Quick Takes (v42) - State AGs Take Money from Opioid Lawsuit Defendants

Quick Takes

If ever you needed an example of why we need to get money out of politics, you're going to love this one.

I've talked about this a few times, including in this August 2013 post, when I was at my rantiest, and again in August of last year, when I was calmer but just as strong in my belief that we need to really change how this all works.

And here's the story I'm sad to share with you today. Sad, but unsurprised, I guess. It comes from NBC News.

WASHINGTON — The top legal officials in dozens of states are suing drug companies and retailers for their role in the opioid crisis, but as of June both the Republican Attorneys General Association and its Democratic counterpart were still taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from some of those companies.

RAGA, which represents 24 GOP state attorneys general, got a total of $385,000 from defendants and the pharmaceutical trade association PhRMA between Jan. 1, 2019 and June 30, 2019, according to late June filings....

DAGA, which represents 27 officials, got a total of $365,000 from defendants and PhRMA during the same time period...

Really?  The associations of AGs for both parties are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies they're suing for pushing drugs that have killed or addicted tens of thousands of Americans annually?

Really?

The article also shares this comment from DAGA's Sean Rankin:

Whether it's tackling the opioid crisis and holding corporations accountable or taking care of our most vulnerable communities, Democratic attorneys general do the right thing by the law and for the people of their states, full stop. 

Full stop, indeed. Full stop on taking money from people you're suing, that is. (For their part, RAGA did not respond at all.) 

Here's some additional information from the article:

• Donations ramped up in 2015, going from $177K in 2014 to over $600K by 2016 on the RAGA side, and from $75,000 in 2014 to more than $600K in 2017 for DAGA.
• Purdue has not donated to RAGA or DAGA since 2018, but made more than $800,000 in donations to the two groups between 2014 and 2018.
• In the past, opioid defendants have attended private events held by both RAGA and DAGA; top donors to RAGA get invited to exclusive events, whereas on the Dem, donors are allowed, but apparently without a specific dollar amount required.

And, in case you wondered, the RAGA folks are quite proud of their fundraising, even if they don't give a rat about who they take money from. Here's a Fact from the group's website that sums things up nicely:

• RAGA continues to show its fundraising prowess, raising $40M for the 2018 election cycle including $8M in October. By comparison, the Democratic Attorneys General Association raised $24M.

The DAGA website? No chest-thumping there. Actually, they need some serious social media support to help get their message out, if you ask me. But I digress.

I'm reaching out to Tish James, the NY AG, to register my disgust with this unethical practice, to reiterate my contention that only living, breathing human beings should be allowed to contribute money to political candidates, and to encourage her to tell the DAGA to stop taking money from all corporate and industry donors, not just the ones they're suing.  I'll let you know if I hear anything.

And I encourage everyone who respects the role and rights of actual people in the political process to do the same, whether your AG is a Democrat or a Republican.