Hastings Gets ‘Zero’ For Support Nethercutt Also Blasted For Tobacco Industry Donations

(From For the Record, October 24, 1996): Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., has accepted no campaign contributions from the tobacco industry. A headline in Wednesday’s Spokesman-Review incorrectly indicated otherwise.

Several Northwest congressional Republicans fared poorly on an anti-tobacco group’s voter score card, with Washington Rep. Doc Hastings and Oregon’s Wes Cooley earning “zeroes.”

But only Washington Reps. Jennifer Dunn and Rick White - with average scores on the votes reviewed - accepted significantly more than the House average in campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, the group said.

Hastings and Cooley were among 80 House members who opposed the public-health position and instead favored the tobacco industry position on all seven of the main tobacco-related questions that faced the 104th Congress, according to Smokefree Action, a nonpartisan coalition of anti-tobacco health advocates based in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Hastings has accepted $3,500 from the tobacco industry so far in the 1995-96 election cycle, slightly more than the congressional average of $3,275. Cooley accepted $3,000 before ending his re-election bid.

For the period dating to Jan. 1, 1995, all members of Congress have accepted more than $1.7 million in contributions from tobacco political action committees, the group said.

“Few voters know that numerous issues affecting tobacco were considered by this Congress, which sided with the tobacco industry nearly every time,” said Bill Godshall, director of Smokefree Action.

The 80 House members who got zeroes received an average of $7,801 from the tobacco industry, while the 100 members who received 100 percent accepted an average of $119 from the industry, Godshall said.

However, the money didn’t always follow the voting patterns in the Northwest.

Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., has accepted no money from the tobacco industry but got the next-to-lowest rating among Washington lawmakers, bucking the industry only 14 percent of the time, the group said.

The average scorecard rating among all House members was 43 percent.

The votes included issues related to tobacco subsidies, Food & Drug Administration regulations, smoke-free rules in the workplace and a bill that would have protected the tobacco industry from lawsuits.

Dunn and White both scored 42 percent and each accepted $5,500 from the industry for the current election cycle. Dunn has accepted $9,250 from the industry since 1986, the group said.

Rep. Randy Tate, R-Wash., who has taken no money from the industry, scored 33 percent. Rep. Jim Bunn, R-Ore., who has taken $2,000, scored 42 percent.

Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Peter DeFazio, Elizabeth Furse and Earl Blumenauer or Oregon all took no tobacco money and all scored 100 percent, as did Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.