David N Laband - The Corporate Corruption of Science website

Professor David Laband was one of the first academics to join the Tobacco Institute's surrepticious network of academics available on a cash-for-comments basis to write op-eds for local newspapers, or appear as witnesses in local, State or Federal hearings to protest smoking bans or cigarette excise tax hikes.

The cash-for-comments economists network everntually had between 50 and 100 economists at various US State and private universities, who were signed up to work behind the scenes for the tobacco industry by Professor Robert D (Bob) Tollison and his partner James Savarese. Most did so with the proviso that their links to the industry were protected from discovery, and that payments were laundered by being passed through one or more corporate bank-accounts.

The economists were paid between $1000 and $3000 for planting these articles on a major newspaper, then sending a letter and op=ed copy to Congresmen. If they did some faux-research for the tobacco industry, or took part in publishing a book, etc. they could earn $10 to $30,000. This was significan money for many of these second-rate academics.

A few of the more money-hungry of these economists were willing to provide witness statements for the Tobacco Institute at Congressional or local ordinance hearings, and some would go on two- or three-day media tours, if some excuse would be found for them to be interviewed by regional print journalists, or on various radio and TV shows.

To expand and develop these 'media tours', the Tobacco Institute retained a national PR company, Fleishman-Hillard.

In order to manage such a group, Anna Tollison, the wife of Professor Robert Tollison, and two staffers from the Center for the Study of Popular Choice (George Mason University), began to work part-time with James Savarese whose company James Savarese & Associates acted as the front and cut-out between the economists and the Tobacco Institute.

Some key documents

• Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore MD

Laband's References came from James Buchanan, Robert Tollison, and Alan Sorkin

1973 /E: Attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and then the State University, Blacksburg Virginia

1981 Nov: to July 1982 Visiting Fellow, Center for Study of Public Choice at Virginia Polytechnic [Before it shifted to George Mason Uni]

1982 Sep: became Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

1984 March: He has written a paper presented at the Public Choice Society.

Cigarette Excise Tax Plan

1984 July The Tobacco Institute's plan involving the recruitment of academic economists in each US State:

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:

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.

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.

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.

1985–86: The Center for Policy Studies at Clemson University appeared to be publishing many studies by the cash-for-comments economists, McKenzie, Shughart, Tollison, Kimenyi, Yandle, Matt Lindsay, Maloney, McChesney, Staaf, and Laband — and others not apparently in the network.

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.

1985 Feb 21: Roger Mozingo of the Tobacco Institute is sending his state directors a list of resources available to fight against excise taxes in their states. David Laband heads their state list of available economic witnesses for Maryland.

1985 Oct: Laband has written an article for the Southern Economic Journal: "Publishing Favoritism; A Critique of Departmental Rankings
Based on Quantitative Publishing Performance". He is not touting for the tobacco industry in this one.

1986 Jan: The Tobacco Institute's Public Relations Resource booklet for their Regional Directors and State lobbyists. It lists documents, booklets, article, posters and people who can help them fight local public smoking ordinances and threats to raise the excise taxes on cigarettes.

It provides a long list of economists who are willing to speak at hearings, or write letters to the editor, or op-eds for the newspapers to counter the public smoking or excise tax threat. It lists him as:

1986 Feb 24: Craig Barnes (TI Media Relations department) memo to William Kloepfer at the Tobacco Institute about the use of various Chase Econometrics studies [See below] which have been done in a number of states to produce data which is guaranteed to support the industry lobbying.

The Media Relations department had been enlisted to support the Issues Management division which normally ran the economists network. They were to make direct contact and conduct briefings with journalists and editors of most of the major newspaper and broadcasting outlets and feed them information derived from the relevant Chase study done in their area.

These 'Chase' economic studies were customised to suit the tobacco industry's requirements and were conducted in the various states when legislation or local ordinances threatened. Sometimes one of the network economists would be included in the Chase team (certainly the following press briefing) to give it more credibility. Barnes advised Kloepfer that:

1986 Mar 13: Savarese writes to Fred Panzer at the Tobacco Institute about the "Chase Study/Op-eds".

1986 Apr 3: James Savarese writes to his stable of economists on "New Research Opportunities."

1986 Apr 3: This appears to be the approved copy of the letter on "New Research Proposals" that Jim Savarese sent to his long list of network economists.
[This letter leaves no doubt that these academic economist knew that they were being paid to protect the interests of the tobacco industry.]

The economist were also being given outline "rebuttals" developed by Tollison and Wagner to help them in writing their counter-attacks to an an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) anti-smoking report.

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

1986 Oct 3: A Tobacco Institute report on the economists network, lists the Congressmen they are expected to influence and the economist's various (claimed) academic specialities and interests.

This early list is probably the most detailed of all. A later section of this 43 page document also runs through the 28 main states giving the names and details of witnesses willing to speak to legislators on Taxes (almost exclusively economists), and those available as witnesses for the tobacco industry on Public Smoking issues (economists and a range of others)

A major effort had also been made recently to enlist fire officers and brigades to counter demands for a 'fire-safe' cigarette which had low ignition propensity.

1986 Oct 3: The State Directors for the Tobacco Institute have been evaluating 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...

1986 Nov: "The Demand for and Supply of Advertising as Information" by David Laband. This is part of the "Working Paper Series" (No 28) published through Clemson University's "Center for Policy Studies".

Also "The Durability of Informational Signals and the Content of Advertising," by David N. Laband. No. 30 (January 1987)

Another Working Paper (No 37) published at about the same time was "Finessing the Political System: The Cigarette Advertising Ban" by Mark L. Mitchell and J. Harold Mulherin, both professors at Clemson, with Mark Mitchell being on leave from the Office of the Chief Economist, Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Work Activities report of Ed Battison at the Tobacco Institute confirmed the TI funded and controled some publications through Clemson's Center for Policy Studies Working Papers. Battison reports that he:

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 tarffs non-deducatable for federal income tax purposes.

The document bundle (219 pages) includes:

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 period with the core group of cash-for-comments economists.

1987 Feb 6: Jim Savarese, Bob Tollison and Henry Butler write to "Participants in advertising op-ed project" [These are some new academic economists on the Tollison/Savarese list].

1987 Feb 6: [Same day as above] another letter to "Economists" [the more experienced group] says:

1987 May 18: Because of "possible improprieties noted during the examination of the initial two-month period." the Tobacco Institute had James Savarese & Associates's accounts audited. The auditor found that:

1987 May 18: The same day as the auditor's report [above], James Savarese & Associates were placed under contract with the Tobacco Institute for two years — and with their hourly rates and markups defined. Tollison was then earning $100 per hour for his contributions.

1990 Nov: "Economists and the Economy" by William Shughart, David Laband and Robert Tollison), Review of Economics and Statistics

1993 Sept 9: Laband was on the conference program of the "Second International Congress on Peer Review" He was now at Perdue School of Business, Salisbury State University. He wwas speaking on Double Blind vs Single Blind reviewing.

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:

2012 May: David Laband was given the chair of the School of Economics at the Georgia Tech, College of Liberal Arts.

David N Laband [Prof ]

— A minor cash-for-comments economist from the University of Maryland who worked for the tobacco industry and was associated with Tollison's Center for the Study of Public Choice and with Tollison himself. —

Some key documents

Cigarette Excise Tax Plan