| For Immediate Release November 08, 2006 |
Contact: Jennifer Friedman 202.296.5469 |
New Hampshire Voters Take A Stand For Right to Breathe Clean Air by Electing Betsi DeVries and Harold Janeway
Statement of William V. Corr, Executive Director, Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund
Washington, DC - By electing Betsi DeVries (District 18) and Harold Janeway (District 7) for New Hampshire State Senate and ousting incumbent State Senators Andre Martel and Robert Flanders, Granite State voters have delivered a mandate for legislation that requires smoke-free workplaces and protects the right of all workers and families to breathe clean air. For the second time this election cycle, New Hampshire voters have confirmed their overwhelming support for smoke-free workplaces by voting against Martel and Flanders, who have blocked efforts to make New Hampshire smoke-free and have taken campaign contributions from tobacco companies, and electing DeVries and Janeway, who support a statewide smoke-free law. We look forward to Senators DeVries and Janeway being leaders in the effort to pass legislation next session to make New Hampshire smoke-free.
This vote also demonstrates the importance of tobacco as an issue come Election Day. Two months ago in the Republican State Senate primary, Granite Staters voted out State Senator Robert Boyce, who had blocked efforts to make New Hampshire smoke-free, in favor of State Representative Jim Fitzgerald, who supports a smoke-free law.
The election results underscore the strong public support for smoke-free laws that protect everyone from the serious health harms of secondhand smoke. In the weeks leading up to the election, the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund launched an independent, direct mail and voter contact campaign to educate New Hampshire voters about the clear contrast between the positions of Janeway and his opponent, Flanders, and DeVries and her opponent, Martel, when it comes to fighting tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.
The campaign highlighted the fact that both DeVries and Janeway have pledged to support a statewide smoke-free law and that DeVries voted for the smoke-free law as a Representative when the New Hampshire House passed it earlier this year. On the other hand, Martel and Flanders voted against the smoke-free bill earlier this year as members of the Senate, after receiving contributions from Big Tobacco, when the life-saving legislation was killed in the State Senate by a one-vote margin.
New Hampshire voters have delivered a loud and clear message to legislators: support for a statewide smoke-free law translates into votes in favor of candidates who are willing to stand up for the right to breathe smoke-free air and against those who are not. Granite Staters have answered the call of Senate Majority Leader Bob Clegg who, after voting against the smoke-free law earlier this year, responded to a question about the smoke-free law becoming a campaign issue with, "Geez, I hope so."
In further evidence that voters across the nation strongly support smoke-free workplace laws, voters in Arizona, Ohio and Nevada on Tuesday approved laws requiring that all workplaces and public places be smoke-free. Altogether 16 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico have passed smoke-free laws that include restaurants and bars. The other states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Nevada joins Florida and Idaho in having a strong smoke-free law that covers restaurants, but not all bars (Nevada’s law exempts bars that do not serve food and casino gambling areas).
The need for protection from secondhand smoke has never been clearer. In issuing his groundbreaking report on secondhand smoke on June 27, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona stated, "The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes premature death and disease in children and nonsmoking adults."
The Surgeon General found that secondhand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease, serious respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and asthma, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome. The Surgeon General also found that secondhand smoke is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States each year and that there is no risk-free level of exposure. The Surgeon General's report also confirmed that smoke-free laws protect health without harming business.