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.

OPINION ONLY

The idea of running a team of cash-for-comments academic economists was developed by Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations for the Tobacco Institute in 1983 and 1984. At that time the operation was run by one of O&M's contracted consultants, James Savarese, who had both economics and labor/union contacts, and it focussed on a small core-group of academic economists who were paid to sprout tobacco-slanted propaganda speaking engagements at various society meetings.

Both the Tobacco Institute and Jim Savarese knew Professor Robert Tollison, of the Economics Department of George Mason University who also ran the neo-con/supply-side Public Choice Society. Tollison and his associate Richard Wagner had long worked for the international tobacco lobby organisation ICOSI (later INFOTAB) and they had excellent contacts with a large number of Hayek [libertarian] economists at other universities, due mainly to Tollison's directorship of the Center for the Study of Public Choice, which was located at GMU, but run as a private think-tank.

Tobacco Industry money generously supported the Center, and before long Tollison and Savarese were using it as a recruitment and money-laundry service to develop the cash-for-comments network among appropriate academic economists. The idea was to have at least one "Professor of Economics" at a prominent local university, in each of the States, who was willing to support and promote industry propaganda. They were paid on a piece-work basis, averaging $1,000 to $3,000 each for articles planted in local newspapers, or for appearances as 'independent expert witnesses' at legislative or ordinance hearings on smoking bans, or on the raising of excise taxes on cigarettes.

The first project began in June 1984 with Tollison and Savarese getting 13 economists on their network to write op-ed articles in support of the tobacco industry position on excise taxes. They were sent first to the Tobacco Institute for 'improvement' and legal clearance, then returned to the economist who was instructed to plant them on a specific local newspaper, then send copies to their Congressman. This became the pattern of operations.

Jim Savarese and Bob Tollison (supported by Anne Tollison and staff from the Center) took over the operations from O&M, and they branched out into a diverse range of cash-for-comments academic networks: professors in law, business, marketing, and advertising, and with indoor-air-quality testing experts, risk-assessment specialists, biomedical researchers, etc.

These academics all had in common the desire to make money from the tobacco industry without revealing their connection to the 'Merchants of Death'. Savarese and Tollison provided them with the shield from 'legal discovery' so they were able to claim that these were "independent expert opinion articles" (op-eds). Some of the better newspapers may also have paid them separately for their journalistic contributions.

Some of the more enthusiastic of these tobacco lackeys were also designated to attend local ordinance hearings on public smoking, and in some cases to attended and gave expert evidence to Congressional inquiries and the like. Their credibility rested on the fact that they were esteemed academics from a university — so, in effect, they mined the credibility of their employer-institution for personal gain.

By 1989 Tollison and Savarese seem to have had about 65 Professors of Economics on their books, and about the same number (combined) in the other academic disciplines. The numbers changed over the years, but overall about 100 professors of economics at various state universities were involved.

Decline

Over time — and sometimes abruptly — some of these economists dropped out of the operation. Some obviously did not like their articles being modified by the Tobacco Institute, and [who knows] ... maybe some even developed a conscience?

A few new recruits were added regularly to the networks in the 1990 - 1994 period, but the tobacco companies themselves tended to take control of the biomedical research specialist network [probably because of the legal necessity of dealing with them through lawyers to avoid the risk of legal 'discovery'].

Of the many academic cash-for-comments networks, the economists' lasted the longest, and it was also the most productive from the industry viewpoint.

Ryan Amacher has had many years of close association with right-wing 'unfettered free-enterprise" think tanks. He also has a bibliography which includes a large number of co-authorships and collaborations with Robert D Tollison of George Mason University's Center for the Study of Choice.

Bob Tollison was celebrated in the tobacco industry as the 'lead academic economist' for recruiting cash-for-comments economists, but Ryan Amacher in North Carolina did his fair share also. He appears to have run a small subsidiary network and Clemson University has a reputation for generating tobacco industry lobbyists and collaborators of all kinds.

At least three core members [Bill Shughart, etc] of the economists network came from Clemson, and Bob Tollison himself and a couple of others in the core group also had close connections with the university.
[A lot more research needs to be done on Clemson University's associations with the tobacco industry.]

Some key documents

• Economist, Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry, Clemson University South Carolina.

His C/V is at

• A search in the tobacco archives for "Clemson" yields 5,422 documents, and a matching search for variations on "Ryan C Amacher" turns up 373.

1945 Nov 9: Born

1967 May: AB Economics from Ripon College

1971 June: PhD, Economics, University of Virginia

1972–74: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Oklahoma

1974–75: Senior International Economist, US Treasury

1977 July: - June 1981 Professor of Economics, Arizona State University

1979: His first publication which came to the attention of Ingo Walter (who was working for the Tobacco Institute) and wrote a chapter in the book:

"International Investment and the Multinational Corporation", Ryan Amacher (ed.),
      Challenges to a Liberal International Economic Order
      (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1979).

1981–83: Consultant to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which controlled cigarette advertising at this time.

The FTC initially tried to deal with cigarette companies' questionable advertising claims about filters, tar, and nicotine by seeking to enjoin them. However, these lawsuits were difficult and slow - in part because the FTC was not equipped to test cigarettes, and there was no standardized test; hence, it was difficult to prove that cigarette companies' claims were deceptive or unfair.

1981: Dean College of Commerce and Industry and Professor of Economics at Clemson University's College of Textiles and Industry, Clemson, South Carolina.

1981 Nov: (Ongoing) Member of the Governor's Textile Study Committee.

1982 May: (Ongoing) Consultant to the South Carolina Textile Manufactuers Association

1982 Sep: The Annual Report of the FTC mentions two of Amacher's joint papers with Tollison and Shughart and associations with some other (later) cash-for-comments economists.

Dual Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws, by Richard Higgins, William Shughart, and Robert Tollison, September 1982.

In this paper, a model was developed which shows that independent dual enforcement leads to more antitrust activity at a lower unit cost than would be obtained with a single agency.

    On the other hand, the paper states that if the agencies collude, as they appear to do under present institutional arrangements, dual enforcement leads to less and more costly antitrust activity than would otherwise result. According to the paper, empirical tests using historical agency budget and case production figures do not refute the models main predictions. It concludes that more enforcement activity would be obtained at a lower unit cost if the 1948 FTC-Justice liaison agreement were abandoned.

Antitrust Over the Business Cycle, by Ryan Amacher, Richard Higgins, William Shughart, and Robert Tollison, September 1982.

According to this paper, two broad and venerable hypotheses can be deduced from the literature about collusion, antitrust, and economic activity. These are that both private collusive agreements and producer protection regulation should vary inversely with the business cycle. This paper gives evidence which supports both contentions. Employing data on general antitrust law enforcement activity and complaints charging violations of the Robinson-Patman Act, strong counter-cyclical tendencies are found in collusion and governmental regulatory intervention.

1983: He was a consultant to the South Carolina State Chamber of Commerce

1984 Nov: C/V for Ryan C Amacher of Clemson University sent to the Tobacco Institute. It lists his co-authorship with:

• The Economic Approach to Public Policy: Selected Readings, edited, and with independent contributions by RC Amacher, RD Tollison and TD Willett (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976).
• "The Behavior of Regulatory Activity Over the Business Cycle: An Empirical Test," Economic Inquiry, forthcoming, with Richard Higgins, William Shughart, and Robert Tollison.
• The Economics of the Military Draft (Morristown, N. J.: General Learning Press, 1973), with JC Miller, MV Pauly, RD Tollison, and TD Willett. Reprinted as a chapter in The Military Draft: Selected Readings on Conscription, edited by Martin Anderson (Palo Alto: Hoover Institution Press, 1982).

Under Professional Affiliation: Member he lists: Society for the Study of Public Choice,
[sic. — in actual fact he was associated with Center for Policy Studies, the Center for Study of Public Choice, and the Public Choice Society!]

He also published through the American Enterprise Institute, and the Hoover Institution. (Both tobacco funded)

1985 Jan 31: Hurst Marshall has distributed this Tobacco Institute list of economists from the cash-for-comments network. It has been organise by State, and includes the names of Congressmen they wish to influence.

Attached for your information are the names of economists who have been identified by PR to assist TI on the federal cigarette excise tax issue.

These people are also available to testify at the state level.

    If you feel that this type of witness can be of assistance to you on state cigarette tax issues, please contact Fred Panzer for details and arrangements.

    Please notify your lobbyists as to the availability of these people. At the same time, you may wish to ask them for their ideas or suggestions for other economists within their states.

SOUTH CAROLINA (Rep Campbell)
  •   Professor Ryan Amacher
      Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

1985 Feb 21: Roger Mozingo, the State organiser at the Tobacco Institute is sending his regional and state directors a list of resources available to fight against cigarette excise taxes in their states. Ryan Amacher heads their state list of available economic witnesses for South Carolina.

1985 Mar 6: He has had a tobacco-inspired-and-funded op-ed printed in the Greenville News: "Excise taxes must be understood." As was common with this raft of Tobacco Institute promoted articles, it makes only oblique references to cigarette excise taxes, and is careful to avoid criticism of the Reagan Administration which was trying to prop up its finances with extra cash from the sale of cigarettes.

Rep Carroll A Campbell Jr, who sits on the Committee of Ways & Means, writes to thank him for the copy of his article in the Greenville News. He writes:

You have raised many valid points, and I share your view that excise taxes raise many problems. However, it still is not clear on which course the Ways and Means Committee and Congress will follow regarding tax reform and simplification.

    I appreciate your letter and views, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future on this important issue. As always, Ryan, if I can be of any assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.

[A copy of this reply, of course, goes straight to the Tobacco Institute.]

1985 Mar 20/E: Tobacco Institute document "Federal Markets" on the likely allies the industry has acquired to oppose the earmarking of cigarette excises for healthcare.

Market: South Carolina
Positive Actions by Local Allies:
Academics: Professor Ryan Amacher (Clemson University) wrote an op-ed article on tax reform that appeared in the Greenville News on March 6 (newspaper in home district of Ways & Means Member Campbell). Copies were sent to Campbell.

See page 23
See success list

1985 March 29: The Monthly Report of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) to the Tobacco Institute shows that Ryan Amacher was a multi-faceted individual who's by-line also decorated a "Legion article" that he did not write. The report says:

Legion article: O&M provided revised version of the article for client approval. Ryan C Amacher, PhD, from Clemson University will sign the piece.

• Op-ed Articles: O&M provided an update on this project.We are collecting original copies of the published articles to print in a collection.
  
• Economic news service: O&M provided draft copies of three "tax quotes" columns and three editorials We are writing two additional sets of materials and obtaining economists' photographs for final production.
  
• Preparing for excise hearings in Congress: O&M will begin preparing C Mather Lindsay for testimony and will identify spokespersons at AFL-CIO and CTJ.

[ 'Matt' Lindsay was another member of the economists network from Clemson.
CTJ = Citizens for Tax Justice, a think-tank that the tobacco industry partly financed]

• Arranged for economic consultant, Dwight Lee, to testify against Pennsylvania legislation to restrict smoking in public places.
  
  
• Drafted and revised article on tax reform and excises for submission to American Legion Magazine. Ryan C Amacher, Ph.D., from Clemson University signed the piece.
  
  
• Continued to prepare op-ed articles on tax reform and work with area economists to place in newspapers in home districts of members of House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committees. Prepared weekly update on this project's status. (To date, 14 articles have been published; others are either pending with editors or still being revised for submission.)
  
  
• Drafted three Q&A columns featuring our economic consultants and three editorials for "economic news service" mailing to local media nationwide. Also worked with designers to develop format for the service. We are drafting two more columns and editorials and collecting economist's photos for the final layouts..

1985 May 29: Fred Panzer writes to other issues-executives at the Tobacco Institute praising the success of the Op-ed Article Project on Excise Taxes.

So far, sixteen op-ed pieces of twenty-three submitted have either appeared or have been accepted for publication.That's a..700 batting average!

    We're looking for about 35 of our economists to participate. They're the ones in states represented on the two tax writing committees of Congress.

    Attached are clippings of ten of the articles:

Des Moines Register, Chicago Sun-Times, Muskegon Chronicle, Hartford Courant, Caspar Star-Tribune, Tulsa Tribune, Austin American-Statesman, Atlanta Journal, Greenville (S.C.) News, and Huntsville (Ala.) Times.

You may agree that it would be a natural follow-on to arrange for sending the article to the approriate member of the state legislative tax writing committee. This would help create the impression that we have more support "out there" than expected. If nothing else, the exercise would give our lobbyists more credible and positive material to leave behind with state legislators.

[This a variation in what became known as a 'Big Chill' tactic of letting legislators know that you had the money and power to challenge them in campaigns and Congress if they didn't fall into line.]

1985 June 6: James Savarase & Associates has submitted its bill to Peter Sparber at the Tobacco Institute. The billing shows that some economists were paid via Robert Tollison, and that an Emory University Symposium had been held with Congressman [Wyche] Fowler.

• Robert D. Tollison (includes services of four economists and expenses) Completion of 40 States' Economist List.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . $6.055
• Emory University Symposium with Congressman Fowler (Robert Tollison and Fred McChesney + $1,500 to Emory Law School).  .  .  .  .  .  . $10,006
• Public Choice Society Session.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . Total $17,326
  • Robert Tollison ($6863),
  • William Shughart ($2908),
  • Fred McChesney ($2748),
  • Thomas Borcherding ($3033)
  • Dwight Lee (DRL Inc) ($1773)
• Op-ed Project Professional Fees and Expenses.  .  .  .  . Total $23,346
  • Robert Tollison (also laundering payment to four economists) — $15,346
  • A James Heins, Richard Vedder, Todd Sandler, Ryan Amacher, Joseph Jadlow, Henry Butler, RN Ekelund, Fred McChesney — (each $1000)

                        TOTAL A/C was for $56.733.81

1985 Sept: Amacher has had an article published in American Legion Magazine: "Excise Taxes Overlooked in Tax Reform Proposals" The article discusses the 'regressivity and unfairness of excise taxes,' [subtext for poor smokers pay proportionally more for cigarettes] noting

"revamping the entire tax structure, including federal excise taxes, is necessary to ensure a fair tax system."

See page 15

1985 Sep 6: Acey at the Tobacco Institute has sent a bundle of newspaper clippings along to their printer/copier.

Enclosed are 15 original newspaper clipings (don't lose them!) some in better shape than others.

    We'd like these articles on seperate sheets so the lobbiests (sp) can make up their own individual packets. They will also be including some publications too.

    This brings us back to the infamous Tax Folder... To hold all these clippings, publicatiosn and information on tax articles.

    Size should be a 9 x 12 folder to fit in a 9x 12 envelope. You know what I mean. Good looking folder, not too slick. Articles should be in black & white.

1985 Nov 6: Ken Arnold of Ogilvy & Mather PR writes to Fred Panzer at the Tobacco Institute.

Fred, here is a summary of the Economist Op-ed and Economic News Service projects.

    With regard to the Economist Op-ed project, we have submitted a total of 34 op-ed articles, and 18 of them have been published. Recent articles appeared in the Huntsville Times on September 11, by Robert Ekelund and in the Providence Journal on October 25, by Arthur Mead (see attachments).

    Enclosed is a revised op-ed chart, indicating House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committee Members impacted to date, and the circulation of each newspaper publishing the articles. In most cases, the papers are the largest in the targeted district.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Congressman Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.

Greenville News (c. 86,100) March 6
      Professor Ryan Amacher, Clemson University

1985 Dec 12: Annual Report of the Tobacco Institute's Public Relations division lists him as having:

We believe that the active and creative use of experts — our scientists in particular — gives us an edge. But without question, public smoking is our toughest challenge.

    A close second is taxation. In 1985, most of our resources in this area were focused on the federal situation.

    That being the case, we concentrated almost exclusively on the home districts and offices of the 56 members of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees.

    We identified and utilized economists from universities in 48 of those districts. Some testified at the four federal tax hearings in which had interest. Others participated in academic symposia attended by Congressional staffers. Others communicated directly with their Congressmen.

    And 34 of them wrote op-ed articles on the need to consider excises as part of tax reform. Many of these articles appeared in the principal newspaper in the targeted districts which have, by our estimation, a total circulation of nearly 4 million.

    The economists were of great help. [SNIP]

Professor Ryan Amacher (Clemson University) wrote an op-ed article on tax reform that appeared in the Greenville News on March 6 (newspaper in home district of Ways & Means Member Campbell). Copies were sent to Campbell.

    [Also for the American Legion] Published article written by Professor Ryan Amacher, member of the Committee on Taxation and Economic Growth, opposing cigarette excise taxes in Legion Magazine. (Also assisted in smoking restriction legislation.)

1986: This is the Tollison/Saverese network list for 1986. It has 64 names, but it still doesn't cover all 50 States. Some States have two or three network members, so newspapers [and sometimes Congressmen] need to be specified for each member to ensure there is no accidental duplication.

    Telephone numbers (office and home) are often included in case an urgent op-ed or ordinance hearing is needed. These are grouped by State:

SOUTH CAROLINA
Professor Matt Lindsay
    Department of Economics, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29631, 803-656-3471

Professor Ryan Amacher
    College of Textiles and Industry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631, 803-656-3471/3177

1986 Jan: Public Relations Resources Commitee of the Tobacco Institute lists him in their Resource Catalog as a witness for hire.

Dean Ryan Amacher, College of Commerce and Industry, Clemson University, Clemson, SC.

"explain why excise taxes are regressive and unfair to consumers and unsuitable and unreliable as a means to increase the federal revenue."

    Those economists who have testified or prepared op-ed pieces on the economic effects of public smoking are marked accordingly. The others may be briefed on the potential cost to government of implementing smoking restrictions.

"Excise Taxes Overlooked in Tax Reform Proposals"

• One-page copy of Ryan Amacher (dean of the College of Commerce and Industry at Clemson University) article published in American Legion Magazine, September 1985
  
  
• Discusses the regressivity and unfairness of excise taxes, noting "revamping the entire tax structure, including federal excise taxes, is necessary to ensure a fair tax system."
  
  
• General distribution; most effective distributed to family and friendly citizens and business groups
  
  
• Immediate availability

1986 May: A bundle of 72 pages of information is being circulated by the Tobacco Institute to its Regional Directors. The data is predominantly on the tobacco-industry beat-up known as Sick Building Syndrome and on the general problems of Indoor Air Quality [all down-playing the effects of smoking in confined spaces]

    Section 1 is headed

List of sources. Local and national experts you can call for quotes or background information. It promotes the services of three specialist lobbyists

• Lewis Solmon - an academic who discounts problems of workplace smoking
• Al Vogel - who claims to be an expert in public attitudes to smoking
• Mike Forscey, a labor lawyer/lobbyist who helped the tobacco industry keep the union movement on-side.

1986 May 30: Fred Panzer of the Tobacco Institute was contacting British-American Tobacco's PR executive, Tom Humber [also Burson-Marsteller and National Smoking Alliance] sending him some of the examples of the network economists.

Enclosed are: (1) The first wave of 27 op-ed reprints, (2) A second wave of 32 op-ed articles (21 published and 11 unpublished), sent out on Packwood's first tax reform proposal.

    I've also included one on the Chase [Economtrics] study. There are a few others being rounded up, as well as a syndicated excise tax feature series we developed. Out of all this should come something useful for your people.

1986 Oct 3: The State Directors for the Tobacco Institute have been reviewing all economics network witnesses in their territories, and culling those who are not actively participating. The Washington DC office is now circulating to its State Directors a list of the economists available who...

"...have been identified in several states by J. Savarese as available and hopefully capable to testify in our behalf, or aid in our defense against proposed state of local legislation, from an economic aspect.

SOUTH CAROLINA (Representative Campbell)
    Professor Ryan Amacher, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 803-656-3177
      [Specializing in:] Fiscal policy; public finance; public choice.

1986 Dec 8: Sam Chilcote is summing up the Tobacco Institute's activities in fighting the Packwood Tax Plan which attempted to impose special excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and fuel (in the oil crisis years) to reduce use. Packwood also wanted to make these taxes and tariffs non-deducatable for federal income tax purposes.

    The document bundle (219 pages) includes:

• Pages 2 to 34: A major study done for the TI by Policy Economics Group
• Pages 35 to 50: Another major study commissioned from DeSeve Economics for the Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (CART) [funded by tobacco to act as a front]
• Pages 51 to 57: A couple of papers done for Covington & Burling
• Pages 58 to 100: A long document which has deliberately NOT included the name of the organisation which produced it within the document itself. (But done by deSeve Economics Associates Inc).
• Pages 101 to 129 : A paper on the "Burden of Tobacco Taxes on Selected Demographic Groups" [To play the racial/ethnic card]
• Pages 130 to 144: Some booklet trying to rabble-rouse the Hispanic and Black communities and make them believe Packwood is attacking them racially.
• Page 145 to 177: A Citizens for Tax Justice 'poll' on attitudes. and Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (CART) document
• From Page 178 on: many of the op-eds they have had published in newspapers by the cash-for-comment academic economists, (including those from Amacher.)

See two of Amacher's articles on pages 203 and 204 of the document bundle.

1986 Dec 11: James Savarese sends Fred Panzer at the Tobacco Institute a summary of the activities of his network of economists. This is effectively the beginning of the main cash-for-comments economists network.

Dear Fred,
    I have attached a list of all the economists we have used along with the projects they have worked on in behalf of the Tobacco Institute.

• Virtually all of these cash-for-comment academics have been generating op-ed articles for newspapers, or have, in some unspecified way, opposed the Packwood Excise Tax Plan — or perhaps helped fake up one of the 'Chase' [Econometrics studies] relevant to their State.
  
• A few participants have attended Congressional or government inquiries ['Treasury I'] or local ordinance hearings as 'independent witnesses' while secretly acting for the tobacco industry.
  
• Two ( Ann Harper-Fender and Gary Anderson) had become advisors to Ronald Reagan's Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations — which was used to bring pressure on the FDA, EPA and OSHA and stop them from being pro-active with smoking bans.
  
• Other participants have been promoting the industry line at various academic conferences and fora [mainly as keynote speakers at economic society meetings], and a few of the core-team were involved in brianstorming sessions with members of the tobacco industry looking for new angles for their PR, and for possible research project which might generate some economic propaganda for the industry.
  
• Many of them have joined in with the industry's orchestrated letter-writing campaigns opposing workplace smoking bans.

  GSA = Government Services Administration 'Ways and Means' is a Congressional committee on finance ALEC = American Legislative Exchanged Council (a formalised way for big business to directly lobby Federal and State politicians from the right0 Chase Econometrics, was a company which did made-to-order economic impact studies for the tobacco industry.

  The references for Ryan Amacher were:

South Carolina [ Region VI ]

Professor Ryan Amacher

Dean, College of Commerce and Industry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631, 803-656-3177

Services rendered:
• original excise tax op-ed

I have listed below potential areas where we could place book reviews for the Tollison/Wagner monograph.

South Carolina

Targeted paper: Greenville Times
Economist: Matt Lindsay, Clemson University
(Note: His name has been struck out and replaced by "Ryan C Amacher".

1988 April 25: NorthWest Airlines had just implemented the first ban on short domestic flights (formalised by the FAA on April 23rd), and the Tobacco Institute was turning out its lobbyists to convince the other airlines that smoking bans of any kind were a bad idea. The economists were central to this propaganda project.

• Michael Babcock (Kansas Uni) wrote "Good service, not gimmicks win fliers" for the Topeka Capital-Journal which suggested that Northwest was a dangerous and unreliable airline, and that it should concentrate on maintenance and safety rather than persecuting smokers.
• Michael Kurth (McNeese State) wrote "Market forces are the best way to guarantee freedom" for the Shreveport Journal. He saw it in personal freedom terms:

  The political remedy to social conflict is to ban "offensive" behavior. In a democracy, that usually means the behavior of a minority. That is what the Federal Aviation Administration did when it banned smoking on all airline flights lasting more than two hours. Some air travelers were offended by the smoking of other passengers, even though the smokers were isolated in the back of the plane.
  
      But by what criteria were their preferences elevated and satisfied over the preferences of smokers?

• Ryan Amacher (Clemson University) had "Eliminating choice failed marketplace test" He claims that the Northwest Airlines experience had been a disaster (in fact it was highly successful). He also suggests Northwest was a dangerous airline to fly.
• JR Clark (Uni of Tennessee) had "Focus on service would help airlines most" in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
• Michael Davis (Southern Methodist University) had "Smoking ban gets good test" in the Times Herald
• William Hunter (Marquette Uni) had "Airline smoking ban example of free-market conflice resolution" in the Capital Times.. He damns the Northwest policy for "failing the market test" and praises those airlines which were competing without smoking bans.

1988 May 26: Savarese advises the Tobacco Institute that

We have initiated the book review project. A copy of the book and a short summary were sent out today to 17 economists across the country with instructions for writing a brief review suitable for newspaper publication.

    I have attached a list of the economists. I'll keep you up to date as soon as the reviews start rolling in.

1988 June 13: James Savarese to Susan Stuntz at the Tobacco Institute:

Here are two more book reviews of the Tollison/Wagner book. I'll wait to hear from you before proceeding any further.

"Next stage? — Placement, Publication attempts."

These two are pretty good, I don't see much problem with them.

Does this mean Covington & Burling (the tobacco lawyers) clearance is unnecessary?

1988 Aug 14: Amacher's review of Tollison/Wagner book "Smoking and the State" was in the form of an article called "Economists Explore the Dangerous Aspects of Government Protection" which was published on August 14, 1988 in The State'' (Columbia SC).

    The tobacco industry was obviously delighted with the article. It was reprinted in the "Tobacco Observer", mass-copied to all the companies, and sent out to all the Regional Directors and lobbyists working for the Tobacco Institute.

1988 Dec: At the beginning of 1988, Northwest Airlineshad successfully banned smoking on all US domestic flights. Then in April 1988 a two-year trial smoking ban on all domestic flights of less than two hours duration had been introduced by the FAA.

    The tobacco industry had flown into a panic since their own polling showed that a majority of airline passengers (smokers and non-smokers) were reasonably happy with such bans. They therefore instructed the cash-for-comments network economists to write articles attacking the financial stability of Northwest, attack its safety record, and preaching the need for smoking 'tolerance'.

    The resulting articles generally took the line that Northwest Airlines was suffering financially... when in fact, the ban had been generally successful. This was, in fact, a clear attempt at influencing the stock-market to put pressure on airline management.

    Involved in this disinformation exercise were

• Michael Babcock, Kansas State Uni (Topeka Capital-Journal) "Good service, not gimmicks win fliers"
• Michael Kurth McNeese State Uni, letters to the editor. (Shreveport Journal)
• Ryan Amacher, Clemson University (unknown) "Eliminating choice failed market test
• JR Clark, Uni of Tennessee, Martin (Memphis Commercial Appeal) "Focus on service would help airlines most.
• Michael Davis, Southern Methodist Uni (LA Times Syndicate/Times Herald) "Smoking ban gets good test."
• William Hunter, Marquette Uni (The Capital Times) "Airlines smoking ban example of free-market conflict resolution."

1988 Dec 1: James Savarese writes to Susan Stuntz at the Tobacco Institute reporting on his activites during November (both for himself and his employee, Leslie Dawson). His consultancy is also now specialising in co-opting labor and economists, and countering the next Surgeon General's report.

• met with officials of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) to discuss tax strategy.
• continued discussion with Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) re national convention
• continued work with National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) on development of training program and brochure.
• meetings with Citizens for Tax Justice, Leadership for the New Century, Citizens for Tax Justice, National Economic Commission.
• on the task force for Airline Cabin Air Quality (weekly meetings/ writing op-eds)

He also lists successes he has had with getting economists to plant op-eds on various local newspapers. His and Tollison's network of economists has generated numerous reviews of the Tollison/Wagner book "Smoking and the State," which the Tobacco Institute has funded and now wants to be widely circulated.

• Prof David Saurman - op-ed on Prop 99 with San Jose Mercury News
• Prof Ryan Amacher (Clemson Uni) in The State.
• Joseph Jadlow (Oklahoma State Uni) in Tulsa Tribune.
• Todd Sandler (Iowa State Uni) in Fort Dodge Messenger.
• Robert B Ekelund (Auburn Uni) Montgomery Advertiser.
• Dwight R Lee (Washington Uni) Regulation Magazine.
• Samson Kimenyi (Uni of Mississippi) in Jackson Clarion ledger.
• David ER Gay (Uni of Arkansas) in Arkansas Democrat.

1988 Dec 30/E: The Tobacco Institute's Communications report.

Two reviews of Northwest Airlines' total smoking ban concluded that the policy has not passed the market test.

• The Greenville News carried Clemson University Dean Ryan Amecher's views,
• the Memphis Commercial Appeal published University of Tennessee-Martin Professor J.R. Clark's analysis.

The clips are enclosed.

1989 Jan 4: The Tobacco Institute's economics consultant James Savarese was responsible for attempts to co-opt both genuine and pseudo/astroturf type economics societies to serve the tobacco industry cause. He has been in contact with some of these organizations in order to construct a number of collaborative efforts to promote the ideas of smaller-governments and unfettered free markets [Airline smoking bans were a major problem to the cigarette companies at this time]. Savarese's report says:

Airline Cabin Air Quality
• participated in strategy meetings of airline cabin air quality task force, including Labor Subcommittee
• worked with airline consultants on indoor air quality
• participated in meetings with pollster on airline smoking issue
• participated in follow-up to November 29 ASHA Board Meeting
• continued op-ed project on Northwest Airlines.

As of January 3, three op-ed projects have been published:

• Shreveport Journal — Michael Kurth — McNeese State Univ.
• Commercial Appeal — JR Clark — University of Tenn.at Martin
• The Greenville News — Ryan Amacher — Clemson Univ.

• Social Cost Book Review Program [smoking and the State] - As of January 3, seven book review have been published.
  • The State [by[ Ryan Amacher, Clemson University
  • Tulsa Tribune [by] Joseph Jadlow, Oklahoma State Uni
  • Grand Forks Herald [by] Cliff Dobitz North Dakota State University
  • Fort Dodge Messenger [by] Todd Sandler Iowa State University
  • Montgomery Advertiser [by] Robert B. Ekelund Auburn University
  • Bryan-College Station [by] Charles Maurice Texas A&M University
  • Columbus Enquirer by Dwight R. Lee Washington University
  Three are forthcoming:
  • Regulation Magazine [by] Dwight R. Lee Washington University
  • Jackson Clarion Ledger [by] Samson Kimenyi University, Mississippi
  • Arkansas Democrat [by] David E. R. Gay University of Arkansas

1989 Jan 11: TI Scientific Consultancy Activity 1988-89 This is an 80 page mixed bag of files dumped together. [First is from 1990]

• Pages 3 to 23 It begins with Witness Appearances in 1988 and 1989 involving both "Indoor Air Quality experts" who work for the Tobacco Institute, and three economists [ Bob Tollison, Richard Wagner and Dwight Lee]
• Pages 24 to 31 Labor IAQ Presentations in 1988 and 1989 which involves key figures in the labor movement and a few "IAQ experts."
• Pages 32 to 39 IAQ/ETS conferences attended by tobacco industry disinformation experts in 1988 and 1989
• Pages 40 to 41 Academic and Unaffiliated Scientfic Witnesses
• Pages 43 to 53 Smokers Rights Legislation in various states.
• See page 54: Tobacco Institute "Confidential" memo on "Tax Hearing Readiness" which is their battle plan to counter earmaking of cigarette excise taxes to fund health programs. It lists a large number of organizations and a few congressmen who can be relied on to help. It also has both primary and secondary lists of economists from Tollison's "cash-for-comments" network willing to give testimony.

  Economists: [Primary]

  • Bill Orzechowski, Tobacco Institute
  • Robert Tollison, George Mason University
  • Richard Wagner, George Mason University
  • Dwight Lee, University of Georgia, Athens
  • Michael Davis, Southern Methodist University
  • Gary Anderson, California State at Northridge
  • William Prendergast (resource: Prendergast/Solmon papers)
  • Other Network economists [see Secondary attached list below]
    
        "Due by mid-year is a book examining earmarking and "user fees" from a public choice perspective. The treatise will contain 8-10 chapters written by respected economists, including, Henri LePage and Nobel laureate James Buchanan."

  The Tobacco Institute's list of cash-for-comments professors and senior academics who were available to write op-eds and give evidence at Congressional hearings, etc. had grown extensively.

  South Carolina now has two members from Clemson.

  • Professor Matt Lindsay, Department of Economics, Clemson University
  • Professor Ryan Amacher, College of Textiles and Industry, Clemson University.

[TI budget papers show that each op-ed now earned the economists $3,000. Presentations to conferences earned them $5,000. Savarese was paid $70 to $100,000 pa for this project, and Ogilvy & Mather $250,000.]

1989 Jun 2: The Greenville News publishes Amacher's article on Excise Taxes. "full-time busybodies seek advertising controls.

Freedom is threatened not by torrents, but by droplets. Except for an occasional revolution, freedom, as George Orwell,so deftly showed, is slowly eroded by the gradual intrusion of government.

    Professional busybodies who think they know what is good for us all are at it again, as they simultaneously try to prohibit the advertising of cigarettes (because they are "bad" ) in newspapers and magazines, and try to force the advertising of condoms (because they are "good" ).

1989 July 17: Walker Merryman at the Tobacco Institute has some mild criticism of an editorial in The Detroit News supporting smoking bans on domestic flights initiated by Northwest Airlines. He quotes Professor Ryan C Amacher, at Clemson University to prove that there was no demand for smoke-free airline travel.

Reviewing the history of this issue, Professor Ryan C. Amacher, Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry at Clemson University, observed that Northwest Airlines has not experienced an increase in passenger revenue as a result of its total smoking ban. He notes that, "the perceived desires of nonsmokers did not translate into demand in the marketplace."

1989 July 19: Walker Merryman, Director of Communications at the Tobacco Institute has written a letter to the editor of the Denver Post, critical of an editorial about a smoking ban on Norwest Airlines. His points include:

• Reviewing the history of this issue, Professor Ryan C. Amacher, Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry at Clemson University, observed that Northwest Airlines has not experienced an increase in passenger revenue as a result of its total smoking ban. He notes that, "the perceived desires of nonsmokers did not translate into demand in the marketplace."
• No other U.S. airline has followed Northwest's lead by banning all smoking. That should tell you (1) Northwest is apparantly more interested in publicity than serving all its customers and (2) every other U.S. airline is satisfied that smoking and nonsmoking sections work well most of the time.

1989 Dec 14: Jim Savarese is listing the economists taking part in their new Excise Tax Op-Ed project.

I have also listed the newspapers we plan to target and a package of the materials we are sending to the economists.

    We should start getting drafts of the op-eds around the first of the year.

SOUTH CAROLINA,
Ryan Amacher
      [Targetted newspaper] Columbia State

1989 Dec 25: Clemson University now had a third professor of law and economics who was writing op-eds in "The State" newspaper for the tobacco industry. Ryan Amacher; Matt Lindsay and now... Professor Robert J Staaf who is quoted as writing:

"The fundamental difference between these proposals and existing regulations of tobacco advertising is that they are not based on consumer protection principles. If enacted, these bills would establish a precedent to restrict or eliminate the right of sellers to advertise a legal product.

    Censorship is not in consumers' interest and is a violation of a fundamental constitutional right, regardless of one's views on smoking."

In a free society, we must listen to a political speech that offends us, allow movies to be produced that we don't like, and permit the sale of books that are distasteful to some members of society. In the defense of freedom, we must also be vigilant in protecting commercial speech that some may find distasteful.

[Presumably 'free speech' includes the right to lie to your constituency about your 'independent academic status.']

1990 Mar 20: Clipping of an op-ed by Amacher for the Tobacco Institute which appeared in Anderson Independent-Mall "Quacking tax ducks have no lips to read." which is attacking President George Bush I on the basis of his 'Read My Lips' promise not to increase taxation.

1990 May: This is a Tobacco Institute/Savarese list of the newspapers designated to certain economists on the network. They are to attempt to plant an op-ed article attacking "Excise Taxes" on local newspapers. Ryan Amacher has been allocated the Columbia State newspaper.

1990 May 7: The Tobacco Institute's "1991 Tax and Social Cost Plans" have sections on

• "Social Costs" Hearings Readiness (preparation for fielding witnesses at Congressional hearings.) They list here the arguments that the Institute and its allies must be prepared to present.
• "Tax" Hearing Readiness (as above, but for excise tax increases, State and Federal)
• List of cash-for-comment network economists in each State.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Professor Matt Lindsay
Department of Economics, Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29631 803-656-3471

Professor Ryan Amacher
College of Textiles and Industry, Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina 29631 803-656-3471/3177

1990 Jun: - July The Monthly Communications Activities report of the Tobacco Institute lists:

• The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) prepared a response to the recent Congressional Budget Office study, "Federal Taxation of Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverages and Motor Fuels."
        Distributed to Members, the media and other interests, the response rebuts the CBO's methodology and concludes: "No matter what criteria for the tax burden one uses. increasing excise taxes will mean an increased tax burden on the majority of Americans of modest incomes."
        A copy of EPI's material and the National Journal article featuring the analysis are enclosed.
  
  
• Economists are weighing in on the federal budget debate with a new series of anti-excise tax op-eds in key congressional districts. Economists appearing in print (copies enclosed) include:
  • JR. Clarke, Jackson (TN) Sun and Memphis Commercial
        Appeal;
  • Ryan Amacher, Anderson (GA) Independent-Mail;
  • Todd Sandler, Fort Dodge (IA) Messencter;
  • Domenick Armentano, Hartford (CT) Courant;
  • William Mitchell, Register Guard (OR); and
  • Barry Poulson, Alamaso (CO) Valley Courier.

See page 5

1990 June: Amacher is writing articles for the Tobacco Institute which are distributed to newspapers as op-eds. He is also available for consultation. His successful planting of op-ed was listed for payment as:

• 2/90 [Feb 1990] Excise Tax/"user fee" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail
• 6/90 [June 1990] Anti-excise tax/"no taxes" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail

See clipping.

1990 Aug: This long document has media tour records [being conducted by Fleishman-Hillard] for the a number of cash-for-comments networks. They are working on...

• the economists network
• ventilation network members (mainly HBI)
• biological scientists network,
• academic lawyers network
• labor network and
• advertising academics network

Ryan Amacher
Dean of the College of, Commerce and Industry, Clemson University
      2/90 Excise Tax/"user fee" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail
      6/90 Anti-excise tax/"no taxes" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail

1990 Aug 3: Sam Chilcote at the Tobacco Institute has advised the Members of the Executive Committee of plans for a "Celebrity Spokesman Project" — to develop a celebrity speakers program using academics and other expert consultants. They are to offer the speakers both money and personal promotion:

[W]hile it is clear that there are a number of individuals who can and are speaking out on our issues independent of The Institute, there also is much more that could be done. There are, for example, opportunities to develop higher profiles for those individuals with whom we enjoy an existing relationship, and to increase within the media an awareness of their availability.

    There also are a number of individuals who have been identified who do not currently have a relationship with the industry, but whose views appear to be compatible with our own. Should the Executive Committee decide that it wants to proceed with an expansion of our speakers' program, these individuals would be contacted to determine their interest in our issues.

    The addition of new speakers to our program will be expensive. Most of these individuals command substantial consulting fees; media and other activity will require a new commitment of funds, although an exact amount cannot be determined until candidates have been approached.

• Authors, newscasters and newspaper columnists
• Well-known politicians, political aides, White House staffers, State authorities, agency administrators, etc
• Heads of various coalition groups (American Advertising Federation. etc)
• Cash-for-comments legal and business academics from Savarese's network list.
• Cash-for-comments 'risk assessment' academics and promoter.
• Cash-for-comment experts in indoor air pollution and ventilation systems.
• Cash-for-comment academic economists + some likely allies:

  • BRUCE L. BENSON, professor of economics, Florida State University and board member, James Madison Institute, a Tallahassee think tank.
  • DWIGHT R. LEE, professor of economics, holder of the Ramsey Chair of Private Enterprise, University of Georgia
  • JAMES C. MILLER, Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, Washington; former director of OMB
  • WALTER E. WILLIAMS, professor of economics, George Mason
        University, Fairfax, Va.
  • BOB TOLLISON, George Mason University, Center for the Study of Public Choice

• Some more minor network academics, together with their recent achievements.

Ryan Amacher
Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry,
Clemson University
      2/90 Excise Tax/"user fee" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail
      6/90 Anti-excise tax/"no taxes" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail

1990 Oct: /E Tobacco Institute document. This lists the services that academics and secret consultants have provided to the tobacco industry during 1989 and 1990 — both as witnesses and as authors of articles and letters.

• Pages 2 - 9 Advertising: lawyers and advertising administrators
• Pages 10 - 30 Science and Public Policy on ETS/IAQ
• Pages 31 - 39 Taxation
  This gives the dates of each of the services, and any 'Current Projects' they may be working on:

Ryan Amacher, Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry, Clemson University
      2/90 — Excise Tax/"user fee" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail
      6/90 — Anti-excise tax/"no taxes" op-ed published in The Anderson Independent-Mail

See page 34

See page 5

1991 Jan: /E Tobacco Institute draft plan for 1991 with emphasis on "Taxes." These are the economist-related paragraphs:

Objective
To discourage reliance on consumer excise taxes on cigarettes to meet social and economic objectives by demonstrating that excise taxes are regressive and inconsistent with fair taxation.

Goals and Tactics:

• Commission two op-ed articles in 1991 from consulting economists. As articles are published, provide to other Institute decisions for promotion and submission to appropriate policy makers.
• Conduct at least 10 presentations by consulting economists on the excise tax issue before national, regional and state tax policy conferences.
• Continue to utilize consulting economists for testimony and briefings. Expand appearances to include presentations to business clubs and the business press. Conduct media refresher courses for public speaking appearance and delivery of testimony.
• Utilize the consulting economists for an op-ed program that addresses the national earmarking issue and state specific earmarking issues. As articles are published, provide to other Institute divisions and promote to appropriate public policymakers. Use field staff network to support distribution efforts.

1991 Jan 8: Savarese has sent the current list of network economists to Carol Hyrcaj at the Tobacco Institute. It contains three new names, but otherwise is essentially the same as the old lists.

1992 Feb: A report to the executive of the Tobacco Institute by Carol Hrycaj lists under "Highlights":

Several new excise tax projects progressed in February, including the Coalition on Human Needs' congressional district campaign, the Economic Policy Institute's consumption study, the Texas Alliance on Human Needs' state campaign and consulting economists' endeavors. [The Coalition on Human Needs was mainly a training operation attached to the Atlas Network of libertarian think-tanks. It was based in the grounds of GMU]

    The 1990 op-ed program involving consulting economists' articles on the excise tax and "user fee" question moved forward last month. We reviewed additional draft articles and returned them to the authors to seek placement.

    Meanwhile, the previously cleared op-eds continue to appear in print. Recently published articles include those by

• J.R. Clark (with placements in five different Tennessee newspapers);
• Ryan Amacher (the Anderson Independent-Mail);
• William Hunter (the Milwaukee Journal); and
• John David (the Charleston Gazette).

Consulting economists sent letters to administration officials reported to be looking for ways to justify a cigarette excise tax/"user fee" connection.

CONTRIBUTORS:dlo2 qdr2 ent2