George Allen and Grover Norquist are the Republican Party's two strongest connections to the tobacco industry, and two large recipients of Big Tobacco's blood money. No one is close to Allen when it comes to raking in tobacco dollars. For Norquist, this is not much of a problem--he is not an elected official. But for Allen, who tries to appear pro-family and friendly to religious groups, associations with what is essentially a death industry are problematic. And given Big Tobacco's diabolical opposition to government funding of comprehensive health care (explained below) we may have a reason behind George Allen's anemic record on health care.
NORQUIST AND TOBACCO
How did Norquist come to have such strong ties to Big Tobacco? Blame the Clintons(!!) (Republicans reading this may find their ears twitching reflexively at this point.) The tobacco industry has been a low tax advocate because it fears that legislators find "sin" taxes easier to sell to the public. But the wedding bells for the Norquist/tobacco marriage occurred when, at the start of the Clinton Administration, Hillary Clinton trumpeted plans for an elaborate revamping of the nation's health care system, which Big Tobacco feared would be funded in part by cigarette taxes.
Norquist's funding by tobacco interests is well documented, in part because many documents tying Norquist to Big Tobacco came out during litigation brought by cancer victims against the tobacco industry. A good summary of the whole affair is provided at http://www.sourcewat....
Some highlights of the Source Watch investigation:
Norquist's role as a major player on tax policy came as the tobacco industry was floundering with its lobbying. An internal Philip Morris memo outlined the company's problem: "There is a consensus that we have lost the public opinion battle concerning excises [taxes]. (http://legacy.librar....)
RJR was worried that Clinton's proposals for the introduction of national health care might "possibly be financed in part by higher cigarette taxes". (http://tobaccodocume....)
One tactic was to use "possible third-party coalition work" to get `credible, non-tobacco voice for hearings and for generating information on issue to media, op-eds, letters etc". Likely coalition partners included "insurance companies, Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste."
Note the strong Republican connections in the campaign--lobbyist Craig Fuller, mentioned here, also once was head of the Republican National Committee: [http://www.sourcewat....]
In a February 1994 roundup of Philip Morris lobbying activities, Craig Fuller outlined elements of the company's efforts to defeat Clinton's health care proposal. One element, he explained, involved "working with Americans for Tax Reform to develop details on the economic and criminal effects of the prohibitively high-cigarette excises in Canada, including late breaking coverage of the recent tax rollback".
Sometimes people have a tendency to demonize their opponents. Well, I'll just let the reader decide whether Norquist deserves any demonization:
The following month, Norquist was on the road speaking out against increasing taxes on cigarettes at the request of RJR. "Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax reform will appear in Augusta, Maine, next week to oppose cigarette tax increases. His appearance was requested by RJR", an internal May 1997 memo reported.[28](http://legacy.librar....)
In February 1998, Democrats in the U.S. Senate Democratic complained that Norquist had received improper funds from the Republican National Committee and violated ATR's tax-exempt status by engaging in political activities including a direct-mail and phone-bank campaign in 150 Congressional districts challenging Democratic criticism on the GOP's Medicare plan.
Norquist also sought to shore up support amongst wavering Republicans. "I am getting the uneasy feeling that the republicans are increasingly willing to stand aside and allow some sort of tobacco tax to pass during this session. ... Clinton and Gore are developing the idea of "good taxes" on "bad things" or "bad people". Cigarette taxes are first. Then beer. Then big cars. The ultimate target is to use the taxes to fund their own agenda, such as implementing the Kyoto treaty," Norquist warned.
GEORGE ALLEN'S TIES TO THE INDUSTRY
George Allen is from a large cigarette-producing state. He may have thrown five interceptions during one half of a football game in college, but he's #1 in one area: taking money from Big Tobacco. And it's not even a close contest. According to Open Secrets http://www.opensecre.... here's the ranking for this election cycle:
1. Allen, George (R-VA) Senate $94,950
2. Burns, Conrad (R-MT) Senate $57,700
3. Cantor, Eric (R-VA) House $38,750
4. Lewis, Ron (R-KY) House $36,750
5. Lott, Trent (R-MS) Senate $32,800
When Allen last ran, in the 2000 election cycle, he was again the biggest Congressional recipient, getting almost as much cash as George Bush did for a national campaign:
1. Bush, George W (R) $92,125
2. Allen, George (R-VA)Senate $83,300
3. Burns, Conrad (R-MT)Senate $51,000
Isn't it evilly ironic that the wedding of the Republican anti-tax advocates and Big Tobacco occurred because of the tobacco industry's opposition to an attempt to provide better health care for all Americans? As for George Allen, the tobacco industry has invested wisely -- George Allen's Senate health care record has been abysmal, his health care proposals just window dressing -- but that's another story.
To learn more about all those involved with Abramoff schemes watch the Bill Moyer's special "Capitol Crimes". If you have DSL you can watch it online at:
I hope they get Norquist. I hate his "tax" (give all the money to the rich) policies.