['Fires', 'ated', 'Corwwinnon', 'Arena,', 'KE.', 'Rear', '154', ' ', 'CW”AALES', '8', 'ROSE', 'comerrtae', '‘wataainee', 'Ase', 'BLAREKY', 'PMARCT', 'SConrnaray', 'Arve', 'fe', 'Pnited', 'States', 'Senate', 'conte', 'WARMITTON', 'OFFICE:', 'Wenhingian,', 'OC', '26515', '{POR', 'Tada', 'WASHINGTON,', 'OC', '20610-4802', 'Ermad:', 'Rane', 'rebate', 'gow', 'Seley', 'irate.', 'ae', 'marta.', 'gow', 'February', '4,', '1999', '‘The', 'President', 'The', 'White', 'Tous:', 'Washington,', 'D.C.', '20500', 'Tear', 'Mr.', 'President:', 'I', 'am', 'concerned', 'about', 'the', 'proposal', 'to', 'bring', 'a', 'federal', 'lawsuit', 'against', 'the', "nation's", 'tobacco', 'manufacturers.', 'When', 'you', 'first', 'announced', 'this', 'approuch', 'during', 'the', 'State', 'of', 'the', '(Uninn,', '|', 'thought', 'such', 'a', 'suit', 'might', 'provide', 'a', 'way', 'to', 'bring', 'all', 'of', 'the', 'parties', 'to', 'the', 'negotiating', 'table', 'to', 'resolve', 'the', 'Uncertainties', 'which', 'still', 'surround', 'tabacen', 'production', 'in', 'the', 'United', 'States.', 'As', 'you', 'kpow,', 'many', 'Virginians', 'rely', 'on', 'tobacco', 'for', 'their', 'livelibood,', 'from', 'manutacturing', 'workers', 'tn', 'growers', 'to', 'dock', 'workers.', 'Beginning', 'with', 'the', 'comprehensive', 'settlement', 'announced', 'on', 'June', '20,', '1997', 'and', 'continuing', 'unt)', 'today,', 'these', 'workers,', 'growers', 'and', 'their', 'families', 'have', 'suffered', 'enormous', 'upheaval', 'aod', 'uncertainty.', "I'd", 'like', 'to', 'find', '«', 'way', 'to', 'help', 'alleviate', 'this', 'upheaval', 'and', 'give', 'these', 'families', 'some', 'certiocy,', 'and', "I've", 'concluded', 'it', 'is', 'likely', 'that', 'the', 'lawsuit', 'would', 'create', 'further', 'instability.', 'For', 'this', 'reason,', "I'd", 'like', 'to', 'urge', 'you', 'not', 'to', 'mnitute', 'auch', 'a', 'federal', 'legal', 'aczion.', 'The', 'staies', 'successfully', 'sued', 'the', 'tobacco', 'companies', 'under', 'various', 'theorics', 'of', 'recovery,', 'including', 'Medicaid', 'reimbursement,', 'consumer', 'fraud', 'anc', 'antitrust', 'violations.', 'The', 'federal', 'foverament,', 'apart', 'from', 'asserting', 'some', 'claim', 'under', 'the', "suwe's", 'Medicaid', 'recovery,', 'does', 'not', 'appear', 'to', 'have', '2', 'similar', 'obvious', 'basis', 'for', 'a', 'suit.', 'In', 'the', 'past,', 'the', 'position', 'of', 'the', 'Justice', 'Deparment', 'has', 'been', 'that', 'the', 'federal', 'goveramest', 'does', 'not', 'have', 'the', 'authnrity', 'to', 'sus', 'raupulscturers', 'of', '«', 'legal', 'product', 'such', 'as', 'tobacco.', 'This', 'position,', 'I', 'understand,', 'was', 'based', 'on', 'a', 'lengthy', 'internal', 'memorandum', 'produced', 'several', 'years', 'ago.', 'I', 'understand', 'further', 'from', 'an', 'article', 'in', 'the', 'New', 'York', 'Times', 'on', 'January', '21,', '1999,', 'that', 'another', 'memorandum', 'was', 'prepared', 'by', 'outside', 'counsel', 'that', 'reaches', 'the', 'opposite', 'wumelusion', 'and', 'asserts', 'that', 'the', 'federa]', 'goveroment', 'does', 'have', 'a', 'right', 'to', 'sue.', 'Having', 'a', 'copy', 'of', 'these', 'two', 'document:', 'would', 'assist', 'me', 'in', 'understanding', 'exactly', 'what', 'caused', 'die', 'hustice', 'Department', 'to', 'reverse', 'its', 'original', 'pesicion.', 'fn', 'the', 'hope', 'of', 'svciding', 'this', 'federai', 'litigarion,', '|', 'would', 'like', 'w', 'request', 'copies', 'of', 'these', 'two', 'documents', 'as', 'soon', 'as', 'possibic.', 'an!', '(SOMO', 'eee', 'Coker', 're', 'Cermmaereds', 'Pelery', 'Came:', '7281897802', 'Sincerely,', 'Charies', 'S.', 'Robb', 'Rompe!', 'GT', 'samy.', 'oramadiiomeatl', 'oeiiad', 'deem', 'tinea', 'dae', 'Bening', 'Drm', 'Kmeas', 'Lane', 'Sacre', 're,', '2.6', '01', 'ten', 'Ciey', '——', 'ealehes', 'alin', 'ken', 'Remus', ';', '918', 'Cet', 'Mme', '9m,', 'Senee', '*EL', 'TNE:', 'Downie', '84', 'My', 'sb', 'a', 'a', 'peers', 'y', 'pamprea', 'oma']