Drug Company Lobbyists Back Coakley in Race for Kennedy Senate Seat
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.
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.