UPFRONT

Make America Transparent Again

Peter K. Kaiser, MD

Political season in Ohio is always crazy — even more so this year with the 2016 presidential election so wide open. It feels like every TV commercial is a political ad. I actually enjoy seeing GEICO’s “Marco Polo” ads to break up the monotony.

These political commercials are designed to shape our opinions on who we should elect to the most important job in the US. Surely, it should be very clear who is paying for these biased commercials. What is truly crazy is that the majority are not paid for by the candidates but instead are sponsored by super political action committees or PACs. These are the most biased organizations one could possibly have. Surely there are rules in place and transparency in the donations or ads so we know who backs them.

Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs can raise unlimited funds and spend unlimited amounts for or against political candidates. They have been designed to shield that rich donors and companies can help or hurt candidates, essentially without campaign finance rules.

They even have names that shield those whom they serve. The largest donations to date ($135M) are to Priorities USA Action,¹ which has spent almost $63M on ads, $57M attacking Trump. Wouldn’t you want to know who gave the money? Or what the underlying philosophy was of the organization?

So whose bright idea was it to create super PACs? The very politicians who benefit from them! These are the same politicians who feel physicians are not able to understand when a pharmaceutical company is trying to influence them or simply get us a Starbucks.

Politicians are so worried about our behavior that they made a law to make sure we are not biased. If I receive a bagel and coffee, my patients can find out about it by going to the government Web site set up by the Sunshine Act. Companies have to spend thousands of dollars to track and report these “lobbying” activities toward us. So surely there must be an online site that details who gave what to super PACs? Nope.

Politicians are the most lobbied, biased, bought people on the planet. They cannot make a decision unless they check with their backers. But we’re not allowed to know how much money is spent on their behalf by super PACs.

And what about foreign PACs? Technically, only US citizens can contribute to PACs, but multinational companies can have their US employees donate. Interestingly, Big Pharma seems to be very involved in our elections via foreign PACs. Companies like AstraZeneca, Bayer, Genentech, GSK, Roche, Sanofi, and Teva have overwhelmingly supported the Republicans. Only Novartis has given more to the Democrats. I wonder why?

I for one am perfectly fine with Sunshine Act reporting. A patient does have the right to know. But I also have a right to know who is paying for the candidates to win this election, just like my patients.

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