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.

The Powell-Tate company was headed by President Jimmy Carter's spokesman, Jody Powell and by Ronald Reagan's former spokeswoman, Sheila Tate. They figure they have both sides covered.

While working for RJ Reynolds, Powell-Tate took over the control of the The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC) organisation (and its operator Steven Milloy) on behalf of the tobacco industry when the arrangement between Philip Morris and APCO (the PR company that had established and run the TASSC operation) became exposed. This transfer of control gave executives from both Philip Morris and APCO some legal deniability if they were ever asked about the relationship under oath.

Jody Powell seems to have had no qualms about working for the tobacco industry, and even less concern about being involved in the industry's disinformation campaigns, and dirty tricks.

This doesn't appear to have concerned later Democrat politicians, however. In his fight against impeachment, President Bill Clinton reached out for support "to a network of Democratic lobbyists, lawyers and political consultants, including Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Jody Powell, Joseph P. O'Neill and Anthony T. Podesta, who participate in a daily conference call with White House officials to plot strategy."

Their daily bull sessions were organized by Steve Ricchetti, who had recently returned to the White House after leaving to become a lobbyist himself.

1977 June 27: Jody Powell on PBS TV report "tobacco Industry Problem" said that the President favored continuing price support loans for tobacco famers. HEW Secretary Califano said they should be eliminated because of health problems.

1977 Nov 23: Someone in the White House has copied a Peter Bourne (White House Special Assistant to the President on Health Issues) memo to Jody Powell — and then on to Lorillard. [They passed it on to B&W and Philip Morris many years later]. It warns Powell about a New Your Sunday Times editorial on smoking. [Someone in Powell's office faxed it to Lorillard within days of its receipt.]

    Bourne lists suggestions for statements at a press conference. His line is to attack "the rhetoric from HEW" as "well-intentioned zealtory, not tied to any clear plan" and attack HEW for "ignoring the problem [the tobacco farmers] face if there was a dramatic decrease in cigarette use." However he says

There is currently no substantive difference between Julie Richmond, Califano and myself over the fact that tobacco causes tremendously serious health consequences in this country that we need to do something about.

    We are deeply concerned about the thousands of Americans who die each year from cigarette use and feel it should be brought fully to the attention of all Americans.

1978 Jan 11: Powell constantly undermined Califano's anti-smoking campaign. Joseph A. Califano, delivered a speech on tobacco before the National Interagency Council on Smoking and Health, opened his remarks by noting he is an ex-smoker. He said he discontinued smoking on October 21, 1975, at the behest of his son, then 11.

    In response to a reporter's question concerning Secretary Califano's new anti-cigarette drive, Jody Powell, President Carter's press secretary, said as he smoked a cigarette: "We are all aware of the possible dangers of cigarettes, alcohol and a number of other pleasurable things."

1978 Aug: Carter made his second of three trips to North Carolina in six months. He visited a tobacco warehouse and spoke to a Democratic party rally where he joked about Califano saying "I had planned today to bring Joe Califano with me, but he decided not to come. He discovered that not only is North Carolina the number-one tobacco-producing state, but that you produce more brincks than anyone in the nation as well. [Source Califano biography]

    Carter also said HEW would conduct a research plan "to make smoking of tobacco even more safe than it is today" (which upset the Surgeon General Julius Richmond)

1978 Aug 10: Gio Gori at the NCI created a Washington Post headline: "Some Cigarettes Now "Tolerable" Doctor Says". Gori claimed that low tar and nicotine cigarettes could be called "less hazardous" and smoked in "tolerable" amounts with "appreciable" ill-effects on the average smoker. The Surgeon General and directors of the National Cancer and Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes felt they had to take a public stand on the issue. "There is no known safe level of smoking any cigarette of any type," said Surgeon General Richmond.

1979 Jan 11: Surgeon General's report on S&H released. A three-inch book which concluded that the case agains smoking was "overwhelming" Secretary of Health Joe Califano had mounted a new and extensive education effort to follow its release with the saturation of anti-smoking messages in local television, radio and newspapers. He reported:

"On the eve of the report's release, Jody Powell called me from National Airport in Washington, "I'm headed for North Carolina to do a Democratic fundraiser tonight. Is there anything to bring me up to date on?"

    "My God," I exclaimed, and told him about the release of the Surgeon General's report and the media blitz that was coming. "I don't know what you can do," I concluded.

    "Smoke," Powell replied. "I'll just smoke like hell when I'm down there."

    In the two weeks following the release of the report more Americans tried to quit smoking than in any other two-week period since the release of the first report in 1964. [but] all three networks showed footage of Carter amidst the tobacco leaves at the Wilson, North Carolina, warehouse, talking about making smoking "even more safe."

1978 Jan: Campbell-Johnson S&H report in UK (sent to Tina Wells)

On l1th January, Mr. Joseph Califano, US Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, announced a major new Government campaign to persuade Americans to stop smoking. It was reported to have the backing of the non-smoking President, Jimmy Carter, two of whose closest aides, Jody Powell and Hamilton Jordan, are both big smokers.

1979 July 20: Washington Post article on the firing of Joseph Califano as Secretary for Health Education and Welfare. Nader blamed it on conflicts with Hamilton Jordan. He was lauded as "the Cabinet member who seemed to ahve the best grip on his agency, the most ungovernable of them all". He was the first to go by the hand of a president who asks "Why Not the Best?"

    The two reasons given to Califano were:

• the existence of a "personality conflict" between him and four high-level White House staffers: Jordan, press secretary Jody Powell, congression liason Frank Moore, and budget director James T McIntyre."
• because he would be a liability in the reelection campaign because powerful interest groups were anatagonized by his stands on smoking, hospital costs and desegregation.

1980 Jan: Handling the release of the Budget of the US Government as Press Secretary to President Carter.

1982 Jan 20: Reagan inauguration: He left the Carter White House.

1987 Jan: "Ogilvy made its Washington presence even more visible by hiring Jimmy Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell, as head of its Washington outpost. "

1987 June: "The Washington office of ad agency Ogilvy & Mather was a minor player in the Potomac League until it started to diversify late last year. First it bought Targeted Communications, a hot little outfit that specializes in direct-mail lobbying — soliciting droves of constituents to write their Congressmen in support of a client's position. To further strengthen its lobbying muscle, Ogilvy acquired a 30% interest in Walker Associates, the house that superlobbyist Charls Walker built around such hefty corporate clients as ATT, Ford, and CBS Records.
  Ogilvy made its Washington presence even more visible in January (1987) by hiring Jimmy Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell, as head of its Washington outpost. "

1989 May 3: Jody Powell had forwarded to the Tobacco Institute a list of possible MCs for the "USO dinner" to see if they object to anyone. The VP of Public Affairs writes to his President Sam Chilcote:

Before I get back to Jody with marching orders, are there others you'd like
    removed from the list — or any changes in ranking?

1989 Sep 14: Jody Powell was the keynote speaker at the luncheon, on the first day of the College of Tobacco Knowledge at Lowe's L'enfant Plaza. Run by the Tobacco Institute.

1991 March 21: Susan Stuntz at the Tobacco Insitute writes a very cryptic memo to Sam Chilcote about the contract between the Tobacco Industry Labor Management Commitee and Powell Adams & Reinhart ; saying "Jody is of course always available should you wish to discuss any of these matters with him directly."

    It appears that the Tobacco Institute's "current account manager" had been poached by Powell's company, and the Tobacco Institute is put out.

While I believe that this transition will occur with minimal disruption to the service we have come to expect from the agency, and that this new individual will learn his new responsibilities quickly, I think it is appropriate that TI monitor this account changeover for at least the next several months before moving forward with a new contract.

1993: Jody Powell is listed as a possible candidate for Philip Morris's National Smokers Alliance advisory board. [From Craig Fuller's files] He is now with Powell Tate.

1994 Dec 1: He is now on the Board of Directors of the Annapolis Center, [Which acts as a training school for potential Republican political candidates.] which claims to be "Promoting responsible environmental, health and safety decision-making." This has junk-science overtones:

The Center's "Annapolis Accords" provide a vehicle to evaluate the quality of the science underlying risk analysis and the quality of the policy foundations supporting risk management.

The Annapolis Accords for Risk Analysis :

A Citizen's Guide To Risk Assessment and Risk Management
    Every day, citizens encounter new information about potential hazards to their health or the quality of their environmental surroundings . As a result, the public is frequently confused about the nature and magnitude of risks they personally face compared to those risks that scientific experts believe are more serious.

    The Annapolis Accords present a set of ten principles for developing practical guides for evaluating risk assessments and risk management decisions. Retrospective applications of the Accords will help users to understand the strengths adn waknesses of past analyses, policies and plans, while prospective application will help improve the quality of future efforts to protect public health, safety and environmental quality.

    The Annapolis Accords are derived from the work product of a workshop, held in Annapolis, Maryland on May 12-13, 1994, and sponsored by The Annapolis Center . Workshop participants included a broad spectrum of prominent scientists, economists, social scientists and risk managers. Board member Dr John D. Graham of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis acted as organizer and chair of the workshop .

1996 Dec: Steve Milloy , TASSC and the junk-science operations are now under the control of RJ Reynolds and their head of PR, Tom Griscom [Who later joins Powell-Tate as a lobbyist]. They run this operation via the Powell-Tate lobby shop with Jody Powell in direct charge. The December Activities Report shows that Powell-Tate is also working on marketing and monitoring the new Eclipse cigarette, and running TASSC's "Project Breakthrough" (A/c No RJR1475).
[Project Breakthrough was a national underground campaign started in 1994 by Reynolds to "orchestrate a massive, unprecedented public relations blitz," aimed at linking tobacco control efforts directly to alcohol Prohibition in the public mind.]

    It is quite clear from this account who controls Milloy's operations:

PROJECT BREAKTHROUGH
Common Sense Science. RJR1475
    • Reviewed and revised junk science Website including calls with Steve Milloy,
    researching and compiling Website visitor comments, and reviewing and editing new materials for inclusion on Website .
    • Fulfilled mailing requests for Science Without Sense. [written by Milloy and supposedly published by the Cato Institute — but funded by the tobacco industry]
    • Held conversation with Steve Milloy to discuss column being written by Tony Snow on David Kessler and the ruling on ETS by the Environmental Protection Agency .
    • Held discussions with Steve Milloy regarding Junk Science Website content for 1997.

1997 Apr: The Powell Tate April accounts show that Milloy's TASSC/Breakthrough operation is costing Reynolds [$5,962.40] a month (about $70,000 pa). GTC probably refers to "General Tobacco Committee" which would have been jointly funding all operations around the Master Settlement Agreement discussions.

CONTRIBUTORS:TRMU scsu qdr2