Sen. Roger Breske, D-Eland, believes that ?it should be a requirement for every politician to have a real job before running for elected office,? and surprise, surprise, Mr. Breske?s ?real job? before representing Eland wasn?t in medicine.

Mr. Breske, who has put himself at the forefront of the latest battle in the Senate, claims he has been flooded with support for his opposition to Senate Bill 150 ? popularly known as the smoking ban.

His ammo: Mr. Breske ran a family-owned tavern in his previous ?real job? and uses this as the basis for his claim that a smoking ban throughout the state will have a devastating effect on local businesses and hardworking Wisconsinites.

At this point, since the smoking ban appears to have significant momentum, Mr. Breske is only fighting for a delay in the ban. However, if Mr. Breske were living in a perfect world ? at least the perfect world according to him ? we would let tavern owners have the freedom to choose their own policy on smoking in their establishments.

Now, fighting for the little guy is always a tough go, but when you?re fighting for the little guy?s right to be subjected to secondhand smoke, you?re really swimming upstream.

However much he relishes his role, Mr. Breske?s points are unmistakably off base. The presumption that regulation is inherently inapposite to business is legendary stuff for the right ? just ask environmentalists ? but Mr. Breske, who is actually a Democrat, is taking this to another level altogether.

To moderate the hysteria, look at what businesses are actually being asked to do.

State lawmakers are not requiring paper instead of plastic ? at least not yet. Rather, they?re simply asking for tobacco enthusiasts, addicted and otherwise, to take it outside and keep the bar air cleaner. It?s applied statewide, and with Illinois and Minnesota on board too, the ban won?t have the extensively foretold effect on border town bars that opponents suggest.

Yet, all the same, Mr. Breske persists. How this will shut down businesses across the state is a mystery Mr. Breske refuses to elaborate upon, but one thing about the mystery man is becoming clear ? his aversion to reason.

Don?t bother citing the countless medical reports from the American Lung Association that say secondhand smoke is a known cause of cancer. Don?t mention how the current surgeon general?s report showed there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. And whatever you do, don?t bring up statistics that show productivity increases with smoking bans.

That?s the kind of stuff ? reason ? that Mr. Breske just doesn?t want to hear.

Instead, he would rather paint this as a freedom issue. But the logical line between A and B just doesn?t connect.

Some people, Mr. Breske included, like to make this out to be an issue of moral bullying. The point is not lost on me ? certainly, the imagery of a government telling you what to do is unappealing ? but they?re not telling you not to smoke; they?re just telling you not to do it indoors.

In fact, the ban has very little to do with smoking itself; it just seeks to regulate the time, place and manner in which it?s done. You know, those constitutional limitations on rights with which everyone seems to be on board.

Mr. Breske, the self-appointed king of compromise, still thinks this is too much, but considering that the state could ban tobacco entirely, this is indeed the compromise he should be seeking.

Charges that businesses are going to be crushed by the smoking ban are baseless, given the continued rampant success of established taverns in Madison, despite the smoking ban. The same was said when Madison decided to quit cold turkey: Business will be hurt, Big Brother is treading on our liberty. But by most measures the ban has been nothing short of a success.

But once again, don?t bother sending a letter to Mr. Breske with these little tidbits, because you?ll end up being brandished, as his press releases show, as a Madison liberal telling him what to do.

And even if you could get past his name-calling, what would be the point of it after all? As he has shown through his own words and actions, reason is hardly his ally.

Robert Phansalkar ([email protected]) is a first-year law student.