The Honorable John Ashcroft
Attorney General of the United States
The Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

I am writing to urge you to abandon the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry. There have been too many unintended victims in the crusade against tobacco. Another protracted court battle will prolong the suffering in tobacco country.

Tobacco farmers, their families and communities have been severely harmed by the ongoing anti-tobacco campaign. Over the past five years, tobacco farmers’ have watched as their quotas steadily declined, resulting in a 50 percent cut in their income. A study released by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1999 demonstrated that tobacco farmers bear the burden of the anti-tobacco campaign, because they are unable to recoup their losses through price increases as cigarette manufacturers have done. Sharecroppers not shareholders have felt the pain of the punishment leveled against tobacco manufacturers.

As you know, the tobacco industry already has agreed to pay $246 billion to settle lawsuits with every state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia. According to a 1999 study conducted by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, in conjunction with North Carolina State University, another judgment or settlement against the tobacco industry in the range of only $150 billion, as a result of a federal lawsuit, would cost approximately 13,000 jobs in North Carolina. Clearly, such permanent dislocation of the workforce will have a lasting and devastating impact on the North Carolina economy and the lives of rural residents throughout the state. My state has already lost more than 70,000 jobs in this weak economy, and we cannot afford the additional job losses your lawsuit would produce.

During the 2000 election campaign, then-Governor Bush, as cited in several media sources, promised to end the Clinton Administration tobacco lawsuit. Continuation of the lawsuit directly breaks this promise to tobacco growers. This week The New York Times reported that you have not reviewed the latest filings and have delegated responsibility for the lawsuit to others in the Department. In the event that this is true, I urge you to personally review this case again. I am confident you will agree that it is without merit and should be dropped.

Suspending the Department’s efforts to pursue further litigation against the tobacco industry will be an important first step towards restoring farmers’ confidence that this Administration is looking out for their interests. I look forward to continuing to hearing from you on this issue and working with you in service to the American people.

Sincerely,

Bob Etheridge
Member of Congress

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