Bush on Health and Human Services

George W. Bush: On Health and Human Services

Activists target Bush's choice: Thompson record on smoking hit

by Greg Gordon
Sacramento Bee Washington Bureau
Jan. 4, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Some anti-smoking activists are seeking to build grass-roots opposition to Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's nomination to be secretary of health and human services, saying he has done too little to combat smoking during 14 years in office.

They cite, among other factors, a recent St. Louis University study that ranked Wisconsin 49th in a state-by-state comparison of laws in force in 1996 to limit youths' access to cigarettes.

The activists also assailed Thompson for taking trips to Australia, South Africa and England that were funded by nonprofit groups backed mainly by tobacco giant Philip Morris. The company, through its non-tobacco subsidiaries Oscar Mayer, Kraft Foods and Miller Brewing, is Wisconsin's largest private employer.

"The appointment of Tommy Thompson as secretary of HHS, when it relates to tobacco issues, is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse," said Bonnie Sumner, president of the Wisconsin Initiative on Smoking and Health. She called his tobacco record "dismal."

Officials of leading health organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, are taking no stand on Thompson's nomination, making it unlikely the effort will threaten the Republican governor's expected Senate confirmation.

Some of these groups portrayed Thompson's tobacco record as mixed, noting that the state's cigarette tax and indoor air quality laws are among the nation's top third and that he approved the use of $23.5 million from the state's tobacco settlement for anti- smoking efforts, a bigger commitment than many other governors made.

Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., a leading anti-smoking advocate, has publicly endorsed Thompson's nomination.

As HHS secretary, Thompson would oversee the U.S. Public Health Service, which is headed by the surgeon general; the Food and and Drug Administration; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Cancer Institute; and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. All of these agencies have played leading roles in fighting smoking, the nation's No. 1 cause of preventable deaths.

Bill Godshall, executive director of Smokefree Pennsylvania, said he has circulated background material on Thompson to about 5,000 tobacco-control advocates across the country in hopes of persuading "grass-roots activists to contact their senators" before Thompson is questioned at his confirmation hearings.

A spokeswoman for Thompson said that, as a matter of protocol, he would have no comment until his confirmation hearings.

Alicia Peterson, a spokeswoman for President-elect Bush's transition team, said, "Governor Thompson has a record of efforts opposing youth access to tobacco and tobacco products."

Thompson has vetoed legislation that would have allowed municipalities to adopt stricter rules on youth access to tobacco than those in a state law -- a measure whose provisions scored low in the St. Louis University study. Thompson also signed a "Smokers' Rights Bill."

While the state's 15-cent cigarette tax increase in 1997 was the largest in its history, Thompson had proposed a 5-cent hike and opposed the $1 bump that tobacco-control groups said was necessary to deter smoking. Sumner noted that, unlike in aggressive anti-smoking states such as California and Massachusetts, none of the proceeds went for tobacco-control efforts.

Thompson's administration also was criticized in a National Cancer Institute review for failing to make efficient use of a $10 million, eight-year federal grant to help build anti-smoking programs across the state. The review noted that state health officials were "working in an environment which does not support aggressive tobacco- control policies."

On the overseas trips, he was accompanied by Philip Morris executives, among them the company's chief Midwest lobbyist. Thompson said he was unaware at the time that the sponsoring groups were funded by Philip Morris.

Russell Hinz, a Milwaukee-based senior vice president for the American Cancer Society, said the governor has not been a "champion" of tobacco control, but his record "has been improving throughout his tenure" and the group is "hopeful and encouraged that he will take a strong cancer-fighting posture" at HHS.

Thompson's wife, Sue Ann, is a former member of the society's board of directors.