CORBETT AND BARBOUR: BROTHERS IN BIG TOBACCO, SOUL MATES OF SPECIAL INTERESTS

By ONORATO FOR GOVERNOR

PHILADELPHIA – Today, Haley Barbour will be a featured guest at a Philadelphia fundraiser for Tom Corbett’s campaign – an unsurprising fact, given how much they have in common. Both men are political insiders who defend big special interests. And, both men were powerful players in the conservative effort to protect tobacco companies.

As the New York Times explained in a June 19, 2010 article, “Mr. Barbour exudes a throwback vibe harking to a time when politicians were unafraid to call themselves ‘politicians.’” Corbett is part of the broken Harrisburg culture that has lost touch with the needs of average Pennsylvanians.

Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi and a major D.C. lobbyist, was one of the most influential defenders of big tobacco in the 1990s. After big tobacco settled a lawsuit by agreeing to reimburse states for tobacco-related Medicaid costs, Barbour pushed Congress to enact a tax break to compensate the industry for whatever it paid in damages. This $50 billion taxpayer-funded bailout for big tobacco was so reviled that Congress was later forced to repeal it.

Meanwhile, as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General in the 1990s, Corbett was doing his part to protect big tobacco’s profits. He refused to join a multi-state lawsuit against tobacco companies – despite the massive financial burden the related health care costs placed on Pennsylvania taxpayers. Corbett’s Republican successor, Attorney General Mike Fisher, later helped reach a 14-state settlement with a tobacco company. Pennsylvania is now receiving an estimated $11 billion in settlement funds over 25 years from the global settlement between the tobacco industry and the states.

Oddly, the same Tom Corbett who in 2010 decided to take on the federal government in an effort to overturn national health care legislation had questioned in 1996 whether his office had the resources or expertise to pursue a lawsuit against tobacco companies.

Less than ten years later, Corbett flip-flopped on the issue. In 2008, he advocated paying for anti-smoking programs by using the very tobacco settlement funds he had refused to pursue. Corbett stated: “Helping smokers quit isn’t something we should do, it’s something we need to do. Nicotine is the toughest addiction to quit. This new payment should be an investment in the health and care of all Pennsylvanians.”

“Tom Corbett and Haley Barbour threw taxpayers under the bus to protect big tobacco in the 1990s,” said Brian Herman, Communications Director for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato’s campaign. “Today, Tom Corbett still prefers catering to special interests, whether they’re from Harrisburg, Hattiesburg or Washington, DC.”

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