Editorial: Growing moral vacuity: On Dave Frohnmayer and Big Tobacco:

http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2013/oct/10/editorial-growing-moral-vacuity/#h45949-p6

The Daily Astorian, Oct. 1, on Dave Frohnmayer and Big Tobacco:

#The prominent public figure who loses his way has become a staple of the last decade. Perhaps it is because we know more about our public figures. Perhaps it’s because their careers are running longer. Perhaps it’s because temptation looms larger these days.

#Dave Frohnmayer is the latest Oregon politician to surprise us. Willamette Week reported last week that Oregon’s former attorney general was compensated by tobacco companies to be their witness in their case arguing they should pay less to the state of Oregon. To anyone familiar with Frohnmayer’s history over the past three decades, this news prompted a double-take and a response of “Huh?”

#WW described Frohnmayer as “the star witness and paid expert for Big Tobacco against the state of Oregon.” It happened during a closed arbitration panel in Chicago. The newspaper obtained Frohnmayer’s testimony through a public records request to the state Department of Justice. It reported that Frohnmayer assisted “tobacco firms trying to get out of making payments to the state of Oregon under the tobacco settlement reached more than a decade ago.”

#The Portland lawyer Bob Stoll was asked by WW to examine Frohnmaher’s testimony to the arbitration panel and comment. Stoll said: “It’s disappointing that somebody with such a stellar reputation would use that reputation for money from such a reprehensible industry.”

#One way of understanding Frohnmayer’s assistance to Big Tobacco is that the Eugene law firm he joined has represented Philip Morris. But he had the freedom to say “no” to Big Tobacco’s request.

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