Go hypocritical ‘libertarians’!

I served on the Flemington Borough Council for twelve years, eleven of them with Mayor Ken Kustcher. Ken in his professional life is a cardiologist. As a doctor, he was an ardent anti-smoking advocate, and he took this activism very seriously in his role as mayor.

Before he left office at the tail end of 2005, Ken tried to enact a ban on smoking at close outdoor gatherings in our town. When that failed, he attempted to create by ordinance a smoking section at outdoor events. Without getting in to the merits of the issues, suffice it to say the Republicans and the more libertarian residents and libertarian business owners in town fought him tooth and nail on the issue. So it goes.

Both the Republicans and libertarians are great at opposing what they look at as "too much government interference" in their lives when the issue is one that does not affect them personally. However, they love big government when they need to protect their own personal interests. Then they immediately define the issue as one in the “public interest”. Go hypocritical ‘libertarians’!

Anyway, the state eventually banned smoking in all indoor facilities [except for the AC casinos], and Ken was ahead of his time on the issue.

I don’t usually like to print an entire article from the news media, but this one caught my eye, and needed no comment:

Former supervisor suing Tropicana for firing him

ATLANTIC CITY - A former supervisor at the Tropicana Casino & Resort who says his lung cancer was caused by decades of exposure to secondhand smoke is suing the casino, contending it fired him for speaking out in favor of a smoking ban.

Vince Rennich was fired from the Tropicana in March, when he was the most vocal supporter of a proposed smoking ban that the City Council was considering. Originally set to ban all smoking in the city's 11 casinos, the council later agreed to a compromise in which 75 percent of the gambling floor had to be smoke-free. It took effect April 15.

"They tried to silence me," Rennich said. "It's not going to work. It was wrong, and I'm going to prove it. I'm still speaking out against smoking throughout the country."

The Tropicana had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said.

Rennich, 49, of Somers Point, has become for many the face of the casino antismoking movement, and has sought to publicize working conditions on the casino floors.