About bleeping time, and good for them.
Given the choice of protecting senior citizens or his Big Pharma corporate cash cows, Carper chose the bundles of campaign cash. His ‘spokesperson’ tries to explain it:
AstraZeneca, the global drug maker with U.S. headquarters in Fairfax, was the top contributor to Carper’s leadership political action committee, First State PAC, between the 2005 and 2010 fundraising cycles, with $30,000 in donations, according to opensecrets.org. During the same period, the company ranked second among contributors to his campaign and leadership PAC combined.
Carper spokeswoman Bette Phelan noted the company employs roughly 5,500 people at its Delaware facilities.
No word on whether Phelan noted the number of Delawareans without health insurance, or if Phelan noted the number of Delawareans who would benefit by this funding.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s not the story. Carper’s lengthy and undistinguished career as a corporate whore is well-documented here and elsewhere. I believe that the story is that the News-Journal, still the last best hope for holding people accountable, has FINALLY taken note of that fact.
Big thumbs-up to Nicole Gaudiano of the Journal’s Washington Bureau and, yes, to the editors who chose not to bury this story.
More, please!