Prominent economist wrote op-ed about Amazon's new headquarters at company's suggestion

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Local

Prominent economist wrote op-ed about Amazon’s new headquarters at company’s suggestion

By Dalton Bennett, Video reporter focusing on investigative stories ranging from government accountability to international corruption; and Robert McCartney
August 9 at 8:00 AM

A prominent Washington-area economist wrote an opinion piece welcoming the arrival of Amazon’s new headquarters in Northern Virginia at the suggestion of a company official who hoped to build public support for the project before a key Arlington County Board vote, emails show.

Stephen S. Fuller, a professor at George Mason University, also showed the article to Amazon public relations staff before publication and invited them to suggest changes — although he rejected their revisions.

“I want to [be] helpful to your — Amazon’s — mission and objectives with respect to its move to Arlington,” Fuller wrote on March 1 to Jill Shatzen Kerr, Amazon’s policy communications manager, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Fuller first offered the opinion piece to The Washington Post, which turned it down. The Washington Business Journal published it March 21 under the headline, “Don’t underestimate Amazon HQ2’s importance.” (1)
....

Dalton Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning video reporter at The Washington Post, where he has worked since 2016 after five years covering conflict with the AP. Follow https://twitter.com/ddaltonbennett

Robert McCartney is The Washington Post’s senior regional correspondent, covering government and politics in the greater Washington area. Follow https://twitter.com/McCartneyWP
(1) https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2019/03/21/viewpoint-don-t-underestimate-amazon-hq2-s.html

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/prominent-economist-wrote-op-ed-about-amazons-new-headquarters-at-companys-suggestion/2019/08/09/42b206b8-b885-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html

---

And, as we all know....

(Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

[Farmer-Rick]

1. What a piece of crap Fuller is

[Tactical Peek]

2. "obtained by The Washington Post under a Freedom of Information Act request"

I thought that FOIA was for open access to government documents. I am curious what government agency had these emails and provided them under a FOIA request.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. George Mason University is a public university

and so will get FOIA requests. See eg https://www.rcfp.org/journals/news-media-and-law-fall-2011/academic-freedom-and-publics/

[yardwork]

4. George Mason University got a lot of money from the Koch brothers.

The Kochs paid George Mason University to hire conservative professors. Is Fuller one of them?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. He's been at GMU for a long time.

He's not in the Economics Department.

Holey moley; he's been at GMU for 25 years. Before that, he was at George Washington U. for another 25 years.

Stephen Fuller | University Professor of Public Policy; Dwight C. Schar Endowed Faculty Chair

Bio

Professor Fuller joined the faculty at George Mason University in 1994 as Professor of Public Policy and Regional Development. He served as Director of the Ph.D. Program in Public Policy from July 1998 to June 2000 and from July 2001 to July 2002. In September 2001, the GMU Board of Visitors appointed him University Professor and in July 2002 he was named to the Dwight Schar Faculty Chair and Director of the Center for Regional Analysis; he served in this capacity until May 2015. He currently holds the position of Director of The Stephen S. Fuller Institute.

Prior to joining the George Mason University faculty, he served on the faculty at George Washington University for twenty-five years, including nine as Chairman of the Department of Urban Planning and Real Estate Development and one as Director of Doctoral Programs for the School of Business and Public Management.

Dr. Fuller received a B.A. in Economics from Rutgers University (1962) and his Doctorate in Regional Planning and Economic Development (1969) from Cornell University. He has authored more than 800 articles, papers, and reports in the field of urban and regional economic development including monthly reports on the Washington metropolitan area (2/91 to 2/11) and Fairfax County economies (6/97 to 6/09).

Professor Fuller’s recent research has focusing on the structure of the Washington metropolitan area economy, how this changed during the Great Recession and how it will change going forward as its federal-spending dependency diminishes. He has also undertaken research on the changing workforce requirements of the Washington area’s emerging economy and the housing requirement of this future workforce. His current research involves the projected demographic changes over the next fifteen years and how these will impact the Washington area’s workforce, housing market, and demand for public services.

Professor Fuller was recently appointed to serve on the Joint Advisory Board of Economists by Governor McAuliffe. He served on the Governor’s Advisory Board of Economists under Governors Kaine, Warner, Allen and Wilder. In 2003, he was a member of the Governor Warner’s Tax Reform Working Group. He also is a member of the DC CFO Business Advisory Group of the District of Columbia, the Montgomery County Business Advisory Panel and the U.S Army Women’s Foundation. His international assignments include Kazakhstan, Georgia, Hungary and China as well as on-going projects in Portugal. He served on the Board of Directors of Tompkins Builders Inc., a DC-based company, from 2004 to 2012, and currently serves on the Boards of the Global Environment and Technology Foundation and Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts. In May of 2015, Dr. Fuller was elected as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Northfield Mount Hermon School.

{snip}

[mpcamb]

6. Stephen Fuller George Mason University Professor of Ass Kissing

and worse.

[ehrnst]

7. Well, that puts to bed the rediculous trope that the Wapo newsroom is Bezos' lapdog.(nt)