1 Boring Old Man

Parties for the Parrots!
Hoopla for Whores!
Shindigs for Shills!
Biotech Lobby Rewards Reliable Reps
By emptywheel
11/17/2009

Remember those Republicans and Democrats who took Roche/Genentech’s script and inserted it, barely touched, into the Congressional Record? It will surprise none of you that there were parties involved.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) was scheduled to attend a breakfast fundraiser at the Phoenix Park Hotel on May 7. The event was hosted by lobbyists David Jones and former Senate Finance Committee staff director James Gould, who count Roche as clients.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) held a fundraising breakfast at Bistro Bis on September 17. Lobbyist hosts included Darin Gardner and Anna Sagely, who lobby exclusively for Hoffman-La Roche, as well as lobbyists Mat Lapinski, Chris Myrick, and Christine Pellerin, who have Roche on their client lists.

Darin Gardner and Christine Pellerin, legislative assistant to former Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX), also hosted Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) for breakfast at Bistro Bis, also in May of this year.

Finally, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) held a cocktails and cigars fundraiser for Women Impacting the Nation, a project of her leadership committee Common Sense Common Solutions, on September 21. More than two dozen lobbyists hosted the event, four of whom represent Roche: Darin Gardner, Christine Pellerin, Anna Sageley and Mat Lapinkski–the same lobbyists responsible for the Conaway and Poe events.

The same post notes that Roche/Genentech has hosted parties for 26 members of Congress since their merger in March. This Congressing thing sounds like great fun! You get invited to all sorts of swell parties, people shower you with money, and they even do your homework for you. A lark! So long as you don’t care about people suffering.