From Capitol Hill Blue
FUBAR
Drug industry paid for Medicare promotional ads
By DAVID ESPO
Aug 26, 2006, 07:02

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The pharmaceutical industry quietly footed the bill for at least part of a recent multimillion-dollar ad campaign praising lawmakers who support the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, according to political officials.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims credit for the ads, although a spokesman refused repeatedly to say whether it had received any funds from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Several campaign strategists not involved in the ad campaign said no legal issues were raised by the pharmaceutical industry's involvement.

Democrats seized on the disclosure, though, to renew their charge that the program amounts to a Republican-engineered windfall for drug companies.

"There's a civics lesson here from the drug companies. They write checks to protect their GOP friends, and then they write the laws to benefit themselves, all the while doctors are writing prescriptions middle-class Americans can't afford," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the House Democratic campaign organization.

The commercials, airing in 10 states or congressional districts, generally say the local congressman or senator supports the drug program, and that hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries have saved money since its inception earlier this year.

Under the voluntary program, Medicare beneficiaries purchase prescription drug coverage from among competing plans offered by private insurance companies. Monthly premiums cover a fraction of the overall cost of the benefit, and the federal government covers most of the rest.

The insurance companies bargain with drug manufacturers over price, and the cost to consumers has been considerably lower than initially estimated. But in drafting the legislation, Republicans rejected Democratic calls to permit the government to negotiate directly in hopes of pushing down prices further.

The officials who described PhRMA's involvement said they did not know whether the industry had given the Chamber money to cover the entire cost of the ads and other elements of an election-year voter mobilization effort, or merely a portion.

Ken Johnson, a senior vice president at PhRMA, issued a statement that said the organization "works with a variety of groups, including patient advocacy groups and business organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others, to support policies that improve patient access to life-saving medicines."

In a follow-up statement, he added that as a result of the program, "millions of Medicare patients who previously had no prescription drug coverage are now benefiting from substantial discounts negotiated by Medicare drug plans."

He declined to elaborate.

Bill Miller, political director for the Chamber, did not respond to numerous requests for an interview. A spokesman, Eric Wohlschlegel, said, "The Chamber paid for the Medicare ads." But he declined repeatedly to say whether his organization had received any money from PhRMA.

In announcing the program earlier this summer, Miller described a $10 million ad campaign but made no mention of PhRMA.

The episode is reminiscent of another PhRMA-financed ad campaign, this one in May 2002.

At the time, a little-known conservative group, United Seniors Association, announced plans for a multimillion-dollar advertising effort supporting prescription drug legislation that Republicans were drafting. A USA spokesman denied then that PhRMA had picked up the cost. But several political officials said it had, and the drug association confirmed it had made an "unrestricted educational grant" to the seniors' group.

The Chamber's current advertising effort has been marred by errors.

An ad on behalf of Republican Rep. Steve Chabot (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio was pulled from the air after officials realized he had voted against the legislation creating the prescription drug bill.

Commercials backing three other Republicans, Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Sodrel of Indiana and Dave Reichert of Washington, were changed after Democrats pointed out they had not been in Congress the year the legislation passed.

At a news conference earlier in the month, Miller initially denied that either the Pennsylvania or Indiana ads had been changed until reporters showed the revised wording.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press

© Copyright 2005 Capitol Hill Blue

PhRMA Foundation

There is a very close relationship between the government and Mr. Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of PhRMA:

Mr. Billy Tauzin
President and Chief Executive Officer
PhRMA
Washington, DC
06 LC 97 0624

Senate Resolution 1179
By: Senators Johnson of the 1st, Williams of the 19th, Wiles of the 37th and Balfour of the 9th
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A RESOLUTION

Commending Mr. Billy Tauzin; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, Mr. Billy Tauzin has devoted his entire life to serving the public, providing invaluable leadership to his state and his nation throughout his long and distinguished career; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Tauzin received his Bachelor of Arts from Nicholls State University in 1964 and his law degree from Louisiana State University in 1967; and

WHEREAS, he began his political career in the Louisiana State Legislature, where he served in a number of prestigious posts, including as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and chief administration floor leader; his integrity and leadership earned him the respect and admiration of constituents and colleagues, and he was twice named as one of Louisiana's "Ten Best Legislators"; and

WHEREAS, in 1980, Mr. Tauzin was elected to the United States House of Representatives to serve the people of the Third Congressional District of Louisiana; and

WHEREAS, during the course of his long and successful tenure in Congress, Mr. Tauzin held a number of key leadership positions, including chairman of a Merchant Marine Subcommittee that oversaw legislation related to the Exxon Valdez oil spill and chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he worked on many important matters, including natural gas, airline, trucking, and electricity deregulation, the Clean Air Act, Superfund, and the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996; and

WHEREAS, elected as a Democrat, Mr. Tauzin switched to the Republican Party in 1995 and was named Deputy Majority Whip in 1995, making him the first congressman to have been part of the leadership of both major parties in the United States House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, in 2004, after 13 memorable terms in office and a bout with cancer, Mr. Tauzin announced that he would not seek reelection, thus putting an end to an illustrious career in public office; and

WHEREAS, today, Mr. Tauzin serves as president and chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, where he diligently works to promote the vital biopharmaceutical research that is needed to ensure that all Americans will continue to have access to the life-saving miracles of medicine; and

WHEREAS, as a faithful servant to his state and nation and as a tireless advocate for improved health care, Mr. Tauzin has contributed immeasurably to America's progress and prosperity, and it is abundantly fitting and proper for this body to pay tribute to the outstanding work of this extraordinary gentleman.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body join in commending Mr. Billy Tauzin on his lifetime of exceptional service to the American public.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to Mr. Billy Tauzin.

Billy Tauzin
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Wilbert Joseph Tauzin, Jr., also known as Billy Tauzin, (born June 14, 1943), American politician of Cajun descent, was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1980-2005, representing Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.

A lifelong resident of Chackbay, Louisiana, a small town just outside Thibodaux, Tauzin graduated from Nicholls State University in 1964 and earned a law degree from Louisiana State University in 1967. While attending law school, he served as a legislative aide in the Louisiana state senate.

Tauzin began his elective career in 1972, when he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives and served four full terms as a Democrat. In 1979, 3rd District Congressman Dave Treen, Louisiana's first Republican congressman since Reconstruction, was elected the state's first Republican governor since that time. He resigned his House seat on March 10, 1980. Tauzin entered a special election for the seat on May 22, just five months after winning a fifth term in the state house, and won by seven points, taking office that night. He won a full term in November with 85 percent of the vote.

For 15 years, Tauzin was one of the more conservative Democrats in the House. Even though he eventually rose to become an assistant majority whip, he felt shut out by some of his more liberal colleagues. When the Democrats lost control of the House after the 1994 elections, Tauzin was one of the cofounders of the House Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate-to-conservative Democrats. However, on August 8, 1995 Tauzin himself became a Republican, claiming that conservatives were no longer welcome in the Democratic Party. He soon became a majority whip, becoming the only congressman ever to serve in that position for both parties. Regardless of party, Tauzin remained very popular at home. He was reelected 12 more times, all without major-party opposition; the first ten of those completely unopposed.

Tauzin served as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee from 2001 until February 4, 2004 when he announced he wouldn't run for a 13th full term. Tauzin, who has five children by his first marriage, heavily backed his son, Billy Tauzin III, as his replacement, even going so far as to appear in ads which were criticized as blurring the lines on which man was actually running for Congress. In spite of his father's support, the younger Tauzin was defeated.

On January 3, 2005, the same day he left Congress, Tauzin began work as the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, a powerful trade group for pharmaceutical companies. It was reported that they had offered more than a million dollars per year for his services, outbidding the MPAA (L.A. Times, February 9, 2004). Two months earlier, Tauzin had played a key role in shepherding the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill through Congress, which had been criticized by opponents for being too generous to the pharmaceutical industry.

The Drug Lobby and Their Control Over the United States Government