Citing "egregious violations" of the public trust, Common Cause President and Chief Executive Officer Chellie Pingree addressed about 15 law students and Philadelphia residents yesterday on last year's Medicare reform bill.
The former Maine state senator and U.S. senatorial candidate -- who now leads the political watchdog organization Common Cause -- first recounted some of her experiences on the campaign trail.
She said she once accompanied 25 senior citizens on a bus ride to Canada to purchase prescription drugs. They saved a combined $19,000.
"We pay the highest prices in the world [for prescription drugs] because our government is unwilling to negotiate for the best possible rate," Pingree said.
The event, titled "The Collapse of Open Government: What Happened to the 2003 Medicare Bill," was sponsored by the Law School's American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
Turning her attention to the 2003 Medicare overhaul, Pingree criticized the role of special interest groups in the political process, pointing to $150 million in expenditures on lobbying by pharmaceutical companies.
Pingree specified numerous legislative practices as unfair, including the majority party's control of the C-SPAN cameras, the ban preventing "outside groups" from filing ethics complaints, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson's presence on the House of Representatives floor, and the "shutout" of Democrats from the committee that drafted the final bill.
In the end, Pingree said, the bill that passed the House by five votes was "very confusing ... with lots of problems."
"The real winners in this are the pharmaceutical companies," she said, arguing that the same types of problems arose in the debates surrounding the energy bill and the Iraq War.
Pingree, however, tried to avoid laying the blame on just one party.
"This is an equal opportunity political problem," she said.
Attendees seemed impressed following Pingree's lecture.
"These issues should be important to every voter and deserve more of a spotlight," second-year Law student John Clabby said.
"We had been reading much about the Medicare debate in Congress, and I enjoyed hearing an independent, nonpartisan point of view."
Barry Kauffman, executive director of the Pennsylvania chapter of Common Cause, was also present and noted "a small upturn in student activism ... as students realize the impact of public policy on their lives."
"That's very promising," he said. "We welcome that."
But Pingree warned against disillusionment.
"I think it's a great time to capture people's frustration," she said. "We're not about to throw in the towel and say, 'Oh well, that democracy thing didn't work.'"
"I see this as an incredible fork in the road for this country."
