Recorded presentation

Andrew Spivak, MA, Department of Political Science, University of Oklahoma, 455 W. Lindsey Street, DAHT Rm 205, Norman, OK 73019-2001, 405-325-2061, spiv@ou.edu and Michael S Givel, PhD, Department of Political Science, The University of Oklahoma, 455 West Lindsey, Room 215, Norman, OK 73019.

Political lobbying by tobacco interests is examined in Oklahoma since the mid-1980s, using previously secret tobacco company documents. In 1985, R.J. Reynolds declared that no tobacco control regulation had ever been enacted in Oklahoma’s legislature. Over the next two decades, the tobacco industry played a key political role in fighting new public health initiatives. Tobacco Institute (TI) lobbying helped pass pre-emption in 1986, preventing local municipalities from enacting stronger clean indoor air laws. In 1994, TI declared that their lobbying efforts over the previous seven years had defeated all proposed tax increases on tobacco, and that the work of their chief Oklahoma lobbyist was responsible for indefinitely delaying the Labor Department’s attempt to restrict smoking in government buildings. When the legislature attempted to raise cigarette taxes in 1998, R.J. Reynolds successfully campaigned with direct-connect phone calls from sympathetic residents to state senators’ offices, a tactic that had proven successful in 1995, when legislators were considering a bill to repeal preemption. When the Attorney General announced a 1996 lawsuit against the tobacco industry for manipulating nicotine and targeting youth in advertising, Phillip Morris developed a campaign to “create a negative political reaction to the lawsuit.,” Despite the lawsuit’s success, Phillip Morris claimed in 1997 that Oklahoma was still a “positive environment” for tobacco interests. With issues including cigarette taxes, youth-access enforcement, pre-emption, clean-indoor-air laws, and litigation, the efforts of tobacco industry lobbying over the past two decades have been instrumental in countering the struggle for enhanced public health in Oklahoma.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) will be able to

• Recognize and discuss the strategies of tobacco industry lobbying on health policy at the state and local level.
• Analyze and assess the impact of tobacco lobbying on smoking regulation, public health policy, and tobacco litigation.
• Identify and evaluate the political and public relations strategies necessary to effectively promote smoking-regulation policies in opposition to tobacco interests.

Keywords: Tobacco, Tobacco Industry

Related Web page: N/A

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation