The Lung Cancer and Cigarette Smoking Web Page

Hall of Shame

1997

Award winner is Bill Frist MD

Bill Frist, the Republican Senator from the State of Tennessee. He takes money from the tobacco industry. $23,000 so far (Source Center for Responsive Politics at URL http://www.crp.org/tob96/tobacco91-96.htm) . He gives good return to the industry for their investment in him, by voting in their interests in most instances.

Public Citizen gives Frist a rating of 13% on tobacco issues. That is, Frist voted in the interests of his benefactors on 87% of bills.

When Republican Senators killed the McCain Bill (S1415) which, properly amended, would have been a powerful force to reduce the damage tobacco does to our society, Frist voted in favor of the tobacco industry on 12 out of 14 votes, for a cumulative score of 14%. That's a failing grade in any school! Check it out for yourself atPublic Citizenhttp://www.citizen.org/tobacco/mcpac.htm#List

So what's the big deal? 75% of senators, Republican and Democrat, take money from tobacco companies?

The big deal is that Frist is a doctor! Not only is he a doctor, he is a thoracic surgeon! Thoracic surgeons have more personal experience with the suffering of patients with tobacco caused diseases than most other physicians. They are the best, and often the only, hope of cure for patients suffering from tobacco caused diseases, including coronary artery disease, lung cancer, stroke, aortic aneurysm, peripheral artery disease and emphysema. Frist was actually a super-specialist who transplanted new lungs into emphysema sufferers. The senator is a very bright man; a Harvard man. He can't claim ignorance of the fact that cigarettes cause 480,000 premature deaths in our society each year.

Ann Landman reports that Frist sought the endorsement of his "fellow physicians" in the American College of Chest Physicians for his re-election. The ACCP refused to endorse him based on his egregious voting records on tobacco--and gun control. Frist takes tobacco money under the guise of donations from agriculture and retail associations.

Well, maybe he's a poor boy who would like to do the right thing, but he just can't afford to?

Nope. Frist is a member of the Frist family, who control the Columbia Hospital system. As such, Frist is worth millions. Columbia is a notorious company that is changing the face of American medicine, for the worse. But that is another story.

"Bill Frist told me to tell you he is a candidate for U.S. Senate, not Doctor of the Year," said State Rep. Tommy Haun at a tobacco growers rally. Source: "A Limited Prescription," WASHINGTON POST, October18, 1994, p. A12. (sdb 10/18/94)

During his victorious Tennessee senatorial campaign, when asked about his stance on smoking and tobacco taxes, Frist replied, "The ultimate decision is up to them."

"Even children?" he was asked.

"Even children, yeah." Frist answered. "The ultimate decision is a family's. . . . I don't want to put punitive taxes on that industry to fund health care."

(Source: Gail Kerr, "Frist Calls Smoking a Family's Decision," TENNESSEAN, October 14, 1994, p. A3

The same paper went on to characterize Frist's statement as follows

"the statement can only be labeled as blatant pandering to the state's tobacco farmers. Groveling for voters at the expense of common sense and the health of children would be unseemly for any politician --but for a physician, it is unbelievable. .."

I agree. There is no possible excuse for Frist's actions. It is just a pure and simple betrayal, not only of the public health of his constituents, but of his former patients as well. That's why I have made him the 1997 Hall of Shame Award winner. I'm hoping that the prize will be a resounding defeat in the next Tennessee senatorial election.

Runners up for this year's Hall of Shame Award were two other doctor-politicians, who take money from the tobacco industry, Dave Weldon MD Representative Florida ($1000) and Ronald Paul MD Representative Texas ($2500).

Take a minute of your time, and send E-mail to Frist and his fellow award winners Weldon and Paul to congratulate them on their selection to receive this prestigious award.

Nominees for the 1998 Hall of Shame Award:

The Lung Cancer and Cigarette Smoking Web Page Hall of Shame proudly announces the nomination of Senators Orin Hatch and Diane Feinstein for consideration for the 1998 Hall of Shame Award.

Although the Mormon Church forbids the use of tobacco products by its members, Senator Hatch has emerged as one of the most outspoken supporters of the tobacco industry, as exemplified in his "sweetheart deal" Hatch bill. Just perhaps the $11,400 he has taken from tobacco industry PACs plays a roll in his behavior.

Feinstein has joined Hatch as co-sponsor of his bill and spoken out against high taxes on cigarettes as fostering a "black market" in tobacco in her state of California and smuggling across the Mexican border. Feinstein did not mention that fact that the U.S. tobacco industry has recently purchased Mexican tobacco companies, and that U.S. companies have been implicated in tobacco smuggling in Canada and Europe.

1998 Hall of Shame Award Winners: Bill Frist, Orin Hatch and Dan Lungren.

Althought Lungren was badly trounced by the voters of the State of California during his recent gubernatorial campaign, his recent behavior has been so outrageously shameful that made a late sprint to catch up to tie Senator Hatch, and perennial Hall of Shame regular Bill Frist for the 1998 Hall of Shame Award. Lungren is the leading force in the eight state Attorneys-General who sold out their souls and their constituents to the tobacco industry in a cynical back-room, sellout. Although Lungren is proudest of his "three strikes and you're out" law that sends Californians to jail for life after a third crime, he cut a plea bargain for everyone in the tobacco industry that will mean that they will never be tried for any past or future crime in California. This is akin to releasing a child molester, serial killer on his own recognizance in return for a promise not to do it again. Although Lungren is now out of politics, look for him to get a lucrative job with a tobacco industry affiliate as soon as his term is completed. Good riddance.

Nominations of other prominent individuals who violate their public health responsibilities are welcome here at the Hall of Shame.

To visit some other "Hall of Shamers" browse the fine site of Jack Cannon at http://www.gate.net/~jcannon/tobacco.html#kestrel to learn more about Bob Dole, California Governor Pete Wilson and actor Sylvester Stallone.

Frederic W. Grannis Jr. MD