Purpose:� To discuss the detrimental policy implications of tobacco control advocacy efforts on state and local tobacco control programs in New Jersey.

Methods:� Data were collected and analyzed from key informant interviews, state-funded grantee reports, meeting observations, training assessments, state budgets, state legislation, local ordinances, news and journal articles, and other sources.�

Results:� In fiscal year (FY) 1999, under a Republican Governor, New Jersey�s Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) enjoyed a $30 million/year budget appropriation from Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) monies and a gubernatorial promise of level funding on a go-forward basis.� By FY 2004, under a Democratic Governor, the CTCP budget was slashed by 66%, to $10 million/year from tobacco excise taxes, with absolutely no assurance that even its current level of funding would continue into FY 2005.� Tobacco control advocates in New Jersey, while thinking of themselves as more politically savvy than their predecessors in Massachusetts, made a series of ill-conceived advocacy decisions that helped state policymakers and administrators to justify de-funding the CTCP.

Conclusion:� In these tight budget times, with many states having failed to utilize MSA revenues and tobacco excise taxes to fund tobacco-related programs, it is absolutely essential that tobacco control advocates enter the policy arena with full awareness of how to operate in the political sphere.� Instead of learning from the advocacy mistakes of their colleagues in other states, NJ tobacco control advocates followed in their footsteps and helped to create a similar policy outcome: the demise of state-funded tobacco control programs.