Congresswoman Blasts Sen. Warren for Axing Brookings Scholar

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, has just penned an opinion piece in The Hill where she blasts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for her role is forcing a longtime scholar at the Brookings Institution to step down from his position.

Here is an excerpt:

At the end of the day, who will stand up to Elizabeth Warren? She has made the White House demure in their nominee suggestions, she has made academic think tanks dump long-time, respected employees for expressing an opposing view, and she makes House Democrats cower at the mention of her name.  Warren’s brand of intimidation truly is what is wrong with Washington.

Full Think Tank Watch coverage of the Warren-Brookings war can be found here and here.

Politico Fills in Juicy Tidbits in Warren-Brookings War

A new Politico story has some fresh details that haven't yet been mentioned in previous reporting (here and here) on the Brookings Institution attack by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).  Here is more:

All it took was an hour of damaging Twitter comments and press attention, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren had claimed another prize.

News broke at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday that the liberal Massachusetts firebrand was blasting Brookings Institution scholar Robert Litan because a mutual-fund company paid for his research criticizing an Obama administration proposal to regulate the industry. By 9:30 a.m., Litan — an economist and former adviser to President Bill Clinton — was out.

That,despite indications from Brookings’ senior management just the night before that it would all blow over.

“I had no indication until the end that I would be asked to leave,” Litan told POLITICO on Wednesday. “I’d be reprimanded.”

Litan’s departure is already prompting backlash among some economists and rival think tankers, who say Warren’s crusade and Brookings’ response could have a chilling effect on research.

“This is McCarthyism of the left," said Hal Singer, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute and co-author of the research Warren criticized. “What Warren is doing is suppressing scholars [who] speak independently through her threats.”

Here is a Hill newspaper story entitled "Ousted Brookings Economist Lashes Back at Warren."

The only conclusion Think Tank Watch has from the this weeks events is that Brookings will not be inviting Elizabeth Warren over for any events anytime soon...


Update: The Washington Examiner interviewed Dr. Litan, who was quoted as saying that he thought he had resolved months ago any concerns that Brookings had over an industry-funded study he did.

Dr. Litan said he was contacted this week by a "high-ranking individual" at Brookings (who he declined to name) who told him that there was "a lot of distress over the whole situation."

The article also quotes Kevin Hassett, Litan's think tank friend over at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), who said that Brookings' reaction was unfortunate.  He said that Litan was part of a "dwindling minority of serious scholars at Brookings unafraid to stand by conclusions that irritated liberals."

Added Hassett: "This makes Brookings look like the Elizabeth Warren Rapid Response Team.  It's chilling to see him go."

Update2: Politico has a new quote from Public Citizen's Bart Naylor: "The shill game where Wall Street Pays for ersatz studies under the banner of prestigious universities and think tanks must end."

Also, Slate notes that financial services firms have set up their own think tanks to produce studies of interest.

And as Wall Street Journal is reporting, several Democratic economists have come to the defense of Dr. Litan, including Bowman Cutter of the Roosevelt Institute.

Here is National Review's take on the whole Warren-Brookings incident.

Update3: Here is a piece by L. Gordon Crovitz in WSJ entitled "In the Tank for Elizabeth Warren," with the subheading "Brookings has been mugged by the reality of progressive animus for dissenting views."

Here is a piece by Jason Stahl (in Salon) entitled "Elizabeth Warren's Giant Leap to the Left: Why Her War With a Corporate-Friendly Think Tank Matters."

Some say it was unfortunate that Brookings didn't require Mr. Litan's resignation last summer.  (In response to a Strobe Talbott piece in WSJ, saying that Warren had nothing to do with Litan's exit.)

Here is the New York times piece "Is Money Corrupting Research?" which mentions that Warren-Brookings incident.

And here is the Daily Caller on "Why Warren's Witch-Hunt Won't Work."

Sen. Warren Ejects Longtime Scholar from Brookings

It was reported earlier today that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was attacking the Brookings Institution for an industry-funded study that one of its scholars co-authored.

Now, the Boston Globe is reporting that the scholar, Robert Litan, has "abruptly cut ties" with Brookings, a think tank he has been affiliated with for around 40 years.   Here is what Litan said:

“I think the Warren letter has created discomfort at Brookings,” said Robert Litan in a telephone interview with the Globe. “I don’t want to make people there feel any more uncomfortable than needed.”

And here is what a Brookings spokesman had to say about the whole incident:

David Nassar, a Brookings spokesman, said that Litan violated a Brookings policy by touting his Brookings affiliation when he gave testimony on his study before Congress. He said that the study “was not connected with Brookings in any way.”

The Hill newspaper notes that Litan has been "forced out" of the think tank, saying he is formally submitting his resignation Tuesday afternoon.

Sen. Warren's letter to Brookings, which is addressed to its President, Strobe Talbott, can be found here.  A press release of that letter can be found here.

Was Brookings scholar Jane Dokko calling out Dr. Litan's paper before today's blow-up?

As seen from another of today's Think Tank Watch stories, Brookings scholars seem to like to complain about other Brookings scholars.

Update: A Washington Post story says that Brookings was seeking a resignation from Dr. Litan, and in return, Dr. Litan complied.  Here is our favorite line from that story:

Her [Warren's] complaint pointed to a relatively new form of influence peddling in the nation's capital, with industry groups and even foreign governments paying think tanks and scholars for research papers that support lobbying goals.

The article also raises an interesting point:

Brookings's action Tuesday could have implications for industry lobbyists who advise clients to fund think tank research to influence policymakers.

Scholars have opened private consultancies, attracting fees from corporate sponsors at least in part because their studies could enjoy the Brookings imprimatur.

Litan, for instance, works with a firm called Economists Incorporated, where his bio describes him as a "non-resident senior fellow" at Brookings.

Here is even more from yet another Washington Post piece on the Warren-Brookings war.  Our favorite lines:

[This incident] could have a chilling effect on scholars who have been perfectly fine letting companies that finance their research review it before publication.

 Brookings is as much a pillar of the Democratic establishment as any institution in Washington.  That President Strobe Talbott moved so quickly to oust Litan underscores just how terrified DC elites from both parties are right now about the rise of pitchfork populism.

Here is a Vox piece entitled "Elizabeth Warren Exposed a Shocking Instance of How Money Corrupts DC Think Tanks."

Think Tank Watch is aware of numerous think tank scholars at a wide variety of think tanks who run their own consulting firms, blurring the line between true scholarly work and work simply for the benefit of a corporate patron.

Think Tank Quickies (#191)

• China's rise alarming US think tanks.
• Search think funding around the world (including US) at Foundation Maps, via Foundation Center.
• Prominent healthcare economist Deborah Freund joins RAND. 
• Spencer Ackerman: "Just once I want a DC think tank report to say plainly, 'This research is not designed to be true.  It is designed to be useful.'"
• Indian think tanks in the military field.
• Brookings: Is al-Bahgdadi the new bin Laden?
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) does libertarian Cato on Sept. 16.
• State Dept. and White House interact regularly with think tanks; intel community not so much. 
• "Higher education providers" like think tanks are booming.
• Partisan think tanks/researchers prone to produce results that confirm their own political leanings.