Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 71
1 from the gains made last summer, the letter notes."
2 Again, there is Mr. Mattox claiming public credit for the
3 nutritional brochures issued in 1986. That is right?
4 A. It is what it says, Mr. Rampton. I said it is
5 whatever it says. Is that Mr. Mattox claiming public
6 credit? You may want to interpret it that way. To me it
7 just reflects what I believed at the time to be reality
8 and what McDonald's is now denying.
9
10 Q. It could not be, could it, Mr. Gardner, that a significant
11 part, perhaps the major part, of the motivation for this
12 1987 complaint about the advertisements was a feeling of
13 rueful resentment in your office about what had happened
14 in 1986?
15 A. No, it could not. Motivation for what, Mr. Rampton?
16
17 Q. For the complaint in 1987.
18 A. No, sir. To be perfectly honest, that may have
19 explained why we treated McDonald's in the same way; why
20 we played back their rules of behaviour. That is in
21 excess of honesty I suspect. I do not know that to be the
22 case. But it played no role whatsoever in the fact that
23 we had interacted them again. Imagine, if you will, that
24 we thought this matter was behind us and we could go on to
25 other matter of other companies breaking other laws, how
26 we felt when we found out that McDonald's rather than
27 continuing to break one law, was instead breaking another
28 by a deceptive advertising campaign. That was our
29 reaction and that was the basis for our April 24, 1987
30 letter. The basis for the press release is something you
31 have to ask General Mattox.
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: Thank you.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want a break now?
36
37 MS. STEEL: If we could; is it possible to have 10 minutes? I
38 do not think we have many questions.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: We will finish today.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will come back at 10 to 4.
43
44 (Short Adjournment)
45
46 Re-examined by the Defendants.
47
48 MS. STEEL: Just going back to what you were being asked about
49 just before we had the break, the school children that
50 were mentioned in this press release: Was there any
51 connection between the school children and the office of
52 the Attorney General or anybody in the office of the
53 Attorney General?
54 A. If you mean the office of the Attorney General somehow
55 obtained the information from the school children, no.
56 The school children, I think, wrote to the Attorney
57 General. It was somebody else who then provided them to
58 the Attorney General. They were citizens of the state
59 communicating with the Attorney General.
60
