For immediate release 5/18/98
Contact: Melissa Forsythe

Governor Patton Responds to McConnell on Tobacco Program

Governor Patton today issued this statement after Senator McConnell announced his support for the Lugar tobacco buyout.

"Tobacco has been the mainstay of the rural economy of Kentucky and the reason so many Kentuckians have been able to stay on the farm and pass on that rural work ethic to their children for one reason and one reason only, the federal price support program.

Kentucky political leaders , regardless of their differences, have never wavered in their support for this program because it means the tobacco farmers nationwide get one billion dollars a year, every year, more than the free market price of the product.

That Senator McConnell would break this bond of unity is beyond belief.

Senator Ford and I have convinced President Clinton to support, publicly, the retention of the tobacco program, because it makes tobacco farming very profitable as it keeps the price of tobacco products up, which is one of the goals of the President.

That Senator McConnell would support the elimination of this program without consulting with the other leaders of the commonwealth and the tobacco farming industry is contemptible.

I will continue to fight for the maintenance of the program along with the other benefits for the tobacco farmer and the farm communities of Kentucky contained in Senator Ford’s LEAF Act, but Senator McConnell’s actions will make our task more difficult."

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