The McConnell Machine
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/mcconnellPrice tag politics
Senator's pet issue: money and the power it buys
By John Cheves, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
In the early 1970s, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr., a young and intense Republican lawyer, strode into the political science class he taught at the University of Louisville.
Good medicine for drug firms
By John Cheves, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
The pharmaceutical industry needed a friendly senator in 1999, and it was willing to talk money. Senate Democrats were pushing universal prescription drug coverage for senior citizens -- including a provision to let Medicare negotiate for cheaper prices. Drug companies wanted to stop them.
McConnell By the Numbers:
a few tidbits, more at
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/mcconnell/15763572.htm$66,000: Donations to McConnell from employees of Guardsmark, a Memphis, Tenn., security firm for which he has co-sponsored legislation
$2 million: Amount casinos in the American Gaming Association gave to McConnell's National Republican Senatorial Committee for 1998 and 2000 elections after he courted them
$60,000: Donations McConnell took from UBS and Citigroup employees at a fund-raiser last fall after their employers successfully lobbied for a tough bankruptcy-reform law
$125,250: Donations to McConnell's National Republican Senatorial Committee for 2000 elections from a leading drug-industry group after it successfully lobbied to kill a price-cutting bill
$20,000: Total given to McConnell by Deloitte & Touche executives in 1995 as the company successfully lobbied for a law making it harder for investors to sue for fraud