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November 3, 2006

A Newsletter of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc.

May 2007                                                                                              Volume 7, No. 2

NATO Celebrates 6^th Anniversary

NATO members celebrated the association's sixth anniversary in good old western fashion at the NATO Annual Awards Dinner held on April 25th at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Centered on the theme "The Freedom Barbecue", almost 400 guests enjoyed a T-bone steak and barbecue chicken dinner amid a balloon bouquet speckled ballroom. One of the freedoms enjoyed by many at the dinner was smoking a fine cigar or a cigarette with complimentary ceramic ashtrays provided by Altadis, U.S.A.

Each year during the annual dinner, the NATO Pinnacle Awards are presented to a retailer and manufacturer that have demonstrated extraordinary support of and involvement in NATO's legislative efforts. This year, Jon Rand of Discount Smoke Shops in Missouri and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company were recognized as the NATO Pinnacle Award recipients. Jon Rand was a key player in coordinating the successful fight against a cigarette and OTP tax increase ballot question in Missouri last fall and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has aided NATO in numerous state tax and smoking ban battles.

NATO Out-going President Velma Hartley
Presents the Pinnacle Award to Jon Rand of
Discount Smokeshop (Photo Courtesy of
Smokeshop Magazine)

The NATO Annual Awards Dinner was made possible through the generous support of the following NATO members:

Dear NATO Members:

I am looking forward to serving as your new NATO president and working on the legislative challenges that face tobacco retailers. When we celebrated NATO's sixth anniversary at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, I spoke to the dinner guests about NATO's goal to preserve the very freedoms that the founders of this country believed were so important including the freedom of personal choice and the right to sell and enjoy legal products without unnecessary governmental regulation or over-taxation.

While NATO's focus has been and will continue to be fighting anti-tobacco legislation, I was impressed with the seminars at the Tobacco Plus Expo Show which explored the RYO/MYO category and future trends for tobacco product sales. In particular, the seminar presenters demonstrated that tobacco retailers need to include RYO/MYO products in their inventory or expand their RYO/MYO sales. Also, there will be new products coming into the marketplace that offer innovative ways to provide nicotine to tobacco users which retailers will need to learn about and consider selling in their stores.

These are challenging times, but NATO is working hard to ensure that tobacco retailers stay in business.

-Andrew Kerstein, NATO President

Freedom Initiative

Joe Bast, the President of the Heartland Institute, spoke to the guests at the NATO Annual Awards Dinner about the need to support the freedom to buy and enjoy tobacco products. He also pointed out that public opinion polls show that support for smoking bans declines from 55% to 33% when the respondents are provided with information on the economic impact to bars and restaurants.

This year, NATO is partnering with the Heartland Institute to change the public's opinion about tobacco. The partnership effort will include (1) distributing 50,000 copies of Please Don't Poop In My Salad, a collection of essays opposing smoking bans and higher taxes on tobacco products; (2) contacting elected officials each month offering research papers and experts to testify at legislative hearings on tobacco issues; (3) submitting commentary letters-to-the-editor to newspapers on tobacco issues; (4) creating a website combining Heartland's and NATO's research and data on tobacco issues and promote the website as the best place to find professional and persuasive pro-tobacco information; and (5) producing a study on the economic impact of smoking bans and sending the study to elected officials.

Legislative Update

Since January, NATO's legislative staff and association members have been fighting unfair excise tax increases and restrictions on the right to smoke tobacco products and other kinds of tobacco legislation. Below is a brief update:

State Cigarette Tax Increases

State OTP Tax Bills

Note: "Failed" means a bill failed due to adjournment and "Defeated" means a bill was voted down.

Legislative Update (con't)

Bills restricting smoking statewide have failed in Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. An Illinois bill banning smoking in restaurants, bars and taverns has been sent to the governor.

Federal FDA Legislation

Abill to grant the FDA the authority to regulate cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. NATO is opposing the retail provisions of the bill and has faxed a letter to all 535 U.S. Senators and Representatives. While the Senate has held one hearing on the FDA bill, the House has taken no action.

Federal FDA Legislation

The U.S. Senate has passed a non-binding budget resolution to increase the federal cigarette tax by up to 61¢ per pack and raise the OTP tax rates by as much as 156.4%. However, the U.S. House did not adopt a similar resolution. NATO is opposing these tax hikes.

Key Retail Contact

If you would like to be more involved in helping fight tobacco legislation in your state and serve as a key retail contact person for NATO, please contact NATO Executive Director Tom Briant at infor@natocentral.org or call toll-free at 1-866-869-8888.

New Legislative Actions

During 2007, NATO has implemented more strategies to fight tobacco legislation. NATO has submitted numerous commentary letters-to-the-editor to newspapers, distributed alert posters to stores, placed newspaper advertisements to oppose tax increases, used telephone banks to contact retailers, taped audio press releases to oppose tobacco legislation and sent the tapes to radio stations in targeted states, and assisted retail members by drafting testimony outlines to speak before a legislative committee. No other national tobacco organization works harder and employs more grassroots strategies than NATO.

Welcome New Members

Retailers: O.C. Cigars, CA; Cigar-Tobacco Depot, GA; Cordy's Cheap Tobacco, OH; Union Cigar Club, PA; Ted's Tobacco, NE; Redi-Mart Tobacco, TN; Tobacco World, WI; Lake Country Cigars, WI; Uhles Tobacco Co., WI; Goodfella's Cigarettes & Tobacco, KY; Cigar, Cigarette & More, DE; Tobacco for Less, FL: L.J. Peretti Co., MA; Murphy's Fine Cigars, OK; Smoker's Discount, TX; Hemingway's Fine Cigars & Accessories, NV; Corona Cigar Company, FL; The Tobacco Store, NC; Wacky Tobacconist, OR; Tobacco Quick, MS; and La Zanja Cigar Club, CA.

Distributors and Manufacturers: Farner-Bocken Co., Atlantic Dominion Distributors, Winkler, Inc., B & J Wholesale, Discount Tobacco Services, K.K. International, Supplier 100, Oksales, Inc. Sell for Less, IDC of Kentucky, King Mountain Tobacco Co., Blue Whale Worldwide, Drew Estate, Continental Tobacco USA and Management Sciences Associates.

More Annual Dinner Pictures

NATO President Andy Kerstein Addressing the NATO Annual Dinner Guests

NATO President Andy Kerstein, Pinnacle Award Winners Dave Riser of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Jon Rand of Discount Smoke Shops, and NATO Out-Going President Velma Hartley

A Tribute to Velma Hartley

At the NATO Annual Awards Dinner, the NATO board members paid tribute to Velma Hartley who has served as NATO's president for the past three and one-half years. Velma has done a remarkable job during a time when the sheer volume of tobacco-related legislation on the state and federal levels increased significantly. Velma will remain active as a member of the NATO board.

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