Contact:
Angela Bradbery (202) 669-6517
Michael Tacelosky (202) 271-9320

September 15, 2004

With Addition of Brown and Gray, DC Council Will Have Five Members Who Support Smokefree Workplaces

Smokefree DC’s Voter Guide Highlighted Candidates Who Supported 100 Percent Smokefree Workplaces

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The primary victories of Kwame Brown and Vince Gray – candidates highlighted in Smokefree DC's voter guide as supporting smokefree workplaces – mean that the DC Council will include five members solidly in favor of smokefree workplaces, increasing the chances of a bill passing next year.

Brown and Gray won handily in Tuesday’s primary, and although they face challengers on Nov. 2, they are expected to prevail. Marion Barry won the Ward 8 race, although he didn’t respond to Smokefree DC's candidate questionnaire, so it is unclear where he stands on the issue.

"We are thrilled that Kwame Brown and Vince Gray will be joining the Council, and we hope that Marion Barry also will see the health benefits of a smokefree workplace law,” said Angela Bradbery, president and co-founder of Smokefree DC. "We distributed our voter guide as widely as possible in the week before the election, and we like to think that it made a difference. What the losers in this primary failed to consider is that most people are nonsmokers, do not want to be exposed to secondhand smoke and recognize that workers deserve to breathe clean air on the job. The incumbents chose to side with a minority – the 20 percent who smoke – and the election results showed it."

Current Councilmembers Adrian Fenty (Ward 4), Phil Mendelson (At-Large) and Kathy Patterson (Ward 3) already support smokefree workplaces.

"We urge people who care about this issue to write to all the Councilmembers as well as the winners of Tuesday's primary and tell them how critical a smokefree workplace law is to the District," said Michael "Tac" Tacelosky, the other co-founder of Smokefree DC. "It is imperative that they hear both from workers and from the public."

Secondhand smoke is more than just a nuisance – it causes lung cancer and heart disease, and is linked to asthma and bronchitis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a warning to people at risk of heart disease to avoid enclosed areas where people are smoking because just 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can elevate the risk of a heart attack.

Smokefree DC will be updating its voter guide for the Nov. 2 election. To view the current guide, visit www.smokefreedc.org.

Smokefree DC is a non-profit 504c(4) membership organization that believes all workers have the right to breathe clean air on the job.