ACSH presidents say the darndest things

 When I learned in 2019 that Hank Campbell was out as ACSH's president, I sent a note to someone at the organization asking the reason for his departure. I can't find that email, but I don't think I addressed it to Campbell's replacement, Thom Golab. But maybe I did, and he responded to me at some length on November 14, 2019, a portion of his email reading thusly:

When Hank Campbell assumed the presidency of the American Council on Science and Health in June of 2015, he said that he planned on being with ACSH for three years. He would then return to his family in California. He stayed on a few months longer to help ACSH celebrate its 40^th Anniversary, and in early November of last year, the Board accepted Hank’s official resignation. We are grateful to Hank for his service to ACSH over his three years period.

Who knows what went on behind the scenes as that was the same year ACSH was successfully sued for non-payment of New York office rent and closed its Washington office. Eight of the ten preceding years ACSH suffered proportionately large operating losses, including three of the four years that Campbell was president, according to IRS 990 filings.

But on the face of it, the publicly vulgar liar Campbell was and remains an esteemed former president of the organization. 

Golab ended his 2019 letter with this invitation to me: "If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me."  So, after finding Golab's inaccurate claim that I was "terminated" among the uploads by ousted trustee James Enstrom, I did not hesitate to take him up on his invitation. On December 12, 2022 I wrote this: "I do now have a question. Why did you lie to Dr. Enstrom by stating that I was terminated from my position?"

The next day Golab responded tersely, "I never told him that." I emailed him back with the following:

Mr. Golab,

Thank you for your reply. A few days ago I discovered that Dr. Enstrom has posted online a letter from you to him on ACSH letterhead and bearing your signature, dated April 6, 2021, which includes the following statement:

In August 2018, you expressed your willingness to have a conversation about ACSH's "problems" in an email to Nicolas Martin, a former terminated employee who hosts a website with the sole mission of tarnishing the legacy of Elizabeth Whelan and ACSH.

Is this letter not authentic? 

If the letter is genuine and you didn’t know at the time you wrote it that I chose to quit my ACSH job without Beth or anyone else threatening to fire me or or proposing that I quit, I hope you know it by now. As you know, when he was ACSH president Mr. Campbell falsely claimed that I never had a job at ACSH. It does no harm to me, but it harms ACSH to spread falsehoods, if even inadvertently.

I’ve attached a copy of the letter.

Incidentally, I still have a copy of a cordial and congratulatory reply from Beth to a letter I sent her in 1990, along with a copy of my speech, “Environmental Myths and Hoaxes,” that was published in Vital Speeches.

Regards,

Nicolas Martin

He then responded with a perplexing email:

For some reason I read your email about firing as coming from Hank Campbell. I wrote to Dr. Enstrom that you were fired because that is what I was told, by more than one ACSH employee.

Please do not communicate with me anymore, except through my attorney.

Thom Golab

President

American Council on Science and Health

135 Madison Ave, 5th Fl, #06-114

New York, NY 10016

Phone: 212-362-7044

Phone direct: 301-980-4579

My email contains my name, and my email address also includes my name, so he would have had to have read it with remarkable carelessness to think, as he claims, that it came from Hank Campbell. The subject still contained "Hank Campbell" from our 1999 exchange, so it is possible that he read the rest carelessly. Or, he regretted having said that I was terminated after I provided him with proof of his having done so. Facts are inconvenient things, and one never knows what to believe when someone at ACSH is the source. CYA is always a possibility.

Given that I stated in my email that the bogus claim that I was terminated "does no harm to me," it's baffling that Golab would direct me to his attorney (whose name and contact information he didn't include in his email). Though Golab and Campbell told falsehoods about my resignation from ACSH, I don't think of their fictions as libelous, just puerile and irresponsible. Perhaps he fears differently. A huge percentage of the time "contact my attorney" is bluster and bluff, and merits a horse laugh. If Golab has a complaint, let his anonymous attorney contact me.

ACSH, as it limps along, remains a source of entertainment. I suggest that no scientist with self-respect would remain a scientific advisor for the organization. During my time there was no contact with the great majority of advisors, and it wasn't clear that most of them knew what ACSH was up to. Best let sleeping dogs lie.

Update (Dec. 15, 2022):

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a follow-up email from Mr. Golab today. The subject is, "I now know that you were not fired." The text says, "I will correct the record in the future. I apologize." 

It is to Mr. Golab's great credit that he checked into the matter and apologized for his error. I have thanked him for doing what he was under no obligation to do. I also want to thank whoever told him the truth about my leaving.