The
Colorado Restaurant Association Ties to Big Tobacco
What were the Colorado Restaurant Association's
(CRA) former ties to Big Tobacco?
As far back as March 16, 1982, a former director
sent a letter to all CRA members asking them to join a tobacco industry front
group called TAN—the Tobacco action Network— and sent them TAN literature.
The Director wrote, “Fortunately, we have some
friends out there. That is why I”m taking the
extraordinary step of sending this letter with some literature from TAN—the
Tobacco action Network which can help us defend our freedom to choose.”
“Also, Pease read the enclosed material. I urge
you to sign up to get on the TAN mailing list by sending in the enrollment
card. There is no charge to you. If you don’t sign up now, then be sure to stop
by the TAN booth (#336) at the show to do so. See you at the convention.”
There is also documentation of Philip Morris
donations to CRA; Philip Morris was the prime sponsor of CRA’s annual
hospitality show, and numerous internal documents show that CRA and Big Tobacco
had often worked together. CRA has also employed tobacco lobbyists Poncho Hays
and long-time Philip Morris consultants CRL and Associates. The following four
excerpts are from GASP’s report on the Tobacco
Industry Involvement in Colorado.
1) Industry proxies and allies in Colorado are
well noted in the documents. The Colorado Restaurant Association (CRA, formerly
the Colorado-Wyoming Restaurant Association) has long acted as an important
surrogate for the tobacco industry, putting forth industry arguments in
opposition to smoking restrictions statewide. Documents reveal that ties
between the CRA and the Tobacco Institute have been quite strong. A 1989 draft
speech brags about how the tobacco industry was able to set the agenda in state
legislatures. Kurt Malmgren (Senior Vice President of
State Activities at the Tobacco Institute) spoke of using allies like the
Colorado Restaurant Association to help the industry.
2) In 2001 Philip Morris created a front group
called the Colorado Indoor Air Coalition (CIAC) to promote the notion that
adequate ventilation in restaurants is the sole solution to secondhand smoke
exposure (a tobacco-industry tactic to prevent workplaces from becoming 100
percent smoke-free). The CIAC is headed by the Colorado Restaurant Association,
along with the Rocky Mountain Association of Energy Engineers and Philip Morris
USA, under the name “Options.” Philip Morris’s Options program disseminated
information on studies which concluded that smoking bans lead to severe drops
in income for businesses, and promoted the idea that smoking restriction laws
take away business owners’ “choice”. Other members of the CIAC include the
Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, Casino Owners Association of Colorado,
and the Colorado State Bowling Proprietors Association. Pete Meersman, head of the Colorado Restaurant Association,
served as President and CEO of the Colorado Indoor Air Coalition. In 2001, Meersman denied that the coalition’s purpose was to thwart
clean-indoor-air ordinances.
3) Campaign disclosures indicated that POGO’s*
largest contribution was $5,000, given by Host Pac, the Colorado Restaurant
Association’s (CRA) political action committee. Philip Morris did funnel some
money through the Colorado Restaurant Association’s political action committee,
Host-Pac. Host-Pac gave opponents of the Boulder ballot issue (POGO) $6,000
during the campaign. According to public records filed with the Secretary of
State, Host-Pac received $5,000 from Philip Morris at the end of 1995 and
another $7,500 at the beginning of 1996.
* POGO, People Opposed to Government
Overregulation, was the opposition front group in the 1995 Boulder ballot
initiative on the current Boulder smoking limits passed by the voters.
4) An article in the Montrose Daily Press
portrayed Jim Kerschner*, owner of the Red Barn
Restaurant, as the primary organizer of the opposition. Kerschner
made no mention of receiving aid, advice or other resources from either the
National Smokers’ Alliance or Philip Morris. Rather, he told the media and city
council that he was “fighting for his own cause,” and said; “I’m representing
myself here.” However, a Philip Morris document discovered in 2002 lists Jim Kerschner, owner of the Red Barn Restaurant in Montrose,
Colorado, as a spokesperson for the cigarette company.
* The Red Barn is a member of the Colorado
Restaurant Association and a primary opponent to the Montrose smoking limits.
Philip Morris gave CRA $2,000 toward the end of
2002 (09/18/2002) according to records filed with the Secretary of State. In
2002-3 Host-PAC, CRA’s political-action committee, gave some of the following
campaign contributions: $2,500 to Citizens for Property Tax, $5,500 to Citizens
for Responsible Reform, $500 to Voice of the Electorate in Montrose 10/16/2001
(three weeks before the November 2001 effort to repeal smoking restrictions on
the ballot in Montrose), $2,500 to the National Conference of State
Legislatures, and $3,750 to Governor Bill Owens. Host-Pac also gave the
following contributions to Denver city council candidates in the May 2003
elections: $1,000 was given to: Carol Boigon, Kathy
McKenzie, Charlie Brown, Elbra Edgeworth, and Jeanne Fatz. $500 was given to Rick Garcia, Peggy Lehmann,
Rosemary Rodriquez, Marcia Johnson, Jeanne Robb, and Michael Hancock. These
council candidates were elected or reelected. Also $2,000 was given to council
candidate Bill Scheitler, and gave $3,000 to Mayoral
candidate Ari Zavaras, (both were opposed to any
further smoking limits in Denver), and $2,000 to council member Ed Thomas.