A Smoky Taste Of New York
The political staff of U.S. Representative Ed Towns apparently did not stop to think before it entitled a fundraiser held for the Congressman “Taste of New York”. For the second year in a row, the fundraiser was held at the Washington D.C. lobbying offices of Altria, a corporation that manufactures cigarettes.
In a way, the fundraiser is brutally honest. Come to think of it, cigarette smoke is rather like the taste of New York. Still, I don’t think that’s what’s intended by the event’s organizers.
A clear intention in the event is for Altria to reward Representative Towns for his support of the tobacco industry’s legislative agenda. With a ticket price of $1,000 for each “gold sponsor” of the Committee to Re-elect Ed Towns, Altria is providing an inexpensive means for power brokers in Washington D.C. to gain access to and influence over Towns.
The relationship between Representative Towns and Big Tobacco has been a smoldering problem for him, leading to repeated challengers from within the Democratic Party. This year, as in 2008, Democrat Kevin Powell is seeking to replace Congressman Towns. Powell has produced the following video about the Towns-tobacco connection:
