To paint himself as a reformer during the 2008 Democratic primary, Barack Obama ran a television ad attacking the incestuous relationship between K Street and Capitol Hill. The 30-second spot lambasting “the same old game-playing in Washington” was titled “Billy.”
As in Billy Tauzin.
“The pharmaceutical industry,” Obama says in the ad, “wrote into the prescription drug plan that Medicare could not negotiate with drug companies. You know what? The chairman of the committee who pushed the law through went to work for the pharmaceutical industry making $2 million a year. Imagine that.”
The facts fit into a perfect story line of Washington corruption: Tauzin shepherded through Congress a multibillion-dollar corporate welfare bill for an industry, and the industry rewarded him with a plush lobbying job.
Not that the job is cushy — Tauzin is clearly working pretty hard as chief executive officer and president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Also, Tauzin has a different account of the events.
Congress passed the prescription drug bill in late 2003. In early February 2004, Tauzin announced he would not seek re-election, and that he was resigning his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rumors were already surfacing that he was eyeing the PhRMA slot, and giving up the gavel looked like a way to defuse criticism.
But a month later, Tauzin announced that his doctors had confirmed a diagnosis of cancer in his small intestine. He underwent surgery in March, but things soon got scary. Fevers and discomfort in his pancreas kept him in the hospital for weeks.
Tauzin slowly returned to full health and to Congress, and in December 2004, he made public what Washington had long suspected: His last day in the House would be his first day as CEO of PhRMA. Tauzin credited his post-surgery drug treatment for both his recovery and his choice of jobs.
“I was treated with a miracle drug,” USA Today quoted him as saying. “The question is what I wanted to do with the new life God has given me. This is the mission I want to take on.”
– Timothy P. Carney
