Last month, we reported that Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee tasked with authoring healthcare reform legislation, was holding a $2,500-a-head fundraising event with healthcare industry lobbyists and contributors. Here was Lee's video about it:
Top health executives and lobbyists have continued to flock to the senator’s often extravagant fundraising events in recent months. During a Senate break in late June, for example, Baucus held his 10th annual fly-fishing and golfing weekend in Big Sky, Mont., for a minimum donation of $2,500. Later this month comes “Camp Baucus,” a “trip for the whole family” that adds horseback riding and hiking to the list of activities.
To avoid any appearance of favoritism, his aides say, Baucus quietly began refusing contributions from health-care political action committees after June 1. But the policy does not apply to lobbyists or corporate executives, who continued to make donations, disclosure records show.
This is exactly why healthcare reform seems like such a goddamn mess right now. Everyone wants it -- except for people like Baucus and the Republicans who are on the take from the industry they're supposed to be regulating on our behalf.
I've written this before, but it stands repeating: I can't recall another example in modern history when lobbyist and corporate cash has so obviously and vigorously influenced lawmaking. It's all right here in print. The guys tasked with making healthcare more affordable and available are slowing down and muddying the process because they're taking money from the healthcare industry. It's an atrocity.