You'll Pry Fruity Swisher Sweets From Tim Neville's Cold Dead Hands

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by: Colorado Pols

Former state Sen. Tim Neville (R).

Westword’s Conor McCormick-Cavanaugh reported late last week on House Bill 22-1064, introduced by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to ban flavored tobacco products statewide after a similar ban was vetoed by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock last December:

“It’s not an easy topic to address. This is a contentious topic,” says Representative Kyle Mullica, a Democrat from Federal Heights who is co-sponsoring the bill with Representative Jennifer Bacon, a Denver Democrat; Senator Rhonda Fields, a Democrat from Aurora; and Senator Kevin Priola, a Republican from Henderson…

“I just think it’s good policy,” says Priola. “I think the data shows that flavors are targeted toward attracting young people to smoking and minority folks who disproportionately have health-care issues from it and costs. It doesn’t prohibit the sale of tobacco. It basically says you have to sell tobacco in the original flavor.”

But given how much money is at stake for tobacco companies and store owners, the fight over the bill will be intense. “The industry that makes a lot of money off of kids and folks in certain communities by addicting them to substances, they’re well financed,” Priola notes.

Lobbying pressure is expected to be intense on this bill, and though we haven’t seen any disclosures about who is in the mix, former far-right state Sen. Tim Neville, whose political consultant business has slowed since his son Patrick lost his job as House Minority Leader, sure sounds like a man with a vested interest:

Here come Colorado’s Nazi Nannies! Democrats Mullica, Bacon, and Fields, and RINO Kevin Priola. The only cure? #NeverVoteDemocrat #NeverVoteRino Ever!

Forget Lauren Boebert and the “Needle Nazis,” because Tim Neville has that beat with “Colorado’s Nazi Nannies”–and best of all, this new club includes a fellow Republican, Sen. Kevin “RiNO” Priola! It’s true that Priola is the Republican most regularly subjected to the far right’s two minutes of hate, but this is could be the first time Priola has personally been the subject of a validation of Godwin’s Law.

Or, Neville could just be a big fan of flavored cigars. We hear they’re popular with kids of all ages.

11 thoughts on “You’ll Pry Fruity Swisher Sweets From Tim Neville’s Cold Dead Hands”

davebarnes says:

January 28, 2022 at 9:39 am

I am against banning any drugs.
Adults should be allowed to consume whatever they want—with the exception of antibiotics.

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1. JohnNorthofDenver says:
  
  January 28, 2022 at 11:38 am
  
  What was the death toll of the great binge?
  
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Diogenesdemar says:

January 28, 2022 at 10:25 am

Are the House Reps (mostly Dems) also planning to go after flavored edibles and other cannabis products? Flavored alcoholic beverages? . . .

(. . . asking for a friend.)

Congratulations folks, it’s gotta” take a extraordinary amount of hard work to make it appear that a nitwit like Tim Neville might actually have a bit of a point?

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1. JohnNorthofDenver says:
  
  January 28, 2022 at 11:36 am
  
  What's the point? That there are better policed and better regulated substances? That alcohol and cannabis death contribution is about 25% of tobacco?
  
  I understand you want banana smash tutti frutti cigars available next to candy but as you grow up your taste will change.
  
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  1. Diogenesdemar says:
    
    January 28, 2022 at 3:11 pm
    
    I try to make it a policy not to argue with, or waste any of my time (or their little remaining) explaining, to persons in their dotage . . .
    
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doremi says:

January 28, 2022 at 12:06 pm

I'm actually shocked at these comments. Public health measures to deter kids from taking up tobacco? A known carcinogen. Sheesh.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  January 28, 2022 at 2:05 pm
  
  Isn’t it already illegal for kids to purchase tobacco products? Doesn’t that deter them?
  
  If I could wave my magic wand, I would just eradicate tobacco from the face of the earth.
  
  Alternatively, as a pro-public health policy matter, I would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 95 to sell, use, or consume any tobacco product. (People most Polsters advanced age oughta’ have something to look forward to?)
  
  “Deterring kids” by prohibiting anything (. . . like no kid in America ever smoked, or even thought of smoking, before flavored tobacco hit the shelves? Shocking. I know . . .) GLWT.
  
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  1. harrydoby says:
    
    January 28, 2022 at 3:34 pm
    
    Denver's vetoed measure was intended to cut out the bubblegum flavored electronic cigarettes that are all the rage in middle school (a friend's tween daughter can attest to that), with a carve out for hookahs, if I recall. Hancock vetoed it unfortunately, leaving it for the state to handle.
    
    So that's where we currently stand.
    
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    1. notaskinnycook says:
      
      January 28, 2022 at 8:21 pm
      
      What's the point of banning sales of something in so geographically small a place as Denver when it's available in Lakewood, Englewood, or any other contiguous suburb?
      
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      1. Voyageur says:
        
        January 28, 2022 at 9:20 pm
        
        Because it's better to save a few kids than to save none at all.
        
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2. kwtree says:
  
  January 28, 2022 at 9:49 pm
  
  You do have to start somewhere DoReMi, and these flavored tobacco products are really harmful to kids. I’ve got one family member, who’s smoked for 50 years – he has half a lung left on one side. Two younger family members are heavy smokers now.
  
  Nothing that I’ve ever said to them, no carrot or stick behavior incentives, has curbed their addiction in any way. Tobacco is supposed to be as addictive physiologically as heroin.. So at least making tobacco less available or attractive to potential smokers at a young age seems to me like a step in the right direction.
  
  The bill would seem to include “vaping” products and e-cigarettes, which as anyone who’s visited a high school restroom in 2018-2020 can tell you, was a much bigger problem than the flavored cigars. “Juuls” were banned by the FDA in 2020, which was a good call. Tim Neville would probably call the ban “Nanny state overreach”, or something.
  
  I did look up Swisher international and they contribute to a lot of Colorado candidates – mostly Republicans, through a PAC – CADPAC. Swisher is owned by the Ziegler family. I haven’t yet found a direct contribution from Swisher Int’l, the Zieglers, or CADPAC, to Tim Neville.
  
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