Anti-Smoking Group Asks Ferrer To Return Money
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The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is calling on mayoral hopeful Fernando Ferrer to return about $25,000 in campaign contributions from donors in the cigar business.
“We were disappointed to learn that Fernando Ferrer has accepted campaign contributions from tobacco company executives for his mayoral campaign,” the executive director of the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, William Corr, said in a statement released yesterday.
“We call on Mr. Ferrer to immediately return all contributions received from tobacco interests,” he said. “Accepting tobacco contributions sends the wrong message about his priorities when it comes to tobacco policy.”
The call comes in spite of the fact that Mr. Ferrer, the Democratic frontrunner in the race for mayor, has said he does not intend to roll back Mayor Bloomberg’s smoking ban should he emerge the winner in November, as first reported Monday in The New York Sun.
A spokeswoman for the campaign of the former Bronx borough president said it had no intention of returning the donations.
“Fernando Ferrer has great respect for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and he has made it absolutely clear that he supports the smoking ban,” the spokeswoman, Jennifer Bluestein, said. “The campaign will not be returning the donations.”
The publisher of Cigar Aficionado magazine, Marvin Shanken, helped arrange donations from at least eight cigar companies, according to campaign finance records. Some employees of Mr. Shanken’s publishing company also gave money to the Ferrer campaign.
