Big Pharma Contributed to Medicare Ads

[Disclaimer: This post was first published on Coleen Rowley's campaign weblog.]

All this month, we've run a series of pieces on the Medicare Bamboozle, a series which came about as a response to recent television ads paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce praising John Kline, Mark Kennedy and others for their support of the abysmal Medicare Part D legislation.

Only it turns out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wasn't the only organization footing the bill for these ads. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the pharmaceutical industry, the true beneficiaries of the Medicare bill, also contributed an unspecified amount to the ad campaign:

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.

Given the truly unprecedented and broadly-based chicanery used to pass the bill in the first place, it's hardly surprising that Big Pharma is still quietly pumping money into promoting this pork-laden bill and the legislators who passed it.

If you're not familiar with the whole sordid tale of the Medicare Bamboozle, our treatment of it is available here:

1. The Chamber of Commerce and its support for Kline and Kennedy.
2. The worst piece of legislation ever enacted.
3. The Republican culture of corruption in microcosm.
4. John Kline's bold stand and subsequent crumbling.

Instead of a near-trillion dollar giveaway to drug companies masquerading as a prescription drug benefit, Coleen Rowley supports universal health care. She also supports comprehensive ethics reform, because an ethical Congress never would have passed this disaster of a bill in the first place.