Good News: Backers say Leaf Buyout Not Dead

Source from:  Henderson (NC) Dispatch 07/16/2004

The story published in Wednesday's Dispatch, on page 4, must've been disheartening to those area residents with a lifelong interest, and investment, in tobacco. Opponents of a $9.6 billion buyout of the Depression-era federal tobacco quota system had squashed the legislation that would make that buyout a reality. "I thought it was outrageous," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said of the buyout. "I just don't want the taxpayers on the hook," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who wants tobacco companies to fund farmer and quota-holder relief. Other opponents want written into any buyout legislation that the Food and Drug Administration would have regulatory authority over tobacco. At least our state's politicians aren't disheartened, so we'll try not to be. "Reports of the buyout's death are greatly exaggerated," said Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C. "The fight for our farm families and rural comunities to have an honest chance to survive is still very much alive." A spokesman for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., agrees. "At the end of the day, it doesn't jeopardize the hopes for a buyout," Dole-staffer Brian Nick said. Perhaps the most telling quote of the day came from North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat. "This is not a bailout. This is a buyout," McIntyre said. "A lot of people just don't get it." Which prompts us to ask: How many times have we seen an actual "bailout" of an industry? We've witnessed taxpayer dollars used not to rescue the savings and loans, which protected innocent depositors more than entities, but also to salvage specific firms, like Chrysler. When will Washington realize that the financial grief of a bankrupt farm family in North Carolina is just as real, and the local economic impact just as devastating, as a rash of unemployed auto workers in Detroit? Enditem