Money talks. It always has. The New York Times reported today, November 15, that forty-two members of the American House of Representatives were influenced in public presentations by a drug company.
Roche is a giant Swiss drug company. Genetech is an American subsidiary. Lobbyists for the latter were successful in their jobs to have their information distributed from the mouths of our congressmen. The comments were made in speeches or submitted and printed in the Congressional Record. The drug company wrote one version for Republicans and another for Democrats. That's playing both sides. I'm not being critical or condemning, I'm just noting a fact.
The NY Times article quoted an unnamed Genentech lobbyist: “This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it.”
When so many speak with the same or similar words it reminds me of a puppet show. Inherently that looks bad. I have not read all the comments. Maybe it was good, solid information. It looks bad. Good for those lobbyists. They did their job. Is congress doing its job to represent all of us?
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