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Libertarians Announce "Cigarette Light" Vigil Outside Bloomberg Townhouse

3/25/03 – When New York City's draconian smoking ban takes effect at 12:00 a.m. Saturday night, smokers will be forced out of the bars and onto the city's sidewalks. The Manhattan Libertarian Party will be lighting up on one particular sidewalk – directly outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side townhouse.

To protest the smoking ban, which Libertarians condemn as an erosion of property rights, former congressional candidate Joseph Dobrian organized a "Butt Out Bloomberg! Pub Crawl" for Saturday night that will climax with a "Cigarette Light Vigil" outside Bloomberg's East 79th Street townhouse.

"This is exactly the type of legislation that a free society must regard with horror," said Dobrian. "It defies one of the basic principles on which America was founded: that you have the right to run your business as you see fit. Moreover, this is legislation based on malice and spite. It's not about employee safety; it's about persecuting smokers."

Jak Karako, former chair of the Manhattan Libertarian Party, warns, "We are on a very dangerous track when the government classifies private property as public space and starts making rules about it. This law is a clear violation of private property ownership." Karako intends to run for City Council this year and says he will introduce legislation to repeal the ban if elected.

The Libertarian pub crawl will commence at 8:00 p.m. at Doriann's Red Hand on Second Avenue. Dobrian says participants will drink and smoke their way across the silk-stocking district until midnight, when the ban goes into effect. At that time, the activists will be forced onto the street with the rest of New York City's 2 million smokers, and will gather outside Bloomberg's home for a group smoke.

According to Dobrian, the pub crawl and cigarette light vigil will kick off a Manhattan Libertarian Party effort to put a charter referendum on the ballot to overturn the ban. "With Bloomberg's money and power against us, that'll be tough to pass," Dobrian admits, "but we will get it done."

The Libertarians will hold a press conference regarding the protest on Saturday, March 29, at 4:00 p.m. outside Philip Morris headquarters, 120 Park Avenue.

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