McCain did receive money from a lobbyist at the industry’s other main trade association, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO): Alan Eisenberg gave $2,300. Two other BIO lobbyists gave to Clinton: Tricia Brooks contributed $1,200 and Eli Joseph gave $1,000. BIO Senior Vice President Scott Whitaker gave $2,300 to his old boss, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (R).
The top executives and in-house lobbyists at the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies also favored candidates other than McCain.
Amgen Chairman, President and CEO Kevin Sharer is the only executive from those firms so far who has given money to McCain. Sharer also gave $4,600 to Clinton and $2,300 to Romney.
Likewise, just two lobbyists employed by top-10 companies gave to McCain. Pfizer’s Anthony Principi, the former Veterans Affairs secretary, has campaigned with McCain and given $2,300 (he also gave $1,000 to Dodd), and Lilly’s Sonya Sotak gave McCain, her former boss, $1,500.
Big Pharma’s anxiety about McCain largely stems from three things.
McCain is a vocal proponent of lifting restrictions on mass imports of cheaper pharmaceuticals from other countries, such as Canada. McCain also has voted to repeal a prohibition against the government stepping into drug price negotiations between manufacturers and the companies that run Medicare’s prescription drug benefit.
But McCain’s biggest sin, in Big Pharma’s eyes, is the rhetorical battering he regularly gives the industry. During a Republican primary debate in South Carolina in January — in a moment now infamous among pharmaceutical insiders — McCain sparred with Romney over the drug industry.
Romney cautioned McCain against portraying drug makers as “the big bad guys.” McCain shot back: “Well, they are.”
Clinton and Obama employ rhetoric similar to McCain’s and have the same basic positions on drug imports and Medicare price negotiations. Moreover, the two Democrats are considered much more likely than McCain to push hard on a major overhaul of the entire healthcare system.
The flow of campaign cash from pharma to the Democratic front-runners in part reflects a trend seen this year in the industry’s contributions to members of Congress. So far this cycle, all Democratic and all Republican congressional campaigns have gotten about $5.7 million each, a sharp shift from the two-thirds advantage the GOP traditionally enjoys.
Because Clinton’s and Obama’s positions on pharmaceutical issues represent the Democratic mainstream, the industry knows what to expect, a Republican drug industry lobbyist said. “McCain is less predictable all across the board than Mrs. Clinton or Barack Obama,” said the lobbyist, who has contributed to McCain.
With Democrats poised to increase their congressional majority come November, Senate Republicans would be the only true obstacle to a Democratic president and his or her allies on Capitol Hill. Though few Republicans would hope for that outcome, it would serve to unify congressional Republicans.
If, on the other hand, McCain occupies the White House and is willing to make deals with congressional Democrats, especially his close friends in the upper chamber, Senate Republicans would find it politically tricky to defy the leader of their party.
Nevertheless, the GOP lobbyist said, the drug industry’s operatives in Washington will come around to McCain as November gets closer and the prospects of a Democratic presidency become more real. What’s more, these lobbyists will begin to feel pressure from McCain’s camp and Republicans in Congress to get on board.
In the end, the lobbyists said, drug industry people might simply grow more comfortable with McCain’s positions.
“Regardless of some of his views that I don’t agree with, I think he’s going to be a pro-market president,” the lobbyist said. “I think he’s more pro-market than most people give him credit for,” the lobbyist added, noting that McCain’s plan to address the uninsured is market-oriented.
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