R.J. Reynolds pushes allowing smoking in bars; funding lopsided on many props
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
PHOENIX — One of the nation’s largest tobacco companies is spending more than $1.40 for every man, woman and child in Arizona on its campaign to let bar owners decide whether patrons may smoke.
New campaign finance reports show R.J. Reynolds has contributed more than $1.4 million in just the last seven days. That is on top of nearly $7.1 million the campaign already had, almost all of that from the tobacco giant.
The Reynolds-financed campaign is trying to persuade voters to support Proposition 206 and defeat Proposition 201.
Both would ban smoking in most public places.
But Proposition 201 also includes bars, even in cities with less stringent anti-smoking laws. Backers of that measure report collections of about $1.7 million, mostly from the American Cancer Society.
Proposition 206 would allow smoking in bars and separately ventilated sections of restaurants where liquor is sold. It would void existing city ordinances that restrict smoking in those places.
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