Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Why Disclosure Matters: Supplement Industry Woos Romney With $4.5 Million
Why Disclosure Matters: Supplement Industry Woos Romney With $4.5 Million
Benjy Sarlin
Mitt Romney broke with recent precedent by not releasing a list of his top fundraisers, or “bundlers,” but a new investigative report shines a light on a niche industry that’s especially active in backing his campaign.
As Romney refuses to disclose his top supporters, USA Today has stitched together its own list of Romney’s bundlers based on FEC data and media reports. One group that emerged: supplement companies, which are struggling to stave off regulation for pills and diet products that have so far evaded FDA scrutiny. Top executives at such companies have donated over $4.5 million to Romney’s campaign or to Restore Our Future, a supporting PAC, and have hosted big-dollar fundraisers to back his campaign.
Romney’s campaign told the paper that “People who support Mitt Romney do so because they support his pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda for the country,” its standard response to donor stories.
Romney has attacked Obama in recent days for appointing some of his bundlers from 2008 to administration positions. But were Romney to win, there would be no way to evaluate whether he was engaging in the same behavior given that he has not released his own fundraisers’ names. Republicans in Congress are also blocking legislation that would unveil the biggest donors to anonymous groups backing his campaign. For example, if say, Romney’s new FDA appointees were supplement industry bundlers, it would be difficult to impossible to tell the extent of their involvement in his campaign without intense investigative reporting.
- more -
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-diet-supplement-bundlers.php
Benjy Sarlin
Mitt Romney broke with recent precedent by not releasing a list of his top fundraisers, or “bundlers,” but a new investigative report shines a light on a niche industry that’s especially active in backing his campaign.
As Romney refuses to disclose his top supporters, USA Today has stitched together its own list of Romney’s bundlers based on FEC data and media reports. One group that emerged: supplement companies, which are struggling to stave off regulation for pills and diet products that have so far evaded FDA scrutiny. Top executives at such companies have donated over $4.5 million to Romney’s campaign or to Restore Our Future, a supporting PAC, and have hosted big-dollar fundraisers to back his campaign.
Romney’s campaign told the paper that “People who support Mitt Romney do so because they support his pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda for the country,” its standard response to donor stories.
Romney has attacked Obama in recent days for appointing some of his bundlers from 2008 to administration positions. But were Romney to win, there would be no way to evaluate whether he was engaging in the same behavior given that he has not released his own fundraisers’ names. Republicans in Congress are also blocking legislation that would unveil the biggest donors to anonymous groups backing his campaign. For example, if say, Romney’s new FDA appointees were supplement industry bundlers, it would be difficult to impossible to tell the extent of their involvement in his campaign without intense investigative reporting.
- more -
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-diet-supplement-bundlers.php
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
