Stenberg: ■■ . O :r -:.u OMAHA (AP) — Attorney Gen eral Dm Stenberg wants answers be-' fore he gets Nebraska involved in a lawsuit seeking to recover taxpayer costs for treating smoking-related ill nesses. More than a dozen other states have filed such suits against tobacco com panies and the Ndvaska Department of Social Services has asked Stenberg to lode into the feasibility ofNebraska doing the same. But Stenberg said this week that he had a list of questions that needed an swers before he would consider filing such a lawsuit One of the questions was whether the politics of U.S. Sen ate candidate, Gov. Ben Nelson, was at the heart of the request. Stenberg said the timing of the re quest from an agency under Nelson’s control raised political questions. He noted that the request came during the recent Democratic National Conven tion where party leaders highlighted tobacco issues. “This raises serious questions as to whether your letter is a good-faith re quest for my advice, or simply postur ing for the benefit ofBen Nelson’s U.S. Senate campaign,” Stenberg, a Repub lican who sought the GOP senate nomi nation in May, wrote to Social Services Director Don Leuenberger on Monday. Deb Thomas, deputy director for Social Services, denied political moti vation in the request for die lawsuit, which she said had been discussed in the department for nearly two months. “I thought it was a very political response to a nonpolitical request for a legal opinion,” she said. She was also puzzled by several other questions Stenberg raised, in cluding (me for the department to iden tify a legal theory under which such a suit could be filed successfully. "l don't thinJc it 's appropriate far a client to tell his attorney what legal theories exist,” she said. Thomas said she hoped department officials could sit down with Stenberg’s staff soon to work through the issues involved in such a lawsuit. She agreed with Stenberg that there are important questions to be answered, but she said they would be answered most easily in a joint effort. In the last two years, 14 states have filed suit against tobacco companies over public health costs related to smoking. States, including Kansas and Oklahoma, claim that the cigarette manufacturers conspired to mislead and misinform the public about their products even after their own research ers told them there were links between cigarettes and cancer. One small tobacco company re cently settled a suit with the state of Mississippi, agreeing to change its ad vertising practices and to pay a small financial settlement. . Thomas said it was the settlement by Liggett Inc. that first got her depart ment interested in the tobacco litiga tion. But the battle apparently is not going as easily elsewhere. In Minnesota, Philip Morris is spending $1.25 million a week review ing and processing documents for the health-care lawsuit brought by the state of Minnesota, according to an attorney for the cigarette manufacturer. ft-— I thought it was a very political reponse to a nonpolitical request for a legal opinion * Deb Thomas deputy director for Social Services Philip Morris attorney Peter Sipkins said as many as 210 attorneys, legal assistants and secretaries worked to meet an Aug. 31 deadline to pro duce more than a million pages of in ternal documents requested by the state. “This is the largest document pro duction in the history of Minnesota and is approaching one of the largest na tionally,” Sipkins told Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick in a hearing Tuesday. That suit invd ves six tobacco com panies and two trade groups. The state and co-plaintiff Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota are seeking reim bursement for the cost of treating Med icaid patients for smoking-related ill nesses. Stenberg said Nebraska “should neither rush into litigation nor rule out the possibility.” He said considerations should be whether such a suit could be success ful, how much it would cost, whether the state could prove damages suffered and if it was appropriate to sue tobacco companies when products such as al cohol and junk food also pose health risks. Correction Because of a reporting error in the Sept. 11 story, “Moeser stresses excellence,” numbers concerning UNL retirement benefits were off, said James Ford, English professor and president-elect of the Academic Senate. UNL lags behind peer-group universities in re tirement benefits by 6 percent, not 3 percent, Ford said. Also, he said, the Academic Senate wants to raise the benefits from the legal limit of 8 per cent to 12 percent. A Gift that remembers.. When you k>«e someone dear to you-or when aspeqalppiaon hat» birthday, quits amdlriag, oir has some other occasion to celebrate— memorial gifts or tribute gifts made for than to your Lung Association help prevent lung disease and improve the care of those suffering from it + AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION. 7101 Newport Ave^ #303 ■ - .- ' %■ . ■ '.:• • - .'*■'■ "• / ' ‘v :xav..- . . • • ■; j • kino-distance calls. Savings based on a 3-min. AT&T oparator-dMed interstate call. '