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Both sides on smoking ban may ask vote on own plansChicago TribuneDecember 6, 2005By Gary Washburn; Contributor: Mickey CiokajloA Chicago City Council committee on Monday heard three hours of discussion and debate, some of it acrimonious, some impassioned, on a smoking ban proposal before recessing without taking a vote. The measure, proposed by Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd), brought charges and countercharges of undue influence on the issue before the Finance Committee's chairman, Ald. Edward Burke (14th), cited time constraints and announced the meeting would be continued on Tuesday. Natarus' proposal would prohibit smoking in virtually all public places except taverns and restaurant bars that are walled off from dining areas. A competing and more stringent proposal by Ald. Ed Smith (28th) would include all taverns and bars in a ban. Natarus tweaked his proposal on Monday, adding a provision that would require the city to set clean air standards for taverns and lounges where there is smoking despite assertions by anti-tobacco groups that no exhaust system could scrub the air of carcinogens. Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) told Steve Derks, CEO of the American Cancer Society-Illinois, that the Smith proposal "may well not have the votes" for passage. He repeatedly asked Derks if he would prefer no smoking ordinance at all rather than approval of the Natarus measure. "There is no compromise on the principles of protecting everyone," said Derks, who contended that the Natarus ordinance doesn't represent a compromise. Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) said his father died of emphysema, and he added that he was lobbied on the smoking issue at a recent family birthday party. But Solis said he was put off by the anti-smoking advocates' stance that "it has to be my way or no way." "I think that is a very unreasonable position and a position that is not helping people you purport to help out," the alderman said. Joel Africk, CEO of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago, said his group could not choose to protect only some people. If Chicago had gone smoke-free in 1995 when an earlier Smith- like ordinance was proposed, data from other smoking ban cities suggest that 8,000 deaths here could have been prevented, Africk said. Some aldermen complained of the lobbying tactics of the anti- smoking forces. "You should hear what they say to me on the phone," Natarus said. "They call and say, 'We are going to huff and puff and blow your house down.'" Proponents of the Smith measure had charges of their own, contending that "Big Tobacco," checkbook in hand, was backing the Natarus version. Smith on Monday bent slightly at the behest of some of his colleagues, agreeing to amend his proposal to exempt venues occupied by fraternal and religious clubs and veterans' organizations such as the American Legion from a smoking ban. Smith said he remains flexible about phasing in the effective date of a smoking ban for taverns and restaurant bars. But he said he would not agree to exempt them. Natarus plans to call for a vote on his proposal when the Finance Committee reconvenes on Tuesday morning. "If it carries, we will have two ordinances on the floor" when the council meets on Wednesday, he said. "I think it is a very close vote either way," he said. As aldermen wrestled over the issue, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) announced plans to introduce an ordinance that would bar smoking in all public places in Cook County, including bars and restaurants in Chicago. The council's "lack of interest in this topic is affecting the county's health and the county's budget," he said, referring to public medical care services.
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