Drug companies donated millions to California lawmakers before vaccine debate

In this Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015 file photo, a pediatrician holds a dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine at his practice in Northridge, Calif.Sacramento Bee – by Jim Miller

A subplot to the vociferous debate over the student vaccination bill moving through California’s Capitol is opponents’ allegations that the effort reflects the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.

Critics of Senate Bill 277, which would eliminate the personal belief and religious exemptions for schoolchildren, accuse the measure’s supporters in the Legislature of doing the bidding of donors who make vaccines and other pharmaceuticals.  

The bill’s proponents and drug companies dismiss the charge. The companies’ lobbyist filings for the first quarter of this year as well as legislative committee reports show no connection between the pharmaceutical industry and SB 277.

“We aren’t pushing this bill behind the scenes,” said Priscilla VanderVeer, the senior director for communications for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, the industry’s main trade group. The group has no taken no position on SB 277, although the group has long backed vaccinations as sound public health policy, she said.

Other legislation has a more direct bearing on the industry, and it is an active political player. Pharmaceutical companies and their trade groups gave more than $2 million to current members of the Legislature in 2013-2014, about 2 percent of the total raised, records show. Nine of the top 20 recipients are either legislative leaders or serve on either the Assembly or Senate health committees. Receiving more than $95,000, the top recipient of industry campaign cash is Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat and doctor who is carrying the vaccine bill.

In addition, the industry donated more than $500,000 to outside campaign spending groups that helped elect some current members last year.

Leading pharmaceutical companies also spent nearly $3 million more during the 2013-2014 legislative session lobbying the Legislature, the governor, the state pharmacists’ board and other agencies, according to state filings.

TOP DRUG MAKER DONORS

State records show that pharmaceutical companies and trade groups donated more than $2 million to current lawmakers in 2013-2014.

Pharmaceutical company or group Campaign donations to current state legislators Direct lobbying payments
Johnson & Johnson Inc. $86,300 $583,926
GlaxoSmithKline $32,250 $561,479
Eli Lilly & Company $193,100 $280,863
Gilead Sciences Inc. $77,600 $196,732
Biocom PAC $30,000 $223,224
Sanofi $48,000 $172,500
Abbott Laboratories $173,600 $42,500
Astellas Pharma US Inc. $47,900 $161,440
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LLP $157,300 $49,583
Merck & Co. Inc. $91,600 $108,204
California Pharmacists Association $53,389 $134,176
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers Assn. $137,950 $45,455
Eisai Inc. $92,000 $88,000
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company $32,300 $144,101
Pfizer $150,600 $21,250
AbbVie $138,425 $25,530
Amgen $105,600 $45,455
Allergan USA Inc. $120,100 $22,757
Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. $40,000 $83,348
Pharmacy Professionals of California $32,000 $0

TOP DRUG MAKER RECIPIENTS

Lawmaker Party/District Amount
Sen. Richard Pan* D-Sacramento $95,150
Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins D-San Diego $90,250
Sen. Ed Hernandez* D-Azusa $67,750
Sen. Holly Mitchell* D-Los Angeles $60,107
Assemblyman Brian Maienschein* R-San Diego $59,879
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León D-Los Angeles $56,648
Sen. Isadore Hall D-Compton $52,400
Sen. Jerry Hill D-San Mateo $50,209
Assemblyman Henry Perea D-Fresno $49,550
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber D-San Diego $47,000
Assemblyman Mike Gatto D-Los Angeles $46,491
Assemblywoman Susan A. Bonilla* D-Concord $45,600
Sen. Andy Vidak R-Hanford $42,800
Assemblyman Tom Daly D-Anaheim $40,300
Assemblyman Kevin Mullin D-South San Francisco $38,400
Assemblyman Adam Gray D-Merced $37,000
Assemblyman Rob Bonta* D-Alameda $36,750
Assemblyman Anthony Rendon D-Lakewood $36,200
Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez* D-Los Angeles $33,850
Assemblyman Richard Gordon D-Menlo Park $33,100

*Member of the Assembly or Senate health committees

Source: Bee analysis of secretary of state campaign finance and lobbying reports
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24913978.html#storylink=cpy

3 thoughts on “Drug companies donated millions to California lawmakers before vaccine debate

  1. Congress is nothing more than a gang of blackmailed perverts, and all they’ll ever do is sell themselves to the highest bidder.

    That’s why they’re there. They were set up to run for office by A.I.P.A.C., and they were willing to do as they’re told because every last one of them is a thieving whore, and A.I.P.A.C. has photos of every one of them engaged in sexually perverse behavior.

    They’ll vote to have you injected with poison, vote to have you killed outright, or however else they’re told to vote. No one in D.C. represents you, or even gives a rat’s rectum about what you think, or want.

    Pull your kid out of school. Find someone in your neighborhood with half a brain in his head who’s also unemployed, and set that person up as a babysitter to watch the kids while you’re at work. If a few neighbors also have kids who need babysitting, the sitter can make a living at it. While he’s watching the kids, he can teach them how to read and write. The kids will get a better education, the Jews won’t be able to inject poison into them, and you’ll be helping your local economy.

    Or….. you can keep your kid in school where he’ll be brainwashed, abused, and probably molested by his homosexual gym teacher. (of either gender)

  2. Give Richard Pan and HIS clan a shot of THORAZINE! Put them in Pelican Bay in a strip cell for life…APPLY MORE THORAZINE!

  3. My friend, the Rockefeller owned pharmaceutical industry are the law makers. They just parcel out miniscule amounts of stolen wealth to their minions in government to see that the crime and death proceeds according to plan. Just like the war industry or the health industry or any other fascist corporation in bed with the spineless fools in Washington. And we should all be aware by now who rules the bedroom. But in the end it’s we who are getting ******. It isn’t jewery, it’s Tom Foolery.

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