AG Watch

Walter Olson at Point-of-Law brings some good news: the Brattle Group’s independent assessment of the MSA has now been brought to light. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation have won an open records case in Washington and now the full report and much more can be found on the CEI’s website.

If you are too lazy to get through the 150 pages of tobacco econometrics, this snippet of the decision says it all: “The Firm, therefore, concludes that MSA disadvantages were a significant factor in the Market Share Loss.” Mark it, folks: the whole point of the inquiry was to measure whether or not Big Tobacco was harmed by the MSA, and the NAAG argument hinged on Big Tobacco being unharmed.

Your state attorney general has cartelled your state government and Big Tobacco. Good gravy.