Healthy Skepticism Library item: 87

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Publication type: news

Walsh , B .
Tauzin turns down Hollywood but weighs new offer: Drug industry may be wooing 13-term congressman
The Times 2004 Jan 24

Full text:

Rep. Billy Tauzin has turned down an offer of more than $1 million a year to be Hollywood’s chief Washington lobbyist but is now considering an even more lucrative job representing drug manufacturers, sources said Friday.

The back-to-back job offers heighten speculation that the 13-term Republican from Chackbay will soon leave Congress to capitalize on his experience and connections in the private sector.

Tauzin was not available for comment, but his spokesman said the 60-year-old congressman would discuss his future with his family and others over the weekend.

“Billy plans to talk to his wife, family members and close friends before deciding what to do next,” Ken Johnson said.

Jack Valenti, the longtime lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America who is expected to retire this year, confirmed Friday that Tauzin had rejected the movie industry’s job offer.

The group, which represents all major Hollywood studios, paid Valenti more than $1 million annually, and a source said that Tauzin had been offered a similar package.

“He phoned me last night to express his gratitude and told me that he had a very, very generous offer from another enterprise,” Valenti said in a statement released by the association.

Johnson said there were considerations beyond salary for turning down the movie industry position. Tauzin now makes $154,700 a year as a congressman.

“It was a very flattering offer,” Johnson said. “And it was a difficult decision to say no. Billy has a great reverence for Jack Valenti, and they are great friends as well. But at this point in his life, Billy did not believe this was the best fit for him and his family.”

New job offer

A Capitol Hill source said Tauzin, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is considering a job with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the influential trade group representing drug makers such as Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Merck.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the salary offer made to Tauzin this week was “substantially more” than the movie industry offer. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed source in a story on its Web site Friday saying that the pharmaceutical group’s offer to Tauzin “would be the biggest deal given to anyone at a trade association.”

Johnson declined to comment on whether Tauzin had received an offer from the drug maker’s association.

If he takes the job, Tauzin would take charge of one of Washington’s biggest, richest and most formidable lobbying organizations. The drug companies it represents are among the most controversial players in Washington, routinely attacked by consumer groups and political candidates.

“It would be a major job,” said Norman Ornstein, an expert on Congress with the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington. “It doesn’t have quite the glamour of the MPAA. . . . But they deal with a lot of issues, and the pharmaceutical industry is a piñata for a lot of politicians.”

‘Huge lobbying presence’

The trade group representing more than 100 drug companies is very effective in dealing with a host of issues facing the industry, analysts say.

“The pharmaceutical industry is a huge lobbying presence in Washington,” said Celia Wexler, director of research for Common Cause, a group that monitors lobbying and is critical of the big trade associations. “There are huge amounts of government regulation, patent law, Medicare reform and other issues. . . . It has been very successful in advancing its agenda — that’s why drug prices are still as high as they are.”

The association deploys lobbyists to Capitol Hill, finances advertising campaigns and lobbies in statehouses. Most recently the association has been working to stem a rise in imports of less expensive Canadian drugs.

Last year it played a key role in shaping the new Medicare prescription drug benefit and scored a victory in keeping price controls out of the law.

The industry has poured money into Washington lobbying efforts at an unprecedented rate in recent years, according to a 2003 study by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. In 2002, for example, the trade group had 112 lobbyists and spent $14.3 million in lobbying efforts, up from 82 lobbyists and $11.3 million the year before. They work in concert with hundreds of lobbyists from constituent companies.

Hiring Tauzin would give the group a high-profile name. “These trade associations feel like they don’t have enough clout on Capitol Hill, so they want superstars — former members of Congress,” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook, a Tauzin critic.

Tauzin, who shepherded the Medicare drug bill through the House, was an advocate for the drug makers’ position in negotiations with the Senate.

The lobbying post opened up two weeks ago when Alan Holmer, the group’s president and CEO, surprised the trade association by announcing he will resign after eight years at its helm.

House ethics rules do not prevent a member from talking with a private company about employment. But once members enter into negotiations, they are supposed to recuse themselves from dealing with all matters concerning the company or its business.

Filling the void

A Tauzin departure would be a serious blow to Louisiana’s clout in Washington at a critical time. A pending national energy bill contains about $1 billion over 10 years to restore coastal erosion in Louisiana, and some fear that congressional budget cutters will slice the provision if Tauzin isn’t around to protect it.

The congressional delegation already is slated to lose longtime Sen. John Breaux, D-La. Politicos in Washington and Louisiana said that if Tauzin steps down, he likely will wait at least until March, when the fate of the energy bill will be resolved.

Speculation has long been brewing that Tauzin will not seek another term. Members of the House already are positioning themselves to take over his committee chairmanship, and local politicians are lining up to run for the 3rd Congressional District seat, which includes a large section of southeastern Louisiana.

In Washington, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is said to have the inside track to replace Tauzin at the Energy and Commerce Committee. The situation is murkier in Louisiana.

Democrats think they have a decent shot at winning the seat held by Tauzin, who until 1995 was a Democrat. Charlie Melancon, president of the American Sugar Cane League, is said to be considering a run, as is state Rep. Gary Smith of Norco. Both are Democrats.

Former state House Speaker Hunt Downer, a one-time Democrat who supported George W. Bush in 2000 and switched to the GOP in 2001, said he would likely get in the race if Tauzin steps down. Tauzin, who was Downer’s roommate when they were both in the Legislature, backed his longtime friend’s failed bid for governor last year.

“Billy and I go back 30 years,” Downer said Friday. “Our ideologies are very closely aligned. I hope he doesn’t step down. He’s valuable. In the event that he steps down, I’m in the race.”