RJR Chairman Backs Further Tobacco Talks
RJR Nabisco Holdings Chairman Steven Goldstone, who led tobacco companies last month when they withdrew from a national tobacco settlement, indicated Wednesday that negotiations should not be abandoned.
Addressing about 200 shareholders in Winston-Salem, the headquarters of subsidiary R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Goldstone said he had received letters from some of them urging him to give up any attempt to reach a settlement.
“They want us to go back to the war of the last 40 years,” he said. “I think that’s the wrong reaction to the challenge facing us.”
But he also said the anti-tobacco leaders in Congress have proposed bills designed to punish the industry for selling a legal product.
“They have not taken the time to consider the consequences if they destroy this industry,” he said. “We are going to have to make them listen to us. That will force them to put away the rhetoric of punishment.”
In April, tobacco companies vowed to fight efforts by President Clinton and Congress to increase prices and fashion tougher restrictions on advertising. Goldstone, head of No. 2 tobacco maker RJR Nabisco, led the charge. The company makes Winston and Camel cigarettes.
A Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would cost the industry $506 billion and force it to curb advertising that critics say helps entice teens to smoke.
It is tougher than the settlement tobacco companies negotiated with states and public health advocates last June. That deal--had Congress approved it--would have given the industry significantly more legal protection from product liability lawsuits and would have cost the companies about $368 billion.
Goldstone abandoned remarks about the company’s performance for an impromptu talk about the settlement.
“The political rhetoric has been tough,” he said. “Temptations for politicians to grandstand are pretty irresistible. Through it all, I feel RJR Tobacco has stood tall.”
He led the shareholders in a round of applause for RJR Tobacco workers in Winston-Salem and other places.
