Tobacco cash came during debate on smoking ban
TRAVERSE CITY — A tobacco company contributed $2,000 to a hidden, political account maintained by state Sen. Jason Allen while he chaired a committee that resisted proposed legislation to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants.
The Traverse City Republican's administrative account in 2004 accepted two $1,000 contributions from Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co., a Record-Eagle analysis of Allen's account showed.
Administrative accounts provide state politicians a vehicle to solicit and obtain money from corporations or groups without the burden of public reporting requirements.
Allen in 2004 chaired a Commerce and Labor Committee and refused to hold a vote on a bill to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants. Donations from tobacco companies came within a month of Record-Eagle stories and editorials about Allen's stance on the bill.
The Michigan Restaurant Association also opposed the smoking ban bill and made a $150 donation to Allen's public campaign accounts in 2004. It then gave $2,500 to his private account just 10 days before Allen held a hearing on the bill.
Restaurant and bar associations gave Allen $7,700 since 2003.
"It's very rare that you see these contributions delivered closely in time to the business before the committee," said author and election commentator Michael Traugott of the University of Michigan.
John Chamberlain, chair of nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause of Michigan, said taking tobacco money hurts most candidates, many of whom see such donations as more trouble than they're worth.
"It spends like anybody else's money but if you have to 'fess up you took tobacco money, it raises questions in some voters' minds," Chamberlain said.
Brown and Williamson typically avoids public political donations in Michigan. Since 2003, the tobacco giant made no contributions to any state candidate-controlled committees that publish donations, according to the Michigan Secretary of State's online data base.
Allen provided his list of administrative account donors to the Record-Eagle after the newspaper discovered the account's existence.
Experts estimate up to half of all legislators have private administrative accounts. They typically use the proceeds to buy gifts, meals, and travel.
Allen in 2005 received a private donation of $1,000 from the Cigar Association of America and a public contribution of $1,000 to his campaign account from "Michigan RJR PAC," an alias used by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.
R. J. Reynolds is the most publicly active contributor among tobacco companies, making 34 payments to state candidates in three years. All but two were under the Michigan RJR PAC alias.
That included a public, $200 contribution in 2004 to state Sen. Michelle McManus, a Lake Leelanau Republican who also was a member of the committee that didn't vote on the smoking bill.
McManus said she couldn't recall taking tobacco money.
"I don't think I've been approached or even been given the opportunity to, and I have not solicited them, either," McManus said.
Allen, who said he voted to raise cigarette taxes, said tobacco contributions did not affect his handling of the smoking bill.
"I'm opposed to regulation on businesses and I think it's best handled at the local level," he said.
The bill died in committee in 2004 without a vote. It was reintroduced in 2005 and sent to Government Operations, on which Allen serves but does not chair. The committee has not taken up the bill.
