Robert Reich says he is appalled that the White House has made a deal to bar the government from negotiating lower drug prices — shades of George W. Bush and his Medicare drug benefit — and that, in return, Big Pharma is spending $150 million for TV ads promoting universal health insurance.

Reich says, “We’re on a precarious road — and wherever it leads, it’s not toward democracy.” He writes:

“The deal between Big Pharma and the White House frankly worries me. It’s bad enough when industry lobbyists extract concessions from members of Congress, which happens all the time. But when an industry gets secret concessions out of the White House in return for a promise to lend the industry’s support to a key piece of legislation, we’re in big trouble. That’s called extortion: An industry is using its capacity to threaten or prevent legislation as a means of altering that legislation for its own benefit. And it’s doing so at the highest reaches of our government, in the office of the President.

“When the industry support comes with an industry-sponsored ad campaign in favor of that legislation, the threat to democracy is even greater. Citizens end up paying for advertisements designed to persuade them that the legislation is in their interest. In this case, those payments come in the form of drug prices that will be higher than otherwise, stretching years into the future. …

“Perhaps the White House deal with Big Pharma is a necessary step to get anything resembling universal health insurance. But if that’s the case, our democracy is in terrible shape. How soon until big industries and their Washington lobbyists have become so politically powerful that secret White House-industry deals like this are prerequisites to any important legislation? When will it become standard practice that such deals come with hundreds of millions of dollars of industry-sponsored TV advertising designed to persuade the public that the legislation is in the public’s interest? (Any Democrats and progressives who might be reading this should ask themselves how they’ll feel when a Republican White House cuts such deals to advance its own legislative priorities.)”

I just talked with someone in Mike Turner’s (OH-3) Dayton Office — Phone:(937) 225-2843 — and was told that at this time Congressman Turner has not been scheduled to participate in any Town Hall Meetings, and, according to the person I talked with, it appears the congressman will not participate in any Town Hall type meetings during this congressional recess.

I was told that the person most involved in scheduling events for Turner is a person named Marty Heide. I sent an e-mail to Ms Heide:

marty.heide@mail.house.gov

Marty Heide:

In an active democracy, citizens expect to have an opportunity to periodically attend a public meeting where their representative explains the votes the representative has made on behalf of the citizenry, explains his understanding of upcoming legislation and how he is inclined to vote, and welcomes dialogue with his constituents.

I live in Kettering and I’ve recently become involved in two organizations — DaytonOS and Grassroots Dayton — whose goals include the goal of vitalizing local democracy. I would like to see a big improvement in Kettering’s civic spirit and its active democracy and I think a great tradition to start would be that our local congressman every August participate in a series of town hall meetings. I think this idea of a regularly scheduled Town Hall meeting in Kettering would be supported overwhelmingly by Kettering residents. It would be great to get the ball rolling this year with one Town Hall Meeting — and if the congressman has an interest in participating, I will volunteer to work with the mayor and other city leaders to find an appropriate location and time.

Thank You.

Michael Bock