Nevadans on tobacco list

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A government watchdog group is trying to smoke out three members of Nevada's congressional delegation, claiming they're kowtowing to the tobacco industry.

Common Cause of Washington, D.C., says Republican Reps. John Ensign and Barbara Vucanovich and Democratic Sen. Harry Reid are tobacco-friendly.

The evidence: a Dec. 15 letter to the Food and Drug Administration from 156 members of Congress, including the three from Nevada, opposing the FDA's push to regulate the sale and advertising of tobacco products.

Nevada's delegation says Common Cause is just blowing smoke. They say they signed the letter because regulation of the tobacco industry should be done at the state rather than federal level.

"It's illegal to sell tobacco to minors in all 50 states, so it's a question of enforcement," said Reid spokeswoman Susan McCue. "Sen. Reid's opinion is it should be done at the state and local level, and that there is no need for further federal intrusion."

Vucanovich spokeswoman Susan Zimmerman said their office has received hundreds of letters from Nevadans who support the congresswoman's belief that tobacco regulation is a states' rights issue.

Ensign believes Common Cause is engaging in unfair name-calling.

"If there were a chance to eliminate tobacco subsidies, I'd be the first to vote for it," Ensign said. "I don't even allow anyone to smoke in my home."

But Common Cause thinks it has a smoking gun: campaign contributions. The 156 letter signers raised a combined $3.4 million from tobacco PACs since 1986, about three times more than went to congressmen who didn't sign.

Vucanovich received $16,200 during that period, and Reid collected $11,000.

Ironically, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who didn't sign the letter, raised more than his Nevada colleagues. He got $16,500.

Common Cause also tarred Ensign for ranking 13th among House freshmen with $6,100 in political action committee contributions last year from tobacco companies.

Ensign said he has met with tobacco and alcohol lobbyists and shares their concerns about taxation and regulation. He even said the gaming industry would be smart to link up with "sin" lobbies to fight further taxation and regulation.

"It's so easy to bring up a tobacco tax, and it's so easy to bring up a beer tax," Ensign said. "The gaming industry is more highly regulated than the nuclear power industry."

Tobacco Institute spokesman Tom Lauria said the Common Cause report is unfair because several of the PACs represent conglomerates with other interests, such as food products and hotels.

"They want to silence any company that has a tobacco interest, and that is unconstitutional," Lauria said. "When you give a PAC contribution, you're not buying a vote. You're just buying the right to be heard."

Common Cause Executive Vice President Donald Simon said it's naive to think companies such as Philip Morris Co. and RJ Reynolds Inc. are giving money to politicians for products other than tobacco.

"We're talking about the largest tobacco companies in the country," Simon said.

The members of Congress who signed the letter said they don't believe minors should use or purchase tobacco products. But they said the best way to prevent children from smoking is to enforce existing state laws, rather than to create a new federal bureaucracy.

They also noted that in 1992, Congress amended the Public Health Service Act to require each state to implement programs to keep tobacco products from minors.

"If additional measures are necessary to stop minors from using tobacco products, Congress, not the FDA, should and will make the decision," the letter stated.

"Congress has not given the FDA either 'clear direction' or any authority to regulate tobacco. Yet the FDA has determined by regulatory fiat to assert such authority."

Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has asked businesses to avoid placing cigarette machines in areas accessible to minors.