I opposed the smoking bans

Here is the letter I wrote to Dave Thune back when the St Paul City Council was considering the smoking ban.

Mr. Thune,

As a resident of Saint Paul living on the West Side I have to say I oppose you pushing for a smoking ban in bars and restaurants. I am a non-smoker and I do like to sit in non-smoking sections, but I believe it is a violation of the rights of private business owners to mandate whether or not they can allow people to smoke in their businesses.

You make several bad or false arguments. (AM1500 Morning Show)

First you state that these are public places. They are not. They allow the public to enter as they wish and do business with them. This does not make them public entities. Just because as you stated 'government can ban them from serving alcohol to minors' does not give you the right to ban legal activity. A minor drinking is illegal, an adult smoking is legal. The two do not equate. By your argument then you could ban adults from drinking in bars. This is not true and you would meet a massive fight if you tried. You could ban minors from smoking in bars under your argument.

You also claim it is good for us. To impose a smoking ban is a form of tyranny. Any tyranny committed under the guise of 'it's good for you' is the worst type of tyranny. Let the owners make their own decisions. You also quote several studies that have no scientific basis in fact to claim that business owners can make more money if they ban smoking. If a business owner can truly make more money by not allowing smoking then it is up to the business owner to try it and find out if that is true. If they really can make more money then many or most business owners would ban smoking on their own just because according to liberals like yourself 'companies care only about the bottom line and don't care about the people'. If all you claim were true then there would be no need for a smoking ban because business owners would ban smoking in favor of more money.

Finally, you claim the act of allowing smoking in bars and restaurants is imposing your smoking habit on me (a non-smoker). This is not true. It is up to me to decide whether or not I want to go sit in a smoke filled bar or sit in the smoking section of a restaurant. If I come across a place where they don't have a no smoking section I can decide to eat or drink there or go somewhere else. Just and you can decide not to go drink or eat at a place that does not allow smoking. It is our choice to make and it is the choice of the business owner to decide to allow or ban smoking.

P.S. Can you imagine Mickey's Diner with out smoking? It would ruin the historic atmosphere of the diner.