October 31, 2006

Rep. Barton's Money

From a Mom who is paying attention:

Dear Ginger,
Have been following the Rep. Barton story closely. Did a quick scan of the campaign contributions to his Congressman Joe Barton Committee via the FEC filings.

Thought you'd be interested in the following:
Alcon PAC (contact lens solution/used to have thimerosal): $16,000
Allergan PAC (ditto): $30,000
Merck: $26,000
Novartis: $8000
Pfizer: $24,000
GlaxoSmithKline PAC: $19,000

That's just a quick scan and doesn't include many other medical sounding contributors, including health insurance companies, etc. It doesn't include individual contributions, either.

So, that goes a long way toward explaining who controls Joe Barton's opinion of Autism legislation.

Best,
Angelique


UPDATE: Anne Dachel has been digging too:

Texas Congressionman Joe Barton's motives for holding up the Combating Autism Act are understandable by examining his list of campaign contributers. Rep. Barton is pharma's friend and money is not given out like this without expecting something in return.

That return seems to be to stall the CAA, a bill which would provide for research into the possible environmental causes of autism. That would of course include the unchecked use of thimerosal (mercury) in vaccines.

Does Joe Barton represent the people of his district or the drug industry? What do his actions say?

Anne

Donations to Re-election committee Joseph Barton R-Tx 6
http://query. nictusa.com/ cgi-bin/can_ give/H4TX06117

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/H4TX06117



Combating Autism Act of 2005
5/18/2005:
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Donations to Re-election committee Joseph Barton R-Tx 6
http://query. nictusa.com/ cgi-bin/can_ give/H4TX06117

ABBOTT LABORATORIES EMPLOYEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/26/2006
4000.00
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF BIOANALYSTS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
05/05/2006 4000.00
AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL PAC
09/26/2006 2000.00
AMERICAN DENTAL POLITICAL ACTION CMTE.
06/21/2006 5000.00
AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION PAC
08/08/2006 2000.00
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/14/2006
2500.00
AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC INFORMATION ASSOCIATION - OSTEOPATHIC PAC
06/23/2006 5000.00
AMERICAN PHARMACISTS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
09/07/2006 2000.00
AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
06/13/2006 3000.00
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY INC
09/12/2006 2000.00
BAYER CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
05/19/2006 1000.00
BAYER CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/31/2006 2000.00
CONSUMER HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS ASSOC PAC 09/19/2006
3000.00
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/24/2006
1500.00
GENESIS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
08/01/2006 3500.00
GENTIVA HEALTH SERVICES INC PAC GENTIVAPAC
08/25/2006 2000.00
GENZYME CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GENZ-PAC)
07/16/2006 1000.00
KINDRED HEALTHCARE INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/31/2006 5000.00
MEDIMMUNE INC. EMPLOYEE POLITICAL AWARENESS COMMITTEE 05/16/2006
1500.00
MERCK & CO. INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/17/2006
5000.00
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHAIN DRUG STORES, INC. PAC
09/07/2006 2000.00
PFIZER INC. PAC 06/07/2006
1000.00
QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INCORPORATED POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/13/2006
2000.00
SANOFI PASTEUR POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
05/02/2006 1000.00
ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
09/20/2006 1000.00

Donations to the Texas Freedom Fund (Joe Barton's Political Action
committee
http://herndon1. sdrdc.com/ cgi-bin/com_ rcvd/C00340661

AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE- HEARING ASSOCIATION PAC 09/27/2006
1500.00
PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA 09/22/2006
2500.00
BLUEPAC - BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION PAC 08/31/2006
5000.00
GENESIS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
08/26/2006 4000.00
ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
08/17/2006 2500.00
CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
08/3/2006 2000.00
SUN HEALTHCARE GROUP INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/24/2006 2500.00
CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/19/2006 2000.00
MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/17/2006 1500.00
AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
07/13/2006 2500.00
ALLERGAN INC POLITICAL ACTION COMM FOR EMPLOYEES (APACE) 05/22/2006
2500.00
COMMUNITY ONCOLOGY ALLIANCE PAC 05/22/2006
3000.00
LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC
05/22/2006 -1500.00
LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC
05/22/2006 4000.00
SMITHKLINE BEECHAM CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
05/4/2006 2500.00
NOVARTIS CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/28/2006
2500.00
ABBOTT LABORATORIES EMPLOYEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/27/2006
5000.00
LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC
03/23/2006 1500.00
PFIZER INC. PAC 03/23/2006
2500.00
JOHNSON & JOHNSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
03/22/2006 2500.00
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/17/2006
2500.00
MERCK & CO. INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
03/17/2006 5000.00
PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA
03/16/2006 2500.00
WYETH GOOD GOVERNMENT FUND
03/13/2006 2500.00
AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
03/7/2006 2500.00
SCHERING-PLOUGH CORPORATION BETTER GOVERNMENT FUND
03/2/2006 5000.00
ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
02/20/2006 2500.00
CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
02/10/2006 1000.00
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED PAC (UNITED FOR HEALTH) 02/9/2006
5000.00

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

UPDATE: Checking opensecrets.org, I see that Big Pharma has given $1.8 million to the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee that Barton chairs in this election cycle. The biggest recipient, next to Barton, is Nathan Deal (R-GA), who currently chairs the Health Subcommittee. Both Barton and Deal have huge fundraising advantages over their opponents and it doesn't seem like either of their races is very competitive. Best we can hope for is for the Democrats to take control of the house, so they will take control of the committee. John Dingell (D-MI) is the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Interesting side note, other Health Industry contributors to Barton include The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the ADA. Maybe we should ask them what they think about Barton sitting on this legislation.

Rob said...

Nathan Deal is the congressman who asked the House to suspend the rules and pass the CAA via voice vote...