North Dakota’s Taxpayer Funded Tobacco Prohibitionists Win Another Victory

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Written By:
Rob Port

May 11, 2012
12:45pm

The City of Cavalier has passed a ban on smoking on private property including restaurants, bars and places of work. The city is the 8th in the state to do so, but this from the Associated Press is interesting:

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state agency that administers money from a tobacco settlement says Cavalier is the eighth city in North Dakota to pass a smoke-free ordinance. …

Center director Jeanne Prom says the agency has made good progress, but has a lot more work to do.

In other words, North Dakota’s Tobacco Prevention Board (which was created by Measure 3 on the 2008 ballot which was backed by current US Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp) sees it as their job to advocate for bans such as this one.

And if you’re a citizen who might oppose the ban? You’re stuck pitting your time and your money against the resources of a well-funded state agency.

Weren’t we supposed to avoid this sort of political activism by the government? Whatever your position on smoking bans, is it really appropriate for anti-tobacco political activists to be enshrined as a branch of the state government?

By the way, the anti-tobacco crowd has set a dangerous precedent. Currently being circulated in the state are petitions for another measure that would create an environmentalist board in the state government funded by a portion of oil tax revenues.

This board would be made of members appointed by the governor, but only from a list provided by environmental interests, and they would be given free rein to make grants to “non profit” groups including far-left activists like the Dakota Resource Council (which is already mostly funded by tax dollars anyway).

Much as with the tobacco board, we’d have an environmentalist board enshrined in our state government funded with our tax dollars and engaging in political activism.

This needs to stop. Again, however you feel about these issues, citizens ought not have to fight taxpayer funded political activists.