Who knew the smoking ordinance would become this contentious? I expected to have to answer to some unhappy voters on this issue and that special interests would dump absurd amounts of money into the elections.

I didn’t expect to get calls from drunk people in bars after midnight or the high level of intimidation, mud-slinging, personal attacks and out-of-bounds tactics by the industry and their hired gun. I certainly didn’t expect my colleagues to be personally threatened.

The first contacts I got on this issue were from a series of student athletes that were asking me to support the ordinance. When I thought about what they said and the public health issue of the workers and patrons, it seemed obvious how I should vote. Overall, about 90 percent of the calls and e-mails I’ve received have been supportive of the ordinance.

At first, I struggled with this. I expected to hear more from the smokers. When I looked at the list of “restaurants” that were affected by the ordinance, I saw several music venues and I wondered what effect this would have on the local music scene. So I started talking to people around me.

I talked with smokers. Most of them admitted that smoking was kind of a stupid thing to do from a health perspective, it makes your clothes smell, it costs too much and that they should probably quit.

In fact, some of them said that if there was a complete ban, they probably would have an easier time quitting because every time they try to quit they start smoking again when they go out drinking at bars. So, they didn’t overwhelmingly lobby me to vote against the ordinance and I was surprised.

I talked with people who worked in the “restaurants.” My old roommate, also a smoker, who has waitressed and bartended her whole adult life, didn’t really seem too overwhelmingly passionate about the effect it would have on her or her wages.

Since she works for the Restaurant Association during the day and bartends at night, I expected her to really hassle me, but she didn’t. I had one bartender from a near east side bar tell me unsolicited that she and all the employees at their bar supported the ordinance. Again, not what I expected.

The guys in the bands were a little more opinionated. If you know any musicians, you know how hard it is to find a place to play in Madison. They saw this as just another “no-fun” initiative by the city.

I don’t blame them, between the drink special bans and the prohibition of live music in some bars, this hasn’t been a friendly atmosphere for bars. They wondered if there was no smoking in some venues would the live-music supporters choose to go where they could smoke and with smaller crowds would the “restaurants” choose not to have live music?

I also talked to several restaurant and bar owners. The “restaurants” that were affected by this were concerned that their bars would be disadvantaged if they had to prohibit smoking and the “bars” didn’t have to. There was a clear need for a “level playing field.”

One bar owner said he didn’t care what happened, that he used to be passionate about allowing smoking but changed his mind after his heart surgery. In fact, he noted if the ordinance banning smoking passed, it’d be easier to clean his bar.

So where does this leave us? How should I vote? The smokers didn’t jump up and down and scream about the need to smoke. The workers didn’t seem concerned about loss of tips. The “restaurants,” bars and bands wanted whatever we do to be fair.

So, I asked my boyfriend what he thought about it. He works as a sound guy in bars with a couple bands. He had been a smoker since age 12.

He quit smoking a year and a half ago. That wasn’t soon enough, last April, at the age of 34, he had open heart surgery to repair his heart valve.

This fall we found out his mother may be dying from cancer. He really didn’t need to answer the question. It was obvious what should be done.

Will the council come up with a proposal that will be fair to small businesses and support the local music scene while protecting the workers without health insurance?

The only way to do that is with a full ban in all bars, but I don’t think we’ll vote on that. I’d support a referendum to ban smoking, but it’s obvious it would pass despite the special interest money.

If this comes down to a choice between losing a business or losing a loved one, how would you vote? Barb Mercer from the Tavern League said, “We’re not stupid enough to know that second-hand smoke can not be the healthiest thing, but if we lost one business because of it, it’s a crying shame.” I think I’ll save my tears for my loved ones.

Brenda Konkel is the District 8 alderwoman for the City of Madison.