Will Democrats Disinfect Their “Rock-Solid Deal” with Big Pharma?
President Obama used his weekly radio address over the weekend to promote Democrats’ new campaign finance “reform” law, arguing that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” in revealing corporate involvement in campaigns. Given the President’s sudden interest in transparency, one can only ask when the White House will be releasing all the documents regarding the Administration’s “rock-solid deal” with the pharmaceutical companies – and the “windfall” which the PhRMA-sponsored ad campaign brought to David Axelrod’s consulting firm. Republicans have previously asked for information about both the terms of the “deal” itself and the events that led up to it, but this Administration – which supposedly decries “the great power of special interests” – has yet to reveal its backroom dealings with pharmaceutical company executives.
Similarly, if Democrats are so intent on promoting transparency in politics, will they be asking PhRMA head Billy Tauzin to appear in the organization’s campaign commercials to “stand by his ad?” PhRMA’s latest ad campaign does not include a personal appearance by the CEO of the organization – which Democrats’ “reform” legislation (S. 3295, H.R. 5175) attempts to require. So will Democrats who co-sponsor or vote for the campaign finance legislation request that Billy Tauzin appear in any ads sponsored by PhRMA, consistent with the spirit of the legislation they support – or will they, like the Administration, continue to obscure from the American people the backroom dealings that led Big Pharma to endorse the Democrat health care takeover?