Just as the Assembly Committee on Public Health passed a statewide smoking ban, cycling great Lance Armstrong told supporters the state cannot wait another day to pass the ban.
Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, spoke out for the first time in support of a statewide smoking ban.
A cancer survivor himself, Armstrong said Wisconsin was the first state to call asking for his support and it likely will not be the last.
?The abuse of tobacco is the No. 1 reason that we have cancer deaths in this country,? Armstrong said. ?It has to be stopped.?
Armstrong said the state Legislature will eventually enact the ban, adding the question is when they will, not if they will.
People have every right to smoke in solitude, Armstrong said.
?But when you walk into a restaurant or walk into a bar or you walk into somebody’s workplace and you’re smoking a cigarette, you have violated somebody else’s basic rights,? Armstrong said.
He added the issue is one of ?morals, ethics and standards,? and with less than a quarter of all Americans smoking on a regular basis, the ban appeals to a majority of state residents.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle serves as one of the biggest supporters of the statewide smoking ban, introducing Armstrong at Madison’s Monona Terrace Tuesday afternoon.
Doyle is pushing for the state Legislature to bring Senate Bill 150 and Assembly Bill 834 to the floors of their respective houses.
?Let’s put the bill out in each house and have a vote,? Doyle said. ?I think the people of Wisconsin who strongly support the ban in public places would very much like to see which of their legislators is for it and which is against it.?
The governor is confident bipartisan support for the bills exists in both the Senate and Assembly and that both would pass the ban. Leaders in both houses of the Legislature, though, are working behind the scenes to try to come up with a compromise with the Tavern League of Wisconsin, which is against the legislation.
Supporters believe the issue is one of public health, and Armstrong said the ban would have no economic consequences.
Doyle said secondhand smoke should not affect a person’s life decisions.
?People should not have to make the choice between accepting certain kinds of employment and risking their health,? Doyle said. ?That’s what this ban is all about.?
But the economic consequences serve as the Tavern League’s main concern.
The league cites millions of dollars and thousands of jobs lost thanks to smoking bans in Dallas, New York City, Maryland, Ottawa and London.
Despite the partisan support Doyle touts at the Capitol, several state legislators are also against the ban, including three Republicans on the Assembly Committee on Public Health who voted against the ban’s advancement.
With time running out in this legislative session, Doyle says the bill needs to move forward quickly.
?It’s not a complicated issue,? Doyle said. ?It’s not like trying to put together all the pieces of a big health care plan. This is basically a vote, ‘Are you for banning tobacco in public places or are you against it?’ So let’s put that in front of the Legislature, and let’s have a vote.?
