Investigations: Banzhaf's Bandits

Once, ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) was John Banzhaf's only pressure group. Now he has CAP, PUMP, LASH, TUBE and SOUP. Startled industries and badgered regulatory agencies are suddenly painfully aware that Banzhaf's Bandits are abroad in Washington.

John F. Banzhaf III, 29, is the lawyer who staggered the tobacco and television industries with his successful demand that TV stations give free time for antismoking messages. To his amazement, the Federal Communications Commission responded to his "citizen's complaint," an action later upheld in the courts. The victory prompted Banzhaf to quit his New York law firm and devote his time to ASH, which he had earlier organized as a nonprofit foundation. He moved to Washington, and LASH (Legislative Action on Smoking and Health), an antismoking lobby, was started soon after.

Marble Soup. Last fall Banzhaf taught a course in unfair trade practices at the George Washington University law school. He so inspired his 60 students that they split up into activist groups and fanned out to do battle, a la Nader's Raiders, as Banzhafs Bandits. Examples:

CAP (Collection Agency Practices) investigates abuses in poor Washington neighborhoods, collecting affidavits from citizens harassed by bill collectors who pose as lawyers and policemen. TUBE (Termination of Unfair Broadcasting Excesses), charging that many television commercials are deceptive, demands that the FCC monitor commercials before they are shown. PUMP (Protesting Unfair Marketing Practices) accuses gasoline retailers of selling identical gasoline under a broad spectrum of brand names and ratings. SOUP (Students Opposed to Unfair Practices) is pressing the Federal Trade Commission to fine the Campbell Soup Co. for a commercial in which glass marbles allegedly were employed to push soup solids to the top of the bowl for greater visibility.

While some of the causes are strictly of glass-marble dimension and few campaigns have gone on long enough to achieve hard results, Banzhaf is confident that his squad of 60 will win more rounds than it loses.