Drug Company Lobbyists Back Coakley in Race for Kennedy Senate Seat

(MoneyWatch)  Drug company lobbyists are becoming controversial in Democrat Martha Coakley's run for Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat. More than a dozen of her campaign fundraisers are pharmaceutical company lobbyists who have 10 drug companies (and PhRMA) as clients.

Coakley, the state's attorney general, is in a tight race against Republican state Sen. Scott Brown. The Washington Examiner put together this list of her fundraisers and their clients:

• Thomas Boggs, Patton Boggs: Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Chuck Brain, Capitol Hill Strategies: Amgen, BIO, Merck, PhRMA
• Susan Brophy, Glover Park Group: Blue Cross, Pfizer
• Steven Champlin, Duberstein Group: AHIP, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis
• Licy Do Canto, Raben Group: Amgen
• Gerald Cassidy, Cassidy & Associates: U. Mass Memorial Health Care
• David Castagnetti, Mehlman, Vogel, Castagnetti: Abbot Labs, AHIP, Astra-Zenaca, General Electric, Humana, Merck, PhRMA.
• Steven Elmendorf, Elmendorf Strategies: Medicines Company, PhRMA, United Health
• Shannon Finley, Capitol Counsel: Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Blue Cross, GE, PhRMA, Sanofi-Aventis.
• Heather Podesta, Heather Podesta & Partners: Cigna, Eli Lilly, HealthSouth
• Tony Podesta, Podesta Group: Amgen, GE, Merck, Novartis.
• Robert Raben, Raben Group: Amgen, GE.

As the Examiner puts it:

If Coakley pulls it out, this is the crowd that will have brought her here. If health-care reform passes, this is the crew that will have won.