October 20, 2014

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

ACS CAN CALLS ON GOVERNOR BROWN TO RETURN THE $100,000 CONTRIBUTION FROM PHILIP MORRIS TO PROPOSITIONS 1 & 2

Good for ACS CAN in calling out Governor Brown for taking $100,000 from Philip Morris.  He should do what ACS asks and give the money back (and pledge not to take any more).
 
The reality is that neither Proposition 1 (which deals with a rainy day fund in the budget) and Proposition 2 (which is a water bond) have anything to do with tobacco.  This is a bald effort to buy influence pure and simple.
 
Here is their press release:
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
October 20, 2014
 
Contact: Stephanie Winn McCorkle
Associate Director of Media Advocacy, Western Region
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: 916 802-4033
Email: [email protected]
 
ACS CAN CALLS ON GOVERNOR BROWN TO RETURN THE $100,000 CONTRIBUTION FROM PHILIP MORRIS TO PROPOSITIONS 1 & 2
 
SACRAMENTO – Philip Morris contributed $100,000 to Governor Brown’s ballot measure committee established to support Propositions 1& 2, and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) strongly encourages the governor to return those funds. 
 
ACS CAN recently launched its “Snuff Tobacco Money out of California Politics” campaign requesting that all candidates for state office reject campaign contributions, including donations to committees controlled by a candidate such as Governor Brown’s Yes on Prop 1 & 2 Committee.  Under ACS CAN criteria, Gov. Brown is the first candidate for office in the state to accept a campaign contribution from a tobacco company since the effort was launched on July 1.
 
“Gov. Brown should return this money right away,” said Jim Knox, vice president of government relations for ACS CAN in California.  “Propositions 1 and 2 are important public policy debates, but the tobacco companies are cynically using these measures to curry favor with the governor.  Philip Morris doesn’t care about water or a rainy day fund.  They only care about addicting youth and low-income communities to their deadly products.  This contribution is all about trying to prevent any policies that help people quit smoking, keep youth from ever starting to smoke and reduce exposure to secondhand smoke.  Allowing convicted racketeers to fund his ballot measure committee is a mistake.”
 
Tobacco companies inflict enormous harm on our state.  A brand new report from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco shows that tobacco costs our state $18.1 billion a year.  That comes out to $487 per Californian and $4,603 and per smoker.  Almost 15 percent of deaths in California in 2009 are attributed to smoking, for a total of 34,363 deaths. This represents $6.8 billion in lost productivity and 587,000 years of potential life lost.
 
Across the globe, tobacco kills 5 million people a year and if current trends hold, a billion people will die this century from tobacco use.  ACS CAN calls on the governor to return the money.  Opponents to Proposition 1 have raised virtually no money and Proposition 2 does not even have a campaign committee to oppose it. 
 
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
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Comments

Comment: 

Brown just lost my support for these props!

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