This is how we can use the media to our advantage

[Roger_Lafayette]

This link: Federal Support for Anti-Tobacco Advocacy Raises Legal Questions | Washington Free Beacon has been posted in a few places around ECF, by SalemGold and AgentAnia (as well perhaps others).

Some of you read my daily media digests. I run across the names of local rep.s of the ALA, ACS, and other national org.s every day in the media stories that I read. Check out todays media digest and you'll see a story out of Beloit WI, which ref.s an org. called Youth2Youth of Rock County - which, I believe is also state-funded. I've got another story out of Harrison AR (also today), and I know for a fact that a local ANTZ drafted a proposed ord. which would extend the state clean air act to vaping. (Did she make a presentation to the council? Use any photocopying money? Gas money? Take a council member out to lunch on the public dime? You get the idea.)

This isn't the first time. I've heard about it going on in Makento and Sleepy Eye MN (through the press reports). I've seen Legacy Foundation buy advertising time ("third party content"). I've seen CLEARWAY MN doing the same thing, and I strongly suspect CAFE (IA) of paying the gas money of a rep. to go to a certain town hall, in order to ask a certain Q of a st. sen. (I could go on and on.)

THere's more going on here in other places too. Look at what happened in Yakima WA this week. Why did they vote the ord. down? I bet some of the reason is that there were no locals who were ticked off at indoor vaping. I'm willing to wager that some busybody ANTZ from one of these gov't funded anti-smoking entities tried to fear-monger the city council (and they were almost successful). How would you find out? Easy. Call the reporter! I've talked to reporters before, lots of them are quite happy to share their insight, especially if you claim to playing the same role (which you would be, in a way). Just be nice. You'll get a lot more info. than you bargained for!

Once we start turning some of these rocks ... then we can do several different things. We can begin publicizing these incidents through certain news outlets that might be sympathetic to carrying such reports. We can contact local state legislators and other officials who might be open to hearing about this sort of misconduct. Who knows, we might even see some legislative bodies hold some oversight hearings. (Why shouldn't they? It's public money!)

We don't need much. If you have a computer, maybe free long-distance calling (how about a Skype line? I'll let you use mine if you really need it), and a ittle time ... that's all it takes.

But I'm tired of reading all these media reports and asking myself why all these little towns are so anxious to pass anti-vaping laws, when I hardly ever read about locals who testify that they were annoyed/irritated/physically harmed by vaping. And how is it that people like a certain western state rep. know what "renormalizing smoking" means? That's ANTZ gobbldygook - who uses the term "renormalizing" in everyday life??

For that matter, how do all these politicians like the LA city council people get their ANTZ talking points down so accurately? What was ALA (or was it ACS, I forget) doing having a little presentation for MN state legislators recently? (WHo paid for that? You did - you paid the salaries of the presenters, you paid the rent on the venue, you paid for the coffee and the doughnuts, and you paid for the projector and maybe the legislators' lunches afterwards! - at least if you're a US citizen and pay taxes here).

We are not helpless.

 

[DetraMental]

I am surprised at the lack of compliance shown with the federal money. One would think it is handle better but the article certainly proves otherwise. So what will it take to get something done? Who needs to investigate, OMB? I know when I worked for two federal programs as an accounting tech it was my Bible. I had to know it and know it well. All money had to be accounted for and we were audited often as part of the organization we piggy backed off of. It amazes me that federal money is being spent from one grant on other items unrelated to it. That results in programs being shut-down, normally. This is very odd.

 

[aikanae1]

Not too long ago I followed a link from ECF to a website with a trifold brochure about smoking. The first section was about smoking. The inside was all about the dangers of ecigs. In the bottom right hand corner it said paid for by L.A. city clean air (something). We are battling our own tax dollars!

I have a hunch that quite a few of these cities/orgs are using federal funds and diverting them towards anti-ecig campaigns.

 

[DrMA]

Brilliant idea. Let's get all the ANTZ sent to federal prison for playing fast and loose with taxpayer money! Seeing Slantz and Pruebot in orange jumpsuits would be sooo sweet

 

[Uma]

Brilliant idea. Let's get all the ANTZ sent to federal prison for playing fast and loose with taxpayer money! Seeing Slantz and Pruebot in orange jumpsuits would be sooo sweet

I see a rash of orange mods in our future, to celebrate. Oh yes.

In yesterday's news release, of a smoking ban in Montgomery that did not pass, the Acs said they hoped it wouldn't pass because it wasn't severe enough & that they'll be back with a stiffer one next year. Apparently they not only lobby, they write the dang things!
Smoking restrictions die in state Legislature - Home - Sand Mountain Reporter

 

[Uma]

Not too long ago I followed a link from ECF to a website with a trifold brochure about smoking. The first section was about smoking. The inside was all about the dangers of ecigs. In the bottom right hand corner it said paid for by L.A. city clean air (something). We are battling our own tax dollars!

I have a hunch that quite a few of these cities/orgs are using federal funds and diverting them towards anti-ecig campaigns.

If I remember correctly, Pfizer funded it. (75,000)

 

[Uma]

I am surprised at the lack of compliance shown with the federal money. One would think it is handle better but the article certainly proves otherwise. So what will it take to get something done? Who needs to investigate, OMB? I know when I worked for two federal programs as an accounting tech it was my Bible. I had to know it and know it well. All money had to be accounted for and we were audited often as part of the organization we piggy backed off of. It amazes me that federal money is being spent from one grant on other items unrelated to it. That results in programs being shut-down, normally. This is very odd.

Whenever the IRS does their audit, the groups "confess" to having been embezzled, robbed, and stupid. As long as they "confess" up about thieves amongst them, the IRS lets them off the hook.

 

[LoveVanilla]

Excellent insight. And yes, I watched the same pattern of falsehoods on a "desperate shortage" of US STEM professionals (which is a bald-faced LIE). The real driver was $2B of tech corporate money spent with Washington lobbying/PR firms, which translated to a widespread campaign of planted news stories, supporting statements by a diverse network of politicians and businessmen, and heavy lobbying of Congress. And based on an out and out lie. The resulting legislation passed the US Senate before being wrestled to the ground in the House.

The sign are nearly identical, undeniable, and unmistakable -- little doubt there is BIG money being spent. It is not by chance that legislation keeps popping up across the country. And those spending the money MUST be exposed. They need to be named and shamed -- widely, loudly and publicly. And every time they show their faces until they finally crawl back under a rock and hide. This is not the time for people to pull their punches; corporate/agency reputations must be thoroughly bruised to deter them from their course. And no doubt their agenda has little to do with human health -- and everything to do with profits.

 

[Roger_Lafayette]

Excellent responses, all

I think there a lot of different ways to approach this - but the first thing we have to do is to get organized. Sounds like there are some of you with unique skills and experiences. For simplicity we should probably start going to regular e-mail and create some sort of simple structure. We'll probably need a little discussion forum of our own if things take off. (Lots of free options out there.)

Let me split this discussion up into two parts, for starters:

a) What activities gets targeted and (related) sources of information:

There are plenty of things that these orgs do out in the open. Buying ad space or using their facilities to do presentations for elected officials is just one of them. No "investigative" work is required to discover these activities, the orgs-in-Q are very proud of them and will brag about them. If someone starts nosing around and asking Qs about the sources and legitimacy of funding, I'm sure their PR folks wil be happy to answer these queries. Once they're "on the record" - then the digging starts. Most of these activities may be entirely legal. But perhaps not all.

Media reports are a good place to get leads (which is how this thread started). But from a media story, we can start digging further. Local reporters know a great deal - as I mentioned, they're very often quite happy to talk to someone else whom they regard as a "fellow reporter." A little small talk, schmoozing, etc. doesn't hurt. You'd be surprised what they know, and are delighted to disclose abot the activities of local ANTZ reps. Usually these folks are vounteers. But not always. Sometimes they're state and local officials (e.g. health dep't, Tobacco/Drug cessation staff, etc.). And very often they go on the record in local city council or county council meetings. Typically those records are electronically published.

In a legislative context, don't forget the poor little LAs - the legislative aides who have worked their way up from being field organizers in political campaigns, and who've been rewarded with a 60-hour-wk "salaried" job that pays them peanuts. They'd like nothing better than to talk to someone who treats them as if they're important And if what you want to know is about are the activities of an organization that opposed their boss' legislative agenda, they might be particularly happy to go on the record.

Finally, we might be able to talk to the volunteer reps themselves. They're probably proud of their work, especially if they've succeeded in getting some small town or county to pass a "smoke free" ordinance. Did they extend the doorway perimter from 5 feet to 5 yards, and manage to sneak vaping in with the smoking because none of the council members knew what vaping was? Whoopie, that's a feather in their cap! They'll be happy to talk to you. And sign off via e-mail on an admiring paragraph or two that you write which profiles them. Now you have proof (e-mail headers). The next step is to get a comment from the org. that they rep. It's the same strategy as prosecutors use, when going after a criminal enterprise. Start with the small fry first, then go up the hierarchy.

***

b) What might be done with the results of the "research"

Now that the "proof" is available, there are lots of ways to go about using it. A short (500-word-max) piece could be written, posted to a blog site,and then sent out to reporters who do this kind of investigative work, and/or 'zines that might be interested in such exposes. We could also get it tweeted, FB'd, etc. all over the place. After all, we're starting with a built-in network of vapers who are - like us - more than a little ticked off at what's been happening lately. None of them want to feel helpless, any more than we do.

Once enough noise is made, there are also politicians who might be interested. At that point, it's a Q of finding people who are familiar with the politics of a given state. This is obviously especially important for those org.s that get local funding. The key is to have legitimacy: no one is going to even look at what we produce, if they think that we're sending them off on a wild goose chase after the moral equivalent of crop circles. And some of the reporters who are already breaking stories like this might have some ideas. (Personally, I'm more than happy to hand a mini-scoop to one of them - I'm interested in the result, not any kind of personal glory.)

The last thing we need to keep in mind is that there's real value in just letting these orgs know that they're being watched. For some years, they've operated rather brazenly in the open - secure in the knowledge that smokers are loathed by society at large, hence few politicians and media outlets will want to be seen as defending smokers. Vaping isn't quite like that - there are enough former smokers out there who have become vapers, and just enough people in the public health community to give us a certain amount of legitimacy that smokers never had. Most of these ANTZ orgs and their volunteers on the ground are still operating under the assumption that "everybody hates smokers, so we can get away with whatever we want." Some of the volunteers may not even know what the difference is.

***

But let's be clear about one thing. I've been watching this go on now for weeks. Every day, I run into a town of no more than 10-100,000 people which has somehow discovered a newfound urgency to move against vapers. This is no accident. It's most certainly not happening "organically" in some kind of "vacuum" because there are scores of screaming pimply-faced teeny-boppers bounding into a Denny's or Waffle House every morning before school, and then using their "e-hookas" to blow vape in the faces of the local breakfast clubs. Baloney: I don't buy scenarios like that for an instant.

In its way, this is no different from the development over time of the ANTZ "meme" about vaping producing a new generation of hooked tobacco-smoking teenages. There are some skilled, thoughtful, well-paid (and in some cases even well-meaning) folks who have put some serious time into figuring out how to smear vaping and vapers with all the justifiable hatred that the public harbors for BT, not to mention the disgust which exists out there towards smokers.

We're seeing these local legislative activities occur because there's an effort that's been coordinated from the very top of these ANTZ orgs - which are supplying their volunteers with motivation, talking points, and (probably) gas money, printed materials, training videos and the whole nine yards. I'm willing to bet that some of these "boots on the ground" volunteers don't even know what vaping is. They've never actually been in the presence of someone using a PV, but they've been shown big glossy photos featuring huge clouds. (If you want loyal troops, the first thing you explain to them is that the enemy consists of barbarians, right?)

***

BT and BV ("big vapor") aren't going to do anything about this. Their markets aren't being affected. Vape shop owners seem to be for the most part too disorganized, and don't seem to have a clue about what's going on. National advocacy orgs like R Street have their hands full as it is. The parts of the public health community who support us are busy doing what they do best (science and public health). So it's up to us.

We can make a difference. All it takes is some common sense, a computer, organization, a little time, and some dedication.

But first we have to be ticked off. And I hope many of you are.

I know I am!

 

[swampergene]

Someone posted it elsewhere on ECF, but I think this answers your questions about why so many small communities are suddenly jumping on the wagon to ban PV and E-cig use:

Few dare call it bribery: OK grants, e-cigs, and another brick in the wall « Watchdog.org

 

[Sundodger]

I'd like to see an effort to get the media to stop using the phrase "laced with nicotine". It puts visions of Halloween candy laced with unmentionables. While the term laced can be used to describe anything added to something, it's modern use and understanding is toward, illegal, illicit substances added to something.

For vapers getting off the stinkies nicotine is the base product that is needed, flavors are what are laced to help the product be more attractive, not the other way around. CASAA and all vapers should be contacting NEWS organizations anytime they see the phrase used and point out that nicotine is not being "laced" into the liquid, liquid nicotine is the base product while other ingredients are later added to the vapers wants and needs.

 

[Uma]

In one of the threads here, someone posted a Link to the letter the council received from Slantzz, requesting for them to be banned immediately. His letter was not filled with "mights, potentials, or maybes". He filled it with " does, will, is". In the media, he is always careful to say the previous, but in his letters he says the latter. There was another recent instance of this. Hopefully someone has the links handy.