By Mary Sprosty

Crawford County may join other counties in a suit against the tobacco industry in order to receive their share of a piece of a settlement already offered to the state.

The State of Wisconsin sued the tobacco industry for fraud on accusations that the industry lied about the affects of smoking and the results of their tobacco testing. The state asked for $1.7 billion in a law- suit filed in 1997 and the tobacco companies instead offered them a settlement for $5.9 billion in 1998, according to Wisconsin Counties Association Chief of Staff Mark O’Connell.

O’Connell and Legislative Director of the Wisconsin Counties Association, Craig Thompson, presented information on the tobacco suit at the County Board’s December meeting.

The settlement, O’Connell explained, required the State to sign off for all Wisconsin counties and municipalities to the extent they have authority.

"They don’t have that authority," O’Connell added. "They know that and so do the tobacco companies."

Because counties and municipalities can still sue the tobacco industry on the same grounds the State did, the tobacco industry added a condition that said if another body of government in Wisconsin sues them, the money comes out of the $5.9 billion pot already allocated for the state.

"So the tobacco companies have nothing to lose," County Supervisor Chuck Elvert observed.

"Exactly," O’Connell answered. "The tobacco company will pay $5.9 billion in damages to Wisconsin over the next 25 years regardless. The counties’ suit against the tobacco industry will not increase the amount of money paid into Wisconsin, but rather determine if the state will keep the entire $5.9 billion or share it with county governments."

"Which is precisely why they offered $5.9 million when the state only asked for $1.7 million. They put up enough money upfront to cover any other entity who takes action against them," Thompson said.

Whether or not the additional $4.2 million was intended to cover other counties and municipalities, the state has already said they have no intentions of sharing the money on their own, O’Connell said.

O’Connell said the Wisconsin Counties Association asked the Governor and Attorney General for half the settlement, approximately $3 million dollars. O’Connell said the two officials answered through the press that "our share would be zero dollars."

"We plan to ask them again. However, if they say no again, we have two choices. We can let state officials spend the money themselves, or we can explore a different avenue... that avenue being filing an antifraud lawsuit against the tobacco industry on the same grounds the state did," O’Connell told Board Supervisors.

"It sounds to me like a round about way to blackmail the state to share the money," Elvert said.

"So we have to spend taxpayer money to get taxpayer money. Why can’t these politicians do their jobs in the first place?" Board member John Karnopp asked.

"I agree. It seems they could save money and work out an agreement with us. They know we incurred the same costs [from illness due to tobacco use] that they did and they know the amount of money offered was intended to cover all government bodies in Wisconsin," O’Connell said.

If the state decides to share the money with counties on their own, they must give money to all 71 counties. If the money is awarded as part of a legal suit against the tobacco company, the money will only go to the counties named as plaintiffs of the suit.

More than half of the 71 counties have passed resolutions to join the lawsuit. Only three counties have decided not to be part of the lawsuit.

Crawford County Supervisors will decide at their next regular meeting in February if they will sign on to the suit.

O’Connell said he expects the legal costs for Crawford County to be approximately $2,100 per year.

O’Connell said, "The tobacco industry will probably settle. This is the same case they didn’t want to fight with the state, so I don’t foresee them wanting to fight it with us."