Wilson Broke Law by Halting Anti-Smoking Campaign

The Wilson Administration violated state law when it halted an anti-smoking advertising campaign paid for by a voter-approved tax on tobacco products, a judge ruled Friday.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James Ford ordered the Department of Health Services to restore the ad campaign, which was suspended in January.

The innovative effort to curb smoking attracted international attention and was credited by the Administration with prompting thousands of Californians to quit the habit.

But Gov. Pete Wilson--citing a severe budget shortfall--suspended the campaign and asked the Legislature to divert the $16 million that would have been spent on the ads to health care programs for the poor.

The Republican governor proposed that a total of $60 million over two years be shifted from anti-tobacco education and research programs and used to pay for medical services. An Administration official declined to comment Friday on the ruling.

Proposition 99, which increased the cigarette tax by 25 cents a pack, required the state to spend the money on certain tobacco-related programs. Legislation implementing the initiative created the media campaign. The judge said the Administration violated that law by refusing to go forward with the ad campaign.

None of the money Wilson set aside has yet been spent on other programs because the shift would require the approval of the Legislature. But the American Lung Assn., which brought the suit, was concerned that suspension of the advertising campaign was harming anti-smoking efforts.

“The courts have proven that even the governor cannot successfully grab money earmarked by the people,” said Carolyn Martin, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Assn. “We assume that the governor will act quickly to implement the media campaign.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health Services said the department will await receipt of Ford’s written order before deciding what to do.

Although the ruling applied only to the advertising campaign and has no impact on the rest of Wilson’s proposal to cut funding for tobacco-related research and anti-tobacco education in the schools, Martin said she hopes Wilson will now abandon those plans as well.

She said the governor’s approach contradicts his oft-stated desire to use preventive programs to save taxpayers money in the future.

“Any short-term benefits from easing (the state’s) fiscal shortfall will be quickly overwhelmed in the long run,” Martin said.