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U.S. Newswire
OTC 05/04 1237
Farina: No Smoking Law Hurts Small Businesses
SACRAMENTO, May 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Libertarian candidate for Attorney
General Joseph S. Farina blasted California's no-smoking law today after a
study released in Sacramento by the American Beverage Institute showed that 60
percent of bartenders surveyed in the state of California stated that they
lost business since the imposition of a draconian law in January 1998
prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurants.
In addition, 59 percent of the respondents stated that tips were down and
30 percent stated that they had to institute layoffs or shorter working
shifts. According to Farina, the most disturbing aspect of the survey was
that 50 percent of the respondents reported increased customer complaints or
fights over the ban.
"If I were elected to office, I would urge local law enforcement officials
to ignore violations of this clearly unconstitutional law and spend their
limited resources going after dangerous and violent criminals, repeat
offenders and child molesters," Farina said from his Sacramento office.
"California's no-smoking ban continues to be an outrageous and
unconstitutional violation of the private property rights of bar and
restaurant owners throughout the state of California. Not only have a small
group of anti-smoking zealots browbeat legislators into taking away the rights
of thousands of small-business owners in California, but they have turned
millions of law abiding citizens into criminals for simply wishing to enjoy a
cigarette or cigar with a drink or meal," Farina said.
"In a free market, a small-business owner should have the absolute right to
determine what type of conduct he or she will allow in his or her privately
owned business. If a customer or patron does not agree with the policies of
the establishment, they can simply refuse to patronize that business.
"But in California, anti-smoking extremists and their Democrat and
Republican allies have seen fit to drive many small businessmen and women and
their employees to the brink of economic ruin by depriving them of both
revenue and customers. They have turned law-abiding smokers into pariahs
simply for enjoying a legal product. I hope all bar and restaurant owners,
their employees and customers remember this when they go to the polls in
June," Farina concluded.
Farina, 40, has been an attorney for 11 years and lives with his wife Ann
and 9-year-old son Anthony in Sacramento. He grew up in New York and served
honorably in the U.S. Army from 1976-1979. He attended the University of
Maryland, College park, frm 1979-1982 and received his B.A. in history. He
attended Santa Clara University School of Law from 1983-1986 and received his
juris doctorate in May 1986. Farina currently practices criminal defense and
civil litigation in Sacramento.
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