Ralph Nader's Skeleton Closet
Ralph Nader has done a lot of good for consumers. He has also led attacks on such evils as Volkswagen cars, the American Automobile Association, whole milk, colored toilet paper, fluoridated water, and the Elvis stamp. Through it all he has manipulated the press brilliantly and built himself a comfortable and powerful niche without need for election, even within his own consumer groups.
For 30 years, Ralph Nader has proclaimed himself to be "Saint Ralph", the only honest man in Washington, and the only friend of the average citizen. If that doesn't make you puke already, then click on the allegation of your choice:
a HUGE hypocrite -- just another politician -- Anti-democratic authoritarian -- secret luxury house -- owned by the trial lawyers' lobby -- busted a union among his workers -- abuses workers -- amassing millions of dollars and playing the stock market with it -- secrecy and stonewalling -- vindictive toward critics -- forced "contributions" to his college PIRG groups -- hypochondriac -- Quotes -- Sources.
"Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes." -- Dave Barry
"If they don't close these [nuclear] reactors down, we'll have civil war in five years." -- Ralph Nader in 1977
"We spent a hundred years trying to clean sweatshops out of our system and what happens? Along comes the first major reformer of any impact, and he starts doing the same goddamned thing. ... My wife had to tell Ralph once to stop phoning after midnight." -- Jim Turner, former Nader lieutenant
"Information is the currency of democracy. It's denial must always be suspect." -- Ralph Nader
"He [Nader] is, I believe, an authoritarian, a man on a white horse, and I for one, hope that he will never ride into the White House." -- David Sanford, Nader's former editor, 1976
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Unfortunately, Nader has become exactly what he attacks. His organizations allow no public input, intimidate foes and journalists, hide almost all details of their finances (to the point of breaking laws), and have amassed millions of dollars - all under Nader's direct and autocratic control. -- Sources -- Back to the top
"Nader is as ravenous as a Nixon or a Kennedy, and the abstract principles he espouses he does not live by." -- Charles McCarry, "Citizen Nader"
Ralph's image is built on the idea that he is somehow pure, not motivated by power, fame or money like those nasty politicians. But he is in fact just another Washington lawyer and lifelong Beltway pol who has built a powerful organization, lobbies Congress, raises millions through direct mail and $1,000 a plate dinners, gets paid tens of thousands by interest groups for his speeches, manipulates the press and overworks a lot of earnest young staffers.
Even his presidential ambitions are old news. He claims to be running just to send a message, but Nader also ran for president in 1992 (running a write-in campaign in the New Hampshire primary, with little success). As far back as 1976, his media supporters (including Nicholas Van Hoffman and Mary McGrory) were plugging a draft Nader movement in their columns.
It's fine for him to want power, fame and even money -- everyone else in Washington does -- but he ought to cut the holier-than-thou crap and take responsibility for his ambitions.
No one doubts that Ross Perot -- who spent $60 million out of pocket on his last campaign -- has huge personal ambitions, whatever good he may accomplish as a candidate. Why should we think more of Ralph Nader, who has built a career flush with power, fame and money out of nothing else but his political actions in Washington?
Nader is no better and no different than Jerry Falwell or Ralph Reed -- nimble but unelected politicians who've made successful careers as self-appointed moralists.
And there is nothing democratic about Nader's groups -- citizens have no power at all. Of 19 groups in Nader's network, only one relatively minor one is a membership organization, which would allow individuals to vote and challenge the decisions of the small elite running them. The groups' managers operate in strict secrecy, releasing the absolute legal minimum of information, and sometimes not even that. And when Nader IS challenged, he gets vindictive and often attacks his questioner.
Nader and his PIRG groups also fought for (and got) a very coercive funding mechanism -- dues charged automatically to all college students, whether they support Nader or not.
Beyond the hypocrisy, this authoritarian streak is very dangerous in a potential president -- presidents have tremendous power, and the most important check on it is simply their personal honor and unwillingness to abuse power. Nader has never shown these traits, much less an ability to make tough decisions that are fair to his enemies. Of course, he hasn't had much power to abuse -- yet. Anyone considering voting for him should think twice -- or three times -- about that.
However, David Sanford of the New Republic documented that residents of a posh neighborhood in Washington -- on Bancroft Place NW -- often spotted him sneaking into an expensive house there. Some investigation showed that Nader's brother purchased the house -- worth $100,000 even back in 1972 -- though he was an underemployed educational "consultant" and had no education beyond high school. Nader issued a statement "that he does not live in his brother's Bancroft Place house", but when a now-former worker (Lowell Dodge) asked him privately, he wouldn't deny it.
When the Washington Post's then-society columnist Maxine Cheshire asked Nader about the reports, he knew every detail of the house's financing and couldn't resist rhapsodizing about what a great tax break buying a house was. "He talks about that real estate investment the way some men talk about sex. He's so excited about the whole idea of tax write-offs and all that. I mean, did I realize that that's the greatest investment you can make, the biggest tax advantage, bla bla bla bla bla bla."
Nader, who has long earned hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in speaking fees -- over $250,000 annually even in the mid-1970s -- claims to live on $5,000 a year and give nearly all the rest to his organizations.
But he has steadfastly refused to make his tax returns public (as Dole and Clinton have done). He even says he will spend less than $5,000 on his campaign so that he won't be required to file even the minimal financial disclosure forms every other candidate is filing. He has admitted to having invested undefined chunks of money in stocks, CDs and treasury notes. He also defended investing in corporations that commit the wrongs he rails against, because "You can't transcend the system. It's all interlocked."
"Nader strikes me as conforming to the stereotype people have of sociologists and politicians: they bleed for the poor and downtrodden but mistreat their maids." -- David Sanford
Like many Washington politicians, Ralph Nader's groups have long taken advantage of earnest young ambitious workers, with two differences; Nader was more controlling and paid far less. In 1976, many were paid $5,000 per year and only a few at the top made as much as $20,000. (Nader's organizations refuse to release information on what they pay workers.) Meanwhile, Nader required daily logs of everything the workers did from 7am to 9pm, plus monthly summaries of these logs. If you didn't turn in your logs, you didn't get paid.
Nader often called workers after midnight or on sunny weekend days, with instructions, or just to test their willingness to work hard. When a revolt over working conditions broke out in the Congress Project and students demanded a group session with Nader, he contemptuously scheduled a meeting at 7:00 am, believing that few would show up.
9 marriages of staffers broke up under the pressure, including John and Nancy Esposito's, Mark Green's, Sid Wolfe's, and Davitt McAteer's.
What makes this meanness worse is that Nader claims to be defending workers -- for example in opposing the GATT treaty -- and that his organizations have a huge surplus of money, accumulating millions of dollar with which Ralph has played the stock market.
The book "Abuse of Trust" carefully documents the money amassed and stocks played for 6 major groups, including Public Citizen, Inc. and the Center for the Study of Responsive Law, his two largest groups. Public Citizen, Inc., in particular, amassed money so quickly that it bought an old FBI building for $1.25 million IN CASH in 1980, only its eighth year of existence.
One reason he may hide his ample cash reserves -- besides the fact that people may not want to give him more money -- is that he is fond of playing the stock market with that green. (He also uses surpluses from his most flush organizations, usually the tax deductible ones, to give grants to his other groups.) Some of these transactions appear reckless for a nonprofit, "public interest" group; others skirt the edges of insider trading and conflict of interest. Mostly, it seems that all this money was a toy that Nader enjoyed playing with, especially as his winnings increased his power, fame and influence.
For example, the Nader is the president and treasurer of the Public Safety Research Institute. In 1970 alone, PSRI traded on the stock market 67 times, buying and selling $750,000 worth of stock, though the organization only had $150,000 worth of assets. These trades included a number of short sales, high risk and tricky transactions. Some worked, some lost money. In later years, PSRI traded less, for a good reason -- the IRS audited them after 1970 and charged the organization with "churning", excessive stock trades whose risk threatens the charitable purposes of the organization. It paid a fine and did not contest the charge. Thereafter, PSRI continued to play the market with fewer, generally long positions. Likewise, the Safety Systems Foundation (SSF) -- run by Nader's sister, and entirely funded by him personally -- engaged in a number of stock and bond transactions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was also fined by the IRS and paid without contest.
Several of these trades were poised to take advantage of Nader's activities, by selling short the stock of companies Nader's groups attacked, or buying stock of their competitors. In 1973, PSRI bought stock in Allied Chemical, the primary manufacturer of airbags, on the very day before GM announced they would offer optional airbags on 1974 models. PSRI made a 12.5% profit in 3 and a half months. In 1976, PSRI and the SSF bought stock in Goodyear just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- then run by former top Nader aide Joan Claybrook -- announced an investigation of the Firestone 500 series of steel-belted radials. The 2 organizations held onto the stock for 2 years until there was a recall, and Firestone -- Goodyear's major competitor -- suffered.
In 1970, IT&T attempted to merge with the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Nader filed a 50 page brief attacking the merger, then SSF sold IT&T stock short. It made almost 10% on its money in 6 DAYS, then closed its position two days before the merger was approved. When pressed by a reporter, Nader said the timing was "mere coincidence" and said he had no control over the investment. However, his sister Laura Nader Millerson was the sole trustee of SSF throughout its existence, and Nader was the sole contributor.
Another Nixonian trait of Nader's is a tendency to cover-up. When pressed or challenged, he has lied, shunted responsibility onto his staff members, made them reconstruct documents, hidden his control over his own organizations, attacked the press or critics involved, or simply refused to release information with lame excuses.
There are many examples:
-- Ralph refuses to release his tax returns (as Clinton and Dole have)
-- He even says he will spend less than $5,000 in this presidential campaign so he won't have to file the minimal
financial disclosure all other candidates
have filed.
-- Two of his top aides even refused to give the address of Nader's office to two Congressman who requested it at
a Congressional Hearing.
-- His main group, Public Citizen, has actively fought disclosure laws that would inform the public of the role
that special interest groups -- such as
his -- play in lobbying on legislation. (e.g. H.R. 81 in the 96th Congress)
-- Public Citizen refused to give information to the Better Business Bureau or the similar NIB when
requested.
-- He runs a network of organizations, which he claims are independent -- but his brother, sister and cousins hold
major leadership positions with several, Nader heads advisory boards for others, and he is the only or major
financial donor to 3 groups. Many other groups are funded in whole or in part by other groups in the network
that Ralph does directly control.
-- Ralph even incorporated one of his groups -- the Public Safety Research Institute -- in Delaware, because of its
notoriously lax corporate laws,
-- As of 1982, his groups disregarded the charitable solicitation laws of 25 by not filing legally required
registrations. At least 1 state (New York) had to pursue
Public Citizen, Inc. and the Center for the Study of Responsive Law (Nader's 2 biggest groups) legally to try and
force them to obey the law.
-- After the first attacks on him for being owned by trial lawyers, he distorted facts, attacked the press and forced
am employee to create a false history to
cover up the scandal. The employee, Lowell Dodge, later fell out with Nader and revealed this cover-up.
Another authoritarian trait of Nader's is his inability to tolerate any criticism. Journalists who question his excesses are inevitably accused of personal vendettas, or being tools of industry.
Politicians get worse: Nader called one Congressman who opposed the Consumer Protection Act "a disgustingly repulsive, slimy double-crosser." He called another a "pathological liar" and a "corrupt, lying anti-people crook." His crime? Opposing a bill to mandate air bags. Nader went on to say that people who opposed mandatory airbags were the kind that would "sell thalidomide to pregnant women."
Even his own workers face Ralph's wrath for leaving after years of grueling, underpaid and loyal work. James Fallows, author of a recent book critiquing the media, worked for Nader at the start of his career. He wrote: "I think you won't find many people who have had a pleasant parting with Ralph. It's usually pretty ugly when the separation comes, and I think it's largely that by leaving you seem to make a choice... a 'if you're not with us you're against us' sort of thing."
Penn State's Board of Overseers declined Nader's PIRG group's coercive funding and voted instead to let students check a box to make a donation (like presidential campaign funding on 1040 tax forms) -- a perfectly reasonable compromise. Nader blasted this plan as a "sabotage technique" and "tyranny 1776 style," and then announced an investigation of the school's trustees for "conflicts of interest."
Most don't of course, out of inertia or because they aren't even aware they're funding Ralph. That's why record and book clubs use the same mechanism. Nader, like most consumer advocates, opposes these billing methods as a rip-off - unless they fund his own groups. One PIRG worker estimated that at Penn State alone, forced payments would have brought in $270,000 a year, while a voluntary checkoff would only have raised $30,000
These forced payments brought over a million dollars a year to PIRGs even back in the mid-1970s. (Nader's PIRG group won't release the total amount.) At least 145 colleges in 20 states were involved.
When Penn State turned down this method in favor of a box students could check to donate, the PIRG refused it. Nader attacked the school viciously, as described above.
"Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p16-17
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"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p19-20
"Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982
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"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p23-26 --- Back to the top
"A Chink In Nader's Armor?", Leah Young, The New Republic, September 2, 1972
"Dems Step Up to Well-Stocked Plaintiff Bar", Wall Street Journal, September 4, 1992 pA6/A8
"Public Citizen's Non-Disclosure", Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1992 pA14
Wall Street Journal, November 14, 1990 pA15
"Ralph Nader is a bargain for trial lawyers at $1,000 a table."
"Naderite Mossbacks Lose Control Over Corporate Law", Wall Street Journal, June 24, 1992
"Tortmeisters In the Sun", Wall Street Journal, October 30,1990 pA18
"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p33-42 --- Back to the top
$1000/plate: "Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p14-15
1976 run - "Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p1-5 --- Back to the top
Washington Post, June 28, 1984 pB3
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"The Low-Paid Affluent in Public-Interest Work", New York Times, July `8, 1983 p14
"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p60-65
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"Nader Undaunted by Setbacks to Consumer Drive", Joseph Lleyveld, New York Times, November 24, 1975 p1
"Nader Pays $1,250,000 Cash for Old Office Building", Ann Zimmerman, Washingtonian, June 1980, p11 (cited in Abuse of Trust)
"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p28-31
"Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p81-95
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"Public Citizen's Non-Disclosure", Wall Street Journal, March 17, 1992 pA14
Tax returns and campaign reports: Newsweek, "How Much Is He Worth?", April 8, 1996 p6
Network: "Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p 31, 16-17, 80-95
Generally, and New Republic false name: "Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p18-22, introduction p.xi-xii, p11, p19-23
Information denial must always be suspect quote: "Abuse of Trust", p139, citing Good Housekeeping
Wouldn't give Nader's office address out: "Abuse of Trust", p119-120, 124
Refused info to BBB & NIB: "Abuse of Trust", p118-119
Opposed HR 81: "Abuse of Trust", p119, 124, 139
Failure to register: "Abuse of Trust", p104-110
Lowell Dodge cover-up: "Me & Ralph", chapter 3
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Generally -- "Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p56-57
Penn State-- "Me & Ralph", p52-55
Fallows & leaving Nader- "Me & Ralph", p69-73
Congress-- "Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p146-7
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Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1983 p1
Christian Science Monitor, March 24, 1983 p2
New York Times, March 13, 1983 p20
"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976, p8, 52-58
"Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p147- 149
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"Me & Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Books) 1976,p18 --- Back to the top
Civil war quote - "Abuse of Trust: A Report on Ralph Nader's Network", Dan Burt, (Chicago: Regnery Gateway) 1982 p146, citing "'Geiger Counter', Voice, April 4, 1977". Is that the Village Voice? Not clear.
Dave Barry quote -- from his book "Sweating Out Taxes", quoted on Susan Brumbaugh's Internet Quotes page.
Denial of information is suspect quote -- "Abuse of Trust" 1982 citing "Ralph Nader Reports", Ladies Home Journal, September 1973,
Sanford quote -- "Me and Ralph: Is Nader Unsafe for America?", David Sanford (New Republic Book Company) 1976 Introduction (pX)
sweatshops quote -- "Me and Ralph", p62
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