Tobacco industry players traded to fracking industry

For years I’ve been saying how the fracking industry was following the tobacco industry’s playbook. But it goes deeper than just the playbook. They are using the same players.

I have an idea to help us keep up with all the players. In addition to Dory’s GASroots flowchart, we need player cards. Collect them all!

The newest member of Fracking’s Joe Camel team is David Quast who is stationed in California. He likes to write Joe Camel opinion pieces like this one.

Quast is good at this kind of thing because before he got a job selling the public on fracking he had a job selling the public on cigarettes. No joke.

Quast, David
Energy In Depth (EID)
Field Director – California
Energy In Depth: Meet the Team 

Quast, David 
FTI Consulting
Senior Vice President – Strategic Communications

Mr. Quast has led engagements and provided counsel to clients in a variety of sectors. His industrials clients have included Kaiser Aluminum and Belden, Inc.  In the professional services sector, Mr. Quast has represented Mayer Brown; Loeb & Loeb; Grant Thornton; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Foley & Lardner; Winston & Strawn; Weston Benshoof and Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp. Financial services clients have included Northern Trust; LPL Financial, Far East National Bank and Stonnington Investments, and technology clients have included TBG Digital and Guidance Software.  Mr. Quast has also spearheaded engagements for organizations including AARP and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Previously, Mr. Quast worked in New York, managing media relations on state and federal legislative and regulatory issues for Philip Morris where he developed and executed communications strategies to help the company fight significant litigation, regulatory threats, and the prospect of a major Federal tax increase. He served as a company spokesperson and was a frequent guest on talk radio throughout the United States. He also served as national communications manager for Thelen Reid & Priest LLP. Mr. Quast was managing director and executive vice president of RLM Public Relations, managing operations, leading new business development efforts and providing senior counsel to clients.

In Washington, D.C., Mr. Quast was press secretary to Congressman and House Financial Services Committee Chairman James A. Leach, and he was also director of public affairs at the Cato Institute.  He also served as chief of staff to a Washington state senator.

Mr Quast fought “significant litigation” for Philip Morris. David Poole, Sr. Vice President – General Counsel & Corporate Secretary for Range Resources, was an attorney for Hunton & Williams, which was counsel for Philip Morris. I wonder if they knew each other before fracking.

Hunton & Williams was counsel for Philip Morris. (PMI’s Introduction to Privilege Log and Glossary of Names, Estate of Burl Butler v. PMI, et al, April 19, 1996). They are a law firm in Richmond, Virginia (USA) and were a major law firm used by Philip Morris Cos. Inc., circa 1993.(NJL 5/9/94) Attorneys T. Justin Moore III, Robert E.R. Huntley, were on the board of directors of Philip Morris Cos. Inc., circa 1993.(NJL 5/9/94)

Source Watch

If you look at the tobacco industry’s public relations strategies, you will see that it’s the same strategy used by the fracking industry.  That makes sense because they use Hill & Knowlton which is the same public relations firm used by Philip Morris.

The strategy is the same. The opposition tactics are the same. Some of the players are the same. We can learn a lot by studying the history of the tobacco industry.

A few resources:
Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product
Tobacco industry public relations strategies

UPDATED: Dory made us a graphic. Thanks!