Publisher's
Note: Meet the $2
million Cajun...former Rep. Billy Tauzin, smiling at left, goes from
Congress, leading the fight to have prescription price controls to plush
job with Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America.
This is yet another example of the influence of big pharmaceutical
companies over our elected officials. And this $2 million year a job is
just one of many for which the pharmas are paying such sums...all the
while citing the need for high US prices to fund R&D. Read on to find
out how pharmaceutical companies work in DC.
UPDATE: Billy has changed his mind...at least for the moment...and has
now decided to turn down the offer from his friends in Big Pharma...let's
hope the decision sticks! An example of how public pressure can make
things happen for the best.
GOVERNMENT ETHICS The K Street shuffle, or how a Congressman who opposes
price controls on pharma is rewarded
Reprinted from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
02/16/2004
IN 1995, THEN HOUSE REPUBLICAN Whip Tom DeLay of Texas and conservative
activist Grover Norquist launched what they called their "K Street
Project." The idea: for Republicans to take over the big lobbying firms
as successfully as they already had taken hold of the House of
Representatives.
Mr. DeLay and Mr. Norquist, who own four of the sharpest elbows in
Washington, pushed relentlessly. They went after not only campaign
contributions for GOP candidates, but also high-paying jobs for members
of Congress who wanted to enter the private sector. Their message was
clear: If you want to get along with us, get yourself some Republicans.
Nine years into the project, K Street - whose shiny office towers are
home to so many of the nation's trade associations - has turned
Republican red. The symbiosis is in full flower and the revolving door
is spinning merrily.
Consider: Last year Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the chairman of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, led the fight to keep price controls out
the new Medicare prescription drug benefit bill. The government will be
underwriting the cost of drugs for senior citizens, and the
pharmaceutical industry wanted to make sure the government paid the
going, exorbitant, rate. Thanks in no small part to Mr. Tauzin's
efforts, price controls were outlawed. Nor is the government even
allowed to try to negotiate volume discount p s will pay more for the
program. Either way, Big Pharmaceuticals comes out way ahead.
Now, by sheerest of coincidences, Mr. Tauzin has decided to retire from
Congress. And who should come along to offer him a nice office a block
north of K Street and a reported $2 million annual salary but the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America?
Predictably, Democrats are outraged. "If you want to know the price of
selling seniors down the river, it's approximately $2 million a year,"
said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Even some conservatives are ticked off. In a column headlined
"Republican Rot" on The Wall Street Journal's online editorial
page, conservative author John Fund wrote, "One way you can tell that
Republicans have become the dominant political party in Washington is to
watch them cash in."
To be sure, since the founding of the republic, Democrats, Republicans -
and before them, Whigs - have been cashing in on government service. Mr.
Tauzin added a new wrinkle, lobbying for a lobbying job even before he
announced his retirement, playing the Motion Picture Association of
America against the pharmaceutical manufacturers and driving his price
up.
Also new is the methodical, systematic and shameless approach that Mr.
DeLay and Mr. Norquist have taken to all of this. They have taken
influence-peddling out of the dark corners where it skulked for 225
years and brought it into the bright light of day. They're betting that
a jaded and cynical public no longer expects anything better. What's
worse, they may be right.rices. This means either that seniors will get
fewer benefits or that taxpayer
Now,
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