Smoke ban will be up to voters

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by nate jenkins

After months of debate and some close votes, the Lincoln City Council reached a unanimous agreement on the workplace smoking ban: Let the voters decide.

"This is our democracy," council Chairman Terry Werner said Monday before the body voted 7-0 to put the ban before city voters during the Nov. 2 general election.

Late last month, the council's form of democracy resulted in a stunning reversal of what it had approved several months earlier.

Five members voted to discard an ordinance that would have allowed smoking in bars and some businesses where food represents less than 60 percent of total sales.

They replaced it with a strict ban containing few exemptions for workplaces. That more strict ban had been endorsed by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Board of Health.

A successful petition drive initiated after the surprise June vote required the council reconsider its decision Monday and decide whether to repeal the law it had passed or put the question to the voters. Members quickly decided to put it on the ballot quickly - and with little discussion.

"Those who signed the petition," Councilman Jonathan Cook said, "have spoken."

Speaking convincingly enough to persuade voters to repeal the ban promises to be a difficult chore. Most residents are non-smokers, polls have shown.

And bar owners, who orchestrated the successful petition drive, have yet to organize a campaign team and strategy.

"We have absolutely no money and very little organization at this point," Mary Rauner, manager of BC's Bar, said after the council's vote. Putting the issue on the May ballot "would have given us a little time."

Ban opponents had hoped the council would choose the spring city election rather than this fall's. Some have questioned whether a November vote is allowed, but the city's Law Department called it legal.

Lancaster County Election Commissioner David Shively said putting the issue on the November ballot would cost the city $25,000 to $30,000.

The council's vote on Monday directed the Law Department to prepare a resolution containing language for the ballot. It could be voted upon later this month and might be subject to some discussion among council members.

One issue could be whether the language should explain that a vote to repeal the strict ban would not necessarily be a vote to have no ban at all. Because of how the council approved the strict ban in June, repealing it would mean the old 60 percent-food rule would go into effect.

Like opponents of the stricter ban, supporters plan on waging a campaign. But what that will entail, they really don't know.

"I think it will be a multi-faceted campaign aimed at telling people the truth about secondhand smoke," said David Holmquist, director of governmental affairs in Nebraska for the American Cancer Society.

Reach Nate Jenkins at 473-7223 or njenkins@;journalstar.com.