By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 7:06 AM Wednesday, August 12, 2009
COLUMBUS — There’s a $258 million hole in the state budget, and Robert G. Miller Jr. couldn’t be happier about his role in blowing it open.
Miller, 52, from the Toledo area, kicked a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit with the help of a program paid for with money from the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation’s endowment.
He and David Weinmann, another ex-smoker, sued after Gov. Ted Strickland and the legislature closed down the foundation and tried to shift the money away from anti-smoking programs.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Fais nixed the plan in the new state budget to use the anti-smoking money for social service programs, including expanded heath care coverage for children, breast and cervical cancer screenings, county child welfare programs, and optional adult medical services such as dental and optical treatment.
“I felt this (anti-smoking) was a very valuable program. It was funded by money from the (national) tobacco settlement,” said Miller, whose suit was backed by the anti-smoking American Legacy Foundation. “They were making a commitment ... to dismantle it. It just didn’t seem like the right thing to do at all.”
Strickland plans to appeal and said Fais’ decision “will delay or jeopardize” essential health services for Ohioans, according to Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman.
In his ruling, Fais said the state eight years ago created the foundation’s endowment as an “irrevocable trust.” Legislation to liquidate the endowment was unconstitutional because it tried to retroactively abolish the program.
“Depleting of the Endowment Fund and discontinuance or reduction of the tobacco prevention and cessation programs funded by the Endowment Fund, would result in a substantial increase in tobacco-related premature death and disease in Ohio,” Fais wrote.
Strickland and lawmakers last year passed legislation to use money generated by liquidating the endowment for economic stimulus programs. They shifted gears this year, however, and in the new state budget set the money aside for the social service programs.
State support for stop-smoking programs has declined from $40 million last year to $6 million this year, Wurst said.
“They will continue to provide some tobacco cessation programs, despite the limited resources in this budget,” Wurst said.