USA

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

Brian Goff became recruited into a clandestine network of academic economists who secretly worked for the tobacco industry through the Tobacco Institute. The network was set up by James Savarese (working through his own company and Ogilvy & Mather PR) and Professor Robert Tollison of George Mason University.

Tollison and Savarese acted as contractors and cut-outs, using the Center for the Study of Public Choice at GMU, which supplied the adminstration staff. They recruited ultra-libertarian economics professors at the major state universities through the Public Choice Society and various regional economics societies.

The problem is not that these scientists were ultra-libertarians, or that many of them were Tea-Party disciples of Ayn Rand, Frederick Hayek and/or Ludwig von Misen. Nor was it only that the industry they helped prosper made a product that caused the premature death of about four million people globally each year.

The problem is that these academics demonstrated no integrity: they

• exploited their trusted position as teachers at a university to promote dubious corporate viewpoints contrary to the public good.
• hid their corporate links from the university administration and staff, and from the public which ultimately paid their salary.
• exploited the public trust in universities and their reputation for independent research for their own financial benefit.
• allowed the tobacco industry to preview, edit and alter the reports that were commissioned specifically as industry propaganda.
• wrote popularist op-ed articles which were planted on their local newspaper — misleading both the editors and the readers,
• maintained claims to be 'independent academic/scientists' when writing to politicians or giving evidence at hearings, etc. after being coached by tobacco lawyers.
• generally acting secretly as tobacco industry lobbyists.

Over a hundred professors of economics at major American universities were successfully recruited by Tollison and Savarese, and many of them remained in service to the tobacco industry for many years. Others only served for a short time, and then dropped out voluntarily ... or were found to be unreliable or unsatisfactory.

They were not paid retainers or salaries, but were erratically commissioned to perform specified functions (usually for $1000 to $3000 per project) when the tobacco industry came under attack. Some earned much more — often in the $20-40,000 range — for producing 'independent research' which was customised to produce the desired results.

Payments were never made directly from the tobacco industry to the economists. Commissions were all carefully laundered through Savarese's company or Tollison's GMU operations — and so the economist (wrongly) assumed this would provide deniability if ever challenged over selling out their academic credibility to the merchants of death.

Some key documents

• Professor Brian Goff, Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY He lived and worked in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but he was seen as the Tennessee cash-for-comments network economist in 1987.

    There are 193 documents in the tobacco archives carrying his name.

    See this bibliography for his relationship with Tollison. He appears to have worked extensively with Tollison and Arthur A Fleisher III, although Fleisher's name never appears on documents produced for the tobacco industry [He must have had some integrity!]

• Bowling Green State Univesity also had another long-term tobacco lobbyist, Martha Rogers

1985: See Center for the Study of Public Choice 43 page self-congratulatory booklet.

Professors Shughart and Tollison, along with Mr. Brian Goff, a Center graduate assistant, wrote a paper entitled "Homo Basketballus." This paper argues and demonstrates empirically that professional basketball players who competed in states with open high school basketball competition survive longer in the National Basketball Association.

    Professors Shughart and Tollison and Mr. Goff, along with Mr. Trey Fleisher, a Center graduate assistant, completed a paper called "Crime or Punishment?: Enforcement of the NCAA Cartel." This paper proposes that the NCAA is enforced so as to favor perennial football powers. The empirical results tend to support this idea.

    "Sportometrics," or the use of sports and sports data to test economic hypotheses, will continue to be of interest to some Center Scholars over the next several years.

[Before you laugh, note that they are actually being serious about their new discipline of 'Sportometrics'.]

Professor Crain, and Mr. Brian Goff, a Center graduate assistant, have a forthcoming paper called "Televising Legislatures: An Economic Analysis" in the Journal of Law and Economics. In a test employing data on US state legislatures, they show the impact on incumbent reelection of televised legislative sessions.

    Professor Crain and Mr. Goff also have a second study of televised legislatures, in which they test for the effect of televised sessions on the production of legislation.

    Professors Crain and Tollison along with Center graduate students Brian Goff and Diek Carlson, investigate the relationship between the size of government and the degree to which the legislature is specialized into more committees. As it turns out, more committees in the legislature are associated with more government spending. This paper was published in Public Choice during 1985.

[And you wondered why the expert advice of these free-market economists led us into the 2009 World Depression?]

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:

KENTUCKY
Professor Brian Goff
    Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, 42101, 502-745-2249

TENNESSEE
Professor Brian Goff
    Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University, Bolling Green, KY 42101, 502-745-2249

Professor F. Steb Hipple
    Department of Economics, East Tennessee State, Johnson City, TN 37604

Prof. J.R. Clark
    Hendrix Professor of Economics and Free Enterprise
    School of Business, The University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, Tennessee 38238-5015, 901-587-7228

1987 June 9: The Tobacco Institute's Phase II - Excise Tax Op-Ed project involved an article-writing campaign by cash-for-comment economists was run by James Savarese & Associates. It was secretly directed by Robert Tollison from George Mason University with Savarese as the organiser and front.

    In the mid 1987 period, the project was controlled by Jeff Rose [under Peter Sparber] at the Tobacco Institute and it focussed on defeating cigarette excise tax increases — and especially the threat of such taxes being 'earmarked' to bolster health care budgets.

    Saverese and Tollison appear to have been in some form of loose partnership, because Anna Tollison, the wife of Bob Tollison, was employed by James Savarese & Associates to keep a record of the articles generated by their large contingent of academic economists and to organise payment.

    She reported that

"In sum, 41 economists were solicited to write editorials. We have publications in 20 states, 14 articles have been written and submitted, and 7 articles are still outstanding." [Others were in the offing]

TENNESSEE, Goff, Tennessean, [circ.] 123,900, [no pub. date]

1987 June 22: The Tobacco Institute has been sent by Savarese a "Schedule of Payments — Excise Tax Op-Ed Project." It details the name of the cash-for-comment economist, the State, the targetted newspaper, and both past and current payments — with a separate column labled "Total Earned to Date".

In TENNESSEE
Goff for Tennessean —Owed $1600 — Total to date $1600

1987 June 23: Savarese writes to Jeff Ross at the Tobacco Institute sending along a list of Democrat members of the House Ways and Means Committee...

... along with the economists we use in those areas. Nine of these are good, solid hits which we should be able to count on to do the job and get a publication. I have *ed these on the attached list. The remaining 6 are all people we have used in the past, but who have not been consistently successful.

    Since I'm under a new financial arrangement with the Tobacco Institute and I need to get these costs cleared in advance, I'll make my best effort here to budget this proposed project.

    If all 15 would get published, which is highly unlikely, the cost of Phase II Excise Tax Op-ed Project would run $45,000.

    More than likely we'll get 8-10 placements and 3 to 4 others who won't get placed, but will still send letters to their members on the Ways and Means Committee. In that case, the cost will be $37,000.

1987 Jul 9: A list of quotes excerpted from major newspaper editorials and op-eds from the TI's cash-for-comments economists about the Packwood tax plan.

The Memphis Commerclal Appeal July 9, 1987
"Congress' own budget office estimated that the average increase in taxes from this source as a percentage of income would be about twice as large for families with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000 than for families with incomes of more than $50,000."

Brian L. Goff, assistant professor of economics at Western Kentucky University.

1987 July: a selected group of the economists have been commissioned to write op-eds about cutting the deficit — and to de-emphasise the value of excise taxes. Generally they follow the line of listing four possibilities approaches

• a general consumption tax (efficient but regressive)
• increased excise taxes (inefficient and regressive)
• a national lottery (regressive and competitive with State lotteries)
• increased income taxes (unpopular)

1987 July 28: Goff has written to Congressman Harold E Ford and Congressman John J Duncan to get the maximum commission out of his op-ed in the Memphis Commerical Appeal. He has sent copies of the letter to the Tobacco Institute as proof along with a clipping of the article "Strengths, drawbacks vary for tax options."

    He doesn't mention that the article was drafted, edited and cleared by the Tobacco Institute and its lawyers.

1987 Aug 21: Jeff Ross at the Tobacco Institute has prepared a consolidated summary of "Field Staff Evaluation of Economists" for his superiors, William Kloepfer and Peter Sparber. They have been asked to look at 34 of these academics. This includes an outline of their recent achievements.

TENNESSEE
Professor Brian Goff Western Kentucky University Bolling Green, KY

Excise Tax Op Eds: Tennessean — 06/03/87
Economic Witness/Testimony:
Field Staff Contact: None.
Field Staff Evaluation: None.

1987 Aug 31: Peter Sparber [Issues Manager] to Bill Kloepfer [PR head] at the Tobacco Institute:

Jeff [Rose] has done a good job of summarizing the economic consultant situation and I am attaching my copy of his report with some marginal notes. I think he should consider sending a collection of all of the published op-ed pieces to each of the consultants for the sake of inspiration.

    In the case of those who have not had an article accepted for publication I would like to know whether they submitted one.

Two general comments from field staff warrant some consideration. Michael Brozak recommended a political orientation to prepare witnesses for potentially politicized hearings.

    We agree and recommend that State Activities consider advising field staff to conduct such briefings as appropriate. Richard Scanlan suggested that an economist from the state capital city is much more valuable. We have asked Savarese and Tollison to see if they can identify a candidate.

1988 Mar 31: The Tobacco Institute's list of available economists, with details of their target for a review of Robert Tollison and Richard Wagner's "Smoking and the State" book (secretly funded and published by the tobacco industry). Jim Savarese writes to Jeff Ross who looks after the cash-for-comments network:

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

Tennessee

Targeted paper: The Tennessean
Economist: Brian Goff, Western Kentucky University.

1988 July 13: Savarese writes to Debby Schoonmaker at the Tobacco Institute

I need your help on this one. I have had this for six weeks and forgot to send it to you for legal clearance. The economist, Professor Kimenyi, called me yesterday to see if he is suppose to proceed with publication of this book review.

    Can you please put a super rush on this for purposes of legal clearance so I can keep him happy?

"Kimenyi's review is included among the "controversial" items. I'll request rush review for his piece"

1988 July 14: A number of the economists' pseudo-reviews of the Tollison/Wagner book Smoking and the State have been sent to the lawyers for legal clearance.

Once again, I am forwarding several reviews of Smoking and the State for your comment. You will find that we marked certain sections of these reviews that appear to be controversial. Would you suggest alternative language for those passages?

    Included in this package are critiques prepared by Brian L Goff, Cliff P Dobitz, Samson M Kimenyi and Allen M Parkman. In addition, enclosed is an executive summary of the Tollison and Wagner book. The copy reflects our comments.

    Due to a deadline for publication, Professor Kimenyi has requested we expedite the review of his article and obtain.clearance as soon as possible.

1988 Oct: A Savarese memo notes that his review of the Tollison/Wager book was

Rejected by:
      1. The Tennessean
      2. Bowling Green Daily
Will try Louisville paper.

1988 Nov: The Tobacco Observer notes that Goff has played his "I'm a non-smoker... and therefore a trustworth independent expert" line.

"Even to a nonsmoker as myself, Tollison and Wagner expose some of the loose logic in the fervor of the antismoking campaign," notes Brian L Goff, assistant professor of economics at Western Kentucky University

...this work restores balance to the controversial debate on smoking. These independent experts have examined the allegations of anti-smoking activities ,,, etc. etc.

How the economists network was utilized.
What Are Other Economists Saying About "Smoking and the State."This hand-out was used with economists and the media to promote the Tollison-Wagner book,     Every economist quoted here is a member of cash-for-comments economists network.

1989 Jan 11: The Tobacco Institute's Scientific Consultancy Activity 1988-89
This is an 80 page mixed bag of files dumped together [Well worth perusing]. The first document is from 1990 [ordered in reverse]

• Pages 3 to 23 begin 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.

  TENNESSEE
  
  Prof Brian Goff West Kentucky University
  
  Prof F Steb Hipple, East Tennessee State,
  
  Prof J. R. Clark, Univ of Tennessee at Martin

[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.]

See page 5

1990: Goff and Tollison were co-editors of "Sportometrics" published by Texas A&M University Press on the economics of professional sports.

This volume illustrates how sports events and data can be used to test economic theories. In addition, Tollison and Goff, with Arthur Fleisher (University of Delaware), completed a book manuscript in 1989 called The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior, which has been submitted for publication.

1990: Aiug 29 Robert Tollison, using the Center for Study of Public Choice letterhead, is leading a tobacco-funded attack on the Environmental Protection Agency's draft release of "Environmental Tobacco Smoke: A Guide to Workplace Smojing Policies."

I come to the issue of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) from a background as a professional economist.

    My general overall assessment is that the EPA analysis of cost saving is flawed beyond repair. It is based upon a failure to apply basic economic principles, the application of which lead to the conclusion that there are presently no uncompensated costs in the workplace arising from ETS; hence, there can be no cost savings from banning ETS in the workplace

1990 May 7: Carol Hrycaj and Martin Gleason from the Tobacco Institute distribute a CONFIDENTIAL note to their co-workers (including Savarese & Associates) on the 1991 Tax and Social Cost Plans. They are concerned that:

The "social cost" issue impacts all of our issues. Proponents of cigarette excise tax increases, smoking restrictions and advertising bans often rely on "social cost" arguments to support their efforts.

What TI and Its Allies Must Cover

1. "Social cost" arguments used to justify excise tax increases, smoking restrictions and ad bans are not valid.
2. Independent economists state that "social cost" calculations used by anti-smokers do not withstand credible economic scrutiny.
3. There is no convincing economic evidence that smokers impose costs on society. Any supposed costs are "private costs" and are borne by the smoker.
4. Other industries are vulnerable to social cost attacks. A "slippery slope" may exist as anti-smokers, using "social costs" arguments, seek legislation restricting smoking or increasing taxes. These efforts may signal lawmakers to regulate other products as well.

The messages they want the economists to promote are:

• Excise taxes are regressive
• Cigarette excise taxes are discriminatory (Blacks, Hispanics)
• Excise taxes are unfair.
• Excise taxes are unreliable sources of revenue.

The document has a listing for the cash-for-comment economists who are operating in Tennessee:

TENNESSEE
Professor Brian Goff
Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University
Boiling Green, KY 42101 502-745-2249

Professor F. Steb Hipple
Department of Economics, East Tennessee State
Johnson City,TN 37604

J.R. Clark
Hendrix Professor of Economics and Free Enterprise
School of Business, The University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, Tennessee 901-587-7228

Goff is also listed as covering Kentucky.

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.

    ALABAMA, Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., Auburn University
    ARIZONA, William J. Boyes, Arizona State University
    ARKANSAS, David E. R. Gay, University of Arkansas
    CALIFORNIA, Gary Anderson, California State at Northridge
                Roger Arnold, California State Univ. - San Marcos
    COLORADO, Barry Poulson, University of Colorado
    CONNECTICUT, Dominick Armentano, University of Hartford
    DELAWARE, Burton Abrams, University of Delaware
    FLORIDA, Bruce Benson, Florida State University
    GEORGIA, Dwight R. Lee, University of Georgia
    IDAHO, Allan Dalton, Boise State University
    ILLINOIS, James Heins, University of Illinois
    INDIANA, Cecil Bohanon, Ball state University
    IOWA, Todd Sandler, Iowa State University
    KANSAS, Michael Babcock, Kansas State University
KENTUCKY, Brian Goff, Western Kentucky University
    LOUISIANA, Michael Kurth, McNeese State University
    MAINE, Robert McMahon, University of Southern Maine
    MASSACHUSETTS, David Tuerck, Suffolk University
    MISSISSIPPI, Bill Shughart, University of Mississippi
    MISSOURI, Joe A Bell, Southwest Missouri State University
                Thomas I. Wyrick, Southwest Missouri State University
    MONTANA, Terry L. Anderson, Montana State University
    NEBRASKA, Dee Martin, University of Nebraska
    NEVADA, John Dobra, University of Nevada Reno
    NEW HAMPSHIRE, Dennis Logue, Dartmouth College
    NEW MEXICO, Allen Parkman, University of New Mexico
    NORTH DAKOTA, Cliff Dobitz, North Dakota State University
    OHIO, Richard Vedder, Ohio University
    OKLAHOMA, Joseph Jadlow, Oklahoma State University
    OREGON, William Mitchell, University of Oregon
    PENNSYLVANIA, Ann Harper-Fender, Gettysburg College
    RHODE ISLAHD, Arthur Mead, Universityof Rhode Island
    SOUTH CAROLINA, Ryan Aiaacher, Clemson University
    SOUTH BikEOTA, Dennis lain, Augustana College
    TENNESSEE, JR Clark, The University of Tennessee at Martin
    TEXAS, S Charles Maurice, Texas A&M University
                Michael Davis, Southern Methodist University
    VIRGINIA, Richard B Wagner, George Mason University
    WASHINGTON, Richard D. Zerbe, Jr., University of Washington

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

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

1993 Apr 16: Goff has been quick off the mark with a draft article "Medical Reform Proposals Self-Defeating." It has been passed through the sub-editor and ghost-writer mill.

    It was returned to him after the lawyers had checked it, and he submitted it to the Lexington Herald-Leader

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.

KENTUCKY
Professor Brian Goff, Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University, Bolling Green, KY
• Mar 23 — [TI designated newspaper/s] The Commercial Appeal and Lexington Herald Ledger
• Apr 9 — Recieved 4/16/93 — Sent to Cal 4/16/93 — Received from Cal 4/22/93 — Waiting - legal 4/28/93 — Returned 4/29/93 — Rev. Draft 4/30
• May 12 — Submitted to the Lexington Herald-Leader
• May 18 — (as above)
• June 2 — (as above)
• June 14— Submitted to Lexington Herald-Leader
• Aug 3 — Submitted to (rejected) Lexington Herald-Leader... resubmitted to Bowling Green Daily News.

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