Who's behind it? You ought to ask "Who's for it"
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Two firms that received $343.3 million to handle advertising for Barack Obama’s White House run last year have profited from
his top priority as president by taking on his push for health-care overhaul.
One is AKPD Message and Media, the Chicago-based firm headed by David Axelrod until he left last Dec. 31 to serve as a senior adviser to the
president. Axelrod was Obama’s top campaign strategist and is now helping sell the health-care plan. The other firm is Washington-based GMMB
Campaign Group, where partner Jim Margolis was also an Obama strategist.
This year, AKPD and GMMB received $12 million in advertising business from Healthy Economy Now, a coalition that includes the Washington-based
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, that is seeking to build support for a health-care overhaul, said the
coalition’s spokesman, Jeremy Van Ess.
Hiring Obama’s campaign advisers makes sense, said Julius Hobson, a senior policy adviser in the Washington office of the St. Louis-based law firm,
Bryan Cave LLP.
“If you’re in support of the president, then you use the people he used,” said Hobson, 61, who teaches a graduate course in lobbying at George
Washington University in Washington.
Coalition
HEN’s other members, according to its Web site, are the AARP, the biggest advocacy organization for retirees; the Advanced Medical
Technology Association; the Business Roundtable; Families USA; the Service Employees International Union, all based in
Washington, and the American Medical Association based in Chicago. PhRMA represents 28 drugmakers, including New York-based Pfizer Inc. and
London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
Larry Grisolano, a partner at AKPD, said his firm and GMMB are splitting the fees on the $12 million campaign, though neither firm would specify its
take. In an e-mail, Margolis declined to comment.
Grisolano said an interview that the firm’s history with Obama made it “kind of a logical place to go” for the health- plan ad work.
...
Axelrod was president and sole shareholder of AKPD from 1985 until he sold his interest after Obama’s victory, government records show. The firm
owes Axelrod $2 million, which it’s due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. Axelrod’s son, Michael, still works there. He
didn’t return a phone call. The firm’s Web site continues to feature David Axelrod’s work on the Obama campaign.
...
Bloomberg
(Meanwhile,
AARP is still trying to figure out why 60,000
subscribers quit on them since July)
So... if the Medical industry is backing the protesters... why does the Bloomberg article seem to state other wise?
Its real simple people. The system is bloated due to unnecessary tests and procedures brought on by a massive fear of coming up on the short end of
the stick if you get sued for malpractice. Medical Insurance is just one facet... there is also malpractice insurance. That's costly, and in order
to stay out of court.. you have to take precautions.
We need Tort reform, not more CRYPTIC and ARCANE legislation.
