Station WDBJ announces that the "60 Plus" organization is giving Allen its "stamp of approval for helping Virginians keep more of the money they earn." Nice try. What is 60 Plus?
From SourceWatch
In the 2002 election campaigns, the 60 Plus Association paid for issue ads on local radio and TV stations across the country saying that local Republican candidates "care for seniors" so much that they "passed a prescription drug bill" that saved us from an inept government bureaucracy meddling with health plan benefits.Though 60 Plus claims to be a citizens' group, they are actually a front group for the pharmaceutical industry. That bill died in the senate, but Big Pharma paid them and similar front groups well - more than $5 million dollars by most accounts (see below). The misinformation of those 'soft money' issue ads helped elect a lot of drug-industry-friendly congresspersons.
The 60 Plus Association has championed the pharmaceutical industry in mass mailings, press releases, lobbying and law suits since its inception. It was one of three associations that backed the "astroturf" issue ads of Citizens for Better Medicare (a drug industry front group) during the 2000 elections. It is currently supporting a lawsuit by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America against the state of Maine (in a "friend of the court" brief) for daring to try to pass a law that will authentically reduce prices for Medicare drugs by allowing the state to buy in bulk directly from manufacturers. It has also joined a lawsuit against the FCC regarding campaign reform (specifically -surprise!- they support soft money for issue ads).
Note the reference below to an organization that George Allen campaign staffer Chris LaCivita has worked for, United Seniors, planning strategy. Source: http://www.sourcewat...
The AARP Bulletin of February, 2003, has an excellent, well-researched article explaining this subversion of the democratic process by 60 Plus and two other astroturf organizations (United Seniors Association and the Senior Coalition). It notes that none of these groups have significant membership roles or community bases. "All three organizations claim to speak for millions of older Americans, although as recently as 2001 none of the three listed any revenue from membership dues on their tax returns," it states. "Moreover, an investigation by the AARP Bulletin shows that virtually all of their largest contributions in recent years have come from the same source - the nation's pharmaceutical industry." ***
Here's another reference on PHARMA's deceptive lobbying:
Public Citizen researched CBM's self-described "broad-based bipartisan group" and found a collection of shills, seedy direct-mail operatives and industry-funded research and lobby groups working in tight coordination with the drug lobby. Among this report's findings:CBM's so-called "broad-based" coalition is a sham. Its director, Tim Ryan, was the marketing director for PhRMA, before joining CBM, and he admits in interviews that CBM is overwhelmingly funded by PhRMA.
CBM is a secretive political group organized under Section 527 of the federal tax code, which covers groups whose purpose is to influence or attempt to influence elections. Taking advantage of a notorious tax loophole, CBM does not have to even report its existence, much less its activities, to either the IRS or the public. So the public can only guess about the scale and cost of its political efforts to protect the prescription drug industry. According to available press reports, which are necessarily incomplete, CBM has budgeted at least $65 million since July 1999 to blanket the airwaves with their misleading message.
CBM's members include The Seniors Coalition, the 60 Plus Association and the United Seniors Association. These direct mail specialists have been denounced by Republicans and Democrats alike for their scare tactics, which involve frightening seniors with overblown threats to their retirement benefits and asking them to send money to support the groups' questionable lobbying efforts. This trio has been the subject of numerous investigations in the 1990s.
Mr. Allen, please explain why you're hanging out with people who want to INCREASE drug company profits.
"60 Plus Association was formed in the early 1990s with help from Richard A. Viguerie, a conservative direct mail guru who has had ties to two other purported senior citizens' advocacy organizations that have served the causes of Republicans and the pharmaceutical industry in recent years: United Seniors Association and the Seniors Coalition.1 2 3
60 Plus sent direct mail or broadcast radio messages in at least 24 federal election contests in the months leading up to Election Day 2002."
Here's the proof:
"60 Plus President Jim Martin told the British Medical Journal in 2003 that his group had 225,000 donors, whom he said he would not disclose to protect their privacy.10 But in 2002, 60 Plus received nearly $11 million (91 percent of its total revenue) from a single undisclosed donor, according to the group's Form 990 filing with the IRS.11
It is quite likely that such a large contribution came from the pharmaceutical industry. The Washington Post reported that 60 Plus was the beneficiary of an unrestricted educational grant in 2002 from PhRMA, the trade association of the brand name prescription drug industry;12 AARP Bulletin reported that 60 Plus received contributions in 2001 from PhRMA and from drug giants Pfizer, Merck and Wyeth-Ayerst."