Chapter 32 Political issues

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Political issues: General

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"The ACLU has transcended lust for the contributions of cash it receives from Philip

Morris and R.J. Reynolds - in fact the organization has become insidiously dependent

upon them. The group is hooked. Without money from tobacco companies, a

significant number of ACLU activities and departments might have to be shut down. In

order to rationalize this dependency, the ACLU has placed a disproportionate

emphasis on its advocacy of smokers' rights and the rights of cigarette companies to

target their products through advertising and marketing programs to whomever,

whenever and wherever they see fit, under the First Amendment right to freedom of

speech. "In the eyes of many longtime members and supporters, the ACLU has been

responding to a civil rights 'emergency' that doesn't really exist in order to justify its

continuing reliance upon the cigarette money that keeps many of its operations

afloat... "The information exposes an entrenched pattern of conflict of interest

unparalleled in the history of the modern civil rights movement. Many of the ACLU's

resources have been hijacked, its mission perverted to satisfy the long-range goals

and short-term whims of Philip Morris and RJR executives who keep the ACLU on a

tight leash with regard to the protection of their industry's interests, using cash

contributions as leverage. The work the ACLU has undertaken on behalf of cigarette

manufacturers has been undertaken in direct exchange for funding - a quid pro quo

arrangement in direct conflict with the institution's status as a government-subsidized,

tax-exempt, nonprofit institution. "To wit, the ACLU has successfully mounted an

ambitious nationwide legislative lobbying campaign on behalf of cigarette companies

in the areas of employment protections for smokers, freedom of speech protections

for unrestricted cigarette advertisements, national health care reform legislation

favoring smokers over nonsmokers, and protection of smoker's rights in parental

custody cases of asthmatic children. "The ACLU has conducted elaborate privacy

surveys using questionable methodology to sway lawmakers and public opinion,

aggressively intimidated municipalities and private employers with regard to smoker's

rights and actively engaged in an international public relations campaign on behalf of

cigarette manufacturers and trade associations."

Comments on the ACLU from Cigarette Confidential, pp. 144-147:

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