Savarese gets audited
The network was led by consultant James M. Savarese and economist Robert D. Tollison.
In 1997 James
Savarese wrote he was under a new financial arrangement with the Tobacco Institute.
The new
financial agreement Savarese mentioned arose as result of the
Tobacco Institute’s dissatisfaction with the way Savarese wrote his invoices (and maybe
other reasons). Savarese nearly always mentioned the economists' names, but
even in his correspondence with the Tobacco Institute he withheld two names (no
idea why). As proof we are dealing with professionals, the Tobacco
Institute in 1987 audited its subcontractor, leading to new arrangements with James Savarese.
The document
is interesting because it shows the industry did not search for the economists,
this job was left to Savarese. But:
The audit did
generate some unfriendly messages within the Tobacco Institute and whatever sparked the
dismay, the industry decided it would evaluate the economists themselves.
Hurst Marshall wrote a letter to all regional VP's asking to fill a questionnaire
Hurst Marshall wrote a letter to all regional VP's asking to fill a questionnaire
The impetus
for these unfriendly communications is unclear but a few months earlier
Savarese had been ordered to re-contact all the economists he listed
As another result
of the audit, the Tobacco Institute seems to have made its own evaluation of the economists
[etc]
Tobacco employee Pete Sparber contacted 40 economists and 3 economists received less favorable reviews
Nevertheless, all three
economists above stayed in the network for the next few years and still wrote
op-eds (see another blogpost), but perhaps did not appear at any more hearings. The document does not
mention why they wanted to replace Cecil Bohanon, but it shows the Tobacco Institute preferred
James A. Papke who
delivered very effective testimony in 1986
The same document
finally solves the mystery why there were almost no women in the network
Thomas Borcherding also received a poor review
Gary M. Anderson indeed would enter the network and he had already worked as assistant for Robert Tollison). Nevertheless. Borcherding does not seemed to have been kicked out but in the future would only be asked to write, not to deliver testimony.
The industry in the beginning did not like the newly recruited Gary M. Anderson even though
he was a member of the core group.
Interestingly in this memorandum Tollison/ Savarese are referred to as his "superiors"
