Wisconsin Here We Come

The Minnesota Senate did Wisconsin a huge favor yesterday, passing the nanny state-wide smoking ban:

The Minnesota Senate voted 41-24 on Tuesday to approve a sweeping, statewide smoking ban that would eliminate most indoor smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, beginning Aug. 1.

Senator Rick Olseen, who expressed misgivings about the bill to me just last Saturday, apparently got over it.

This is going to have a huge, negative impact on bars and restaurants in this area, which have to compete with Wisconsin establishments that are not controlled by the health police. Hard working Minnesota border bar owners are not likely to appreciate the "level playing field" argument as their smoking patrons drive an extra mile or two to a place where freedom and private property still mean something.

The House will likely approve a similar measure and the Governor will likely sign on too. Amazingly, to my knowledge no one ever tested the air quality of a single establishment. While it would have been perfectly within its purview to create an air quality standard for bars and restaurants, that was also never considered.

Of course, it was never about "public health." It was about further ostricizing smokers, a solution for legislators without the guts to outlaw smoking. It is the ultimate in dirty hands politics.

Demonize with one hand, profit with the other.