MARCH 1, 1996 Ken Silverstein & Alexander Cockburn YOL. ~, NO. 5 • IN THIS ISSUE Critne Without Punish01ent Corporate Dream Nears Victory The Secret History of "Tort Reform" ecade alter decade the mightier Today, the corporations behind the names in the Fortune 500 have product liability campaign are on the • APCO Associates and the gnashed their teeth over the out­ verge of triumph . A hill before Congress fake grassroots campaign D to protect corporate rageous freedom permitted the suckers to -part of the GO P's Contract With Amer­ criminals strike hackand sue them for products that ica and now in conference between House maim, poison and kill Because they push and Senate - would severely prune the • Smoke and Mirrors: a product that knocks off nearly half a right of consumers to sue corporations long march of tobacco million people a year, none has gnashed whose goods result in serious injury or lords reaches climax more vigorously than the tobacco cartel death. The bill would limit punitive dam ­ • Citizens Against Lawsuit So, back in the mid-1980s three to­ ages - a primary deterrent to corporate Abuse: the corporate bacco firms, Brown & Williamson, Philip crime - to $250,000, even when a com­ crime lobby's favorite Morris and Lorillard, hired the public pany has lied about the dangers its prod­ front group relations firm of Arnold & Porter to help uct poses. Republicans are usually th~ set an early line of defense against claims most aggressive promoters of "tort reform", Missing Dollars filed by dying smokers. As part of the but Democrats - especially Senator I ay • The True Mystery of campaign, the renowned flack John ·· Rockefeller - have also been effective Primary Colors Scanlon began collecting newspaper allies of the corporate lobby . clippings from across the country con­ CounterPunch offers here the secret Plus: cerning "outrageous" claims in personal­ history of "tort reform", along with an injury cases, which he remitted to inside look at the web of think tanks, • Rubin's China policy influential reporters, columnists, editors public relations £inns and assorted front • Porkers' Pricks and TV producers. "There was very little groups which have pushed the campaign Decarnadined: chance of being able to turn the public's for some of America's most criminal cor­ making the red ones green mind around on the issue of smoking", porations. Reported here for the first • Free Trade: Stephen Scanlon said in a 1987 interview. "But time is the crucial role played by APCO Rosenfeld' s crisis of start, as I did, with the proposition that Associates, a Washington consulting firm conscience most 0£these liability cases are a demon­ which is largely running the "reform" strable e££ect0£ the increase in the num­ ·campaign at the behest of its corporate ber of lawyers in America. Then try to clientele, including Philip Morris. • generate a body 0£ data about lawyers' Now You Know excesses that the public can easily under­ e Scanlon took care of the "To a degree unappreci­ stand. My clients could only be the bene­ R function, the campaign's ated in New Hampshire, ficiaries 0£ that kind 0£ consciousness." W:tellectual engineering was the middle class owns Helped eagerly along by the insurance supervised by the Manhattan Institute, a corporate America, and industry, Scanlon's efforts engendered think tank founded by Ronald Reagan's CEOs are the ultimate what is now known as the "tort reform" CIA director, William Casey. The lnsti­ guardians of this genera­ movement, a thickly funded business cam­ tut~ financed by insurers such as Aetna, tion's retirement and the _paigo to shield corporations from product Allstate, Prudential and CIGNA. spon­ next generation's tuition." liability lawsuits arising from the sale 0£ sored the movement's two bibles, Walter defective or inherently unsafe products Olson's The Litigation &plosion: What - Hohnan W Jenkins, Jr., such as cigarettes, asbestos and the Happened When America Unleashed the The Wall Street Journal, "The Dalkon Shield. Soon the media began to Lawsuit, and Peter H.ilier's Galileo's Re­ Problem With 'Us'vs. 'Them'." reflect the moans of business leaders who venge: Junk Science in the Courtroom . complained that a "tort explosion" was Casey's think tank also spread the undermining Corporate America. legal "horror stories" that are now so 2/COUNTERPUNCH MARCH 1, 1996 familiar, most famously the case of the CSE spent millions of dollars on a lobby­ spontaneously among outraged citizens "foolish" jury that awarded $2. 9 million ing blitz in 60 congressional districts . In and small businesses: to a worn.au who spilled a cup of McDon­ conjunction with the American Council "In a tort reform battle, if State Farm alds coffee on her lap while sitting in her of Life Insurance, the National Federa­ [or] Nationwide is the leader of the coali­ car. 1his tale omits a few crucial details: tion of Independent Business Inc. and tion, you're not going to pa<;s the bill. during the decade prior to the incident, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CSE Because it's so self-serving; everybody McDonalds received at least 700 reports also helped pay for ad campaigns in Roll knows that the insurance companies of bums from its coffee, which is served Call, The WashingtonPost and The Wash­ would be one beneficiary. You need to at 190 degrees - hot enough to cause a ington Times, among other publications . have credibility and that means when third degree burn in less than three seo­ you pick people to join your coalition, onds. The victim in the case, 81-year-old e public face of the product li­ make sure they're credible. And if they're Stella Liebeck, spent eight days in a hos­ ability campaign is the DGbased not credible, keep 'em [out of sight]. pital and required skin grafts. A trial American Tort Reform Associa­ You've got to make sure the leaders of the judge reduced the much ballyhooed tion, which claims demurely in a fund­ coalition are credible, and the core group . multi-million dollar award to $480,000 raising letter that it is "not a wealthy of the coalition and the spokespeople. and Liebeck later settled out of court for special-interest group backed by vast "If you contribute big money to a coa­ an undisclosed but lesser amount. cash resources ...ATRA is the homeowner lition you better be at the table when the Another think tank behind "tort re­ tired of paying exorbitant insurance pre­ decisions are made and ...it ought to be a form" is Citizens for a Sound Economy miums for minimal coverage. ATRA is card table and not a corporate [board (CSE), whose leaders include lames the average citizen looking for an end to room] table. Broad-based membership Miller, ex-budget director under Presi­ the threat of being sued." No less than six is: What does the public see?What do the dent Ronald Reagan, and C. Boyden of ATRA's directors work for insurance legislators see? Decision-making is: a core Gray, former counsel to President George companies or law finns that work for group of three or so people who have Bush. It receives enormous dispensa­ insurers. The Association also holds similar interests and who are going to get tions from Philip Morris, General Mo­ places at its table for representatives the job done." (Thanks to John Stauber, tors, Allstate and other leaders in the from the Pharmaceutical Research and co-author with Sheldon Rampton of the drive to cap corporate legal liability. Manufacturers of America, the Chemical fine book Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Over the past few years CSE has taken Manufacturers Association, Monsanto, Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relati.ons the lead in pressing for passage of a prod­ R.I. Reynolds and General Motors, Industry, who gave us Cohen's speech .) uct liability bill in Congress . During last maker of the exploding K-9 pick-up truck . Cohen has helped create "grassroots" year's House debate on the measure, APCO Associates, a prime practitio­ groups, typically called Citizens Against ner of "corporate gras~roots lobbying", Lawsuit Abuse, which push the product helped create ATRA and largely runs the liability campaign at the state level. These Editors "tort reform" campaign. ATRA's official outfits recruit hundreds of companies to KEN SILVERSTEIN "grassroots consultant" is Neal Cohen, participate in their bogus "coalitions", ALExANDER COCKBURN an APCO vice president and head of his but it is APCO - operating on the behalf firm's department of "political support of its high-paying clients - that calls the Production services" -Beltway-ese for drumming up shots . It conducts extensive polling, pays TERRY ALLEN bogus grassroots campaigns for corpora­ for "independent" research papers, runs tions . In addressing a conference of pr phone banks and otherwise oversees the Counselor flacks a few years ago, Cohen advised his operations of the state chapters . BEN SoNNENBERC colleagues to keep high-profile corporate In Mississipp~ where APCO in 1993 clients carefully hidden from the public's dreamed up Mississippians for a Fair Design view, as this would detract from the illu­ Legal System, Cohen gloated that weak DEBORAH THOMAS sion that the "tort reform" exploded disclosure laws meant opponents "didn't Published twice monthly exrept August, 22 issues a year: Rubin's China Syndrome $40 individuals, $100 institutions, The decline in Pat Buchanan's fortunes will likely deny us his full-bore assault $25 student/low-income on the Clinton administration . Scheduled as a prime target was Wall Street's man, Counter Punch. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. All rights reserved . A top flight Washington lobbyist is telling friends that Buchanan was preparing CounterPunch welcomes all tips, to ac.cuse Rubin of supervising the Administration's China policy for personal gain information and suggestions.