center-forward.org

“Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the best-known lobby shop in Washington, pledged $4.5 million to Center Forward between 2016 and 2019.”

Summer of drugs

Dillon Cooke, an aide to House Democrat Scott Peters of La Jolla, picked up some free travel and a stay in San Francisco from Center Forward, a non-profit group known for pushing pro-Pharmaceutical industry causes largely favored by his boss. “As the Senior Legislative Assistant (leading Rep. Peters’ work on health care), this trip will include valuable opportunities to convene with subject matter experts and leaders across the health care sector,” wrote Cooke on an attachment to an August 26 disclosure filing. “These conversations will help me better understand the challenges innovators face and the ramifications of recent congressional action around drug price negotiation, research and development policy, and more.”

Scott Peters farmed out pharma fact-finding in San Francisco to his aide.

Cooke’s three day tour began in Washington, D.C. on August 7, stopped in San Francisco, and ended up in Denver, Colorado on August 10, per the report. Transportation costs ran $614.58, lodging costs were $822, and the meal tab totaled $205. Guests on the junket stayed at the ultra-posh Intercontinental Mark Hopkins hotel, chosen for its “central location to downtown San Francisco [and] acess [sic] to surrounding site visits,” says the document.

“Center Forward is heavily funded by the pharmaceutical industry,” according to a September, 2021 post by The American Prospect. “Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the best-known lobby shop in Washington, pledged $4.5 million to Center Forward between 2016 and 2019. In the 2018 cycle, PhRMA gave Center Forward $1.2 million, and the group disbursed $1.3 million to Democrats. The group has also taken money from CVS (which owns health insurance giant Aetna), as well as Facebook, Coca-Cola, and others.”

Among companies toured by Cooke and associates, per an itinerary attached to the disclosure, was Grail, Inc. of Menlo Park. “Grail is a healthcare diagnostics company, pioneering new technologies to advance early cancer detection,” says the document. “A Grail representative will lead a tour and presentation showcasing their multidisciplinary organization of scientists, engineers, and physicians.”

Not on the agenda, apparently, was any discussion of Grail’s July forced divestiture by San Diego-based Illumina after years of battling European Union regulators and the Federal Trade Commission. “The FTC had filed a complaint in August 2023 claiming that the merger between Illumina and GRAIL ‘threatens to stifle ongoing competition in the race to develop and commercialize multi-cancer early detection’ tests, and will thereby lead to higher test prices for Americans,” per a December 2023 BioSpace.com report on Illumina’s decision to finally get rid of Grail. In addition to the U.S. charges, “Illumina incurred a record-setting fine from the European Commission for flaunting its competition and merger regulations” for the Grail takeover, notes Fierce Biotech in a June 24, 2024, account of the breakup.

Sales tax soup

Two big corporations making millions from their San Diego utility franchises have funneled major money to Todd Gloria’s sales tax hike campaign, sending the cash through a byzantine series of political committees in what some critics see as an effort to elude unwanted notice.

The trail begins at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee, to which Cox Communications, holder of a lucrative cable and Internet franchise gave $5000 on August 13. Sempra Energy, owner of San Diego Gas & Electric, kicked in $10,000 on September 9.

Outfront is paying Gloria-boosting billboard bills.

Only six days earlier, the Chamber PAC had dispatched $30,000 to Protect Neighborhood Services Now, run by the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, which subsequently sent $500,000 to the Yes on Measure E tax hike effort on September 16. Other timely contributions to the Municipal Employees PAC — besides dues paid by association members — included $3000 from developer H.G. Fenton on September 16.

Billboard city

Outfront Media, Inc., once called CBS Outdoor, spent $13,600 on September 23 for giant billboards backing Democratic mayor Gloria, city disclosure reports show. The company reported spending another $13,600 on September 26, adding up to a cumulative total of $77,461 of Outfront Gloria support. Billboards have long been a San Diego subject of contention, and the outdoor advertising lobby has of late been growing its business here, thanks to a compliant city hall.

“We are disappointed and disheartened at the San Diego City Council’s 7-1 vote to approve up to 75 new digital advertising kiosks in downtown San Diego yesterday,” wrote Scenic America and Scenic San Diego on Scenic America’s website in June of last year. “Labeled “wayfinding kiosks” by supporters, these sidewalk billboards will add visual blight, distraction, and confusion to our scenic community beginning in three years. Not to mention, this program is counter to San Diego’s longstanding outdoor advertising laws, which have kept our community nearly free of such visual pollution for four decades.” Added the statement: “By approving these kiosks, the City Council has opened the door for advertising companies to file for similar exemptions. It cannot be overstated that the Council’s ruling could devastate the scenic character of our community. In San Diego, rumors are rampant at City Hall that the ad screens are just the tip of the iceberg. Next will be a wholesale dismantlement of sign limits.” In addition to its Gloria contribution, Outfront also gave billboard space worth $4300 on September 24 to the reelection cause of city council Democrat Stephen Whitburn, a September 25 filing by the company shows.

The national battle to get digital media approved by cities has been vicious, with a host of contenders giving big money and deploying legions of lawyers to secure the territory. Two years ago, Outfront sued the city of San Jose over the city’s decision to allow company competitor Clear Channel to erect two digital billboards at the airport there without public bidding. “The lawsuit adds another chapter to a long debate over whether the city should allow new billboards on public land, following the council’s landmark decision in 2018 to lift a nearly 50-year ban on such advertisements,” per an August 12, 2022 report by the San José Spotlight.

“The council made history with a decision earlier this year to amend an airport master plan and authorize Clear Channel to install two 1000-square-foot digital billboards south of Highway 101 at Mineta San Jose International Airport.”

In December 2023, Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Kuhnle ruled in Outfront’s favor, ordering the city to rescind its deal with Clear Channel, according to the Spotlight’s January 6 account. “In the lawsuit filed in 2022, Outfront Media claimed San Jose should have held a competitive bidding process according to its own billboard policy. Instead, the officials ironed out the details of an agreement with Clear Channel in a February 2022 San Jose City Council meeting.”...City ambulance contractor Falck Mobile Health Group kicked in $10,000 on July 28 to San Diego mayoral Democrat Todd Gloria and city council allies’ ballot bid to raise city sales taxes.

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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