Former health policy aides try to shape ex-employers' positions from K Street

By The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

At least 69 people formerly employed by some of the 40 or so Congressional leaders present at yesterday’s healthcare summit have gone through the revolving door to lobby for the health industry, representing a combined 180 companies and trade associations, Center for Responsive Politics data shows. Many worked on health issues as Hill aides, garnering policy chops on the issues that matter to health insurance companies, medical professionals associations, and pharmaceutical companies. But they also have easier access to their former colleagues on Capitol Hill.

As Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff, Judith Lemons served continuously as the House Speaker’s right hand for 15 years, leaving her position in 2002. Then she took a lucrative position at K Street powerhouse Dutko Worldwide, where in 2008 she lobbied for GlaxoSmithKline, which paid her firm $160,000 as part of an astonishing $7 million lobbying budget for the year, and Medtronic Inc., which paid Dutko $200,000. Last year, she worked on a half-million dollar contract with the Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform. With her long, extremely close relationship with Pelosi, it’s human nature that her connections to the office will get her easier access and a friendly ear.

In lobbying for GlaxoSmithKline, Lemons was joined by Lindsey Toohey, who had served as senior health policy advisor to Sen. Kent Conrad before joining Foley Hoag LLP.  According to a policy paper on its web site, the pharmaceutical giant “opposes a government-run health plan option that would compete with private plans” yet seeks to “require individuals to obtain health insurance coverage.”

Conrad’s decade-long chief of staff, Robert van Heuvelen, meanwhile, jumped ship in 2007 and now represents the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association, which paid Van Heuvelen Strategies $70,000 last year.

In making opening remarks at the health care summit, Sen. Lamar Alexander rejected Democratic proposals, saying “this is a car that can’t be recalled and fixed and that we ought to start over.” His former health policy advisor, Page Kranbuhl, is on the payroll of Stryker Corp., a medical device manufacturer whose “ability to sustain margins superior to the industry is questionable when considering the Companys legal problems and uncertainty surrounding healthcare reform,” as a stock analyst wrote in December.

Read all about it

The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group is part of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based organization that uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable.