Tobacco Industry Truthiness

Source from:  blog.oregonlive.com by jmapes October 15, 2007 10/17/2007

In preparation for today's story in The Oregonian about TV advertising in the big ballot measure races this November, I've been pestering the people involved in the campaigns to justify their claims. The most intriguing response came from Lisa Gilliam, a spokeswoman for the campaign set up by Phillip Morris to oppose Measure 50, the proposed tobacco tax hike that would be used to expand children's health care. (Oddly, Phillip Morris and Reynolds America, the another major tobacco company, have each set up their own campaigns to oppose the measure, but that's another story.) I was asking Gilliam to justify two claims made in the latest Phillip Morris ad: that Measure 50 would create a "new and expanded bureaucracy" and that "the bureaucrats can't even get 60,000 kids who are eligible enrolled" in the current health program. Both claims wilt pretty quickly if you do any reporting. I talked to both legislators and state officials who explain that that the money - which goes through a new "Oregon Healthy Kids Program - will be channeled through existing health care agencies. In addition, the state for years has controlled health care costs by limiting its outreach efforts to eligible populations. If those 60,000 kids walked in tomorrow asking to sign up for the Oregon Health Plan, the state would have a big hole in its budget. This has nothing to do with the bureaucrats and everything to do with the budget from the Legislature. But Gilliam wasn't too interested in that. "The bill [accompanying Measure 50] says it creates the Oregon Healthy Kids Program and it doesn't take effect unless Measure 50 gets approved," she said. "I can't say it any more clearly than that." Gilliam also wasn't interested in hearing how the caseloads are controlled by limiting outreach. "They can give excuses why," she said, "but they are not enrolled." She said the researchers hired by the tobacco company are "meticulous" about documenting the claims made in their campaign ads. As Stephen Colbert would say, this Measure 50 ad does have a "truthiness" about it, but in another sense it is as fanciful as the old Marlboro Man television ads I remember from my youth. ONE MORE THING: If you want to view the actual ads I wrote about in the print edition today, here are links to them: Yes on 49: Go here and scroll down the page to the video under "The truth about Measure 49 opponents." No on 49: I found it here on NW Republican. Yes on 50: Find it here. No on Measure 50, go here and click on "60k kids" Enditem