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Despite defeat of statewide smoking ban, those on both sides of the issue battle on

Dennis Punzel  —  7/02/2008 5:33 am

Pete Madland, executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin, believes he has the perfect solution to snuff out the raging battle over smoking bans breaking out around the state.

"It'll go away if we get our way," said Madland.

But even Madland isn't holding his breath for that to happen.

"No doubt the opposition is very motivated and very well-funded," he said. "I understand it's a fight and it's a fight we'll continue to wage."

The Tavern League and its allies won a major battle this spring when a statewide smoking ban was kept from coming to a vote in the state Legislature. But even that victory appears to be temporary, as smoking ban proponents are expected to bring the issue back following the November elections.

In the meantime, municipalities from around the state have taken up the battle. Encouraged by polls that show widespread support for public smoking bans -- 69 percent statewide and a whopping 85 percent in the Madison area -- local bans are in the works around the state.

A smoking ban went into effect Tuesday in Eau Claire. Closer to home, Monona is set to go smoke-free in June 2009, and Middleton is debating whether to initiate a ban in September or hold off until later. Dane County also is considering a measure to ban smoking in the county's towns. Such bans would join those already in place in Madison and Fitchburg.

It's a piecemeal approach to an emotionally charged issue. The patchwork bans are not favored by anyone on either side, but it is the only alternative in the wake of legislative inactivity.

"As a public health person, my job is to make sure we're protecting as many people as possible," said Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. "We can't just sit around and twiddle our thumbs until the state Legislature decides to come back in session. That's why we need to go to the local level again and work that way."

And wherever an anti-smoking measure is under discussion, the Tavern League will not be far away.

"We know the Tavern League will always be there," said Ryan Sheahan, coordinator for the Tobacco Free Dane County Coalition. "Their resolve is still there. I think they're maybe resigned to the fact that it's going to happen, but they're still going to fight it. They're not going to sit on the sidelines."

Indeed not.

"The smoking ban is the No. 1 agenda item for the Tavern League of Wisconsin," Madland said. "Our members have overwhelmingly told us to keep fighting.

"When people ask, 'Why are you fighting this?' it's because it's not good for the tavern business. There's not any example out there of states that have gone smoke-free where the tavern business has been able to maintain its existing sales. In states that have a statewide smoking ban, the tavern business suffers anywhere from a 10-percent to 30-percent loss in sales."

BUSALACCHI disputes the notion that smoking bans are death to the bar business. What's indisputable, she says, is that smoke-filled bars can be deadly to both employees and patrons.

"There's strong evidence that second-hand smoke is dangerous and harmful to your health," she said. "I don't understand why we wouldn't protect all workers as soon as we can and why we would discriminate against hospitality workers. That doesn't make any sense to me."

What also doesn't make sense to her is the Tavern League's insistence on pouring its resources into the fight against smoking bans rather than working with its members to transition into a smoke-free environment.

"We're a single-issue group in that we deal with tobacco," she said. "What's ironic to me is that the Tavern League seems to be single-issue on the other side of that, when I know there's lots of other business issues.

"At some point the Tavern League ought to be looking at how they can help people prepare for this because it's going to happen one way or the other. This is what the public wants, it's clearly where the science is. They run around and say, 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling.' And then we see these communities go smoke-free and the sky doesn't fall."

One such place is Fitchburg, where a smoking ban went into effect in April. Ald. Steve Arnold, who helped lead the push for a smoking ordinance, said he's received virtually no negative feedback since the ban went into effect.

"Once you get through it," he said, "people say, 'I'm embarrassed I complained so much about it.' It's one of the arguments for a short implementation period. There isn't that much you need to do. You need to throw away the ash trays or move them to the deck. If you don't have a deck, you've got three months to build it. You don't need 12 months to do that.

"There's a fixed amount of pain and suffering that's going to happen because of the change. Then there's a variable amount of pain and suffering due to how long it's drawn out."

It's also a more painful process when it's done community by community, Arnold added.

"It is so much more work," he said. "It shouldn't have to be that way. The state Legislature has definitely let us down. Just think of all the activism and civic spirit that's being wasted on this issue that could be directed toward homelessness or cleaning up the environment or helping kids get off to a good start in school. It's a crying shame."

What's also a shame to Busalacchi is that with Iowa's implementation of a statewide smoking ban on Tuesday, Wisconsin is part of an ever-shrinking minority of states yet to go smoke-free. Thirty-four states now have passed either full or partial smoking bans. Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana are the holdouts in the Midwest.

"It's kind of embarrassing that Wisconsin really is the ashtray of the Midwest," said Busalacchi, echoing Gov. Jim Doyle's unattractive characterization of the state because of its failure to pass a statewide smoking ban. "Now Wisconsin looks really out-of-date. Hopefully, one of the first things the new Legislature will do is fix that. When people experience smoke-free environments, they rarely want to go back."

Busalacchi and Sheahan have spent seven years each in the campaign for a smoke-free environment. Over that time they've seen the momentum for change grow.

"In the past smoke-free might've been considered the island, not the norm," said Sheahan. "But as we move forward, those that are not smoke-free are becoming the island. Smoke-free air is the wave of the future."

Not if the Tavern League can help it.

"I can't tell you how this will all play out," said Madland. "The important thing to remember is that there are something like 1,840 municipalities in the state and right now there are about 35 smoking bans of some type. So the perception that the dominoes are falling and everybody is passing smoking bans is just not true.

"The thing I always tell people is that if our members go out of business making bad decisions on their own, they can accept that. But if they go out of business because the government made a bad decision, that's a tough pill to swallow."

Dennis Punzel  —  7/02/2008 5:33 am