Calif. NAACP catches flack
for drug initiative
Steve Lawrence
SACRAMENTO — A $1.4 million effort by the pharmaceutical industry
to line up support for its prescription drug initiative has led
to a rift among black leaders and prompted a congresswoman to accuse
the state NAACP president of dishonoring the venerable civil rights
group.
The effort is part of the $76.5 million spent by drug manufacturers
to pass Proposition 78 and defeat rival Proposition 79 on Tuesday.
Most of the $1.4 million expenditure went to political consulting
firms run by two prominent black leaders, former Assembly speaker
and San Francisco mayor Willie Brown and Alice Huffman, the head
of the NAACP in California.
The companies’ campaign committee also has paid $130,000 to
a political committee that Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton,
helped organize and $50,000 to a company headed by former Assemblywoman
Gwen Moore, D-Los Angeles.
Smaller amounts have been paid to the NAACP and several other black
organizations for campaign work on behalf of Proposition 78 and
against 79.
Proposition 78 is an industry-sponsored initiative that would set
up a program to provide discounted medications to uninsured Californians
making up to three times the federal poverty level, about 5 million
people. Participation by drug companies would be voluntary.
Proposition 79 is backed by labor and consumer groups and would
cover twice as many people. It would provide discounted drugs to
uninsured Californians making up to four times the poverty level.
Drug companies that refused to offer the discounts could have their
medications knocked off a list of prescriptions used in the state’s
Medi-Cal health care program for the state’s poorest residents.
The state NAACP and about 15 local chapters of the organization
have endorsed Proposition 78 and opposed Proposition 79. Huffman
and a spokeswoman for the Yes on 78 campaign said the payments from
the pharmaceutical companies did not buy endorsements.
“This is about educating voters and doing voter outreach on
important initiatives that would impact these important communities,”
said the spokeswoman, Denise Davis.
But some black leaders have denounced the NAACP endorsements and
Huffman’s role in the Proposition 78 campaign.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, said Moore and Huffman had “dishonored
the NAACP.”
Moore put out a mailer encouraging black women to support Proposition
78 and oppose Proposition 79. It included pictures of black members
of Congress and the Legislature, implying incorrectly that they
all supported Proposition 78, critics said.
Waters said she talked to Moore and said the former assemblywoman
“tried to get me to believe that she was simply educating
the people about women legislators and about women’s organizations.”
“I told her she didn’t even believe that herself,”
Waters added.
Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, said Friday that
the NAACP endorsements of Proposition 78 were “starkly inconsistent”
with the group’s long record as an advocate for minorities
and the poor.
“The money trail is rather disturbing here,” he said.
“As a member of the NAACP, I just don’t think (the pharmaceutical
industry) should be permitted to exploit the organization’s
history and its influence.”
Anthony Wright, co-chairman of the Yes on 79 campaign, said the
drug companies’ spending through black organizations was part
of an effort “to find groups with friendlier faces to carry
their message.”
“We know that once voters find out that the drug companies
are behind Prop. 78 they reject it and are more likely to join consumer
groups in supporting Prop. 79,” he said.
Huffman said her decision was based on the merits of the two measures
and not on her business dealings with the Yes on 78 campaign committee,
formally called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America California Initiative Fund.
Huffman said she cleared her role in the campaign with her NAACP
executive committee.
“I cannot take a job anymore in California that would hurt
our people,” she said. “So I definitely had to take
a critical look at whether or not I was doing the right thing for
our community.”
Huffman said she feared Proposition 79 could deny Medi-Cal patients
access to certain brands of medications and that voluntary discount
programs had worked well in other states.
She said she sent a mailer to NAACP members urging support for Proposition
78 and opposition to Proposition 79 but had one of her aides contact
local chapters about the two measures so it wouldn’t look
as if she was “twisting anyone’s arm.”
“It was more of a soft sell than a hard sell,” she said.
She said black leaders critical of her position on the two propositions
“want the NAACP to be the enemy of corporate America.”
“A majority of NAACP dollars don’t come from memberships,
they come from corporate America,” she said. “A lot
of the time we don’t agree. But if we can agree on an issue
that’s mutually supportive of corporate America, I think we
should.”
Geraldine Washington, president of the NAACP’s Los Angeles
chapter, said her group questioned the sincerity of the drug companies
and decided to support Proposition 79.
“If the drug companies were sincere and wanted to do something
(to provide discounts), they would have done something by now,”
she said. “We thought that if the drug companies ... were
required to do so, that it would be much better for the millions
of people who would be able to get cheaper drugs.” (Associated
Press)
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