Greg Walden gets boatloads of money from PACs

There is a $3,700,000 elephant in the room.

Lets talk about it. 

Sometimes the interests of an industry are in conflict with the interests of taxpayers and citizens.

Some think the donations compromised him..

First the simple facts.

Of 435 Congressmen, Greg Walden is the #1 recipient of PAC money from drug companies. 

He is also number one in donations from Medical Device Manufacturers, Health Care providers and the health care industry generally. Walden's committee oversees that industry.

See for yourself:  Click the black tabs for Industries and PACs

Some people think it compromises his loyalty to his district. 

PAC money can be given--or withheld. Taxpayers and voters have different interests from drug companies. The companies want drug prices kept high. Drug companies don't want Medicare to demand volume discounts. They want long patent protection before the drug goes generic. They want easy and expedited clinical trials. Citizens and taxpayers generally want the opposite. 

The PACs of companies Walden oversees are giving money for a reason. They want a congressman who represents their interests. This creates a conflict and opportunity for moral compromise.

How does Walden explain this? He doesn't. 

There is actually a simple explanation available to Walden: agreement.. He could say he agrees with the drug companies, that he sincerely believes that America is better off with high drug prices and long patent protections, and that he is voting both his conscience and what he considers to be the interests of the public and taxpayers. 

This isn't farfetched. The drug lobby gives him awards. We don't consider it strange that Walden presumably agrees wholeheartedly with the NRA and considers their positions to be in the national interest, so he votes their way and therefore receives NRA money. Why not drug companies, too? There need be no moral compromise if he agrees with the drug companies.

There is another explanation available to Walden: custom. He could say that the money he gets from drug companies are an exercise in a long-established DC custom of tribute to power. PACs buy generalized good will. Consider it a ritual, like calling Members of Congress "Honorable." It would be like the scene in The Godfather where the mafioso put wedding gifts in the purse of the daughter of Don Corleone. The gifts are a sign of respect.  

There is a third explanation available: talent. Walden could assert that he gets all that money because he is, frankly, a very able and high quality legislator of the kind purely public spirited people wish to keep in office. It isn't about being on their side, not at all. Quality rises to the top, and the drug companies want to reward good independent thinkers.

There is a fourth explanation available: everybody does it. He could say everyone raises money from their policy allies and no big deal. Besides, it is all reported, and therefore the public is given fair warning notice of potential compromise and influence. Presumably an alert citizenry and robust media are on the lookout and would call foul if they see something.

There are problems with these arguments so Walden is not making them. He would not want to say he supports drug companies over taxpayers, nor that he is chest deep in the swamp. 

Better to say nothing, and not enough is being said about this, which is why this blog has raised the issue. Public reporting of contributions is supposed to alert the public to conflicts. 

Media treats the issue as a horserace. 

For their own reasons, the media is silent about Walden's contributions except to announce them like a jackpot of success in campaigning. They have been silent, too, about the evolution of Walden from the moderate, empathetic Oregon congressman into a DC powerhouse and fundraising titan whose committee shepherded the effort to reduce Medicaid access for the working poor and end protection for people with pre-existing conditions--a direct contradiction of what he said repeatedly in local Town Halls.

Walden changed. What happened? Possibly the change simply reflects his big chairmanship, with its attendant responsibility to be a teammate in the GOP caucus. That had been the position of this blog.

Walden in Medford: protect access.

But I have also been startled by the source and amount of money Walden raises from the drug and health care industry. He has responsibilities to the GOP caucus to raise money and spread it around. The inherent moral compromise was to become captured by the industry, a friend among patrons, a man worthy of awards, a team player with the drug industry. 

Something happened to Greg Walden.

That is the $3,700,000 elephant in the room.