From tomorrow's Washington Post:
After eight months of courtroom argument, Justice Department lawyers abruptly upset a landmark civil racketeering case against the tobacco industry yesterday by asking for less than 8 percent of the expected penalty.
As he concluded closing arguments in the six-year-old lawsuit, Justice Department lawyer Stephen D. Brody shocked tobacco company representatives and anti-tobacco activists by announcing that the government will not seek the $130 billion that a government expert had testified was necessary to fund smoking-cessation programs. Instead, Brody said, the Justice Department will ask tobacco companies to pay $10 billion over five years to help millions of Americans quit smoking.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/07/AR2005060702019.html
Why the sudden change of strategy?
Sources and government officials close to the case said the trial lawyers wanted to request $130 billion for smoking-cessation programs but were pressured by leaders in the attorney general's office, particularly McCallum, to make the cut. Arguments within the Justice Department continued behind the scenes through yesterday morning, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the controversy over the matter.
The GOP is giving us issue after issue for 2006. Now they're cozying up to Big Tobacco. And $120 billion isn't pocket change. That's $400 for every person in America.
This seems like another golden egg laid by the Bush Administration for us. The key will be to make sure that it actually is picked up by the media.
A line to repeat until 2006: Is there any special interest to whom the Republicans aren't beholden?