The Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics provides some very interesting information relating to the money injected in the US political sphere by industries.
Regarding the role played by the pharmaceutical industry in politics funding, I found out two valuable documents:
- Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: Long-Term Contribution Trends
A few remarks:
1/ We all know this already but I’d like to put the stress on it again: the pharmaceutical industry is clearly pro-Republican. Moreover, an interesting trend since 2000: slight increase of campaign givings with a peak in 2002.
2/ In 2000 and 2002, a clear surge in soft money contributions. Note by the Center for Responsive Politics: Soft money contributions to the national parties were not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.
3/ Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb belong to the “top all-time donors” and are clearly supporting the Republicans.
Well, I’d say these data are all the more interesting when looking at the current debate on healthcare in the US and the shift in Congress towards Democrat majority….
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