We Doin’ Big PhRMA, We Spendin’ Cheese, Big PhRMA, On AKPD

(Picture by Larry Roibal)

Kenneth P. Vogel in Politico:

Critics of President Obama’s health-care overhaul are zeroing in on his senior adviser David Axelrod, whose former partners at a Chicago-based firm are the beneficiaries of huge ad buys — now at $24 million and counting — by White House allies in the reform fight.

The unwelcome scrutiny, largely from Republicans, comes at an inopportune time as Obama seeks to shore up support for health care reform. It revolves around two separate $12 million ad campaigns advocating Obama’s health care plan that were produced and placed partly by AKPD Message and Media, a firm founded by Axelrod that employs his son and still owes Axelrod $2 million.

Hugh Hewitt at Townhall:

If Axelrod has been negotiating any part of any deal involving any of these players which are funneling money to the firm that owes him money, or if he is advising the president on the deals with any of these groups, that’s a conflict of interest.  Laundering the money through a “coalition” doesn’t remove the conflict much less the appearance of impropriety.  The coalition is in effect partially funding David Axelrod’s severance package though its members might have done so unknowingly.  These forthcoming payments to Axelrod are much more significant than the sort of “retained ties”  that Democrats blasted Dick Cheney for vis-a-vis Halliburton even though there was no high level negotiations between the vice president and his former company.

David Axelrod has some tough questions to answer, and according to Politico’s Mike Allen, Politico’s Ken Vogel will be publishing more on matters Axelrodian tomorrow. (The transcript of my interview with Allen is here.) Vogel’s story on Axelrod’s son from a few days back casts doubt on the Bloomberg story’s accuracy as Bloomberg has Axelrod’s son still at Axelrod’s old firm, but Vogel has him at The Huffington Post.

If it was Karl Rove in a similar set of circumstances, the blogs and some in MSM would already be demanding a special prosecutor.  There are lots of questions for Mr. Axelrod, the first one being whether the Bloomberg story is accurate.  if the answer is “yes,” the second will be: “Have you lawyered up?”

Michelle Malkin:

Hey, Bobby Gibbs: Tell us again. Who’s funded by the evil health care industry? And who’s motives should you be questioning now? According to Bloomberg, AKPD continues to work with Axelrod “on ’strategy and research’ for the Democratic National Committee.” Why no full disclosure until now? Why didn’t Axelrod recuse himself from his Obamcare lobbying TV appearances given the strong, interest-conflicted odor emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania?

Scott Johnson at Powerline

Ed Morrissey:

When Dick Cheney was Vice President, the Left howled when Halliburton continued to receive contracts from the Army, almost all of them competitive-bid situations, claiming that Cheney’s deferred compensation created a conflict of interest — even though Halliburton had placed those funds in a separate escrow.  If the Left thought the Cheney-Halliburton connection smelled funny, they must really have their noses out of joint with a White House that uses public money to enrich a close adviser’s son and ensure his own deferred compensation without a bidding process in place to manage it.

I’m waiting for the outrage to erupt.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting …. Wait, I have to breathe sometime.

Flopping Aces

Moe Lane at Redstate:

“Just follow these easy steps!

1. Create AKPD Message & Media, a public relations company that specializes in astroturfing.
2. Attach yourself to the campaign of the candidate that eventually wins the 2008 Presidential election.
3. Disengage yourself from AKPD Media, but under circumstances where the company ‘owes’ you 2 million dollars, which it will then pay back over time (we call this ‘income’).
4. Become a Senior Advisor to the President.
5. Have the President negotiate a tone-deaf deal between the White House and lobbyist group PhRMA to get the pharmaceutical industry to support health care rationing.
6. ‘Discover’ one fine summer day that AKPD Media, the company that you created and which is still paying you money, has been given a fat advertising contract by PhRMA to astroturf health care rationing.
7. Profit!”

Tom Maguire