Senator seeks end to federal smoke shop grants

Libby Quaid

Wednesday, April 5, 2000 | 9:23 a.m.

WASHINGTON - A Republican lawmaker is proposing a halt to Department of Housing and Urban Development grants for Indian-run smoke shops selling discount cigarettes.

Missouri Sen. Christopher Bond on Tuesday said the government is urging people to stop smoking even as HUD has subsidized cheaper cigarettes that anti-smoking advocates say encourage more minors to smoke.

The move was quickly seconded by Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, whose agency previously has sparred with Bond over the shops.

"Cheaper cigarettes mean more kids smoking, and these grants mean more cheap cigarettes," Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said during a news conference with Bond on Tuesday.

At issue is $4.2 million in HUD grants to American Indian smoke shops and truck stops that sell cheaper cigarettes. Bond chairs the spending panel that controls HUD's budget.

"No matter where it happens, awarding government subsidies to sell cheap cigarettes is a bad idea," Bond said at the news conference, which was also joined by a representative of the American Lung Association.

As the Senate begins a week-long debate on a $1.83 trillion budget for the coming fiscal year, Bond said he would introduce an amendment to bar HUD from using tax dollars for smoke shops where discount cigarettes are sold, to be followed later by a prohibition in the agency's budget.

While the spending resolution isn't legally binding, it sends a powerful political message further reinforced by Cuomo's support.

Bond learned last spring of a 1997 grant to the Reno Sparks Indian Colony in Verdi, Nev.

HUD told Bond that "only one" smoke shop received such a grant, but the senator unearthed a half-dozen awards and sent an aide to Oklahoma to see - and videotape - several smoke shops firsthand.

The aide, Small Business Committee counsel John Stoody, narrated while reporters were shown images of the smoke shops and their advertising.

"Rows and rows of tobacco products of all kinds," Stoody said. "Contrary to it being called a convenience store, this is all cigarettes. If you call them on the phone, they'll answer, 'Thackerville Smoke Shop."'

In 1998 in Oklahoma, HUD awarded $750,000 each to a Chickasaw Nation project in Ada, a Choctaw Nation store in Poteau and a Muscogee Creek store in Muskogee. In 1997, $750,000 each went to the Chickasaws for a Thackerville shop and the Choctaws for a Broken Bow station.

And Bond's office on Tuesday provided The Associated Press with further evidence of a link between teen smoking and discount cigarettes - a compliance check by Reno, Nev., officials showing that a tribal smoke shop in August 1999 sold cigarettes to an underage customer.

Bond's findings sparked a dispute pitting him against Cuomo's agency and the tribes, and tribal leaders accused Bond of bigotry in singling out their businesses. HUD officials have insisted the agency has no legal authority to ban sales of tobacco products in stores that get federal funds.

But Cuomo immediately embraced the senator's move, saying, "This legislation will give HUD the ability to refuse funding to tobacco stores in all parts of the United States."

"HUD assistance that improves the economic health of communities shouldn't be used to endanger the physical health of families living there," he said.

A statement issued by HUD also said that the National Congress of American Indians - while sharply critical of Bond's efforts - endorses a prohibition against HUD funds for tobacco-related businesses so long as tribes are not the sole target.

The Reno-Sparks tribe, however, refused to support the measure, saying American Indians will be the only ones hurt.

Tribal Chairman Arlen Melendez said in a statement that tobacco is just one of the many legal products sold to match non-Indian competitors. The operations' supporters say they create jobs and boost income, taxes and retail sales for communities.

Bond, who has sparred with Cuomo on a number of other issues, said that he wasn't certain whether Cuomo "saw the light or felt the heat."

"But I'm glad to see that HUD has finally chosen common sense over combativeness on this issue," Bond said.