Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2002 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Author: James R Carroll Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin) ROGERS RETURNS CONTRIBUTIONS TO DRUG-COMPANY OFFICIALS Gifts Came Weeks Before Hearing On OxyContin WASHINGTON -- Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, a leading critic in Congress of how OxyContin's manufacturer has marketed the powerful painkiller, returned what he called improper campaign gifts from three company officials. The $750 in contributions came six weeks before one of the officials testified before a subcommittee about OxyContin abuse and was lectured by Rogers, who organized the hearing. Rogers, a Republican who represents Kentucky's 5th District, said he did not know of the contributions at the time of the Dec. 11 hearing because the officials didn't disclose their connections to the company when the donations were made. Rogers' campaign discovered the link two days later and returned the money. "It was highly improper," Rogers said of the contributions in an interview Friday night. Asked why he believes the donations went to him but not to other panel members, he said, "I don't know." But James Heins, a spokesman for OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, said the donations were made after the company's Washington lobbyist was invited to an October fundraising dinner for Rogers and was asked by the congressman for a contribution. "We understand that Congressman Rogers does not want to accept this money, and that is his prerogative," Heins said. "We wish him well." Dan Dubray, Rogers' press secretary, denied that Rogers asked for a contribution. Rogers, a member of a House subcommittee that has direct oversight over health-related law-enforcement issues such as OxyContin abuse and addiction, clashed repeatedly at the Dec. 11 hearing with Dr. Paul Goldenheim, Purdue Pharma's executive vice president. Rogers charged that the company, based in Stamford, Conn., was too aggressive in marketing OxyContin, a prescription painkiller sold in time-release pills, and has failed to act to stem abuse of the drug. In Eastern Kentucky, much of which is represented by Rogers, OxyContin has been linked to at least 70 overdose deaths in the past two years. Nationally, the Drug Enforcement Administration has blamed 117 deaths in 31 states during that time on OxyContin. At the hearing, Rogers told Goldenheim, "Your company did nothing, and people were dying!" Goldenheim testified that combating OxyContin abuse was the company's "highest priority" and defended Purdue Pharma's promotion efforts to make doctors aware of the drug's benefits. Rogers and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., asked the General Accounting Office to investigate Purdue Pharma's marketing. The probe is under way. Six weeks before the hearing, on Oct. 29, Rogers' congressional campaign received $250 from Goldenheim, according to Federal Election Commission records. The same day, Rogers' campaign also received $250 each from Michael Friedman, chief operating officer of Purdue Pharma, and Howard Udell, executive vice president and general counsel for the company, the FEC records show. "They are certainly not large contributions, but it is curious how the three were bundled together and came unsolicited right before" the hearing, Dubray said. A check by the Courier-Journal of FEC records found no other donations from the Purdue Pharma officials to the 12 other Democratic and Republican members of the subcommittee that conducted the hearing. Goldenheim and Friedman are not major political givers, FEC records indicate. Goldenheim gave a total of $1,500 in 1998 and 1999 to his homestate senators, Connecticut Democrats Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd, and Friedman gave $2,000 to Dodd in 1997 and 1998. Udell did not show up in the records as a donor to federal candidates, although complete House and Senate contribution records for the most recent six-month filing period could not be checked Friday because of computer problems at the FEC. The six-month reports were due Thursday. How the contributions to Rogers came about and how they got to his campaign are a matter of dispute. Purdue Pharma says Dan Cohen, the company's lobbyist, told Udell that Rogers had invited the lobbyist to the fund-raising dinner "and had requested a donation." "Dan Cohen told Howard Udell that Hal Rogers is a good congressman who is worthy of re-election," Heins said. "Mr. Udell accepted Mr. Cohen's judgment regarding the congressman and asked some of his colleagues to join with him in supporting Congressman Rogers, which they agreed to do. "The checks were personal donations sent to Dan Cohen," Heins said. "Mr. Cohen attended the fund-raising dinner and gave the checks to someone on Congressman Rogers' staff." Cohen, who said he has known Rogers for 21 years, largely backed up that account. Although he did not recall how he was invited to the Oct. 16 dinner, of which the American Trucking Association was the host, he said that he understood that it was for Rogers and that he brought the checks from the Purdue Pharma officials to the event. But Dubray said that Rogers did not ask Cohen or anyone else from Purdue Pharma for a contribution and was not involved in handling invitations to the dinner, and that Rogers' campaign did not receive the checks at the dinner. They were mailed later and were recorded by the campaign on Oct. 29, he said. "Neither Hal Rogers nor his campaign solicited contributions from Purdue Pharma, its executives or its lobbyist," Dubray said. When the Dec. 11 hearing started and Goldenheim testified, a Rogers aide who was watching the proceedings on television recalled seeing a check with that name on it, according to Rogers' office. A review of records determined that it was the same Goldenheim and also turned up the checks from the other Purdue Pharma officials. Rogers directed that the donations be returned, and three $250 checks were sent to Goldenheim, Friedman and Udell on Dec. 13, records show. Although federal election law requires identifying the employer of campaign donors, Dubray acknowledged that donations from individuals often are received without that information. Campaigns are required to make good-faith efforts to track down contributors for missing information. Heins said the checks were not identified as being from Purdue Pharma officials because they were "personal donations" for Rogers' campaign. "No intent was made to conceal who the money came from," Heins said. "The names and addresses of the executives were on the checks. It is Mr. Udell's understanding that it is the campaign's obligation to determine the employment of the contributor." Heins said no other subcommittee members were given donations because "no one else asked." Rogers said he hasn't heard from Purdue Pharma since the contributions were returned. "I don't suspect they'll be contributing to me any more," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth