Facts About The Tobacco Smear Campaign
Against Steve Glazer
A campaign committee promoting the election of Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla is running a tobacco smear campaign against Steve Glazer which leading newspapers have branded as “deceptive”[i], “childish”, [ii] “misleading”[iii] and “deceitful”. [iv]
These are the facts:
- Steve has never worked for a tobacco company.
- Steve has never taken a campaign donation from a tobacco company.
- As a City Councilmember and Mayor, Steve voted for tougher requirements on tobacco sales and advertising.
- As a Mayor, Steve is currently working to enact local smoking bans in outdoor areas, at public events and establish smoke-free housing in apartments and condominiums. These new smoking bans are tougher and more protective than existing state laws.
- The work Steve did for the California Chamber of Commerce – for which he is being attacked – was to elect members to the State Assembly who have actually fought for tougher laws on tobacco. Richard Bloom and Marc Levin, both first elected to the State Assembly in 2012, are known as anti-tobacco legislators. Assemblymember Bloom has worked to ban smoking on public beaches and Assemblymember Levine supports a ban on smoking in multi-family dwellings. Neither have taken campaign contributions from tobacco companies.
- As Mayor of Orinda, Steve has recently proposed even tougher tobacco control laws.
- Steve has issued a public statement calling tobacco “addictive” and “deadly.” To read the statement, please click here
To date, the following entities have contributed to the committee running the smear campaign [v]:
California State Council of Service Employees Political Committee $185,000
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC $75,000
Service Employees International Union Local 1000 Candidate PAC $75,000
PACE of California School Employees Association $75,000
Professional Engineers in California Government PECG-PAC $50,000
Faculty for Our University’s Future, a Committee sponsored by the CA Faculty Association $50,000
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO $49,784
California Teachers Association Independent Expenditure Committee $35,000
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California PAC $35,000
United Food & Commercial Workers Western States Council Independent Expenditure $25,000
United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professional PAC $25,000
California Federation of Teachers COPE $25,000
Committee for Working Families, Sponsored by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO $25,000
California Dental Association Independent Expenditure PAC $7,000
Management & Professional Employee Association MAPA PAC- AFSCME Local 1001 $5,000
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees-Council 57 PAC: $5,000
These same entities have also made substantial contributions to Susan Bonilla’s campaign.
[i] Contra Costa Times, March 16, 2015, Glazer is best choice in special Senate Election
[ii] Los Angeles Times, March 16, 2015, Unions play hardball in Bay Area Senate race
[iii] Contra Costa Times, March 5, 2015, Voters should ignore deceitful labor attack on Glazer
[iv] Ibid
[v] California Secretary of State website