NYC's Aggressive Anti-Anti-Smoking Guy

"This is not L.A.," the message on his answering machine states. "We do not stand for political correctness."

Scott LoBaido is one mighty pissed smoker. Mayoral candidate?and current City Council speaker?Peter Vallone's proposed measure threatens to make smoking illegal in all city restaurants and buildings, and all city-owned vehicles. Even restaurant bars, which had remained exempt after the city's last crackdown on smoking, would be deemed off-limits.

The only exceptions, if Mr. Vallone's measure is passed, would be private offices (in which only the occupant of that office would be allowed to smoke) and segregated, enclosed "smoking lounges" set up in restaurants. Even outdoor restaurants would be affected?just like in California.

So on Saturday, March 24, LoBaido and about 50 others?including restaurant owners, waiters, waitresses, bartenders and off-duty cops?carried handmade signs, banners and a giant cigarette up Broadway to rally in front of City Hall, in an attempt to let local officials know that they think the proposed ordinance is, to put it lightly, wrongheaded.

The turnout was, admittedly, less impressive than LoBaido had hoped for?especially after calling it "The 10,000 Smokers March." LoBaido's not too pleased about that, either.

"I got into this thing about a month ago, and it just got so huge. I'm getting more people interested, everyone's really fired up about this?except for the people who should've been there. I'm so disappointed about that, because I was in and out of every bar and restaurant in this city, restaurant associations across the city, and only a handful of people showed up. I sent press releases out, I really worked hard."

LoBaido is a 36-year-old artist from Staten Island, whose 40s-style pop realist murals decorate the walls of several New York restaurants.

"I'm a hopeless romantic," he told me, shortly after the protest. "I believe in the old way of doing things. A show of physical force if you want something done. I'm sick of this whole politically correct sterilization that's happening to this great city."

Say what you will about his politics, there's no denying that LoBaido is a proud native.

"I take nothing away from L.A., but this is New York City," he says, his voice gruff. "We don't go to sleep at 9 o'clock then get up and have wheatgrass for breakfast and then go in the sun all day... I'm out till 5 or 6 in the morning. That's how I sell my work. I socialize. I was out last night eating and drinking and smoking. I just can't fathom the concept of them taking that away."

The problem, he believes, originated with a small, well-organized group of whiners. Or as he describes them, "social degenerates who don't know how to socialize who are cry-babyin' to the City Council." But, he believes, in a city with around two million smokers, the numbers and the votes are there to put a stop to this proposed nonsense.

"We're hardworking people?get out there because they're gonna take this away, and you're not going to believe it till you're sitting outside having a cigarette, while your business associate or a woman you're trying to pick up is sitting at the bar waiting for you."

The proposed laws, LoBaido says, will not only be a pain in the ass to smokers, but will also deal a serious blow to the local restaurant industry. If patrons can't smoke in restaurants?and can't even go to the restaurant bar to have a cigarette?they'll just pack up and go to the bar next door after they eat.

LoBaido, as some may remember, has made the news before. He was arrested during the Brooklyn Museum's controversial "Sensation" show after throwing horse dung at the museum's facade. He appeared on the steps of the Supreme Court building dressed as Superman while awaiting the court's "Bush v. Gore" decision to come down.

He was also, he says, picked up by the Secret Service after "kinda threatening" Hillary Clinton on election night.

"I'm not a conservative, but I'm not your typical liberal ideologue artist. I refuse to be part of the art world, because they don't want me. I vote Republican, I don't pronounce my r's. I'm from Staten Island."

The thing that got him started on this anti-antismoking crusade, he told me, was the first public hearing on the issue.

"There was an opera singer up there, bitching about how she can't work in this atmosphere because it affects her throat. They give her this time and showed her on the tv?and nobody hears our side. My father was a sanitation worker, my brother drives a bus. I'm an artist?I inhale chemicals?it's an occupational hazard, it's called. It's in every occupation. So don't give me that pansy-ass bullshit. Get out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat."

I asked LoBaido what he thought the chances were that Vallone's measure would pass.

"To tell you the truth, I'm hearing so many different things," he answered. "I think it's very, very possible, because they have the votes to override Giuliani's veto. Giuliani's against it?he's happy the way it is. I'm out there, I'm in these restaurants where I can sit, eat, smoke, socialize without having to get up. Even if I do go to a place where I have to go to the bar, I'm fine. Nobody complains, there's nobody that bitches about it."

In other words, after restaurant owners were forced to drop all that money on ventilation systems and room dividers a few years ago, it ain't broke.

"Another thing is, you got these other people who just own the bars, who are like, 'Well, my business is gonna boom'?because you can smoke if you don't serve any food. I'm tellin' these people, six months down the road, you're gonna get a knock on your fuckin' door, and they're gonna be tellin' you, 'No more smoking here.' This is how it starts... What's next? Skittles? 'I slipped on a Skittle?almost broke my neck.' It's that silly."

So what's the next step?

"I was gonna give up after this last rally because I busted my ass for a month and nobody showed up. But I'm gonna continue this battle... Once I find out about the next hearing, we will definitely have another protest. Anyone who knew about this protest and knows about this next one I'm having, and you're not there, think about what's gonna happen to your business and don't fuckin' bitch about it. This is war?the politically correct are waging war on all New Yorkers. I am fighting, and I need soldiers. I need true New Yorkers. I don't want to lose this one."

Mr. LoBaido's protest hotline may be reached at 718-707-1262.