Paul A Cammer

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Paul Cammer (often misspelled as Cramer) was a professional lobbyist who ran the Business Council for Indoor Air (BCIA) for the tobacco industry and for business associations with Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) problems. His background was with the Reagan-Administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he was one of the few political appointees not forced to resign in 1983 when the Gorsuch-Lavelle-Superfund scandal broke. He was working under John Todhunter at the time, and Todhunter was fired, probably protecting Cammer.

His C/V, as sent in June 1988 to Peter Sparber, then the contract Issues Manager at the Tobacco Insititute provides a good outline of his early career. [2] It also illustrates the close (f not intimate) relationship that the Tobacco Institute had with the Business Council for Indoor Air -- which purported to be an independent contract company-servicing operation doing IAQ testing and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) maintenance work.


Documents & Timeline

pre-1979 (QUOTE) I have a B.S.-in Biological Science from San Jose State University. My graduate work was done at Purdue University, from which I received an MS. and PhD. in biochemical toxicology. My research at Purdue addressed pesticide metabolism and how it relates to toxicity.


1979-83At the Environmental Protection Agency under John Todhunter in the Office of Pesticide Programs


1983 Oct-Dec The scandal regarding systematic corruption which had run rife in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 1982-83 broke and James Watt the Secretary of the Internior, Anne Gorsuch Burford, the Administrator of the EPA, and Rita Lavelle, the Deputy in charge of Toxic Waste and Emergencies (eg. the Superfund clean-up program] were all forced to resign. They had been diverting Superfund toxic clean-up funds to Republic campaigns, and funding of their favourite candidates. Another 20-odd senior EPA staff were also fired over corrupt dealings with polluters. See outline of the EPA problem [3]


1983-84 Todhunter was fired but Cammer survived, however he was shifted to the Office of Toxic Substances. (Lasted only one year before leaving the government for industry.)


1984 He says: I joined the staff of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) where I wore two hats: Manager of Scientific Affairs for the American industrial Health Council (AIHC) and Executive Director of the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA). With AIHC I helped guide the Science Committee and its five subcommittees as they developed position papers and interacted with federal and state governments on generic scientific issues. As Executive Director of HSIA I led that organization in all aspects of its operations (more below).

Clearly he stepped from a regulator role to that of a industry lobbyist. Showing them how to avoid penalties from the EPA, and strategies to make the regulatory agencies ineffective.

1986 Jan He left SOCMA to form his own company (Cammer & Associates) "specializing in two areas: association management and regulatory strategies for industry."


1987 He now has an employee/partner, Daniel Byrd, who also worked in the EPA's Pesticide Program , and the Carcinogen Assessment Group. before leaving to become a lobbyist for the Amercian Petroleum Institute (also on the SAB of the EPA's Environmental Health Committee).


1988 June 17 Cammer's letter to Peter Sparber, president of "Sparber & Associates" (actually the VP in charge of Issues Management at the Tobacco Institute) He wants work from the industry.

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