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




TOBACCO INDUSTRY EXPLANATORY

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

 

 

OPINION ONLY

Marvin Newman    

— A Florida lawyer and minor cash-for-comments academic at Rollins College, who was available for hire as an op-ed writer through the Tobacco Institute —  

Tobacco lobbyist James Savarese and Professor Robert Tollison of George Mason University collaborated in the 1980s to provide the tobacco industry, through the Tobacco Institute, with a number of networks of academics who would be willing to write propaganda material ... always provided their names were not linked to the industry or to any of the cigarette companies.

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

They always appeared as 'independent academics' from some credible university, and never admitted the source of their funding in their op-eds or letters-to-the-editor.

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

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

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


Some key documents

• An international lawyer with a law firm at Orlando, Florida, who also lectured on Law and Ethics at the Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

1986 Aug 12: James Savarese writes to Fred Panzer at the Tobacco Institute who has complained that the tobacco industry needs more academic lawyers willing to provide comment in the media in support of the industry.

    They are beginning a new project, and so Savarese deals with the top man [Panzer] rather than the middle-manager level [Peter Sparber and Susan Stunts].. This must be an extension of some previous project — or perhaps the beginning of the Tobacco Ad-ban project. As with the academic economists, they want at least one paid-behind-the-scenes lawyer on-call in each state. He is selected for Florida.

    The idea is to have these academics promote the tobacco industry's causes by writing op-ed articles for their local newspapers, and acting as 'independent' witnesses at State legislature hearings or local government ordinarnce hearings, etc. Their academic — rather than crass-commercial — status is the important factor.

    This project appears to be an extension of the economists networks and uses some of the same cash-for-comments academic economists (even though they are not lawyers). See this letter sent to economists, to explain how the system worked:


    Savarese writes:

I have enclosed the annual report from the Public Choice Center at George Mason University.

[This was Tollison's money-laundry service]

Also enclosed is the academic lawyer list. There are 19 people on the list, 16 are lawyers and 3 are economists. The three economists are Bob Ekelund in Alabama, Bill Mitchell in Oregon, and JR Kearl in Utah.
  • Professor Ekelund is an expert on the economics of advertising and knows the law.
  • Professor Mitchell is a political scientist tuned into the constitution and an expert on first amendment arguments.
  • Professor Kearl is probably the only person in Utah who will make these arguments.

    We have used both Ekelund and Mitchell on other projects with the Tobacco Institute.

    We are still having problems with New Jersey but have calls in to several people. I'll let you know as soon as we get someone there.

    As you can see, the majority of these people are new with the exception of Ekelund, Parkman, and Mitchell. They all understand the issue and will be on call should we need them.
Newman was on these lists for a couple of years, but doesn't appear to have done anything to support the tobacco industry further. He is listed as:
FL0RIDA/C1earwater
Professor Marvin Newman
Rollins College in Winter Park, FL
1317 Anchor Ct., Orlando, FL 32804
Law Office : 305-843-8100

1986 Aug 14: Savarese has now identified a lawyer in New Jersey willing to act as a tobacco stooge [ Professor William Clarritt, at Rutgers University, Department of Business and Accounting] So he sends the now-complete list to Fred Panzer, who copies it to Anne Duffin [Public Relations Director] who is putting together the project to fight Henry Waxman's Subcommittee Inquiry in Congress. Fred Panzer notes:

"Anne, Here's the full list of experts — tailored to your issue —
• Lawyer/economists or
• Lawyer/business management
one for each State representative on Waxman committee. Let's discuss further. Fred.
The list is essentially the same as previous, with the New Jersey addition. Savarese includes his bill for putting the list together.
Fee for developing list of academic lawyers in states with Congressmen on Waxman's subcommittee. Complete invoice, 18 states, 20 academicians
$11,400.00

1987 Jan 6: James Savarese sends his list of legal academics along to Fred Panzer at the Tobacco Institute.

This is essentially the 1986 list with the same comments and notes about lunch, etc. However there are also some deletions. Two professors have pulled out. Namely:
  • Richard Nathan of Ohio State Uni
  • John Bagby of Pennsylvania State Uni]

Panzar is now running an op-ed writing project which requires academic law professors to give it some credibility. Savarese's attached bill shows that these academic lawyers price their writing at $1000 per editorial. [less Savarese's cut]

1988 Oct 17: Jim Savarese writes to Fred Panzer about their new Ad-ban project.

I have attached a list of some of the lawyers who participated in the Ad Ban campaign in February 1987. These are the ones I would recommend to use again, but remember we haven't contacted these people since 1987 so I don't know if they are still available or still at the same schools. We should also try to find a couple for the Northeast Area.

    He lists 14 tame lawyers who wrote articles for them in 1987, and among the list was Florida, Marvin Newman This article was not published in the Orlando Sentinental. Probably because the newspaper woke up to the Tobacco Institute's flood of op-ed articles opposing the proposed cigarette advertising bans.

Rollins College of Arts & Sciences — PUFF PIECE
When it comes to the most important matters, we all hope we will do the right thing at the right time. In reality, most people are not confronted with such issues very often.

    One exception would be Marvin Newman, professor of communication, who helps make life and death decisions on a regular basis. In addition to teaching at Rollins, Newman is on the ethics committee at both Arnold Palmer Hospital and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Focusing on the ethics of care of terminally ill patients, these committees must decide under which circumstances to provide care and under which circumstances to withhold it. This work is just part of the experience and knowledge he brings to the classroom to help students understand how to discuss and evaluate these issues.

    Having been raised in Florida, Newman returned to the area after graduating from Northwestern University in Chicago. He established an international law firm in Orlando, and when a Rollins professor who was teaching legal and medical ethics died mid-semester, he was asked to finish his term as an adjunct professor. He found that he loved teaching, and he then added research to his portfolio, authoring a thoughtful body of research that addresses about the role of ethics in communication in terms of contemporary issues of life and death, freedom of speech, and other significant challenges in American culture.

    The critical nature of how to communicate when addressing uncomfortable and sensitive topics is what informs Newman's work. His courses routinely address what is happening in the real world right now, bridging ethics theory to current events to make instruction practical. Because he stayd up-to-date on the affairs of the day, he is often interviewed by the media when stories regarding ethics are in the news. Aside from helping doctors make life changing decisions, it's easy to imagine that he may help students make important decisions as well-such as being inspired to enter the communication field by the power of his commitment to its importance.

His full CV —

1989 /E: Marvin Newman does not appear to have helped the tobacco industry further — either that, or the lawyers' files at the Tobacco Institute were culled with special care. There is no further record of him in the tobacco archives.

    A Google search also fails to turn up any further pro-tobacco activities, op-ed articles, etc.

1993 Oct 25: Orlando Sentinal report: Oh, The Humanity

At Rollins College in Winter Park, liberal arts majors and graduate business students mix like oil and water. But two liberal arts professors have come to a conclusion that might not compute for some of the spreadsheet jocks in the Crummer Graduate School of Business: Management is a liberal art that draws from the great works of literature.

    English Professor Maurice O'Sullivan and ethics Professor Marvin Newman next month plan to launch what they call a ''novel'' approach to leadership — a month-long course that draws lessons from classic literature and applies them to modern management techniques.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com

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