Today’s New York Times is reporting that the political action committee and lobbyists for Genentech and its parent company Roche provided statements to both Democrats and Republicans, to be entered into official Congressional Record.
According to the Times’ article, Genentech supplied information to one of their lobbyists, Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli & Berzok. The firm used the information to ghost-author statements for representatives, who would often not alter the statements or just barely alter them, making many representatives statements nearly identical.
“We were approached by the lobbyist, who asked if we would be willing to enter a statement in the Congressional Record,” [Robert Brady’s (D-PA) chief of staff, Stanley V. White] said. “I asked him for a draft. I tweaked a couple of words. There’s not much reason to reinvent the wheel on a Congressional Record entry.”
…
In separate statements using language suggested by the lobbyists, Representatives Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri and Joe Wilson of South Carolina, both Republicans, said: “One of the reasons I have long supported the U.S. biotechnology industry is that it is a homegrown success story that has been an engine of job creation in this country. Unfortunately, many of the largest companies that would seek to enter the biosimilar market have made their money by outsourcing their research to foreign countries like India.”
As I’ve said before, lobbyists and special interest groups are driving this health care reform and they’ll be the direct beneficiaries, not the uninsured, underinsured or the down-trodden.
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- Read “The Washington Influence Machine”, By Andy Kroll TomDispatch.com, September 15, 2009
- Read the similar posts listed below
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