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June 11, 2008
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Columns Why I Opposed the Smoking Ban
By Senator Mike Folmer
Following is my response to Richard Thierolf regarding my vote
against the statewide ban on smoking in private establishments.
First let me say that Mr. Thierolf's assertion that I've been
"bought off" by the tobacco industry is ludicrous. He is free to examine my
campaign finance reports, readily available by contacting the PA Department of
State or my campaign. In so doing, he'll discover that less than three-tenths of
one percent of all the money I've ever received in campaign donations has come
from tobacco interests.
I agree that smoking is undisputedly a serious health hazard. I
celebrate the fact that as a society we have made significant progress to
curtail smoking. A few decades ago, smoking was omnipresent; today, through the
commendable efforts of public health advocates and groups such as the American
Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, smoking is disallowed in
hospitals, airplanes and airports, libraries, theaters, malls, publicly owned
buildings, and many sports venues and restaurants.
I wholeheartedly believe that we should continue to push for
good public health. At the same time, I am obliged to uphold the solemn oath I
made to honor the Constitution, which protects private property rights.
Pennsylvanians are endowed by God with the right to own and use private
property. Smoking, though highly unhealthful and distasteful, is legal. Further,
it is the right and the prerogative of those who own private establishments to
determine whether or not their patrons can engage in legal activities.
Non-smokers enter a private establishment as a privilege extended by the owner,
not as a constitutional right. The private business owner's right to allow his
patrons to engage in a legal activity supersedes the intolerance of that
activity by those who patronize the establishment by privilege.
We should – and we will – continue to wage the battle against
smoking, but we should not do so by burning the Constitution into a pile of
ashes.
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