Tobacco Rule Might Sink Hydro -- Smokin' Joe's Boat Could Face Seafair Ban

This summer could mark the last that Smokin' Joe's - one of only two perennial "thunder boat" contenders at Seafair - roars around Lake Washington in the hydroplane races.

Seattle City Councilwoman Sue Donaldson says she wants to explore an ordinance modeled after a King County law banning tobacco ads and tobacco-sponsored events in county-owned facilities. The law led to removal of a Marlboro ad in the Kingdome.

Metropolitan King County Councilman Greg Nickels, who sponsored the law four years ago, said he believes that if the city followed suit, Smokin' Joe's - bankrolled by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which uses the popular "Joe Camel" ad campaign - would be history. (Another R.J. Reynolds-sponsored craft, the Winston Eagle, no longer exists. Smokin' Joe's took its place in 1993.)

Seafair, a nonprofit group, depends on city permits to use the Stan Sayres Pits, where the hydros enter the lake, and Lake Washington Boulevard, where race fans gather.

Donaldson, chairwoman of the Parks Committee, said she is not sure such an ordinance would mean the removal of Smokin' Joe's from Seafair races. But she said she would hold a public hearing before the city code is changed, and that no changes would take effect before next year.

The idea has the backing of anti-tobacco forces including Washington DOC, a nonprofit health-advocacy organization, and Tobacco Free Washington, a project federally funded through the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Michael Lippman, with Washington Doctors Ought to Care (Washington DOC), noted that last year's hydroplane race was dotted with big yellow buoys sporting camel images and that the boat itself had "Camel" stenciled on it. "Marlboro and Camel are competing, No. 1 and No. 2, for the youth market," Lippman said.

R.J. Reynolds, as well as Smokin' Joe's owner, Steve Woomer of Kent, and Seafair officials say such a law would be misguided.

"None of our events is targeted in any way toward children. Our firm position is youth shouldn't smoke, and we have an expensive youth nonsmoking program of our own," said R.J. Reynolds spokeswoman Maura Ellis, reached yesterday at corporate headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The owner of the boat was indignant. "This is supposed to be America, and tobacco is a legal product," said Woomer, reached at a hydro race in Indiana yesterday. Woomer said he is concerned that discussion of such an ordinance could cause the tobacco company to pull its sponsorship of his boat.

"It would be a hardship," said Seafair communications manager Pep Brown. "The hydroplane race is paid for through sponsorship. It's the only way we have of providing the community with an event."

Brown declined to disclose how much money R.J. Reynolds pays to Seafair.

"The fact of the matter is that Smokin' Joe's contributes significantly to the sport as a whole," she said. "They're an international organization as far as motor sports go. . . . They and Miss Bud are the two top hydroplanes in the nation."

Deputy Mayor Anne Levinson says the city "cares quite a bit about minimizing use of tobacco and alcohol in any advertising," but she added that such regulations might run afoul of free-speech protections.

County Councilman Nickels, a former aide to Mayor Norm Rice and an ardent tobacco-industry foe, believes the city should press forward. He noted that Philip Morris Companies Inc., manufacturer of Marlboro, initially "huffed and puffed" about the county law, but never followed through with a lawsuit. Nickels also contended that if R.J. Reynolds brought suit, it would likely lose.

"You (local governments) need to establish a record to show a public-health risk to tobacco use by minors - and a linkage between the ad and minors," he said. "And that's a pretty easy link to establish. . . . There's no right to advertise any kind of garbage or poison to our kids."