Tobacco Firm’s Education Gift Sparks Debate

A fund-raising arm of the Santa Ana Unified School District has come under fire for accepting a donation from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. shortly after the district took part in a nationwide effort led by President Bill Clinton to crack down on teen smoking.

School officials said Tuesday that the donation--the amount of which has yet to be determined--will not deter them from preaching the hazards of smoking. But opponents said they are horrified the district may be in a position of advertising the tobacco company’s name on brochures that will be printed using the financial gift.

“It gets really sad when people don’t think what it means to accept money from an industry that kills children,” said Vicki Walker, a Santa Ana resident and member of the Orange County Tobacco Use Prevention Coalition.

Walker said she plans to discuss with coalition members whether to send a letter opposing the donation to the private, nonprofit Santa Ana Education Foundation, which agreed to accept the gift.

Officials said Jim Duran, a regional manager of corporate affairs for R.J. Reynolds, offered to cover printing costs for up to 3,500 brochures advertising benefit concerts May 31 and June 1 at the Santa Ana High School Auditorium. Duran was also involved in recruiting mariachi bands that will be featured at the concerts.

Tobacco company spokeswoman Maura Ellis said it is common for the tobacco company to contribute to schools.

Sal Mendoza, a former school board member and co-founder of the Santa Ana Education Foundation, said it is likely the tobacco company’s name will appear on the concert brochures.

But nodding to the controversy surrounding the donation, Robert W. Balen, a school district board member and co-founder of the foundation, said officials will delay deciding whether to further acknowledge the donation with, for example, banners featuring the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. name at the concerts.

“We’ll handle it with appropriate sensitivity,” Balen said.

Balen added that he did not believe the donation would impact his judgment as a board member when faced with approving the district’s various anti-tobacco efforts.

“There’s no way that would influence me whatsoever,” Balen said.

Last May, a Santa Ana high school was one of 12 sites nationwide chosen to participate in an anti-tobacco conference call with President Clinton.

The reaction of other school board members to the donation was mixed.

“It doesn’t seem appropriate that a tobacco company would be part of the foundation,” said board member Rosemarie Avila, who attended Tuesday’s luncheon. But she added that she would still accept money from the foundation.

School board President Nativo V. Lopez was hesitant to criticize the link with the nation’s second-largest tobacco company.

“Most corporations that we work with, generally speaking, have some type of relation with tobacco companies,” Lopez said. “Following that logic, we’d have to sever relations with every major corporation.”

Duran, the R.J. Reynolds official, was a featured guest speaker at the education foundation’s first major fund-raising luncheon Tuesday at Santa Ana High School, where he spoke about the importance of supporting the foundation.

Duran said after the luncheon that he did not mention his company’s pledge because he did not yet know the exact printing cost.

The only other pledge so far for the benefit concerts--$20,000 from a local supermarket chain--was announced at the luncheon.

District Supt. Al Mijares said the foundation is a separate entity and its work does not need board approval. But Mijares did acknowledge that the school district, which provided the press releases and staffing for Tuesday’s luncheon event, might reexamine its links to the foundation.

“We’re going to have to look at that,” he said.