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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Bakk to lobby for tobacco industry

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 2/8/23

ST. PAUL— Public health advocates are facing a new and unexpected adversary in their efforts to prevent young people from smoking— former state Sen. Tom Bakk.Bakk, who represented …

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Bakk to lobby for tobacco industry

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ST. PAUL— Public health advocates are facing a new and unexpected adversary in their efforts to prevent young people from smoking— former state Sen. Tom Bakk.
Bakk, who represented Minnesota’s Third District for more than two decades, recently joined the stable of lobbyists maintained by Altria Client Services LLC, the legal arm of the Altria Group, the parent company of Phillip-Morris.
Despite its name change, Altria remains one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and related products. They maintain a sizable presence at the state Capitol, with ten registered lobbyists, Bakk being the most recent.
State law requires that lobbyists register with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board (CFB), which is how word of Bakk’s hiring trickled out of St. Paul. Bakk’s filing with the CFB lists Altria as his only client.
Given his former positions of top leadership, including as both Senate Majority and Minority Leader, Bakk is likely to still wield considerable influence at the Capitol, which could make him among the tobacco industry’s heaviest hitters as a lobbyist.
Altria representatives are happy to acknowledge Bakk’s potential effectiveness. “As a former leader in the Minnesota State Senate, Tom Bakk has extensive legislative experience and we’re pleased to have him join us,” said the company in a statement. “Tom will lobby for Altria on legislative issues related to the company, such as a potential excise tax increase or other restrictions on tobacco and nicotine products.”
Pat McKone, who has headed the Duluth office of the American Lung Association for many years, wasn’t willing to characterize Bakk’s new role at the Capitol. But she recently learned of Bakk’s role while reviewing Altria’s list of lobbyists. “I’m a registered lobbyist myself so I always look to see who’s lobbying for the tobacco industry.”
While McKone had no comment on Bakk’s new role at the Capitol, prominent local DFL party official Leah Rogne, of Greaney, wasn’t as reticent. “I think it’s shameful that Tom Bakk would do this. And please quote me on that.”
Public health advocates and the tobacco industry are expected to face off over a number of issues this session, most prominently a push by the Lung Association and other public health groups under the banner of Minnesotans for a Smoke Free Generation to prohibit the sale of menthol and other flavored cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Advocates of the legislation say that flavored cigarettes have become the primary gateway for young people to take up smoking and they’re hoping that a prohibition will help continue the trend toward lower rates of smoking among young people. And it’s well documented how menthol-flavored cigarettes were used by the tobacco industry for years to hook smokers in the African-American community.
Other items on the public health agenda, according to McKone, include a proposal to dedicate a portion of the potential Juul legal settlement to smoking education and cessation programming as well as a change to the law that would allow health care providers who offer nicotine addiction counseling to obtain state reimbursements, as they already do for counseling for other types of substance abuse.