Cheap Cigarettes Online 02/22/2012
Cigarettes Online
Add Comment Last month, a popular reform to grant the California Insurance Commission the power to review and regulate proposed insurance rate hikes died a quick death in the state Senate. Although the bill, Assemblyman Mike Feuer’s (D) AB 52, passed the Assembly and the Senate Health Committee, the legislation was pulled after intense pressure from lobbyists. The California health insurance companies, as well as other health care industries, made AB 52 a top priority for defeat.
As ThinkProgress has reported, health insurance companies have concealed their lobbying efforts by funding many of the so-called “pro-business” trade groups in California, which have in turn lobbied or released letters opposed to AB 52. But a closer look at the health insurance lobby’s disclosure reports paints an even broader picture of their influence: – State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D), the chair of the health committee, voted for AB 52 but told the press he could not support the bill in its current form. Hernandez’s income is boosted by about $69,000 a year in payments from Kaiser Health Plans, the state’s largest insurer (and one of AB 52′s most prominent opponents) in rent at an office building owned by Hernandez. The unusual arrangement might present a serious conflict of interest, but Hernandez’s spokesman told ThinkProgress that the rent payments began shortly before Hernandez entered the legislature, and that Kaiser maintains a community outreach center in the senator’s building. – UnitedHealth Corporation, a large for-profit insurer with a presence in the Golden State, retained five different lobbying firms this sessions: Capitol Advocacy LLC; Carter, Wetch & Associates; Fernandez Government Solutions LLC; Thomas Advancy; and Terry M. McGann Inc. From January through May, the firm spent $221,481 on lobbying just in California. – Kaiser Health Plans, the biggest spender of all the major health insurers in California, retained the lobbying firm Carpenter Hawkins Sievers LLC during the fight against AB 52. Last year, during the attempt by oil companies like Koch and Valero to repeal California’s clean energy laws, ThinkProgress profiled Carpenter Hawkins Sievers. Notably, principles at the firm worked for over a decade for the discount cigarette online lobby to kill laws aimed at curtailing indoor smoking cigarettes, smoking cigarettes in public areas, and cigarettes marketing towards children. Although Kaiser has touted itself as a company that encourages well-being, it is ironic that the insurer would hire slash and burn cigarettes store lobbyists. A review of disclosure reports shows Kaiser Health Plans ($4,955,503), Anthem Blue Cross ($2,522,334), UnitedHealth ($1,021,376), HealthNet ($941,489), and Blue Shield of California ($724,412) as the insurers that have spent the most on lobbying since 2009 in Sacramento. The millions dropped on lobbying, like the tens of millions insurers have allocated for lobbying in DC and state capitals across the country, are premium dollars that could have been spent on actual health care. Playing off a cheerleader/football theme, Smoker Friendly International (SFI)cheered on its 10th annual Tobacco Festival & Conference, held this Monday and Tuesday at the Millennium Harvest House here. The company also celebrated its 18th year as a brand, which is now recognized as the country's largest cigarette and buy cigarettes outlet retailer but also encompasses its authorized dealership program (utilized even by some c-stores) and its private label cigarettes online products.
Once again, the SFI event featured several industry and legislative panels. This year's panelists included Gary Poehlmann, vice president of sales for Swedish Match North America; Bobby Newman, executive vice president for J.C. Newman Cigar Co.; John Miller, an industry consultant with electronic cigarette manufacturer Freedom Smokeless; and Steve Sandman, vice president of sales and marketing for Republic Tobacco. One of the issues discussed was that because channels like drug and grocery are "close to throwing the whole [cigarettes] category out," according to Newman, it's really coming down to two channels for cigarettes -- c-stores and cheap cigarettes outlets. C-stores were praised for embracing the smokeless category. "Actually, with the entire OTP (other cheap cigarette online products) category, they're doing a fairly good job of making space," noted Poehlmann. "Smokeless continues to grow for the channel." Regarding best retail practices, panelists encouraged generating more excitement and fun around these adult categories as much as possible, as well as keeping sections neat and organized, and most importantly, educating store staff with product knowledge so they can focus on more consultative selling with customers, especially with emerging categories like snus and electronic cigarettes. "Intelligence and communication is vital to survival," stated Sandman. Electronic cigarette growth was defined by Miller as "growing exponentially." He cited industry data that reported 35 to 45 percent of c-stores will be carrying the products by year's end. Smoker Friendly's legislative panel was moderated by Ron Tully, vice president of new projects, National Tobacco, and included Jim Dillard, senior vice president of regulatory affairs of Altria Client Services, Tom Briant, executive director of NATO (National Association of Tobacco Outlets), and Glynn Loope, director of Cigar Rights of America (CRA). Loope spoke about state and local legislation that recently took place in the industry -- primarily smoking cigarettes ban rollbacks -- that should be viewed as something positive in these volatile buy cigarette online times. Briant reviewed concerns of retailer compliance checks and training programs. Also at the show, Jon Caldera, president of Libertarian thinktank The Independence Institute, and news radio host, was a guest speaker. He encouraged smokers and retailers of discount cigarettes products to position themselves as a political movement, minorities and victims. "If smokers do not get organized and sell themselves as victims, cigarettes for sale will become a completely controlled substance," he said. "You have to remember you're selling a wee bit of liberty. Instead of buying into the fact that you're 'merchants of death,' you must position it as 'merchants of liberty.'" Smoker Friendly also honored Swedish Match North America (SMNA) as its manufacturer "visionary of the year" during the event. The retailer of the year award went to Klafter's Inc., a cigarettes for sale outlet retailer in Pennsylvania that has been partners with SFI since the 1990s, run by the Silverman family. Smoking Ban In Jefferson County Workplaces 09/13/2011
A new poll released today shows 76 percent of voters in Jefferson County favor a law prohibiting smoking cigarettes indoors at all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, said pollster Mark Mellman, president of The Mellman Group, which did the poll for the United Way of Central Alabama and other members of a tobbaco-free task force."There is overwhelming support for laws that ban smoking cigarettes in indoor public places," said Mellman. "Everyone benefits from smoke-free air," said Jennifer Cofer, vice president of public policy for the American Lung Association of the Plains-Gulf Region. She said the Tobacco-Free Taskforce of Jefferson County, a coalition that includes the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, United Way, the UAB Schools of Public Health and Nursing and other groups, will ask public officials to support a ban on smoking cigarettes at workplaces, bars and restaurants. "It's a public health issue," she said. The poll was done in early July, about the time Fultondale passed a smoking cigarettes ban considered one of the strictest in Alabama. Fultondale's ordinance goes into effect on Sept. 1, banning smoking cigarettes at public gathering places. Dr. William C. Bailey, professor of medicine at the UAB Lung Health Center, said there is abundant evidence of the health hazards of second-hand smoke. "Most people don't pay attention to the science," he said. "It's the laws (that work) -- 'you can't smoke cigarettes here.'" The telephone survey of 600 registered voters in Jefferson County included 12 percent who said they were daily cigarettes for sale users and 84 percent who said they never use cheap cigarette online products. Not everyone agrees with the smoking cigarettes ban. "When the government starts making the mortgage payment on my building I'll be glad to let them run my business," said smoker John Douglas, owner of Home Field Sports Grill in Fultondale, which remains closed after damage from the April 27 tornado. "I think it should be left up to the business owners. Don't shove it down their throats. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head to make them come to my establishment. There are plenty of non-smoking cigarettes establishments." | Tobacco
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