Backers of D.C. Smoking Ban Split on Tactics

Publication Date: 2005-06-28

• Author:Eric M. Weiss
• Publication:The Washington Post

Proponents of a ban on smoking in District bars and restaurants are divided over strategy, with some D.C. Council members pushing for a vote as early as next week and others favoring a slower track.

One indication of the split is a letter that council members Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), both ban supporters, wrote Friday to council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), the proposal's leading opponent.

Patterson and Mendelson offered to exempt cigar bars, retail tobacco stores, and rooftop and outdoor-patio sections of bars and restaurants from any smoking ban. They said they also would delay the measure's implementation for four months to allow businesses to prepare.

They also offered to vote against any effort next week to bypass Schwartz's committee and bring an emergency bill directly to the full council. Schwartz, chairman of the Public Works and the Environment Committee, has said she will block legislation from reaching the full council.

Schwartz said yesterday that she was glad to see the new proposal, adding that "the compromise they offer is a starting point, not the end point.''

But council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), another ban supporter, said he intends to try to push the ban through the council on an emergency basis at the July 6 council meeting.