European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday december 4 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Pago 17 v Ellen Goodman Call me what you like. A virulent nonsmoker. A hard Core tobacco hater. Cigarette aversive. Cigarette company hostile. F 7 need somebody to stand up for a $1 a pack tax i m your Gal. Looking for someone to criticize cigarette ads you la find me in the nonsmoking Section. As someone who spent her 30s silently suffering Well not so silently in a City room flanked by two cig to smokers i have experienced the firsthand Hor rows of secondhand smoke. And i am not above a judgmental Flash when i see a Parent feeding a baby with one hand and holding a Marlboro with the other. Nevertheless a a for All my Sterling credentials As an advocate of clean indoor air i get uncomfortable when smoking starts to be a criterion for child custody. When a Parent is judged unfit because he or she smokes when you can lose a kid if you can to shake the habit. In the past few years More than a dozen  cases have gone through family courts in at least 11 states. In most of them the child has had some sort of respiratory illness and in nearly All the nonsmoking parents won. Now the numbers Are escalating. In a october in Sacramento calif., a Mother lost custody of her 8-year-old daughter who has asthma. The girl has been placed temporarily with a grandparent while the court decides on permanent custody Between two warring parents. With my anti smoking Cap on i would have quite a lot to say to this Mother a a 30-year-old nurse a who is apparently puffing around her asthmatic child. If the girls health is threatened if the cigarette is a lethal weapon there a reason to take the kid and run. But these Legal precedents have a tendency to Drift into the Nasty atmosphere of other divorce disputes. In nearby Centra Costa county Tor example a Mother has gone to court to make her sex husband choose Between his cigarettes  visitation rights. The court will Rule on whether he can smoke around his daughters. Neither Mother nor daughter has respiratory problems. You will not be surprised to learn that the parents in both cases were involved in. Long rancorous fights before they took up the smoking Cudgel. A family court worker in Contra Costa county says that in the last year smoking has suddenly come up in Naif a dozen cases. Its fair to ask whether the cigarette is another weapon of warring parents. Its fair to ask whether smoking should be the Trump card in everyday wrangles Over the kids. Just about nine months ago the Epa released a study of the risks of secondhand smoke. Exposure to secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 respiratory infections each year in children Between infancy to 18 months. It affects about 20 percent of the 2 million to 5 Mil lion asthmatic children in the country. We May Only hear about these kids when they Are involved in custody Dis Estes. But the children of divorce Don t ave different respiratory systems than the children of marriage. If we award divorced kids a smoke free Home then Why not take All the children of smokers out of their dangerous environment if so where do we put them if health care becomes the Pivotal Issue in a custody fight Why Stop at smoking an evaluation of mom and pop should include a Lead paint Check a radon test a nutritional balance Sheet a search for dangerous weapons and a knowledge of parental seat Belt habits. For that matter if wealth is a clue to health should the Richer sex spouse get the kids and what about mental health is smoking a better criterion for. Deciding custody than what we used to Call emotional attachment we re into some very Smoky territory. A a there have already been two other cases in which asthmatic children were removed to Foster care. In one a Tennessee court refused to return the children even though the Mother had entered a program to quit smoking. Now one of the. More ardent anti smoking crusaders suggests that the next wave of cases will include grandparents who want to Rescue kids from a Smoky environment. Children have been the natural allies of the anti smoking campaigns. They want their parents to quit. They nag them to quit. The risks of secondhand smoke provide another motive. Children should be a nonsmoking zone. But threatening parents with the loss of their kids is not part of my 12- program. Should the smoker lose the kids to the non smoker not even 1 want to that warning on the cigarette pack c tha Boffon glob new gop math could add up to presidency to get to Washington from Columbia s.c., you take 1-20 East to 1-95 North and you done to hit a traffic Light until you Cross the Potomac. To get to the White House which South Carolinas gov. Carroll a Campbell May try to do requires Many detours and favourable math. Like most of the republicans contemplating a presidential run in 1996, Campbell says now is the time to talk Only of the 1994 elections. But when he says that the 1994 a Smath is in our favor a he knows that presidential victories often Are presaged by successes elsewhere. One year ago Republican math was discouraging. During 12 Reagan Bush years the party at the National level had spent More than $1.2 billion. And when the dust settled last november the party had lost the presidency it held 18 governorships five fewer than in 1981 it had 42 Senate seats 11 fewer than in 1981 it had 176 House seats 16 fewer than in 1981 it controlled 29 state legislative bodies six fewer than in 1981/ the math began to improve late last n improve late last november Erdell de in a Georgia Runoff for a . Senate when Republican Paul Coverdell Defeated a democratic incumbent seat since then republicans have won mayoralty races in the nations two largest cities los Angeles and new York the governorships of new Jersey and Virginia the lieutenant governorship of Arkansas and a . Senate seat from Texas. Although the problems of two Republican senators a Oregon a Bob Packwood and Texas Kay Bailey Hutchison a Cloud the picture Campbell believes that republicans can win control of the Senate in 1994. Twenty one of the 34 seats to be contested Are held by democrats. He believes republicans can gain 25 to 30 House seats. Here is a Clinton Nightmare More than 200 House republicans led by Georgia a Newt Gingrich. And Campbell chairman of the National governors association believes republicans will enter 1996 controlling at least half the governorships perhaps including California incumbent Pete Wilson s approval rating has risen Back above 40 percent Illinois Michigan Wisconsin Ohio new Jersey Massachusetts and Florida. A a says Campbell of Clinton a if the Economy is weak hell be Defeated fairly  but even if the Economy is Fine Clinton will have Only a a 50-50 chances a because Clinton a ideas Are too Liberal forthe nation and his party is As its civil War Over Iafeta demonstrated incoherent. When freshman sen. Cover Dell is asked by constituents Why Congress does not hear them he replies a they hear you. Have you seen on a Span when the Senate votes a Cluster of senators at the front of the chamber often they Are democrats whose leaders Are giving to a fortunate few a last minute dispensation to vote against the Bill because it is unpopular with the Public but is popular with the leaders who have votes to spare. Campbell noting the disparity Between the National democrats and the country Calls the Clinton administration a government by spin a saying a they really think they can spin their Way out of  but he doubts they can spin themselves out of the Wen they Are caught in with their own health care plan. George f. Will a woe unto the politician who gets Between a patient and his or her doctor a says Campbell cheerfully. He can rattle off health care numbers with a Hillary Esquo fluency. For example 643,000 South carolinians last year used emergency room services for minor problems at an average Cost of $150 per visit or a $96 million Cost. Campbell believes the Clin tons focus on health care will shift the country a conversation in a conservative direction when people begin to notice things like this from pages 50-51 of the times books random House edition of the plan a a a a when the National health Board notifies the Secretary of health and human services that a state has failed to comply with Federal requirements the National Board shall also notify the Secretary of the Treasury. Who will impose a payroll tax on All employers in the state. The payroll tax shall be sufficient to allow the Federal government to provide health coverage to All individuals in the state and to reimburse the Federal government for the costs of monitoring and operating the state  Campbell believes that a they know they can to sell their plan and that republicans will Benefit from the Clin tons prolonged attempts to do so. A but Hillary Rodham Clinton does not seem to be among the a a they who know. She and Kindred spirits in the administration May hold her husband on an ideological Road that runs right off a Cliff. That is one of two roads on Campbells mind the other being 1-95, which passes through new Hampshire where he recently was. C the Washington Post