Drugmakers go furthest to sway Congress (CatKiller Frist & others)

[Shallah Kali]

please give this a 5!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050426/bs_usatoday/drugmakersgofurthesttoswaycongress
Or at USAToday
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-25-drug-lobby-cover_x.htm

The drug companies' corporate planes have been made available not only to Frist, but also for dozens of trips taken by other powerful lawmakers. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., took at least four trips to GOP fundraising events in the past two years aboard Pfizer's Gulfstream.


Drug companies and their officials contributed at least $17 million to federal candidates in last year's elections, including nearly $1 million to President Bush and more than $500,000 to his opponent, John Kerry. At least 18 members of Congress received more than $100,000 apiece.

{snip}

Since 1998, drug companies have spent $758 million on lobbying - more than any other industry, according to government records analyzed by the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group. In Washington, the industry has 1,274 lobbyists - more than two for every member of Congress.

{snip}

Frist and Hastert are not the only lawmakers to take advantage of the convenience of drug companies' corporate jets. A spokesman for drugmaker Novartis, Sheldon Jones, confirmed that company lobbyists were aboard for three trips carrying lawmakers in 2003 and 2004. One, in June 2003, took Reps. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y.; Mike Oxley, R-Ohio; and Mike Rogers, R-Mich., to a Republican fundraiser in New York City. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., and Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., also took trips on the Novartis Learjet.

So much dirt I wish I could quote the entire article. Almost half the lobbiests for the drug companies used to work for the federal government including 40 retired congresspersons! No wonder the medicare drug plan forbade negotations! No wonder reimportation is banned! No wonder dangerous drugs remain on the market! No wonder patents get extended again and again and again! Where is an exploding emoticon when I need one? :banghead:

More on how Congress is constantly lobbied by special interests:
Travel by Congress often paid privately
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-25-travel-congress_x.htm

Members of Congress have taken $16 million in privately financed trips since 2000, and more than half were sponsored by non-profit groups that don't have to disclose who is providing the money, a study out today says.

SNIP

The new analysis of 5,410 trips in the past five years by about 600 members of the House and Senate was conducted by PoliticalMoneyLine, an online service that provides campaign-finance and lobbying data. (Related site: PoliticalMoneyLine)

It found that $8.8 million of the travel expenses were paid for by tax-exempt and other groups whose funding sources aren't public. DeLay is under fire in part because one such group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, paid for a trip to Britain in 2000 that may have been at least partly paid for by a lobbyist, which is against House rules.

SNIP

The leading travel sponsor was the educational Aspen Institute, which spent nearly $2.9 million on seminars for lawmakers. Institute spokesman Jim Spiegelman said the money comes from foundations, and the trips educate lawmakers without pushing a point of view. Other top spenders: the Ripon Society, an organization of Republican moderates, and the American Israel Education Foundation, an arm of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC

Political Money Line
http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/

Aspen Institute
http://www.aspeninstitute.org

Wikipedia on Aspen Institute
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Institute

Ripon Society
http://www.riponsoc.org

Wikipedia on Ripon Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripon_Society