Stop the Drug Makers' Dirty Money Machine!

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Fri, 15 Oct 2004 18:09:54 -0400

" Congress Watchdog " <CONGRESSWATCHDOG

Subject:[CWATCHDOGCFR] Stop the Drug Makers' Dirty Money Machine!

 

 

We have all become familiar with the phrase " 527s " - those shadowy

political groups, such as the recently created " Swift Boat Veterans

for Truth " - that political operatives use to skirt campaign finance

law and dump huge amounts of unregulated special-interest cash into

elections.

 

Public Citizen has discovered that the big pharmaceutical corporations

appear to have been just as sneaky. They apparently used a small

clutch of non-profit seniors groups willing to be " hired " as a front

to dump millions of dollars into closely contested Congressional races

in 2002.

This was how they influenced the vote on the lousy 2003 Medicare

prescription drug bill that gave them billions of tax dollar subsidies

while stiffing consumers - and unless someone steps in to stop it,

they could do it again in this election!

 

Click here to urge your Representative and Senator to stop the secret

flow of corporate money into the 2004 election - now!

 

http://action.citizen.org/pc/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6548131

 

Background Information

 

A ground-breaking new report by Public Citizen reveals how corporate

interests have actually been funding supposed social welfare non-profit

organizations - called 501©(4) organizations in the tax code - as

vehicles to affect elections. The Internal Revenue Service allows such

groups to make substantial political expenditures, but they are

expressly prohibited from making electoral activities their primary

purpose. Yet this prohibited activity is exactly what the new Public

Citizen investigation uncovered. (The full report can be viewed at

http://www.stealthpacs.org/documents/092004Phrma.pdf.)

 

One of the worst examples comes from the pharmaceutical industry's

trade association, PhRMA, which appears to have given $41 million to

four such organizations in the 2002 election to elect candidates who

would support their primary legislative concern - the Medicare

prescription drug bill.

 

These four " stealth PACS " - United Seniors Association, 60 Plus

Association, Seniors Coalition and America 21 - didn't have to report

the names of their secret donors or how the groups spent their money

to influence elections.

 

And once again, in the 2004 election, some non-profit groups are

engaged in electoral activity to support corporate interests, not your

interests. Public Citizen has filed a complaint with the IRS (which

can be read at http://www.stealthpacs.org/documents/092004SeniorIRS.pdf),

and we need your letters to members of Congress to back us up, and

apply pressure for an IRS investigation to stop these election abuses.

Thanks for helping us out!

 

To send a letter to your member of Congress, click here

 

http://action.citizen.org/pc/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6548131

 

If you would like more information about Public Citizen, please visit

us at www.citizen.org

 

If you would like to support our work protecting democracy, health and

safety, go to

 

http://www.citizen.org/join/503cCW

 

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