Gillibrand’s work for Philip Morris: smoking gun or smoke screen?
By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff WriterArticle Photos
SARANAC LAKE - Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic incumbent in New York's 20th Congressional District, worked for the New York City law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell for eight years. From 1995 to 1999, while an associate at the firm, she was one of 17 associates assigned to defending the cigarette company Philip Morris, which was being investigated by the federal government.
Her Republican opponent, Sandy Treadwell, has denounced her work representing the company as a blot on her character, and questions the nature of the work and the campaign contributions she has since received from Altria, Philip Morris's parent company. His campaign has come out with a television commercial showing Gillibrand's face on a pack of cigarettes and ending with "Kirsten Gillibrand: She's not who you think she is."
Gillibrand said she has discussed her work previously, in interviews in 2006 and thereafter.
"It's not something I've ever hidden," she said in an interview Friday with Enterprise staff.
Gillibrand said more than 60 people at Davis, Polk & Wardwell were involved in that case over a five-year period, and that she was an associate in the law firm, not a partner, and therefore could not choose the cases she was assigned. She also said she thinks her experience at the firm, representing a variety of corporate clients, has made her a better representative for the people of her district today.
"I learned how to be a very good advocate," she said.
"So she isn't responsible for five years of her professional life?" Treadwell said in an interview Monday with Enterprise staff. "I've got a problem with that."
Treadwell said she was a good lawyer and could have easily gotten a job with another law firm if she had moral objections to what she was doing.
"It's a judgment call, and I wouldn't have done it," he said. "And she didn't have to do it. But we all make choices."
Nature of the work
Philip Morris was being investigated by the federal Department of Justice for allegedly illegally spiking cigarettes with more nicotine. The case did not result in an indictment. However, the Justice Department then pursued, and won, a civil lawsuit claiming Philip Morris falsely denied the adverse health effects of smoking. That ruling is still on appeal.
Philip Morris was also being sued by a number of states. These lawsuits ended with a $240 billion settlement between the states and various tobacco companies in 1998.
While working on the case, Gillibrand wrote scores of legal memos and letters on a variety of issues, including Philip Morris employees leaking privileged information to the Department of Justice, cigarette ingredients, witness recollections and pending litigation related to the effects of smoking on health. She interviewed witnesses in Richmond, Va. as well as the secret Philip Morris laboratory in Cologne, Germany. The documents she produced are all confidential, due to attorney-client privilege.
Davis, Polk & Wardwell billed Philip Morris $305 an hour for Gillibrand's services, making her the 13th highest-paid of the 63 people on the case.
Treadwell accused her of playing a role in hiding documents from the government that proved Philip Morris knew about the health dangers of smoking from its research in Germany, and said some of the scientists she interviewed ended up being "whistle blowers" and going public with allegations of illegal activities.
Both candidates used to smoke, but quit. Treadwell said he used to smoke two-and-a-half packs of cigarettes a day and said he can remember lying in bed shaking, his fists clenched with nicotine withdrawal.
"This is what they were trying to hide," he said of the high levels of nicotine.
Campaign contributions
Gillibrand has received $3,000 in campaign contributions from Altria's Political Action Committee in this election cycle. The company PAC has also contributed large amounts to a number of others who have donated to Gillibrand: for example, $10,000 to the Blue Dog PAC and $12,000 to U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York City Democrat.
Gillibrand was a sponsor of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control of 2007. The bill gave the federal Food and Drug Administration the ability to regulate tobacco to restrict advertising aimed at children, prevent the sale of tobacco to minors, regulate additives in tobacco products and prevent the tobacco industry from misleading the public about the dangers of smoking. Altria supported the bill; all the other tobacco companies opposed it.
Seven former federal health secretaries criticized the bill for not going far enough to restrict tobacco, specifically condemning the fact that, although other flavorings in cigarettes were banned, menthol was still allowed. U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, also an opponent, called it the "Marlboro Protection Act." Gillibrand replied that the bill was supported by the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Association.
Five Altria executives met with Gillibrand on May 30, 2007 to discuss the bill. Five days after the law was passed, Gillibrand received a $4,600 contribution from Steve Parrish, one of the five executives she met with. In July 2007, she received $2,000 more from Altria executives.
Gillibrand has said she was not aware of the contribution at the time, noting that she receives a lot of contributions and is not usually aware who is donating to her.
"I will never give a vote to anybody for money," she said. "I think I have demonstrated that."
As proof, Gillibrand pointed out that she voted against the $700 billion bailout bill, even though she has received donations from a number of corporations that favored it.
"I don't vote for my donors," she said. "I vote for my district."
"If someone gives me $4,600, I remember who they are," Treadwell said.
Gillibrand said that Treadwell, when chairman of the state Republican Party, received $70,000 in donations from Philip Morris and about $30,000 from other tobacco companies for the state party. He also owned stock in Altria until last year, she said.
"It's hypocritical," she said of his accusations.
Treadwell acknowledged receiving these contributions for the state Republican Party, and his spokesman Peter Constantakes acknowledged that Treadwell owned stock in Altria and sold it in July 2007. Treadwell, however, said there is a big difference his ties to Philip Morris and Gillibrand's.
"I wasn't serving in Congress," he said. "I wasn't an elected official. I had no role in writing legislation. I think it's a very different thing."
Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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Teller
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10-27-08 9:23 PM
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As the grandson of the founding executive of General Electric Sandy Treadwell floats through life on a wad of GE inheritance. He has trouble with Gillibrand and PM? Well, how about the fact that from 1947 to 1977, GE dumped as many as 1.3 million pounds of carcinogenic PCBs into the Hudson River, turning a 197-mile stretch of the river into the nation's largest Superfund site. Under Superfund law, polluters are responsible for cleaning up the toxic disasters they've created. But for years, GE fought the development of a cleanup plan with every tool it could buy, lobbying Congress, attacking the Superfund law through time-killing lawsuits, and carrying out a media blitz to spread disinformation about the usefulness of the cleanup, claiming that dredging the river would actually stir up PCBs. Where's Treadwell been on this? Nowhere.
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