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WARNING: This site deals only with the corporate corruption of science, and makes no inference about the motives or activities of individuals involved.
    There are many reasons why individuals become embroiled in corporate corruption activities - from political zealotry to over-enthusiastic activism; from gullibility to greed.
    Please read the OVERVIEW carefully, and make up your own mind.




TOBACCO INDUSTRY EXPLANATORY

ABBREVIATIONS
JARGON
SPIN-MEISTERS
INITIALS
FIRST & NICKNAMES
Misc.RESEARCH HELP
Smoking-Gun docs.

RELEVANT LINKS

OHIO OPERATIONS
Richard K Vedder
Lowell E Gallaway
Buckeye Institute
BobCat studies
CART
NETWORK OPERATIONS
Cash-for-comment economists' network
General TI networks
James E Long
George Berman
James Savarese
Ctr.Study Pub.Choice
James Buchanan
Robert Tollison
Anna Tollison
Richard Wagner
James C Miller III
Carol M Robert
Elizabeth A Masaitis
Committee on Tax & Economic Growth
Harold Hochman
Fred McChesney
Thomas Borcherding
Delores T Martin
Dennis Dyer
George Minshew
Fred Panzer
Susan Stuntz
Peter Sparber
Carol Hrycaj
Debra Schoonmaker
Jeff Ross
Cal George
William Prendergast
Bill Orzechowski
CASH-FOR-COMMENT
NETWORK MEMBERS

Dominick Armentano
Burton A Abrams
Lee Alston
Ryan C Amacher
Gary Anderson
Lee Anderson
William Anderson
Terry Anderson
Scott E Atkinson
Roger Arnold
Richard W Ault
Michael Babcock
Joe A Bell
Bruce L Benson
Jean J Boddewyn
Peter Boettke
Thomas Borcherding
William J Boyes
Charles Breeden
Lawrence Brunner
Henry N Butler
Bill Bryan
Cecil Bohanon
John H Bowman
Dennis L Chinn
Morris Coates
Roger Congleton
Jeffrey R Clark
Michael Crew
Allan Dalton
John David
Michael Davis
Arthur T Denzau
Clifford Dobitz
John Dobra
Robert Ebel
Randall Eberts
Robert B Ekelund
Roger L Faith
David Fand
Susan Feigenbaum
Clifford Fry
Lowell Gallaway
Celeste Gaspari
David ER Gay
Kenneth V Greene
Kevin B Grier
Brian Goff
James D Gwartney
Sherman Hanna
Anne Harper-Fender
Kathy Hayes
Dennis Hein
James Heins
Robert Higgs
Richard Higgins
F Steb Hipple
Harold M Hochman
George E Hoffer
John Howe
Randall G Holcombe
William Hunter
Stephen Huxley
John D Jackson
Joseph M Jadlow
Cecil Johnson
Samson Kimenyi
David Klingaman
Roger Kormendi
Michael Kurth
David Laband
Suuner Lacroix
Dwight R Lee
Dennis Logue
James E Long
C. Matt Lindsay
Donald P Lyden
Craig MacPhee
Mike Maloney
Delores Martin
Chuck Mason
Charles Maurice
Fred McChesney
James E McClure
William McEachern
Richard McKenzie
Robert McMahon
Arthur Mead
Paul L Menchik
John F Militello
William C Mitchell
Greg Neihaus
James A Papke
Allen Parkman
Mark Pauly
William Peterson
Harlan Platt
Michael D Pratt
Thomas Pogue
Barry W Poulson
Edward Price
Robert Pulsinelli
Raymond Raab
Roger Riefler
Terry Ridgeway
Mario Rizzo
Morgan Reynolds
Simon Rottenberg
Randy Rucker
Richard Saba
Todd Sandler
David Saurman
Mark Schmitz
Robert Sexton
Gordon O Shuford
William Shughart
Robert J Staaf
Thomas Stimson
Wendell Sweetser
Mark Thornton
Mark Toma
David G Tuerck
Richard Vedder
Bruce Vermeullen
Richard Wagner
J Keith Watson
Burton Weisbrod
Walter E Williams
Paul W Wilson
Thomas L Wyrick
Bruce Yandle
Boon Yoon
Richard O Zerbe

 

 

OPINION ONLY

David Klingaman     [ Prof]    

— A cash-for-comments Ohio University economist who worked secretly for the tobacco industry. —  

Professor David Klingaman was one of the original cabal of economists who became the nation-wide network working for the Tobacco Institute. It was put together by tobacco lobbyist James Savarese and Professor Robert Tollison of George Mason University who collaborated in the 1980s to provide the tobacco industry with academics willing to write propaganda material ... always provided their names were not linked to the industry or to any of the cigarette companies.

The idea was simply that the academic 'sleepers' would be available on a cash-for-services basis to counter attempts at Federal, State or local levels, to increase excise taxes, or to ban public smoking ... or just to appear as 'independent experts' at Congressional hearings and promote the industry causes.

Economist were by far the most useful academic lobbyists to the tobacco industry because the distinction between economics and politics was never clear. Support for the cigarette companies could always be claimed as support for free-market economics — the rights of individuals to make public choices — the promotion of smaller government — or even the protection of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The economist always claimed to be 'independent', 'professionals' and they wre recognised 'academics' from some credible university. They never revealed the source of their funding in their op-eds or letters-to-the-editor.

If ever put under cross-examination, they must be able to claim with weasel-word precision, that they had never received a penny from the tobacco industry. Therefore all payments were laundered, either through tobacco industry lawyers (usually Covington & Burling), the principle organisers, James Savarese & Associates, or through Bob Tollison's Center for the Study of Public Choice at George Mason University.

The aim was to have, in each State, at least one academic economist, one academic lawyer, and one academic from a business management, business law, marketing or advertising discipline willing to jump into action and write op-ed articles for their local newspaper, or to appear at local ordinance or legislative hearings. Copies of these articles were always to be sent to a local Congressman who sat on some important (to the tobacco industry) committee.

The academics were always expected to wave their own and their university's credentials vigorously, and loudly proclaim their "independence' from any crass-commercial motives. And those who could boast of being 'non-smokers' were especially prized — since without this addiction, their non-dependent-on-tobacco status was thought to be proved beyond any doubt!



Network beginnings:
  • 1979 Jan: Academic economists Professor Robert Tollison and Richard Wagner have been recruited by George Berman of Devon Management Resources to provide material supporting the International Committee on Smoking Issues (ICOSI... later INFOTAB)
  • 1980: Tollison and Wagner had been commissioned by ICOSI's Social Acceptability Working Party (SAWP) to write a monograph "Consumer Protection, Public Policy and Cost-Benefit Analysis"
  • 1982: Under Tollison and Public Choice guru James Buchanan, the team of Public Choice economists at Virginia Polytechnic/State University resign en masse and migrate over to the break-away, corporate funded, George Mason University (including their think-tank Center) — thus providing the tobacco industry with a Washington DC pool of unfettered free-market Randian-political economists who are all looking for outside commissions.
  • 1982 Nov: A labor economic lobbyist working for his own company (through via Ogilvy & Mather PR), James Savarese, proposes to the Tobacco Institute that they use academic economists (mainly Kenneth Greene of SUNY and Harold Hochman of CUNY) to prepare papers opposing cigarette tax excise increases in New York State.
  • 1983: The Tobacco Institute puts the Tollison/Wagner team (which has the resources of the Center for Study of Public Choice, together with Savarese and Ogilvy & Mather PR to prepare a book "Free to Smoke" and later a propaganda booklet Smoking & Society
  • 1984 Jan /E. The Tobacco Institute is now expanding the Savarese-run network of economist to other States — mainly recruiting academic economists to write op-eds for their local newspapers. Tollison is able to provide the recruitment services through his Center for the Study of Public Choice and the Public Choice Society. At Clemson University the group also utilize the Center for Policy Studies.
  • 1984 April: The Tobacco Institute has again contracted Tollison and Savarese & Associates to prepare a pseudo-study which will become their economic defence against proposed smoking bans in New York resturants. The TI's Excise Tax Plan for this month lists 14 Public Choice economists in other States who have been recruited to help in the fight against excise increases in other states.
  • 1984 Jun: The network was briefly formalised under the name Committee on Taxation and Economic Growth. with Savarese as administrator. They have about 15 members overall and 10 active op-ed writers.

The foundation document for the expanded Tobacco Institute network (still in the tobacco industry archives) is a draft dated 30 April 1984 "Cigarette Excise Tax Plan" which was aimed at countering the Reagan Administration's "Packwood Tax Plan". [See below]


Some key documents

• Professor of Economic, Ohio University.


The Buckeye Institute.
David Klingaman appears to recruited Richard Vedder and Lowell E Gallaway who were both "Distinguished Professors" in economics at Ohio University who also became diligent workers for the tobacco network.

    This group also established (1994-95) their own think-tank, the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions., and there are 101 documents in the tobacco archives which refer to this organisation. It must have been of considerable value to the tobacco industry since they made regular donations and grants-in-aid (a euphemism for 'commissions').

    The 1995 Philip Morris regional report from Columbus Ohio records numerous 'donations' made to Ohio organisations, including $10,000 to the Buckeye Institute for 'Policy' in 1995. and in the 1996 Budget year they provided two further donations of $2,500 each to the Buckeye Center in Dayton. For what it is worth — they claimed that this was...
"To provide renewed general support for this public policy organization whose mission is to offer market-based solutions to issues effecting all Ohioans in the areas of regulation, education, state spending and taxation the environment and others."
The Tobacco Institute also gave the Buckeye Institute a grant of $1000 a year, which probably means that RJ Reynolds also gave them a regular donation.




1984 Apr 30: This 109 page DRAFT Tobacco Institute "Cigarette Excise Tax Plan" was aimed at the Reagan Administration which they suspected was about to extend the life of a temporary excise tax on cigarettes (16¢ per pack). They had an immediate requirement of

  • One public finance economist for 10 days @ $1,000, [Total $ 10,000 ] including meetings with coalition members and/or the Governor's staff; research and preparation; and testimony.
  • One economist for a union workshop on the tax issue, [Total $5,000] including 3 or 4 training sessions over the course of a convention.
  • Six economists @ $5,000 and one senior economist @ $20,000 for a tax symposium, including publishing of the proceedings at $3,000. [Total $53,000] The senior economist would play an oversight/organizational role and would be responsible for editing the proceedings. Such a symposium would be staged for regional or national impact.
  • One economist provided to a public employee union to do original research on the need for adequate services to be funded by broad-based taxes; this would include the final report and testimony. [Total $ 25,000]
It also had draft copy and designs for a couple of different booklets aimed at different states, and others aimed at labor/union and racial groups.

    It also identifies the Congress Committeemen and state Assembleymen who should be targetted as most likely to be influenced, and adds an appendix which lists economists who can be enlisted to help.
Potential Economic Consultants
    Following is a list of economists in key states who might assist us as consultants. We have begun contacting them to ensure their willingness and expertise. We are asking each about past experience; work with similar issues; previous work with the industry; published articles or research; and speaking availability.

    As discussed in the body of this program, our intent is to have a group of individuals who we can call upon regularly to testify, conduct special research projects, and discuss their research and/or views on excise taxes with the media.
  • California, Thomas Borsherding, Claremont College
  • Connecticut, William McEachern, University of Washington
  • Florida, Richard Wagner, Florida State University
  • Georgia, Fred McChesney, Emory University Law School
  • Illinois, James Heins, University of Illinois
  • Massachusetts, Harlan Platt, Northeastern University
  • Minnesota, Thomas Stimson, University of Minnesota (St. Paul)
  • New York, Harold Hochman, City University of New York
  • Ohio, David Klingaman, Ohio University
  • Pennsylvania, Mark Pauly, University of Pennsylvania
  • Texas, Charles Maurice, Texas A&M University
  • Washington, Yoram Barazel, University of Washington
  • Washington, D.C. Robert D. Tollison, George Mason University
  • Wisconsin, Burton Weisbrod, University of Wisconsin
Robert Tollison is the most active and influential person on this list; he was hired to consult on federal tax situations and to oversee efforts of the others throughout the country. His wife also became a network administrator.

See last page


Yoram Barazel is the only name on this list who appears to have resisted the Institute's overtures. He appears to have handed over the commission to one of his associates.

1984 June: /E Tobacco Institute appendixes to some report. Page 5 is a list of "Potential Economic Consultants."

Following is a list of economists in key states who might assist us as experts receiving honoraria. We have begun contacting them to ensure their willingness and expertise. We are asking each about past experience; work with similar issues; previous work with the industry; published articles or research; and availability.

    Our intent is to have a group of individuals whom we can call upon as needed to testify, conduct special research projects, and discuss their research and/or views on excise taxes with budget officials, potential coalition members, legislators, and the media.
Thirteen consultants are ordered by State.
STATEECONOMIST
California Thomas Borsherding, Claremont College
Connecticut William McEachern, University of Washington
Florida Richard Wagner, Florida State University
Georgia Fred McChesney, Emory University Law School
Illinois James Heins, University of Illinois
Massachusetts Harlan Piatt, Northeastern University
Minnesota Thomas Stimson, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
New York Harold Hockman, City University of New York
Ohio David Klingaman, Ohio University
Pennsylvania Mark Pauly, University of Pennsylvania
Texas Charles Maurice, Texas A&M University
Washington, DC. Robert D. Tollison, George Mason University
Wisconsin Burton Weisbord, University of Wisconsin



1984 Jul: The Tobacco Institute's Cigarette Excise Tax Plan.

The plan augments our basic lobbying efforts by relying on groups outside the industry — some not regularly associated with the industry — to argue against excise taxes for us.

    It is an ambitious program, based on the notion that many of the most effective protests against tobacco taxes will come from groups philosophically distant from The Institute. Many such groups agree with us on the excise issue, even though they disagree with us on other matters.

    At the federal level, supporting Congressional members from the tobacco states is essential to our lobbyists. The tobacco members consistently vote as a unified group — something that is rarely seen in Congress today. They are our lobbyists' most important resource.

    The program recommends that economic and other consultants assist us in developing, "packaging," and presenting our anti-excise arguments in legislative testimony or meetings with coalition members.

Resources:
Economic consultants with different areas of expertise will conduct research and act as spokespersons for The Institute and organizations supported by The Institute. Specific activities with economists are discussed throughout the tactics.

Tactics:
  • Stimulate reputable public finance economists at key state universities to determine the validity of state revenue forecasts, perhaps on behalf of state business organizations and present arguments against excise taxes in various forums; e.g., meetings with potential coalition members or budget officials.
  • Encourage economists to make the case against regressive taxation in meetings with potential coalition members and legislators.
  • Retain public finance economists affiliated with non-profit organizations to research the subject and use their findings in forums such as:
    • Private meetings with state legislators or staff ;
    • formal testimony before government bodies ;
    • targeted media appearances;
    • speeches before business, civic, labor, and other groups ;
    • tax symposia in key states where the proceedings could be published for use in other states ; and
    • articles which raise the visibility of key arguments in the business, academic, and popular press.
Strategies:
  • Presenting specific members of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees with arguments prepared by economists with whom they share some common interest; e.g college affiliation, service on the same commission.
  • Gaining the support of Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), the most influential labor/liberal tax reform group in the country, in opposition to excise taxes.
  • Relying on the AFL-CIO — via The Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers Union — to ensure that the labor/liberal tax package that emerges in the next session of Congress does not include tobacco.

Appendix: A list of economists in key states who may be willing to act as industry and third-party spokespersons on the tax issue.

Following is a list of economists in key states who might assist us as experts receiving honoraria. We have begun contacting them to ensure their willingness and expertise. We are asking each about past experience; work with similar issues; previous work with the industry; published articles or research; and availability.

Cash-for-Comment Economists
StateEconomist
California Thomas Borsherding, Claremont College
Connecticut William McEachern, University of Washington
Florida Richard Wagner, Florida State University
Georgia Fred McChesney, Emory University Law School
Illinois James Heins, University of Illinois
Mass. Harlan Platt , Northeastern University
Minnesota Thomas Stimson, University of Minnesota (St.P)
New York Harold Hockman, City University of New York
Ohio David Klingaman, Ohio University
Penn. Mark Pauly, University of Pennsylvania
Texas Charles Maurice, Texas A&M University
Wash.DC. Robert D Tollison, George Mason University.
Wisconsin Burton Weisbord, University of Wisconsin
[This was the core group which established the cash-for-contents network. Over the years the numbers reached over 100.]


    Our intent is to have a group of individuals whom we can call upon as needed to testify, conduct special research and discuss their research projects and/or views on excise taxes with budget officials, potential coalition members, legislators and the media.



1986 July 9: In response to the Tobacco Institute request for the network economists to write objecting to the General Services Administration (GSA) attempts to ban workplace smoking in government buildings, four professors of economics at Ohio University penned this letter.

    They are all keen to proclaim the purity of their motives in writing the letter, saying:

At the outset, let us state that we are all non-smokers and non-Federal employees who are not personally directly impacted by the proposal, although we believe we are probably indirectly affected by the possible impact that the regulations have on federal productivity. Our concern arises from the blatant disregard of both the Executive Order 12291 (February 7, 1981) and basic principles of economic analysis.
[Non-smoking economists were especially prized by the Tobacco Institute.]

    This letter was signed by David Klingaman who was only a "Professor of Economics" and by Richard K Vedder and Lowell E Gallaway who were both "Distinguished Professors of Economics".

    It was also signed by a non-network member Jan Palmer who was merely an " Associate Professor of Economics".. all at Ohio University.


[This is Jan Palmer's only appearance in the tobacco archives. So we can assume this was a momentary lapse of judgement. The others fed at the tobacco trough for many years.]

See also letters by other network economists.


1986 Jul 21: Sam Chilcote of the Tobacco Institute writes to the members of the Executive Committee detailing their successes in generating objections to the proposed GSA [Government Services Administration] anti-smoking bans.

    They have persuaded the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to help having the rules amended, and have turned out their friends and associated companies to generate letters of objection.

Included among the comments received by GSA thus far are thousands generated as a result of contact with TAN [Tobacco Action Network] activists, other tobacco family organizations, key coalitions, organized labor and economists.

    The State Activities Division's alert of key contacts in the field, as well as TAN activists, has generated at least 3,100 letters of opposition. These are letters for which copies have been sent to division headquarters; there are no doubt many others.

    Among member companies, all have asked their employees to write letters of opposition. In addition, RJ Reynolds reports its phone bank efforts to reach Washington, DC, residents, may have resulted in up to 3,700 opposition letters. Reynolds also sought letters from respondents to an earlier mailing on the federal excise tax issue. Philip Morris initiated a program designed to generate up to 10,000 mailgrams to GSA by the comment deadline.

    Letters of objection (all remarkably similar in content) from numerous academic economists were also attached. They all seemed to focus on one extraordinary aspect: the cost of implementating the ban.

    They all attacked the GSA's calculation "that the costs of NO-SMOKING signs in government buildings would cost less than $100 million annually." Robert Tollison had circulated a much higher estimate of costs (which some of the letter-writers mentioned)... and all of the economists' letters completely ignored any cost savings, such as lower cleaning and painting costs in government buildings; reduced sick days; higher productivity, etc.

    These letters, were all written within a few days of each other by university professors spread across the country, and they came from:
  • 8th July — Arthur T Denzau, Washington University, St Louis, Mo
  • 3rd July — Barry W Poulson, University of Colorado, Boulder
  • 10th July — Thomas E Borcherding, Claremont College/Graduate School, California
  • 7th July — William F Shughart II, Center for the Study of Popular Choice, George Mason University, Washington DC
  • Undated — (joint) Cecil E Bohanon, James E McClure, Stephan F Gohmann, Clarence R Deitsch, Lee C Spector — all PhDs in economics at Ball State University, Muscie, Ind.
  • 7th July — John F Militello, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
  • 7th July — Jean J Boddewyn, Baruch College, The City University of New York [Advertising lecturer]
  • 5th July — Morgan Reynolds, Texas A&M University
  • 8th July — Cliff P Dobitz, North Dakota State University
  • 8th July — William C Mitchell, University of Oregon
  • 11th July — Arthur C Mead, Economist, Newport RI
  • 10th July — D Allen Dalton, Boise State University, Idaho
  • 10th July — Henry N Butler, George Mason Univeristy
  • 10th July — (joint) S Charles Maurice, Leonardo Auernheimer, Niccie L McKay, John R Hanson II, Lynn Gillette, Gregory Delemeester at Texas A&M University
  • 9th July — (joint) Robert B Ekelund, Richard Ault, David Saurman, John Jackson, RG Hebert, JK Watson, Mark Thonton, at Auburn University, Alabama
  • 9th July — (joint) Richard K Vedder, Lowell E Gallaway, Jan Palmer, David Klingaman at Ohio University




There is a gap in the tobacco archives between mid-'86 and early 1992 with no references to David Klingaman. However Lowell Gallaway and Richard Vedder were still available for network duty.


The Ohio Economists.

Richard Vedder was the main Ohio network economist in the October 1986 listings.
  • The Buckeye Institute, [a consultancy front for Ohio University professors] probably with all three involved, was also obviously taking tobacco industry commissions.
  • In 1987 both Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway were also doing work for Ronald Reagan's Joint Economics Committee,
  • Vedder was also working for the
    • American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) [tobacco funded],
    • the National Chamber Foundation (NCF) [also tobacco funded] and
    • an Ohio organisation known as BOBCAT
      [BOBACAT was a tobacco controlled subsidiary of Citizens Against Regressive Taxation (CART) — yet another tobacco front].


    [Vedder appears to have continued to work for the tobacco network through the period 1987-92 and then handed the commissions back to Klingaman.]
  • In November 1991, David Klingaman reappears in the archives, writing a study with Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway on excise taxes in Ohio

        This is one of the Tobacco Institute's bootlegging studies where they have their economists maintain that the loss of cigarette sales from towns close to the state borders, would cancel out any revenues from the raised taxes.




1991 Nov: The Economic Impact of Excise and Sales Taxation in Ohio by Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway and David Klingaman, all economics professors at Ohio University — and all well-paid members of the cash-for-comments network.

    They have join forces in writing a study "The Economic Impact of Excise and Sales Taxation in Ohio".

It has been proposed that major increases in excise taxes in the State of Ohio would help to solve a likely state budget deficit. What would be the impact of excise tax increases? That is a major question this study addresses. The authors conclude: The 27 counties along the Ohio border with other states would lose about $285 million in retail sales and about 2.000 jobs.
They are trying to prove that the tax on cigarettes in Ohio is already far too high.
The authors arrive at their conclusions tbrough an extensive search of the tax literature and economic data, but even more from an extensive field investigation that took them to 12 border locations and over 80 retail outlets. They ascertained the residence of over 1,700 shoppers through license plate counts. They used econometric analysis, interviews with customers, store managers and others to help evaluate the sensitivity of Ohioans to tax changes.

    The authors conclude that "our evidence suggests that the proposed increases in excise taxes will have a significantly negative effect on the border counties of Ohio, counties that in general are somewhat poorer and have higher unemployment than the state average."

Executive Summary

    Newspaper report


1992 Nov 7: Delores Martin, Lowell Gallaway and Gary Anderson, all cash-for-comments economists from the network, are working for Dick Armey (R-TX) by contributing to the preparation of outright political material for the Republican's Joint Economic Committee: "Derailing the Small Business Job Express."

    Lowell Gallaway and Gary Anderson are listed as Visiting Scholars on the JEC Republican staff.They are all working under the notorious lobbyist Ed Gillespie.


1993 March: The Newsletter of the National Chamber Foundation (the NCF President was J Paul Sticht — Executive Chairman of RJ Reynolds)

    The NCF has published a free give-way report The Impact of Recent Federal Regulations on Small Business Job Creation by Lowell Gallaway and Gary M. Anderson (also a cash-for-comments economist).


1993 Mar 23: Jim Savarese is proposing to Cal George at the Tobacco Institute a new Op-ed program.

Outlined below is our proposed op-ed program in opposition to the use of excise taxes to finance health care.
  1. Op-ed article by Robert Tollison to be submitted to Wall Street Journal $ 4,000.00
  2. Rebuttal article by Bob Ekelund, Auburn University, to be submitted to the Birmingham News $ 3,000.00
  3. "Monster" tax op-ed project using twenty economists (list attached) to submit articles in opposition to using excise taxes on cigarettes to finance health care reform - to be submitted to twenty newspapers in twenty different states $60,000.00
    TOTAL $67,000.00
David Klingaman is listed as one of the proposed lucky recipients of $3,000 in largess from the Tobacco Institute for slashing out a quick op-ed for an Ohio newspaper. He was to submit the article to Cleveland Plain Dealer.


1993 Mar 23: Savarese is now running a "Monster Tax Op-ed Project" along with other older projects. This package of files show that Klingaman had taken over the Ohio operations from Vedder and Gallaway, and his target newspaper was the Cleveland Plain Dealer.


1993 May 23: This listing shows that David Klingaman had written and submitted his op-ed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

    By July it had been rejected and resubmitted to the Dayton Daily News


1993 Aug 3: This is a series of lists dated from March to August 1993. Savarese's staff have sent these to the Tobacco Institute to progressively report successes and failures with the economists writing op-ed pieces and having them published.

    Collectively they give us a good idea as to how the network worked and how litte they managed to plant on the major newspapers (the smaller local papers were obviously easy.) It's also interesting to observe the mechanical processes and the tight control the tobacco industry and its lawyers exerted over these academic lackies.

  • The articles were either rejected, revised or passed by Jim Savarese and his staff
  • They were then sent for checking and alteration by Calvin George [Cal] at the Tobacco Institute.
  • The lawyer David Reemes who worked for the industry's main Washington lawfirm Covington & Burling then cleared them for publication.
  • The economist then received the revised copies back for onward transmission to the selected newspapers.
  • They would then send a copy to their local Congressmen without mentioning the tobacco industry's contractual arrangement.
Clearly, by 1993, many of the original network members were dropping out. The Tobacco Institute also appears to have been having problems getting even those academics who stayed loyal to write articles that justified their $2000 to $3000 payments. [Perhaps some of them developed a conscience!]

    Despite the protestations, these are not 'independent' opinion articles. They are industry-shaped, manipulated propaganda pieces designed as advocacy vehicles to promote tobacco interests in political, media and public circles — even when they don't directly mention or promote cigarettes or smoking.

    These lists are all headed 'MONSTER' Tax Op-Ed Project:
    OHIO
    Prof David Klingaman, Dept of Economics, Ohio University, Athens
    • Mar 23 — [TI designated newspaper/s] Cleveland Plain Dealer
    • Apr 9 — Recieved 4/30/93 — Sent to Cal 4/30/93 — Sent to [David] Reemes [Covington & Burling lawyer] 5/3/93
    • May 12 — Submitted to the Cleveland Plain Dealer
    • May 18 — (as above)
    • June 2 — Submitted to Cleveland Plain Dealer
    • June 14— Submitted to Cleveland Plain Dealer
    • Aug 3 — (as above - rejected)... Resubmitted to Dayton Daily News, Called 8/3 (no answer)



1994–95: Vedder, Gallaway, Klingaman and other Ohio University economists establish their own think-tank, the Buckeye Center for Public Policy in Dayton.
Philip Morris gave them two grants of $2,500 + $2,500 [$5,000 overall] because they are

"To provide renewed general support for this public policy organization whose mission is to offer market-based solutions to issues affecting all Ohians in the areas of regulation, education, state spending and taxation, the environment and others. "

See page 23

[The Buckeye Center is listed as a resource with the Heartland Institute in 1995]

1994 March 16: A group of academic economists including almost all the members of the Tobacco Institute's cash-for-comments network sent an "An Open Letter to President Clinton on Healthcare Reform." This had been organised by David J Theroux, the founder and operator of the Independent Institute apparently with the assistance of an academic network member, Simon Rottenberg. [The institute was well-funded by the tobacco industry]. They say:

In the Open Letter to President Clinton, 565 economists and 76 other scholars from all 50 states and the District of Columbia state their firm opposition to any form of direct and indirect price controls in any healthcare program.

Rationing Health Care: The New Threat of Price Controls, by Simon Rottenberg and David J. Theroux

    They use the old straw-man scare techniques of the sky-falling.
In countries that have imposed these types of regulations, patients face delays of months and years for surgery, government bureaucrats decide treatment options instead of doctors or patients, and innovations in medical techniques and pharmaceuticals are dramatically reduced.
Which, as anyone who has lived in England, Canada, Australia, etc. knows, is pure rubbish.

    Along with Klingaman and his associates, also on this list of signatories were numerous think-tank lobbyists [including most of the Hoover Institute] and others who worked for the tobacco industry. Also the Research Director of the Independent Institute, Robert Higgs, who was also a fill-in network economist.


In late 1994 Lowell Gallaway was admitted as a formal member of the Tobacco Institute's cash-for-comments network — taking over some of the lobbying work in Ohio from his close associates, David Klingaman and Richard Vedder.



1998: Richard Vedder has written a report attacking cigarette excise taxes using the tobacco industry line that these price increased boost inter-state smuggling: "Bordering on Chaos: The Cross-Border Impact of Cigarette Taxation.". He mentions the earlier Vedder/Klingham/Gallaway study on cigarette smuggling in Ohio, but fails to mention that these reports were customised to fit the commissioned-requirements of the Tobacco Institute.

    The draft (and TI 'edited') version is at Page 478 of this 626 page package.

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