Conflicts of interest appear at think-tanks

Washington

AS Lennar Corp, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, pushed ahead with an US$8 billion plan to revitalise a barren swathe of San Francisco, it found a trusted voice to vouch for its work: the Brookings Institution, the most prestigious think-tank in the world.

"This can become a productive, mutually beneficial relationship," Bruce Katz, a Brookings vice-president, wrote to Lennar in July 2010. The ultimate benefit for Brookings: US$400,000 in donations from Lennar's different divisions.

The think-tank began to aggressively promote the project, San Francisco's biggest redevelopment effort since its recovery from the 1906 earthquake, and later offered to help Lennar "engage with national media to develop stories that highlight Lennar's innovative approach". And B…