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Now that Mayor Bloomberg has made hiding cigarettes in stores his latest heath crusade, he’s got a particularly invested spectator in the city government of Haverstraw, which tried the same move last year but couldn’t afford to fight the lawsuit tobacco companies filed in response. “If Bloomberg wants the publicity for this and they’re willing to fund this and bring it fruition, I’m happy for it,” Mayor Michael Kohut told the New York Times. “I was never going to put my community in fiscal jeopardy by a prolonged battle with tobacco companies.” New York City certainly has deeper pockets than the village of 11,000, but this is a good reminder that getting the law on the books for real is going to be one expensive prospect.
