Genentech ghostwrites congressional rhetoric
Excellent story by NYT's Robert Pear. Statements by more than a dozen members of congress weren't their own but were written wholly or partly by lobbyists for Genentech, the biopharm company owned by Roche. The statements were put in the Congressional Record, the official archive of the proceedings of Congress.
Pear queried Gententech for a response:
Asked about the Congressional statements, a lobbyist close to Genentech said: “This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it.”
Well, he's half right. It probably does happen all the time. Why is it a scandal when a politician plagiarizes an author or another politician in a campaign speech but not when a multinational corporation programs more than a dozen Chatty Cathy lawmakers and pulls the string?
Comments
Jay,
Remember how Tom Sawyer tricked his friends to pay him to whitewash the fence he was supposed to do as a chore? Washington politicians not only sell out their vote but they get lobbyists to pay them (I mean to pay their campaigns) to do the hard work of writing legislation for them! Of course the great whitewashing is that this corruption happens no matter which party is in the majority.
Posted by: Dan | November 14, 2009 5:39 PM
I just like to keep this in perspective by remembering that Roche has paid the 2nd highest criminal fine in history for illegal price fixing practices.
Posted by: Scott | November 14, 2009 8:36 PM
Why condemn only corporations?
How about the trial lawyer's bar in Annapolis?
Or MedChi?
Or the NEA?
Or (insert any large organization that lobbies the government here)?
Posted by: Gunpowder Chronicle | November 16, 2009 3:32 AM