregonians to Vote Yes on Measure 50

Joint Statement by Senator Gordon Smith, Senator Ron Wyden, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Congressman Peter DeFazio, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and Congressman David Wu Regarding the President’s Veto of SCHIP and Ballot Measure 50.

The President’s veto of the bi-partisan SCHIP reauthorization bill denies health coverage to the millions of American children who so urgently need it, and shows that Washington, D.C. cannot be counted upon to solve the crisis of uninsured children. Well over 100,000 of those uninsured children live here in Oregon.

Big Tobacco lobbyists have too much influence in Washington, just like they do in Salem. We’re going to stand up to those lobbyists and the President by voting to over-turn the veto, and we call on Oregonians to fight back, too. More…

Posted on October 3, 2007

Lance Armstrong Endorses Oregon’s Ballot Measure 50

Live well, and live strong
MY VIEW • Saturday’s challenge aims at saving 1,500 lives daily
By Lance Armstrong

Boys and Girls Aid Society

… Oregon is one state leading the way, with its ballot measure to increase cigarette taxes in support of the Healthy Kids initiative that would help Oregon children gain access to doctors, medicine and much-needed prevention and treatment services.

The plan also will encourage current smokers to quit, while discouraging potential smokers – most often young people – from ever starting the deadly habit.

Policymakers and policies are only as effective as the citizens they govern; it is up to us to stand up and support laws and regulations that we know will benefit us and our communities. More…

Posted on September 28, 2007

A growing stench from tobacco

Cigarette makers issue a blank check to their hired guns in a big-bucks effort to defeat Oregon’s Healthy Kids Plan

Hold your noses, Oregonians.

Big Tobacco’s campaign against uninsured children in Oregon is turning from merely smelly to downright malodorous.

Two weeks ago the industry launched a $4.5 million TV and radio blitz trying to confuse voters about Measure 50, the cigarette tax increase that would help provide health care to more than 100,000 Oregon children. But the highly misleading ad campaign may be only the beginning of a much bigger onslaught, on the heels of a welcome court ruling.

Tobacco makers, using every weapon at their disposal, had bankrolled a lawsuit seeking to throw Measure 50 off the ballot. However, Marion County Judge Paul Lipscomb sensibly rejected every argument in the suit. More…

Posted on September 26, 2007

Big Tobacco’s “Teacher” Letter Sent out With Fake Signatures

(SALEM, OR) — Big Tobacco’s deceitful campaign against Measure 50 continues. A mass-mailed letter supposedly sent from a Salem teacher named Ben Matthews continues to be received by Oregon voters around the state. However, not only does the letter’s envelope use Tobacco lobbyist Mark Nelson’s office as the return address, but each letter is signed with a suspiciously different signature. More…

Posted on September 26, 2007

Big Tobacco Loses Suit Against Measure 50

Big Tobacco’s Suit Seeking to Throw Measure  50 off November Ballot Found by Marion County Judge to be Without Merit.

(Salem, OR) – A Marion County Judge denied the motion seeking to remove Measure 50  from the November ballot.

Judge Paul Lipscomb found that “the challenge fails as to each of the specific substantive issues it raises.”

Tobacco giant Philip Morris paid the legal fees for the suit. Measure 50 is a constitutional amendment that would raise taxes on tobacco to boost children’s health insurance coverage.  Tobacco companies have filed more than 35 suits in five other states since 2001 to block tobacco-related measures. To date none of those attempts had been successful. More…

Posted on September 25, 2007

Portland Business Alliance Endorses Ballot Measure 50

PBA joins the long list of Oregon organizations supporting the Healthy Kids Initiative

(PORTLAND, OR) — The Portland Business Alliance has announced their endorsement of Ballot Measure 50, the Healthy Kids Initiative.

“Each year, the rising cost of healthcare is one of the top concerns for Portland Business Alliance members, which is one of the reasons why the Alliance is supporting Ballot Measure 50,” said Sam Brooks, Chair of the Alliance.

“Ballot Measure 50 will address the impacts of tobacco-related healthcare costs through education and prevention as well as costs from uninsured Oregonians, and most importantly, this measure will help Oregon children, our future generation of workers, get access to the healthcare they need.” More…

Posted on September 20, 2007

Big Tobacco Shatters State Spending Records in Order to Protect Profits

American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association urge Oregonians to “click it off and tell tobacco to butt out!”

(PORTLAND, OR) — Big Tobacco is headed toward setting a spending record in Oregon. R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris have already spent $4.5 million on television and radio, potentially the largest media buy in the history of the state of Oregon for a ballot measure.

The American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association joined with Healthy Kids Oregon today to launch a new campaign warning Oregonians about the onslaught of deceptive advertising that’s about to hit the state and urging them to fight back against the millions of dollars Big Tobacco is spending. The campaign calls on Oregonians to click three times:

1. First, click off the TV or radio whenever a tobacco ad airs;
2. Click on the Healthy Kids Oregon website (www.healthykidsoregon.org), where your tobacco ad “click off” will be counted; and
3. One more click will automatically send an electronic postcard to R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris world headquarters telling them, “Our kids are more important than your profits. Butt out of Oregon!”

More…

Posted on September 18, 2007