Daschle lobby ties bump Obama vow

[Maikeru-sama]

Daschle lobby ties bump Obama vow
By CHRIS FRATES | 11/30/08 7:02 AM EST



Barack Obama’s expected pick of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be secretary of health and human services bumps up against the president-elect’s pledge to rid the White House of special interests.

The former Democratic senator from South Dakota is a special policy adviser for the lobbying law firm Alston & Bird. And in his three years there, the firm has earned more than $16 million representing some of the health care industry’s most powerful interests before the department he’s in line to lead.

Daschle is not himself a lobbyist. But he has advised the firm’s clients on health care issues, according to the firm’s website.

His work as a paid adviser appears to run counter to Obama’s pledge to “free the executive branch from special interest influence.” No political appointee, Obama’s transition team has declared, “will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years.”

As health and human services secretary, Daschle would oversee myriad regulations, ranging from the drugs that can come to market to Medicare and Medicare reimbursements.

“We can’t figure out any way that he would qualify to be secretary of health and human services under the policy that [Obama] has laid out,” said Taylor Lincoln, editor of Becoming44.org, the blog of government watchdog group Public Citizen.

Daschle’s office referred questions to Obama’s transition aides, who said his “work at Alston & Bird does not present a bar to his service in the transition.”

“We are still in the process of structuring the ethics rules for an Obama administration, but it's clear that those rules would require recusal from any regulation or issue at Alston that he actually worked on,” said transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. “We will meet every commitment made during the campaign.”

And that suggests that Daschle may well have to remove himself from some HHS issues because they were before his law firm.

Alston & Bird traded off of Daschle’s credentials, boasting on the firm’s website that its “significant advantage” comes from employing Daschle and Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, both of whom championed health care causes and sat on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees some health care reform.

Other than the few details available online, Daschle’s role at the law firm is sketchy. Neither he nor Obama’s transition team has publicly disclosed the extent to which Daschle’s work put him in the middle of health care policy debates. And because Daschle did not work as a lobbyist, his clients are not publicly disclosed.

But it’s clear that his firm did a significant amount of health care work. Lobbying disclosures show that from 2005, when Daschle was hired, to this September, Alston & Bird represented pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, nursing homes, health care providers and a pharmacy benefit manager.

During that period, the company made at least $16 million lobbying HHS and its entities — the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to records filed with the Senate.

In fact, the law firm did the majority of its HHS lobbying working to influence the administrators of Medicare and Medicaid, records show.

For instance, the Kidney Care Council, an association of a dozen kidney dialysis providers, paid the firm $520,000 in 2006 to lobby Medicare and Medicaid, among others, on “issues pertaining to the Medicare Modernization Act.” From 2005 to 2008, the council paid the firm a total of almost $1.3 million, according to public records.

Another big spender was Health South. One of the nation’s largest health care providers, the company paid Alston & Bird nearly $1.5 million to lobby HHS and Medicare and Medicaid on its behalf.

The firm also represented the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association, pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, and the pharmaceutical companies Roche, Bayer Healthcare and Abbott, among others.

Obama’s pick of Daschle is not the first time the president-elect has had to carefully navigate his pledge to bar special interests from the White House. His choice of anti-tobacco lobbyist Bill Corr to help lead his HHS transition team appeared to break an Obama rule that prevents lobbyists from serving in policy areas they have worked to influence within the past year.

The Obama camp defended the choice, saying it did not violate the restrictions.

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[DIAF]

Is anyone, at all, surprised. Well, I know a lot of democrats are (ESPECIALLY progressives) because they bought into all the HOPE AND CHANGE business thinking that ultra-left liberalism had finally won, but it turns out that Obama is just a regular 'ol democrat. I love it.

As much as I hate Tom Daschle, this is good news for everyone else because its a signal that UHC is all but off the table for at least the next 8 years.

[Maikeru-sama]

This is the one of the reason I didn't vote for Barack Obama.

Sure, technically, the guy isn't a lobbyist but he is being paid by lobbyists.

I could see if there were only a handful of people to choose from, but I bet there are alot more qualified individuals not being paid by lobbyists that Barack Obama could have chosen.

[trickblue]

Originally Posted by Maikeru-sama

This is the one of the reason I didn't vote for Barack Obama.

Sure, technically, the guy isn't a lobbyist but he is being paid by lobbyists.

I could see if there were only a handful of people to choose from, but I bet there are alot more qualified individuals not being paid by lobbyists that Barack Obama could have chosen.

Daschle's wife is also a very powerful lobbyist in DC...

[Maikeru-sama]

Originally Posted by trickblue

Daschle's wife is also a very powerful lobbyist in DC...

Didn't know that.

I will be patient and give the guy a chance like I gave George W. Bush, but some of his choices have been very interesting.

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by Maikeru-sama

Didn't know that.

I will be patient and give the guy a chance like I gave George W. Bush, but some of his choices have been very interesting.

His choices so far i've liked (about as much as I can) because its basically going to be Clinton Administration Part II. I can live with that. At least he's not appointing progressives, thank god.

[Maikeru-sama]

Originally Posted by DIAF

His choices so far i've liked (about as much as I can) because its basically going to be Clinton Administration Part II. I can live with that. At least he's not appointing progressives, thank god.

But why not bring in some fresh blood?

I understand there are few people who have the experience to do those jobs, but the people he is filling his cabinet with at some point and time didn't have any experience.

These are all political favors.

And again, Barack Obama campaigned heavily as a Anti-Iraq War Candidate, but he chooses Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, who as a U.S. Senator voted for the Iraq War Resolution.

This is why I keep saying all all the issues, Ron Paul was hands down the best candidate. He actually votes the way he preaches.

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by Maikeru-sama

This is why I keep saying all all the issues, Ron Paul was hands down the best candidate. He actually votes the way he preaches.

Yeah, except for that whole not liking Black people thing, and his fundie religious zealotry.

[Maikeru-sama]

Originally Posted by DIAF

Yeah, except for that whole not liking Black people thing, and his fundie religious zealotry.

Too bad Nelson Linder of the Austin, TX branch of the NAACP came out stated that Ron Paul wasn't a racists and that he had known the guy for 22 years.

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by Maikeru-sama

Too bad Nelson Linder of the Austin, TX branch of the NAACP came out stated that Ron Paul wasn't a racists and that he had known the guy for 22 years.

Oh well, then, that settles it! Forget all of that racist stuff that was printed in my newsletter! I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND! See! Here he is! Black people love me!

[Maikeru-sama]

Originally Posted by DIAF

Oh well, then, that settles it! Forget all of that racist stuff that was printed in my newsletter! I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND! See! Here he is! Black people love me!

He didn't write that garbage even though it appeared in a publication with his name on it and one that he never edited himself. Furthermore, it was written by a ghostwriter and it is 10 years old. It only came up because he had to be destroyed by the MSM.

Also, you obviously don't know how the NAACP operates, members of their organization wouldn't come out and publicly support the guy if there was any real substantial evidence that he is a racists.

[zrinkill]

I also heard that Ron Paul is a Fan of Tony Romo.

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by Maikeru-sama

It only came up because he had to be destroyed by the MSM.

VAST CONSPIRACY TO TEAR DOWN THE ONLY MAN FOR THE JOB am i right?

Please. Ron Paul certainly didn't need any help.

I guess conspiracies are just par for the course for Ron Paul supporters, though. I saw so many 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB and other various truther signs at Ron Paul rallies near my house that it ceased to be amusing and turned a little scary.

[Maikeru-sama]

Originally Posted by DIAF

VAST CONSPIRACY TO TEAR DOWN THE ONLY MAN FOR THE JOB am i right?

Please. Ron Paul certainly didn't need any help.

I guess conspiracies are just par for the course for Ron Paul supporters, though. I saw so many 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB and other various truther signs at Ron Paul rallies near my house that it ceased to be amusing and turned a little scary.

[Bach]

Truth be told, Daschle was one of my favorite reindeer.