Sell the Tobacco Stocks

There was a time when nobody questioned the morality of investing in Big Tobacco, but that time has passed.

That’s why we endorse county Supervisor Frank Schillo’s suggestion that the county retirement board sell its tobacco stocks.

As it is, Schillo points out, the stocks are a tiny piece of the board’s pie--perhaps $3 million of its $2 billion pension fund. Insignificant as that sum might be to Wall Street highfliers, shedding the stocks would sound a note that other public agencies should echo.

Cigarettes are decidedly unsafe for smokers and arguably unsafe for investors. With a Florida jury’s recent $145-billion judgment against cigarette manufacturers, tobacco stocks slid--just as they have with other major judgments in the last 18 months. Even if the jury’s decision is thrown out on appeal, it’s another stunning indication of tobacco’s fall from favor in the court of public opinion.

It would be easy to go too far with investment decisions based on flavor-of-the-month indignation. Every uptick of the Dow can be seen by someone as an ill-gotten gain; whether it’s gin or genetics, outraged taxpayers can demand the dumping of the stocks that offend them.

In Ventura County, the move to sell off tobacco stocks is based on more than indignation. The county stands to benefit from $260 million in tobacco settlement money--its share of the take from a lawsuit against Big Tobacco. It strikes us as hypocritical to invest in the very industry whose death-dealing products sparked that lawsuit in the first place.

Smokers have every right to enjoy their cigarettes wherever it’s legal to do so. However, that’s not reason enough to put our money where their mouths are.