Reputation For Rent Once-secret testimony reveals Dave Frohnmayer was a paid witness for big tobacco against the state of Oregon.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-21195-reputation_for_rent.html

Reputation For Rent

Once-secret testimony reveals Dave Frohnmayer was a paid witness for big tobacco against the state of Oregon.

"There may be no résumé in Oregon public life more impressive than the one that belongs to Dave Frohnmayer.

Rhodes scholar, state attorney general, University of Oregon president: Frohnmayer is regarded not only as one of the state’s top legal minds but as someone who has fought for the public interest in venues ranging from the Oregon Legislature to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Frohnmayer recently played another role far from the spotlight, as revealed in once-secret testimony in a major legal case against the state.

In that case, major tobacco companies challenged the state of Oregon’s right to continue receiving payments under a massive tobacco industry settlement.

And the star witness and paid expert for Big Tobacco against the state of Oregon: Dave Frohnmayer.

In April, Frohnmayer appeared as an expert witness on behalf of the tobacco companies in front of a closed-door arbitration panel in Chicago. The Oregon Department of Justicereleased Frohnmayer’s testimony to WW in response to a public records request. 

In an interview, Frohnmayer tells WW he simply provided what he says was unbiased, objective testimony. And he says he would have provided the same testimony had he instead been hired by the state of Oregon or called by the three-judge panel as an independent witness.