Recent California TV and radio ads campaigning "Yes on 78/No on 79", claim, "The list of groups saying Yes to 78 grows bigger every day."
What those ads aren't stating is that many on that list are getting big bucks to "say Yes to 78".
From the LA Times:
Well-heeled campaigns have always bought space on mailed brochures. Some have paid people who offered testimonials.
But the campaign led by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Assn. and funded by the nation's biggest drug manufacturers is pushing the practice to new levels.
"They are clearly going beyond the traditional TV, radio and slate mailers," said Robert M. Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies, which has joined with the California Healthcare Foundation to analyze the Proposition 78 and 79 efforts. "The question is, are endorsements up for sale or are the endorsements coming first? ... We won't know the answer."
More below...
Current ballot initiative scorecard:
Big drug companies
(Yes on 78/No on 79) = $76,000,000
Campaign for Yes on 79 = $503,000
In case you are not up on all the CA ballot initiatives facing Bear State voters Tuesday, Props 78 and 79 are competing efforts to prevent capping prescription drug prices (78) or conversely, to enforce lower cost drugs for Californians by using the state's purchasing power to negotiate prices.
Advocates for 79 assert that it will lower prices for twice as many needy patients than 78, which relies only on voluntary programs by the drug industry.
Drug companies are shameless. They have the game well rigged in Washington D.C. with their compliant puppets in both parties. (Refer to Marcia Angell's The Truth About the Drug Companies, now in paperback).
But back to the blatant influence and endorsement buying:
The drug industry's campaign also has given $100,000 to Voter Education and Registration Action, a campaign committee that has distributed mailers supporting the drug industry's position.
State Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) helped create Voter Education, and his campaign office shares an address and phone number with it. He is one of 12 statewide campaign co-chairs.
Mary Boyle, spokeswoman for Common Cause in Washington, D.C., said campaigns that pay for endorsements give voters the false impression that they have more support than they do.
"It is very deceptive," Boyle said, calling the practice akin to "buying access and influence."
If you are a California voter, set the right precedent for the nation and tell the drug companies their dollars can't buy your vote.