Smokers rally for 'freedom of choice'

DES MOINES - Tired of standing outside in inclement weather to enjoy a cigarette, Tom Tow stepped inside the Capitol Tuesday to tell legislators to repeal the state indoor smoking ban.

"I'm not a child," said Tow of Cedar Rapids, who joined more than 100 other smokers and business people who want to see the eight-month-old ban lifted. "The state's trying to tell me what to do and where I can do it."

Peggy Klein of Walford joined the rally organized by a group called Freedom Fighters for All Citizens of Iowa to ask for "freedom of choice for bar owners ... and their patrons."

"Let them decide what kind of a business they want to operate and let people choose if they want to go to a business that allows smoking," Klein said.

Speakers challenged the constitutionality of the 2008 clean-air act that banned smoking in workplaces other than casinos. They also challenged the fairness of the casino exemption.

Casinos successfully lobbied to allow smoking on the gaming floor. They cited the downturn in business Illinois casinos experienced following a smoking ban there and argued lower casinos revenues would hit the state in the pocketbook.

Peggy Huppert doesn't like the casino exemption, but not for the same reason. A spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, she opposed it when the bill was written last year, but concedes "we believe it is legally defensible."

She rejected rally leader West Burlington bar owner Larry Duncan's arguments that the law is unconstitutional. "There's no constitutional right to smoke," she said. A lawsuit challenging the law - largely on the basis of unequal treatment of bars and casinos -- is scheduled for trial in June.

Duncan's claim that bars are having financial troubles because smokers are staying away is dubious at best, she said.

"I'm sure there has been some impact on bars, but it is pretty difficult to say that in worst economic situation in decades, that it's really the smoke-free law that's had such a big impact," Huppert said. "It's pretty hard to sort that out."

Connie Greene, who owns the Angle Inn in Walford, doesn't need any help sorting out the impact. The first seven weeks after the law took effect her Friday and Saturday night averages were as much as $800 less than usual.

"Two weeks after I put the ashtrays back on the tables I was back up to my Friday-Saturday averages," Greene said.

If that's not proof enough, she pointed to the casino exemption as evidence of the impact of the smoking ban.

"If casinos say they'll lose business if smoking is banned, then what does that say about the impact on small town bars," she said.

Legislative leaders say they will not take up any efforts to repeal or modify the smoking ban this year.