The Nation 7-28-05 Rudy Can't Fail Republicans and their drug company allies are doing everything they can to prevent Americans from accessing cheaper prescription drugs. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has blocked a vote on a bipartisan bill legalizing drug importation from Canada. Last month the Senate Republican Policy Committee maintained that imported drugs--10 million of which entered the US in 2004--"cannot be a viable option." This despite the fact that President Bush's own report on drug re-importation conceded that Canadian imports are safe, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated that legalized importation could "reduce total prescription drug expenditures in the US by about $40 billion" over the next nine years. As if pumping $759 billion into lobbying Congress since 1998--more than any other industry--wasn't enough, big pharma has enlisted "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani to stamp a terror alert on the importation fight. "As the nation tightens its borders against possible future person attacks, it risks undermining security and safety by opening them up to non-FDA prescription drugs," said a Giuliani Partners report released in April. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America, the industry's DC lobbying arm, conveniently underwrote the study. If it kills the drug company's profits, it'll kill you too. High-profile shill for big pharma is just one role among many for Tycoon Rudy and his blossoming security consulting firm. "The client list often reads like the list of witnesses before Congressional committees in some of the highest-profile corporate crises of the last few years," the New York Observor wrote. "Along with Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns the Indian Point nuclear plant, they include the manufacturers of the painperson cough syrup, which had become popular as a recreational drug; the scandal-plagued National Thoroughbred Racing buttociation; and a pharmaceutical-industry trade group, for which Mr. Giuliani produced a study suggesting that imported prescription drugs may be dangerous." Add to that list the Houston-based law firm Bracewell & Patterson --remamed Bracewell & Giuliani after Rudy came on board as a partner in March--whose big oil and energy clients have included Enron, ChevronTexaco and the utility lobby. And DNA Applied Sciences, a tech company with a history of securities-related charges, hired Giuliani Partners with "no cash for operations and no customers" USA Today reported. After suffering $35 million in loses between 2002 and 2004, the company gave Giuliani's firm $2 million and 21 million shares worth $10 million at the time. Following the announcement, Applied's stock jumped 268 percent. "It has all the markings of something Giuliani himself would have looked into as US attorney in the old days," said former federal prosecutor Stephen Meagher. Moreover, Rudy's lavish speaking fees are also starting to raise eyebrows. Last February, the South Carolina Hospital buttociation booked Giuliani as a speaker, at his usual $100,000 rate. When the tsunami hit South Asia at the same time, the Hospital instead held a fundraiser for the victims. But Rudy came anyway, and pocketed his fee--which organizers later demanded back. He later earned a staggering $230,000 to speak at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Foundation in Adelaide, Australia, for a benefit that raised only $15,000 total. Is this the post-Mayoral record Rudy plans to run on in '08? America's Seniors Network Giuliani hired by drug industry Publisher's Note: Former NY Mayor Giuliani is following the path of others who have served the large pharmaceutical manufacturers--the road to easy riches, large fees and lackey for the drug companies. In so doing, he joins former Congressman Tauzin (see our story on how the former Representative stood ready to gain a $2 million dollar salary from the Pharmaceutical industry as a reward for his work on the flawed Medicare Prescription Drug Card, but then backed down in the face of public pressure...click here). Perhaps the Mayor, who made his reputation for leadership in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy in New York will also be a consultant for his new business buttociates in helping them clean their own house--read about the pharma law suits and more than $19 billion in fines and settlements, click here--or perhaps he will talk to respected seniors' leaders such as Gary Pbuttmore of the California Congress of Seniors who called Canadian pharmacies safer than those in the US...click here for story. But, we doubt it. It seems that there was another victim of the 9-11 attacks--the opportunity for leadership with integrity that the former Mayor has squandered. August 19, 2004, Washington, DC-- Hired by a drug industry trade group, New York 's former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is preparing a final report that underscores the group's argument that importing drugs from Canada poses safety risks. Giuliani, still a high-profile national figure since leaving office in 2001, has been making the rounds in Washington , submitting a preliminary report on the safety of imported drugs to federal health officials this spring and testifying before two Senate committees this summer. Some health experts say the former federal prosecutor's role is an attempt to add credibility to claims by pharmaceutical companies and federal drug officials that importing medicines from Canada is unsafe and potentially opens the door for counterfeit drugs. Congress is weighing several measures to legalize the importation of drugs from Canada . But supporters of importation legislation say Giuliani is a "hired gun" for money-hungry drug companies who don't want the compebreastion. "They want to have a popular spokesman, but he's in the business of taking money to serve his clients," said Michael Burgess, director of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, which sponsored a bus trip for seniors to Montreal last month to buy cheaper prescription drugs. "You have to look at who is paying him." Early this year, Giuliani's security consulting firm, Giuliani Partners LLC, was hired by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the powerful drug industry trade group based in Washington , to investigate health risks of importing drugs from foreign countries. PhRMA will not say how much it paid Giuliani's firm. PhRMA officials say Giuliani, a Republican who will have a key role at the upcoming convention in New York , was hired because of his investigative skills and his widely recognized expertise on security. They also point to his leadership after the Sept. 11 attacks. "Folks on both sides of the aisle respect him for his leadership," said Court Rosen, a PhRMA spokesman. "I don't think it's a partisan issue." Richard Himelfarb, a political scientist at Hofstra University , called PhRMA's hiring of Giuliani a "touch of brilliance. When it comes to issues of security and safety Rudy is Teflon." Officials at Giuliani's firm say he has a background in investigations and a reputation for integrity and thoroughness. "When you package all these things ... what he has to say is worth listening to," said Dennison Young, a managing director at the firm. Supporters of importation acknowledge Giuliani's expertise on security but question how objective he can be when his client has a clear mission. "It's pretty clear that he's going to spin all of his findings toward the agenda of his client," said David MacKay, executive director of the Canadian International Pharmacy buttociation, a trade group. Giuliani submitted a May interim report to a federal task force also looking into the safety of importing drugs from Canada . Giuliani also testified about the report before a Senate subcommittee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. A final report is expected in about a month. Meanwhile, several states and cities have turned to Canada to buy drugs. But Giuliani's report warns against such moves. States and cities "have to approach this with great caution, given what we now know," said Young, who spoke on the firm's behalf. "This should not become a political issue." Giuliani's report found that many drugs are not "reimported" from Canada , meaning made in FDA-approved sites in the United States and then shipped back. In many cases, the report said, those medications are manufactured in countries such as Pakistan or China . The report also said there is "significant evidence" of customers getting expired or counterfeit drugs. Giuliani's report also found flaws in the U.S. drug system, namely that there is minimal federal oversight. "The more we gather information the clearer it becomes that this is a serious problem that the United States will have to address," Young said. While MacKay credits Giuliani for pointing out flaws with America 's system, he disputes findings about the safety of drugs shipped from Canada saying much of the findings rely on an earlier faulty study and make generalities based on drugs from other countries. Giuliani's role will probably not have much of an impact on the debate, said Robert Goldberg, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Insbreastute, a think tank. "As a study alone it will not blunt the political momentum," he said. cal Research and Manufacturers buttociation NY Observer 3-30-05 Rudy, Tycoon In today's Observer, we look into Rudy's tycoonhood, which we maintain is real. Indeed, we suspect that it will be harder to leave Giuliani Partners for politics than many people buttume. We had somehow missed, for instance, that late last year he acquired a midsize investment bank. But the news in this piece is probably the most obvious instance of the strain between Rudy, Inc. and Rudy 2008, which occurred on February 8 in South Carolina: "Mr. Giuliani had initially been booked by the South Carolina Hospital buttociation through the Washington Speakers Bureau to speak for his usual $100,000 fee. But then a mbuttive tsunami devastated South Asia and "we just didn't feel that a big old party was the right thing," said Patti Smoake, the hospital buttociation's spokeswoman. "Instead, the South Carolinians held a fund-raiser called 'From South Carolina to South Asia.' "Mr. Giuliani agreed to speak at the new event. He even wrote a $20,000 check to the Red Cross, the event's beneficiary, according to figures cited by a South Carolina hospital official and obtained by The Observer. He batted away the inevitable political speculation that accompanied his visit to the crucial Republican primary state, telling a local reporter he was visiting 'because I enjoy coming to South Carolina and because this is a worthy cause.' "Mr. Giuliani didn't mention it at the time, but he also walked away from the tsunami benefit with $80,000 at a time when celebrities from Bill Clinton and the first President Bush to George Clooney were donating time to the relief effort. There was nothing illegal, or even particularly unusual, about his taking a fee from a charity event-- his fee was, technically, underwritten by corporate sponsors. But taking the money was not the move of a man whose political future depends on the good will of the voters of South Carolina, the decisive state in the 2000 Republican primary widely viewed as the immovable object between a socially liberal Republican like Mr. Giuliani and the nomination. "'It is not the gesture of someone who's serious about running for the Republican Presidential nomination or someone who is getting sound political advice about South Carolina,' said Nelson Warfield, a Republican political consultant who was press secretary to Bob Dole's bid for the Presidency. 'If you want to be President, you have to make some sacrifices, and one sacrifice would be giving it up for free to the good people of South Carolina and the tsunami victims.' "The New York Dems' Wolfson called it 'Giuliani relief' rather than 'tsunami relief.' "Giuliani aides said in his defense that he'd donated twice what the sponsors suggested."
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