Industry Executives Predict Legislative Victory

Tobacco industry spokesman J. Phil Carlton predicted that the industry’s public-relations campaign will succeed in killing the $516-billion anti-smoking bill approved by the Senate Commerce Committee. Carlton said Sunday on Fox News that the bill, written by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would mean a huge tax increase, create new federal bureaucracies, drive the tobacco companies into bankruptcy and create a black market in cigarettes. In other television appearances, Philip Morris Cos. Vice President Steven Parrish and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. Chief Executive Nicholas Brookes echoed Carlton’s arguments. Tobacco companies plan to spend up to $50 million on a campaign to kill the McCain bill, according to news reports.