Sunday, July 04, 1999
CAPITOL INSIDER
Industry lobbyist influenced original tobacco bill
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
State Rep. Robert Schuler, R-Sycamore Township, says the tobacco industry has nothing to do with a bill that would make it more difficult for counties to enact anti-smoking ordinances.
However, a review of soon-to-be-secret legislative files shows a tobacco company lobbyist drafted the language in Mr. Schuler's proposal.
House Bill 298 is identical to a bill Mr. Schuler sponsored in the previous General Assembly. According to Legislative Service Commission files, that bill sprung out of a measure from two sessions ago written by Harry J. Lehman, who at the time was a lobbyist for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
“I didn't know that,” Mr. Schuler said last week.
His bill would require city councils and township trustees to ratify smoking regulations adopted by local health boards. Health groups say the proposal is part of a nationwide effort to benefit the tobacco industry by forcing multiple governing bodies to approve regulations before they take effect.
The original bill, sponsored by then-Rep. Doug White, R-Manchester, also would have replaced many local anti-smoking ordinances with a weaker state law.
STARS
Ohioans soon will find it much more difficult to deter mine which public officials and lobbyists are behind legislation like Mr. Schuler's bill.
The two-year state budget Gov. Bob Taft signed into law last week includes a provision that closes the door on public review of Legislative Service Commission files.
Mr. Taft's aides say the governor didn't like the provision but deferred to the wishes of legislative leaders.
Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, slipped the secret records provision into the must-pass budget after failing to win support for stand-alone legislation last year.
Mr. Finan said he feared lawmakers would use the infor mation against each other in campaigns.
STARS
It's a safe bet Rep. Diane Grendell will have a tough time getting anything done in Columbus during the rest of her tenure.
The Chesterland Republican infuriated legislative leaders last week when she sued them for stripping a $30,000 airport grant from the state budget.
Rep. E.J. Thomas, a Columbus Republican who chairs the House Finance Committee, told The Enquirer last month he asked Senate leaders to remove the grant after Ms. Grendell voted against the budget bill.
While the grant survived both the House and Senate versions of the budget, a joint conference committee chaired by Mr. Thomas stripped it out.
House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, said she promised Ms. Grendell she would help her get the airport money another way. But that was before Ms. Grendell accused the speaker and others of committing a “heinous political act.”
In a sign of how personal the dispute has become, the speaker slighted Ms. Grendell during a farewell ceremony for Rep. Joy Padgett, a Coshocton Republican appointed by Mr. Taft to another state post.
Every time Ms. Grendell rose to be recognized, Ms. Davidson called upon somebody else. “You won't even let me say goodbye to a friend,” Ms. Grendell complained to the speaker afterward.
It seemed everybody else in the chamber said something about Ms. Padgett. But the speaker told Ms. Grendell there just wasn't enough time for her.
Michael Hawthorne covers state government for The Enquirer. He can be reached at (614) 224-4640.
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