APP Editorial "Damage control" on reform: Pallone's Contibutions From Health Care Industry Not Seen As Conflict

Today's editorial in the Asbury Park Press hits the nail on the head as it pertains to Congressman Frank Pallone and any contibutions he has excepted from the health care industry while helping to write legislation to reform the nations's health care system.

Strong arguments can be made for the need to regulate campaign contributions to remove the corrupting influence of money. But it would be unwise to use Rep. Frank Pallone's contributions from the health care industry to bolster the case.

Pallone, D-N.J., received $321,000 in campaign donations from the industry in the 2010 election cycle — more than any other member of the House, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That should come as little surprise given the central role Pallone has played in the House version of the health care bill as chairman of the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Committee chairs, regardless of party affiliation, typically are magnets for campaign cash from industries and interests they oversee.

In Pallone's case, at least, the money doesn't seem to have swayed his thinking. The House version of the bill, which has his fingerprints all over it, has been widely opposed by health insurers and other groups with a financial stake in health care reform. With Pallone, the strategy appears to be damage control. As Rutgers political scientist Ross Baker put it, while Pallone "won't carry their water," the industry believes its contributions "may reduce the level of hostility."

There is no shortage of examples of how campaign money corrupts. Pallone's largess from the health care industry would not appear to be one of them.