Pawlenty To Sign Smoking Ban
Posted by Andy on May 15th, 2007
Yep, just heard it on the Bob Davis show on 1500. Governor Pawlenty will be signing the smoking ban.
His example/explanation is that we don’t let restaurants serve poinsoned or dangerous meat.
I will be unloading a rant for all to see later tonight, when I have the time, on just how stupid the smoking nazis are on this whole deal.
Gov. Pawlenty, I am very very disappointed.
Stay tuned……
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May 15th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Sigh……just when he was starting to put aside the ghosts of last session…..
LL
May 15th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
So you are calling the Governor a Nazi? Just wanted to get that straight.
May 15th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
good luck finding a place to live in the US that isn’t smoke free in about 10-15 years
times change, deal
May 15th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I don’t have to “deal” Montana…..it’s called personal responsibility and property rights. Are you gonna “deal” when they come after something that YOU DO?????
LL (who is 15 years smoke free)
May 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
LL, like it or not, sometimes the majority rules…
if this was voted upon, you can bet it would pass in a flash.
May 15th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
and if something i did endangered the life, health, and wellbeing of another person directly, yes, i would deal with it…
May 15th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
[...] Pawlenty To Sign Smoking Ban [...]
May 16th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Then let’s just ban tobacco and be done with it ML. Make the sale and possession ILLEGAL! Then when you get done putting all the tobacco addicts in jail, you can put the politicians who are addicted to tobacco revenue in jail with them!
Seriously - we don’t put drug users in jail because they “have an illness” why punish smokers?
BTW - I don’t smoke.
LL
May 16th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Lady, banning tobacco would be fine by me!
May 16th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
“like it or not, sometimes the majority rules… if this was voted upon, you can bet it would pass in a flash.”
Erm. SOMETIMES the majority does rule. This isn’t one of those times. If it was put to a referendum, it would almost certainly fail.
The MN House of Representatives did a survey on this issue. The majority wanted state-preemption, and no ban for bars or private clubs. If the will of the majority were observed in that case, the state law would have weakened existing local smoking bans, and only banned smoking in restaurants. It was a razor-thin majority that wanted to go even that far.
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/survey/hf305.asp
KSTP commissioned a poll by Survey USA that showed a solid 58% opposed banning smoking in bars.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportEmail.aspx?g=67d97b88-f10f-48e7-a8b7-d99b2cbad8a7
In an Olmstead County poll, 81% of respondents agreed with this statement:“The choice of whether or not to patronize a business that allows smoking indoors belongs with the individual person, not government.”
A poll conducted by the Rochester Post-Bulletin asked, “Should Gov. Pawlenty sign the Freedom to Breathe Act into law, banning smoking in all bars and restaurants?”
51.6% said NO.
http://poll.postbulletin.com/xlaapmview.asp?p=953&view=1
The Republican Party (you know, the folks that elected Governor Pawlenty) voted on the issue too. Here’s what the party decided:
Minnesota Republican Party Platform Section 7, Article N:
“Support for the right of all commercial property owners to govern the legal consumption of tobacco within their properties.”
Banning tobacco outright can’t happen, because smokers currently contribute 1/15th of the state’s annual budget. That’s right. $1 billion a year in tobacco taxes and “fees” go to the state coffers, with a bi-annual budget of $30 billion. Ban it, and almost 5% of the budget is suddenly unfunded.