Smoke in Their Eyes: Lessons in Movement Leadership from the Tobacco Wars

34. What Was Gained? What Was Lost?

237 34 What Was Gained? What Was Lost? No Harm Done? What was lost when the June 20, 1997, settlement and the McCain bill died? Not much, judged Julia Carol, Stan Glantz, Ralph Nader, and John Garrison, among others. Indeed, its death was a “victory” for tobacco control, wrote Carol; a “Pyrrhic victory for Big Tobacco,” wrote Nader. As for Drs. Koop and Kessler, they were outraged at the congressional perfidy but confident that the future would bring even better laws than the McCain bill. A few days before the final vote, Carol wrote to the SAVE LIVES e-mail listserv: “If I had my druthers, being I’m not much of a gambler , I’d rather they called off the game and we were left with no harm done—that would still feel like victory to me.” When the McCain bill died, Glantz explained to his listserv why there was nothing to lament in its loss: “The bald effort of Lott and the Republicans to kill the McCain bill was a testament to how far we have come. . . . It is important to recognize that even with the Republican effort to kill the McCain bill, all it did is throw the tobacco industry back into court against a much stronger public health opposition, armed with a series of victories in court and (thanks to Skip Humphrey) a ton of documents.” Later, Glantz drew this optimistic scenario for the still unsettled state attorneys general cases: The proper strategy . . . is simply to take these [the attorneys general] cases one at a time, and either take them to trial or settle. If they settle, include a most-favored nation clause and go around the country slowly ratcheting 238 Smoke in Their Eyes up the ante, with each AG told to get one thing more than the one before. The other benefit of this strategy is that it enables you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes. One of the problems with the national deal is that it was a one-shot blowout. To the extent anybody got outsmarted by the cigarette companies or made a mistake in the agreement—and there were a whole lot of loopholes and technicalities in there that were very problematic—when you are doing it one state at a time, there is an opportunity to look at the settlement and think about it, and see what people did right and wrong, and to move forward incrementally. I am still hoping that is what happens. Glantz concluded: “Public health has emerged from this battle in better shape in the long run than the tobacco companies and their Republican friends have. . . . Let’s get back to work at the state and local level, where it is easier to win.” Nader issued a press release: “This is a Pyrrhic victory for Big Tobacco . Their desire to end uncertainty has boomeranged. Moreover, even if no bill is passed, the drug-dealing tobacco industry will remain on the defensive, as state and private litigation continues and registers increasing success, researchers cull through internal industry documents to further demonstrate the industry’s calculated strategy to addict the young, deceive and prevaricate, and states and localities enact tough tobacco control regulations.” John Garrison of the American Lung Association took comfort in momentum: “The tobacco industry is celebrating tonight, but its happiness will be short lived. Momentum is still very much against the industry.” Koop vowed: “This is not over. I am determined that we will win this bill this year.” Kessler, equally unbowed, had a longer timetable: In some ways, [the loss of the McCain bill] was the best thing that could have happened. If it had passed the Senate and gone to the House and died, that would have given me great pause. That Lott was so blatant in the way he killed it, in some ways sets it up: not for today, not tomorrow, maybe not next year, maybe not the year after. But I can assure you, things come around. It will take years; it doesn’t happen overnight. There will come a point in time when we will have leadership that will do the right thing. It may not be for a decade until the Democrats re-control the Senate. But it will happen. Lessons from the Settlement and its Aftermath 239 What Was Gained Hindsight is the enviable, if loaded, weapon of the critic who bides his time...