Quoth Eric Dondero: > Except for the fact that it was conservatives and Republicans who > gladly signed our petitions to repeal the smoking ban. It was > liberals who refused to sign. > > So a statement like "conservatives and liberals are equally bad" is > just plain wrong, particularly on the issue of smoking bans and > civil liberties. Conservatives are our allied something like 20 to > 1.
In some places yes, in some places no. In St. Louis County, Missouri, a countywide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants went down ... every Democrat on the county council voted AGAINST it, and every Republican except one voted FOR it. Now, one of the Republican county councilmen -- Kurt Odenwald, who was finally unseated by a Democrat over his sponsorship of the countywide ban and leaves office at the end of the year -- has introduced a bill to get rid of the smoking lounges at Lambert Field, one of the few large US airports that still has them. He's trying to get the bill passed while he still "has the backing of the council's current Republican majority" to pass it. Fortunately, even if he manages to push it through, the Democrat county executive is likely to veto it. My understanding is that the airport board may be hiring a spokeswoman to get out their views on the issue (they don't want the ban). Interestingly, the candidate I've heard mentioned for that position is the chairwoman of the Missouri Libertarian Party. Tom Knapp
