Safeguards at Risk: John Graham and Corporate America's Back Door to the Bush White House

Abstract

The non-profit consumer organization Public Citizen released an investigatory report in March about the activities of industry-backed academic John Graham, head of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, who has been nominated by President Bush to lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Public Citizen said at the time that the appointment “would give industry a back door to the White House and enable it to step up its campaign to dismantle basic consumer protections under the pretense of applying ‘sound science.’” Graham's nomination poses “troubling implications,” Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said. “Rather than being a fair-minded assessor, Graham would continue to conspire with the chemical polluters, the tobacco industry, automakers, the oil and gas industries and others to stop the issuance of safety protections. The Senate must delve into the many conflicts he would bring to the job and reject this nomination.” Below, we excerpt two portions of the Public Citizen report. One shows Graham's many corporate relationships; the other explains his involvement in environmental tobacco smoke issues. The full report, including the references that are omitted here, is available at www.publiccitizen.org. The report was researched and written by Laura MacCleery, with assistance from Paul Schmitt, Debbie Quint, Daniel Becker, and Ed Ricci. Editorial assistance and direction were given by Joan Claybrook, Booth Gunter, Angela Bradbery, Melissa Luttrell and David Vladeck.