{"id":70,"date":"2011-02-16T16:51:16","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T20:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/wp\/?p=70"},"modified":"2011-02-16T17:07:01","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T21:07:01","slug":"seeing-green-in-kentucky-money-in-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.khpi.org\/blog\/seeing-green-in-kentucky-money-in-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Green in Kentucky: Money in Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read with interest today’s report in the Courier-Journal<\/a> by Tom Loftus summarizing the lobbying efforts of the Kentucky Optometric Association in promoting a bill that would expand their scope of practice and give their licensure board more freedom to define what other things they can legally do. The administration of medications and the ability to perform laser surgery are among them.<\/p>\n

Two things are remarkable to me. \u00a0 The first is the swift and overwhelmingly bipartisan support for the bill. \u00a0 The second is the remarkable amount of money spread so widely among legislators of both parties.\u00a0 The money, also called campaign contributions, was given to 137 of the 138 members of the state legislature and both gubernatorial candidates. \u00a0 It was good business for the lobbying community as well: at least 18 of them helped to spread the fertilizer. The only legislator who did not receive a contribution was representative David Watkins, who also happens to be a physician of the MD variety.\u00a0 His position appears to be similar to that of the Kentucky Medical Association and might be paraphrased as, \u201cIf you want to practice medicine, go to medical school.\u201d (Disclaimer:\u00a0 I am a member of the KMA.)<\/p>\n

Some $400,000 in political contributions were spread around in the past two years alone. To put things in perspective, the Kentucky (MD) Physicians PAC gave only $70,050 during the same period, and the Ophthalmologic (MD) Physicians pack gave $20,750. \u00a0 The MDs were obviously outbid by the ODs.\u00a0 The bill passed out of the Senate by a vote of 33 to 3.\u00a0 I did not think anything could pass out of the Senate with such cooperation nowadays!<\/p>\n

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear legislators and their benefactors assert that all the money sloshing around has absolutely no bearing on the success or failure of a given issue.\u00a0 Is there anybody else in the world who actually believes this?\u00a0 I don’t think so. If the optometrists thought it didn’t make any difference, would they have given up so much of their hard-earned income?\u00a0 If money didn’t make any difference, why are there any limits at all on campaign giving?\u00a0 In my opinion, legislators who actually believe the money doesn’t make any difference are deceiving themselves. \u00a0 Their claims sound exactly the same to me as when physicians assert that all the money, trips, meals, and perks given to us by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries have no effect on the way we practice medicine.\u00a0 I do not believe either camp. \u00a0 It just runs against the laws of human nature.\u00a0 Even if legislators and doctors believe themselves, few others can miss the obvious conflict of interest.\u00a0 Sen. Webb received the most money of any legislator and had the best explanation.\u00a0 Her father was an optometrist: “These people are my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was this latter statement that prompted me to select this article for this Blog.\u00a0 It brought back to my mind a disturbing event in my own history as a card-carrying lobbyist.\u00a0 I was pitching the position of my employer to a Kentucky state legislator who with a smile, and about in these words, told me of his quandary:\u00a0 \u201cSome of my friends support this position, but some of my friends the other.\u201d \u00a0 When I approached the legislator later, the response blurted out in obvious anger was, \u201cBut you don’t give me any money!\u201d\u00a0 This same Kentucky legislator is still accepting money from his friends.\u00a0 If there is a dividing line between freedom of speech and legalized bribery, I cannot see it without new glasses.<\/p>\n

Peter Hasselbacher
\nKentucky Health Policy Institute
\nwww.khpi.org
\n16 Feb 2011<\/p>\n

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