AG vows to expose tobacco 'lies, secrets'

Morales gives a sneak preview of state's opening statement at trial this month

By JOHN W. GONZALEZ
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN In a sneak preview of the opening statement he will make to a
federal jury in Texarkana, Attorney General Dan Morales on Thursday
criticized tobacco industry executives as liars who refuse to admit they
have harmed Texans' health and lured children into nicotine addiction.

Morales released documents that he said provide new legal proof there was a
concerted effort to turn children into smokers by launching tobacco
products with root beer and fruit juice flavors.

"When Texas is finished with the tobacco industry, the public will know the
truth about the lies, the research and the secrets," Morales said. "When
this trial is complete, the dark side of this evil empire will finally have
been exposed."

Morales' animated news conference, complete with blowups of the industry
documents, was described by tobacco spokesmen as "grandstanding" designed
to distract attention from flawed, unsubstantiated legal allegations. One
company accused Morales of attempting to prejudice potential jurors who
will hear the case.

With no prospects for an outofcourt settlement before the Sept. 29 trial
date, Morales said final depositions were being completed and thousands of
documents have been amassed for use at a trial that could go on several
months.

Morales predicted jurors would gradually come to understand that the
industry has a history of "blaming the victim for the crime." His lawsuit,
which seeks to recoup billions of state dollars spent on smokingrelated
health care, alleges the industry violated state and federal laws,
including those prohibiting deceptive trade and fraud.

"Texans are rightly disgusted with the evidence, which reveals coverup
after coverup after coverup of the cancer, the heart disease, the emphysema
and the other devastating consequences tobacco has had upon the health of
our country dangers that their own research warned of. But they hid it
and spent literally billions of dollars doing so," Morales said.

"I do not believe we could have a stronger pile of evidence," he said.

He made public a document obtained from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. stating
"younger adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers" and a
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. document that mentions root beer and fruit
flavored products "that should incorporate some sort of kick."

Morales claimed the memos are among several proving the industry plotted to
convert children into smokers. Some mention subliminal appeals starting
when kids are 5, he said.

Industry officials scoffed at those assertions, saying Morales is
attempting to make the tobacco industry pay for the state's mismanagement
of health care programs. They added that the memo about flavored cigarettes
was a marketing idea, submitted by an overseas affiliate, that went nowhere.

"This lawsuit is not about children, and today's comments by the state
attorney general are just another attempt to distract Texans from the real
issues which are being argued in a court of law," said Philip Morris
attorney Jack Maroney, who was in the Texarkana court on Thursday to
present final pretrial motions.

Among them is an industry bid to allow evidence suggesting the state
condoned wasteful Medicaid spending.

"The state wants to deny its responsibility for the billions of dollars
lost in the Medicaid program," Maroney said.

The final pretrial hearing resumes today.