Coronavirus Response and Relief by ANGELA BRADBERY Spreading Across the U.S

VOL. 40, NO. 3 MAY/JUNE 2020 NEWS SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE Coronavirus Response and Relief BY ANGELA BRADBERY spreading across the U.S. The worked with lawmakers to he coronavirus pandemic crisis prompted Public Citizen craft legislation doing just Tsweeping the globe has high- to shift into overdrive, with the that; lighted major systemic problems organization’s policy experts, • Poured resources into ensur- in the U.S. — from the pitfalls of lawyers, grassroots organizers ing that the country can have our for-profit health care system and lobbyists devoting their time a safe election in November to our inadequate voter protec- to pushing for progressive solu- (see story, page 1); tions to the insidious corporate tions to problems highlighted by • Pressed for any vaccine or influence in Congress and the fail- the pandemic. Since mid-March, treatment to be affordable to ings of our trade policies. the organization has: all, and successfully pressured These issues lie at the heart • Called for everyone who has drugmaker Gilead Sciences of Public Citizen's mission and lost their health insurance not to take advantage of the encompass much of its work, because of pandemic-related pandemic to profit (see story, so staffers were able to respond layoffs to be automatically page 6); quickly when COVID-19 began enrolled in Medicare, and see Coronavirus, page 8 Graphic courtesy of Laura Nichols. Saving November’s Election Hyper- BY ANGELA BRADBERY Public Citizen — which had begun situation,” said Robert Weissman, Globalization n early April, with most of the pushing for measures to ensure president of Public Citizen. “The Icountry under lockdown to a safe election in November — to presidential election is just stem the spread of the novel coro- work even harder to ensure that months away and we are in the Undermines navirus, Wisconsinites headed out what happened in Wisconsin grip of a global pandemic. As we to the polls. doesn’t happen again. saw in Wisconsin, states aren’t It was primary day, and a con- “We are fast approaching a dire see Election, page 7 Response to troversial state Supreme Court justice was up for reelection. The COVID-19 Crisis state Supreme Court had rejected BY MELANIE FOLEY the governor’s attempt to delay the election, so the nation watched in he current regime of hyperglo- horror as voters in that state were Tbalization, fueled by decades forced to choose between preserv- of bad trade policies, has left ing their health and exercising people in the United States and their right to vote. around the world more vulnerable More than 200 polling places to the COVID-19 crisis, research were closed in key cities, leading by Public Citizen’s Global Trade to four- and five-hour waits, and Watch has found. absentee ballots didn’t arrive in “We cannot make or get criti- time. As a result, voters across the cal goods people need to combat state were disenfranchised. Public Citizen helped coordinate a socially distanced drive-in action in Fairfax, Va., on COVID-19, and we’re losing lives May 9 to call on Congress to fund elections so that states can make safe and secure It was a specter that galvanized voting options available in November. Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Green. see Globalization, page 5 INSIDE COURT HANDS VICTORY TO CONSUMERS ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED OVER DEBT COLLECTORS, page 4 AMID PANDEMIC, A PUSH FOR DIGITAL PRIVACY PROTECTIONS, page 7 IN THIS ISSUE GET TO KNOW PUBLIC CITIZEN VOL. 40, NO. 3 • MAY/JUNE 2020 SHARATH PATIL An ongoing series profiling Public Citizen leaders and staffers DEMOCRACY 1 Saving November’s election 11 Public Citizen uncovers payments assionate about nonprofit advocacy world and use my skillsets from Secret Service to Trump companies Pinternational to do good in the world. I find working on behalf trade law and pol- of the interests of working people and the planet GOVERNMENT & FINANCIAL icy, Sharath Patil to be very meaningful and rewarding. REFORM has worked as an agricultural trade How did your time working in governmental 7 Amid pandemic, a push for digital privacy protections policy intern for the commercial diplomacy influence your view 13 Bankrolled politicians stonewall Delegation of the of the relationship between trade and foreign surprise billing legislation European Union to policy? the United States and as a judicial intern for the Patil: I learned that diplomats often have consid- HEALTH & SAFETY U.S. Court of International Trade. He returned to erable influence in the execution of international 1 Coronavirus response and the Delegation as an international trade analyst, trade policy objectives, and that embassies can relief then became a summer intern at Trade Pacific, serve powerful roles in strengthening and 6 Gilead backs away from PLLC, an international trade law firm. Patil’s next improving trade relationships. monopoly over COVID-19 drug move was in July 2019, when he became research director at Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. How does that previous work inform what you ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT Although his family is from southern India, do at Public Citizen? 12 Dirty energy interests swamp Patil grew up in Sahuarita, Ariz., right outside Patil: I think trade is a strange policy area because U.S. Interior Department Tucson. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree certain aspects of it can be so technical, and the GLOBALIZATION & TRADE in supply chain management from Arizona State jargon used so limited to wonks. I think before University in 2015. After obtaining a law degree advocating policy changes, it is important to 1 Hyperglobalization undermines response to COVID-19 crisis from the University of Oregon School of Law in have a deep understanding of how things work. 2018, Patil moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue My previous work experiences provided me with LITIGATION a career that would allow him to influence the research skills and a knowledge base that I use 4 Court clamps down on polluters “well-being of our own country.” daily in my work. that lack a permit 4 Court hands victory to What drew you to your major, supply chain How has your recent admission to the District consumers over debt collectors management, and the topic of trade when you of Columbia Bar changed your work? were in college? Patil: Being an attorney who also works heav- PUBLIC CITIZEN RECOMMENDS Patil: I think it’s interesting how everything ily in quantitative research has helped me make 15 TK we wear, eat and drive comes from dozens of much stronger arguments and back up all policy countries and how that demonstrates the inter- proposals with data. I think the ability to com- OTHER connectedness of humanity. People have been bine those two skillsets is critical. trading since time immemorial, and I find trade 2 Get to Know Public Citizen in its purest form to be an important pathway What do you do to de-stress? 3 President’s View toward peace and understanding. I found supply Patil: An important part of my life is my Baha’i 10 Public Citizen in Your State chain management and global logistics to be an faith. In Washington, D.C., the Baha’i commu- 11 Public Citizen Activist Ally interesting way to study the world. nity is warm and actively engaged in community 14 In the Spotlight service projects. Every Saturday, I enjoy host- 15 In Memoriam What made you switch from the governmen- ing a dinner and discussion in my home where tal and legal sectors to the nonprofit advocacy youth from the neighborhood come over, and we ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS world? brainstorm service projects and have meaningful Angela Bradbery, communications Patil: After I spent a few years learning the ropes, conversations. director I was grateful to be able to switch over to the — Compiled by Eric Kopp Rhoda Feng, editor Melanie Foley, international campaigns director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade 1600 20TH ST. NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009 • (202) 588-1000 • [email protected] • WWW.CITIZEN.ORG Watch Public Citizen is a national non- PRESIDENT profit membership organization Robert Weissman Eric Kopp, communications intern based in Washington, D.C. Since VICE PRESIDENT OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS David Rosen, communications officer on its founding by Ralph Nader in Lisa Gilbert 1971, Public Citizen has fought regulatory affairs PUBLIC CITIZEN INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS for corporate and government Jason Adkins (chair), Joan Claybrook, Andrew S. Friedman, Mike Stankiewicz, press officer accountability to guarantee the Anna Galland, Danny Goldberg, Jim Hightower, Joy Howell, individual’s right to safe prod- director, Public Citizen’s John Richard, Anthony So, Robert Weissman (ex officio) Lori Wallach, ucts, a healthy environment and workplace, fair trade, and Global Trade Watch clean and safe energy sources. Public Citizen is active in PUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mark Chavez (chair), Jim Bildner, Robert C. Fellmeth, Robert Weissman, president Congress, the courts and government agencies. Public Citizen does not accept government or corporate David Halperin, Annie Leonard, Cynthia Renfro, Steve Kaiba White, energy policy and outreach grants. Our funding comes from our supporters through- Skrovan, Gerson H. Smoger, Robert Weissman (ex officio) specialist, Texas office out the country, who believe there should be full-time DIRECTORS advocates of democratic principles working on their David Arkush, Climate; Angela Bradbery, Communications; communications intern Isabel Wottowa, behalf; from foundations; and from the sale of our publi- Michael Carome, M.D., Health Research; Peter Maybarduk, Alan Zibel, corporate presidency research cations. Public Citizen is an equal opportunity employer. Access to Medicines; Tyson Slocum, Energy; Adrian director To become a member of Public Citizen and receive the Shelley, Texas; Joe Stoshak, Chief Financial Officer; Lori award-winning Public Citizen News, please call (202) 588- Wallach, Global Trade Watch; Allison Zieve, Litigation 1000 or send a check payable to Public Citizen for $20 to EDITOR Public Citizen Membership Services at the address above. Rhoda Feng Public Citizen News (ISSN 0738-5927), entire contents copyrighted 2020. Public Citizen News is printed on 10 per- CONNECT ONLINE cent recycled paper. Postmaster: Send address changes to WITH PUBLIC CITIZEN Public Citizen News at the address above. 2 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS EDITORIAL Combating Coronavirus and Corporate Immunity he coronavirus crisis has plunged the U.S. their own bad decisions to rely on too much impose on workers, consumers, patients and Teconomy into a worsening recession. debt. When we find corporate abuse, we’re tar- the public related to COVID-19. There’s no easy escape, but it’s plain enough geting the offenders with sophisticated cam- If adopted, this proposal would lead to what should be done: maintain quarantines paigns to hold them accountable — and deter more preventable death and disease. It would until cases subside and then implement a others from bad behavior. encourage corporations to cut corners on vital robust testing and tracing system to keep cases Second, while the worst acute public health health and safety measures for their employ- at a minimum; keep crisis in a century is the worst time imaginable ees, resulting in avoidable spread of COVID-19 the economy on life to cut back on essential health, safety, environ- and more death — impacts that will be felt dis- support with major mental, consumer and workplace protections, proportionately by lower-income people and federal spending that’s exactly what the Trump administration people of color. It would incentivize nursing programs, including is doing. homes and assisted living facilities, as well as direct payments to The Trump Environmental Protection other consumer-facing companies, in exactly individuals; ensure Agency told companies in March that they will the wrong direction — away from adopting everyone has health not be held responsible if they stop monitor- appropriate protections. coverage during the ing their compliance with pollution standards It also likely would result in more pollu- pandemic; and speed during the coronavirus crisis. Of course, tell- tion, sickness and industrial accidents. In other the research, devel- ing them that they don’t have to monitor com- words, not only would this proposal transfer opment and deploy- pliance is effectively the same thing as telling costs from employers to workers, corporations PRESIDENT’S VIEW ment of the vaccine them they don’t have to comply with pollution to patients and consumers, and polluters to ROBERT WEISSMAN we need to escape standards. communities, it would result in greater social from the crisis. And now the administration is floating the cost and needless suffering and fatalities. None of this should really be controversial. idea of suspending enforcement of all regula- We are mobilizing a broad coalition of hun- Big Businesses are getting crushed alongside tions — pollution, workplace safety, civil rights dreds of groups — labor and faith-based, eco- small ones. Although the risks of the coronavi- and more — on the theory that this will help nomic justice and environmental, consumer rus are distributed very unequally, everyone is jumpstart the economy. Not only would such and civil rights — to stop McConnell’s plan for at risk. The Trump administration has as much an enforcement freeze do nothing to help the corporate immunity in its tracks. self-interest in reinvigorating the economy as economy, it is an invitation for a corporate It’s a shame, but no surprise, really, that anyone. crime spree of epic proportions — one that amid an unprecedented crisis we must devote Unfortunately, every aspect of what should would leave us all poorer and less healthy. energy and resources to blocking efforts to be done is in fact controversial. At Public We’re hard at work organizing against such a exploit and profiteer from the pandemic. But Citizen, we’re pushing on all of these fronts. proposal and ready to sue if the administration we can — and will — stop those schemes while Instead of focusing on what should be done, actually proceeds with such a dangerous plan. simultaneously campaigning for the bold mea- the Trump administration and Big Business are Third, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the sures we do need to soften the pain and get conspiring to exploit the crisis to gouge tax- leading Big Business trade association — and through the pandemic as quickly as possible. payers and as a pretext to advance long-sought U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objectives that will leave Americans poorer (R-Ky.) are scheming to provide immunity from and far less safe. lawsuits to corporations for the harms they First, Big Business sees a pot of gold to grab and use to enrich CEOs and shareholders. The coronavirus bailout legislation includes $500 billion in bailout money for large corporations, which the Federal Reserve is leveraging into trillions in extremely low-interest loans. There’s virtually no check on where that money is going or what it will be used for. Not surprisingly, President Donald Trump doesn’t see a problem. “I’ll be the oversight,” he said. We have other ideas. We’re demanding strict new conditions on all bailout money: • A ban on CEO pay that exceeds 50 times the median pay at the firm; • A ban on stock buybacks and dividend payments until aid is repaid; and • Requirements that bailed-out companies keep employees on the payroll.

We’re also conducting our own intense moni- toring of the bailout recipients, paying special attention to efforts to rescue bad actor companies, like the fracking industry, that hurt our A scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects) emerging from the surface of cells well-being and now seek to be rescued from cultured in the lab. Image courtesy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / Flickr.

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 3 Court Clamps Down on Polluters That Lack a Permit BY RHODA FENG are allowed, and the county’s Environmental Protection Agency tee, wrote a short separate opinion argument amounted to a request (EPA) and Justice Department, emphasizing his agreement with that the Supreme Court create an which switched sides while the the majority and stating that the unwritten exception to the law. case was before the Supreme late Justice Antonin Scalia would “Maui County was essentially Court to support the county. have agreed as well. n its April decision asking the Supreme Court to The court held that the EPA’s “The decision is a stinging Iin County of Maui v. rewrite the Clean Water Act in the views were entitled to no defer- rebuke to the Trump adminis- WIN! Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, guise of interpreting it,” said Scott ence and were “difficult to recon- tration’s efforts to disregard the the U.S. Supreme Court Nelson, a Public Citizen attorney cile” with the words of the Clean plain meaning of laws passed handed a huge win to clean water who served as Supreme Court Water Act. The court concluded by Congress while rolling back activists in their lawsuit against co-counsel. “This case has enor- that “[the] EPA’s oblique argu- environmental protections,” said polluters who were seeking to mous implications for the bodies ment … cannot overcome the Nelson. “The case shows that such exploit a loophole in the Clean of water that the Clean Water Act statute’s structure, its purposes, policies are unacceptable to jus- Water Act. The polluters’ actions was designed to protect.” or the text of the provisions that tices from across the ideological were damaging once-pristine The Supreme Court agreed by actually govern.” spectrum.” coral reefs at the popular Kahekili a 6-3 vote. The court’s opinion, Notably, Breyer’s opinion was The case will return to the Beach in Hawai‘i. written by Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by both the court’s more lower courts for a determination The case revolved around a points out that the county’s posi- liberal members and by Chief of whether Maui’s discharges are wastewater treatment plant in tion would allow polluters to Justice John Roberts and Justice covered under the “functional Maui County, Hawai‘i, which dis- evade the law merely by moving Brett Kavanaugh. equivalent” standard announced charges millions of gallons of sew- their discharge pipes a few yards Kavanaugh, a Trump appoin- by the court. age daily into the Pacific Ocean from the water’s edge. via the groundwater beneath the “We do not see how Congress facility. could have intended to create The Clean Water Act prohib- such a large and obvious loophole its discharges of pollutants to in one of the key regulatory inno- navigable waters (like the Pacific vations of the Clean Water Act,” Ocean) from disposal wells with- the court stated. out a permit, and the county never Instead, the court ruled that got a permit for its discharges. the Clean Water Act prohibits Instead, the county argued that it discharges of pollution without a was not violating the Clean Water permit “into navigable waters, or Act because it does not discharge when the discharge reaches the “directly” into waters of the U.S., same result through roughly simi- but instead pollutes the ocean via lar means.” Discharges that reach groundwater. navigable waters through ground- Four nonprofit organizations, water or other indirect ways will represented in the Supreme Court be covered by the Act if they are by lawyers from Earthjustice and the “functional equivalent” of a Public Citizen, argued the oppo- direct discharge. site: The Clean Water Act does The court also rejected argu- not say that “indirect” discharges ments made by the Trump Graphic courtesy of John Tomac.

Court Hands Victory to Consumers Over Debt Collectors BY RHODA FENG hired at least two companies to try “the collection of any debts.” holding that debt buyers like DNF to collect that debt. The district court agreed, rea- that use third-party companies to The second company, MNS soning that because DNF hired contact consumers can be held & Associates, engaged in a pat- another company to collect debts liable for violations of the FDCPA tern of deceptive and misleading for it, it could not have a “princi- as “debt collectors.” n a recent case, Public conduct in its interactions with pal purpose” of debt collection, “This decision is a victory for ICitizen helped secure McAdory, including withdraw- and dismissed McAdory’s claims consumers,” said Adam Pulver, WIN! a victory for a consumer ing funds from her bank account against DNF. the lead Public Citizen attorney in a lawsuit brought before the agreed-upon payment Public Citizen represented on the case. “The court made under the Fair Debt Collection date. She then sued both DNF and McAdory in her appeal of that clear that companies whose life- Practices Act (FDCPA) against a MNS for violations of the FDCPA decision to the U.S. Court of blood is debt collection cannot debt buyer. in federal district court in Oregon. Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. evade liability for abusive tactics The defendant in the case is a The FDCPA, enacted by Congress The organization argued that the by contracting with other people company called DNF Associates. in 1977, allows consumers to sue “principal purpose” requirement to directly contact consumers. As DNF is a debt buyer that makes “debt collectors” for a range of does not require companies to the Ninth Circuit acknowledged, its profits by buying defaulted deceptive and misleading conduct. directly interact with consum- consumers who have been sub- consumer debts from creditors In the district court, DNF ers. Rather, a company, like DNF, ject to abusive tactics can pursue for pennies on the dollar and then argued it could not be sued under whose main business goal is debt relief against both contractors who using a network of contractors to the FDCPA, because the statu- collection meets the principal pur- send consumers misleading mail collect on those debts. tory definition of “debt collec- pose requirement. or who lie to consumers about pur- In 2017, DNF bought a debt tor” applies only to entities that The court of appeals agreed. ported debt, as well as debt buyers allegedly owed by Oregon resident directly interact with consumers In March, the Ninth Circuit issued who direct the activities of those Jillian McAdory to a store. It then and have a “principal purpose” of a decision in favor of McAdory, contractors.”

4 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Globalization, from page 1 more without approval by and developing before the COVID-19 New York Times stories about this payment to pharmaceutical and crisis, she advocated reestablish- lack of planning. as a result,” said Lori Wallach, other firms. ing domestic production capac- “Whether this was incompe- director of Public Citizen’s Global ity to ensure multiple sources for tence or putting politics above Trade Watch. Identifying the Problem medicine that could be relied on public health by trying to show Public Citizen previously has To raise awareness of the ways in in a crisis. gains in exports to China, the bot- documented how 25 years of cor- which our current trade model and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia tom line is that it contributed to porate-rigged trade policies has the Trump administration’s fail- (D-Ill.) led a webinar focused on shortages of critical medical goods encouraged corporations to move ings are exacerbating the COVID- the pressure U.S. corporations here,” Wallach said. Public Citizen production overseas in a never- 19 pandemic, Public Citizen’s and some U.S. officials are put- research also showed that the ending race to exploit the cheapest Global Trade Watch launched a ting on the Mexican government United States was one of the last labor and lowest environmental podcast (“Rethinking Trade”) to reopen U.S.-owned plants in countries to review domestic and standards. The mass outsourc- and a series of webinars that pair Mexico that have been hot spots of regional needs before exporting ing of U.S. industrial capacity and members of Congress with out- COVID-19, with numerous worker critical medical goods. loss of 60,000 U.S. manufactur- side policy experts. It’s all part of deaths, even though Mexico is fac- Meanwhile, while most of ing facilities since the mid-1990s a new “Rethink Trade” campaign, ing a surge of COVID-19 cases. the world is focused on fighting means the United States is now designed to demand good trade New Public Citizen research COVID-19, corporate lobbyists extremely reliant on other coun- policies that put working people also has revealed flaws in the are pushing for more of the same tries, especially China, to provide and the planet first. administration’s response to the failed trade policies that helped essential goods needed to combat In one webinar, U.S. Rep. Debbie COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of create the unreliable supply chains the pandemic. Dingell (D-Mich.) explained that government data showed that now exacerbating the crisis. And with many critical goods the pandemic has shed light on imports from China into the The Trump administration now mainly made in one or two how the U.S. must better support United States of masks, venti- has launched negotiations for countries, when workers in one domestic manufacturing. “Our lators, respirators, gloves and free trade deals with Kenya and part of the world fall ill or govern- supply chains have been shipped more dropped sharply starting the United Kingdom. And at the ments prioritize their own people’s overseas, and it’s a national secu- in January 2020 as COVID-19 hit World Trade Organization (WTO), needs before exporting goods, rity issue for us,” she said. She there. U.S. Department of Health discussions continue on deals to a worldwide shortage of masks, also criticized President Donald and Human Services data show limit regulation of monopolistic medicine and more can quickly Trump’s late and incomplete use that the U.S. relies on imports for online platforms and fossil fuel- develop. of the Defense Production Act, 90% of surgical masks and 70% of based energy firms. It’s hard to quickly increase under which the U.S. president respirators. China manufactures In April, Public Citizen teamed production elsewhere, Wallach can compel companies to manu- about 50% of the world’s masks. up with more than 250 unions, said. Long, thin globalized sup- facture critical goods. Despite the foreseeable U.S. environmental groups and con- ply chains make it difficult to U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro shortages that the limiting of sumer advocacy organizations source inputs, parts and compo- (D-Conn.) described how the U.S. exports by China would cause, to call on national governments nents needed to scale up domes- relies heavily on China for medi- U.S. Commerce Department offi- and the WTO to suspend all trade tic production during this crisis. cine and on China and India for up cials pushed U.S. firms to expand negotiations during the COVID-19 Monopoly patent protections in to 80% of all active pharmaceutical exports of the same goods to outbreak and refocus on access to many trade agreements expose ingredients from which medicine China in the start of the year. The medical supplies and saving lives. countries to trade sanctions if they is produced. With shortages of data Public Citizen generated was “We will continue to shed light produce medicine, ventilators and some essential medicines already featured in Washington Post and on how the hyperglobalization brought about by decades of bad trade deals has undermined our resilience against COVID-19 and worsened the crisis by concentrat- ing production in a few countries while devastat- ing our domestic manufacturing capacity,” Wallach said. “We will push our leaders to rethink trade so that our primary goals are healthy, resilient communities and economic well-being for more people — not the current priority of maxi- mizing corporate Graphic courtesy of JaRel Clay. profits.”

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 5 SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE Gilead Backs Away from Monopoly Over COVID-19 Drug BY RHODA FENG scientists. America, and the world, to Medicines program. Since right and needed know-how to Remdesivir is one has the right to expect better from Gilead’s concession, Public Citizen manufacture remdesivir to all of relatively few Gilead.” has called for the pharmaceutical qualified producers, in exchange WIN! medicines that may In a win for public health, giant to widely license its COVID- for a modest royalty.” prove effective in Gilead heeded the groups’ call 19 drug if it proves to be viable. To sign Public Citizen’s petition treating a patient population and has backed down, saying on “The world cannot afford to asking Gilead to do just that, visit: afflicted with COVID-19 that March 25 that it would relinquish have one manufacturer maintain https://bit.ly/2zdUdlF. easily may number in the tens of its government-sanctioned a monopoly over remdesivir, If remdesivir proves effective millions in the U.S. alone. When monopoly guarantee for a particularly given the huge against the novel coronavirus, the its manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, potential COVID-19 treatment. amount of public investment U.S. and the world will need the sought to gain a lucrative seven- “There’s no doubt that the that has gone into the drug,” drug to be available at a low price year monopoly on the drug, Public prospect of an enormous public said Maybarduk. “Gilead must do that reflects both the public health Citizen sprang into action. backlash is what made the more than make vague promises need and the potentially enormous Developed first to treat hepatitis difference,” said Peter Maybarduk, of reasonable pricing. It should market, with production at an C and then Ebola but never director of Public Citizen’s Access commit right now to license the unprecedented scale. approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, remdesivir was created in part using taxpayer money. In March, the organization and 50 civil society groups sent a letter to Daniel O’Day, chairman and CEO of Gilead, pressuring one of the most profitable pharmaceutical corporations on earth to renounce its claim to a lucrative “orphan drug” designation for remdesivir. In practice, the designation would allow Gilead to receive additional federal tax credits in the United States and to exclude generic and more affordable competition while charging high monopoly prices for a longer period, if the drug is approved. Gilead received this designation only by rushing to file its application while there were fewer than 200,000 known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. That is the population cap for eligibility as an orphan drug, which is a medication designed to treat rare diseases. The number of coronavirus cases passed the 200,000 mark in the U.S. on April 1, although due to a lack of widely available testing, the number of cases likely is much higher. “This is an unconscionable abuse of a program designed to incentivize research and development of treatments for rare diseases,” the letter reads. “COVID-19 is anything but a rare disease. Calling COVID-19 a rare disease mocks people’s suffering and exploits a loophole in the law to profiteer off a deadly pandemic. Making the claim to special orphan status even more outrageous is the fact that the public already has largely paid for remdesivir’s development through at least $60 million in grants and innumerable contributions from federal Graphic courtesy of John Tomac.

6 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE Amid Pandemic, a Push for Digital Privacy Protections BY DAVID ROSEN their ability to get loans, buy government health agencies. consent. ith people throughout the insurance or obtain other financial In some circumstances, it may • Second, data collection WU.S. under stay-at-home products could be compromised be necessary to track the location and processing must be orders to avoid spreading the if their data ends up in the wrong of individuals who test positive transparent, and individuals coronavirus, all of us are more hands. for COVID-19. But because of the should be clearly informed dependent than ever on online Existing laws and regulations huge risks, new data collection, about the purpose of data purchases, digital services offer few privacy protections processing and sharing in response collection and how long their and delivery apps to meet our for this data, which is collected to the pandemic must come with data will be retained. All daily needs. But that increased routinely by tech companies and strong new privacy protections. newly collected or processed dependence comes with online vendors. Public Citizen and “We do not have to become a data must be kept confidential significant privacy risks. its allies have fought for a baseline data dystopia, but Congress must and secure — and should Public Citizen is leading a federal privacy law for years, but act quickly to stop the coronavirus be deleted automatically coalition of 15 groups urging Congress has failed to pass one. from turning us into one,” said following the pandemic. Congress to secure our data Already, big corporations and Emily Peterson-Cassin, digital • Third, we must hold and protect our privacy during the Trump administration are rights advocate for Public Citizen. companies accountable for the coronavirus pandemic. The exploring new ways to collect and Here are some general violating these principles or goal is to ensure that the public process data en masse to address principles Public Citizen and its failing to keep our data secure. health emergency and economic the unfolding public health and allies proposed to Congress in That means penalties must be meltdown don’t metastasize into economic crises, whether it’s March that would help curtail severe enough to outweigh the a digital privacy disaster. through tracking our location, those abuses: financial benefits of breaking Big Tech companies like purchases or health information. • First, extraordinary public the law, which are likely to be Google and Amazon collect troves The CARES Act, the third health measures involving considerable. of personal information that can coronavirus relief package data collection introduced be used to track and manipulate Congress passed in March, during the crisis should “Living through a pandemic individuals in unprecedented allocated $500 million for a be limited in scope and already feels like an apocalyptic ways. New shopping patterns, public health surveillance system. duration, so they do not movie; nobody wants it to feel like work-from-home tools and Around the same time, the become permanent features an episode of ‘Black Mirror’, too,” distance learning apps are creating White House reached out to tech of law. Data collected as Peterson-Cassin said, referencing reams of data about our families — companies with access to huge part of those extraordinary the contemporary, tech-focused data that can reveal a great deal troves of consumer data for help measures should not be version of the popular 1960s ‘The about with whom we live, where during the crisis. And in April, used or repurposed for Twilight Zone.’ “We may already our friends and family are at any Google and Apple launched a new marketing, advertising or be setting the stage for a slate of moment and even our health system for tracing the spread of other commercial purposes terrifying episodes about how status. the coronavirus by allowing users — or any unrelated research technology can be abused during A person’s job prospects and to share data via Bluetooth with purposes without informed a global health crisis.”

Election, from page 1 Utah and Washington — all voters so people coming to the polls that money in a package for states in receive ballots by mail automati- don’t have to crowd together; March, but the U.S. Senate reduced prepared to hold an election safely. cally, and most other states provide • Allow no-excuse absentee the amount to $400 million. Congress must act.” mail-in ballots to voters without vote-by-mail (meaning that The House also included a requiring voters to explain their voters don’t have to provide a national requirement for both 15 States Aren’t Prepared request. reason for asking for a ballot to days of early voting and no-excuse Experts agree that it is unlikely our But voting by mail isn’t a pana- vote by mail); absentee vote-by-mail, including country will return to “normal” cea, because not everyone can • Offer online voter registration mailing a ballot to all registered by November’s election. Doing so vote by mail. Those who need and same-day registration; and voters in an emergency. Those would require a highly effective language assistance to vote and • Procure cleaning supplies to provisions were stripped from the COVID-19 treatment to be found people with disabilities who rely frequently sterilize voting Senate bill before it became law. To or a vaccine to be produced. on voting machines will be unable equipment; prod Congress to send money to While a drug developed to treat to participate in democracy if polls “Voting is sacred in America, which the states, Public Citizen has been Ebola has shown promise, it merely are closed. Native Americans who is why our political leaders have mobilizing activists nationwide lessens the duration of hospital reside on reservations may lack ensured that elections were held through online town hall meetings, stays rather than quickly cure the street addresses. even during the most tumultu- webinars and action alerts urging illness. Also, it is questionable as To ensure that everyone can ous times, such as wars and the people to contact their lawmakers. to how much can be manufactured participate in the election, state 1918 Spanish flu pandemic,” said “We can’t let what happened in in the coming months. Vaccines, and local officials should do their Aquene Freechild, co-director of Wisconsin happen in November,” meanwhile, take extensive testing, best to keep polling places open Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of so even on a fast track, a vaccine — and safe for voters and election People campaign. “To make it hap- legislative affairs for Public Citizen. if developed — won’t be available workers alike, and they should pen, though, will take money and “The good news is, we don’t have until 2021 at least. take steps to guard against long political will.” to if lawmakers act. Our democracy So how can the U.S. hold an elec- lines and mass confusion, Public hangs in the balance.” tion in a pandemic? It will require Citizen maintains. Prodding Congress to Act Tell your member of Congress to states to prepare by dramatically That means that states must: To prepare, states will need $4 bil- give states the resources they need increasing voting by mail. In five • Extend early voting to at least lion, according to experts. The U.S. to hold a safe election in November: states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, 15 days before the election, House of Representatives included https://bit.ly/3b1NKr9.

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 7 SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Coronavirus, from page 1

• Conducted research showing how our trade ing people’s right to access the courts,” said insurers are offering, issuing a report show- policies have made the U.S. extremely reli- Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. ing that while most large health insurers are ant on other countries, especially China, to “We ramped up quickly to do even more. Given offering free care for coronavirus patients, their provide essential goods needed to combat the severity of the situation, we anticipate that promises are riddled with confusing conditions the pandemic (see story, page 1); we will be doing this work for a long time.” and loopholes. • Assembled a large coalition working “Losing access to health care or having to defeat a dangerous proposal to Pitfalls of For-Profit inadequate insurance coverage give businesses broad immu- Health Care during a pandemic — when nity from COVID-related The pandemic laid bare the folly everyone who is sick should lawsuits brought by work- of linking health insurance receive treatment to help ers or customers; and to employment. When Public curb the spread of the dis- • Worked with congressio- Citizen News went to press, 33 ease — shows just how bro- nal lawmakers to ensure million people had been laid ken our health care system that bailout money is not off as a result of the pandemic. A is,” said Lisa Gilbert, vice siphoned off by wealthy cor- recent report by the Urban Institute president of legislative affairs porations that don’t need it. estimates that 25 million to 43 million for Public Citizen. “With a par- Americans are at risk of losing, or have already ticularly contagious and poten- “The pandemic has led us to focus on key lost, their health insurance, as they lose their tially lethal virus spreading rapidly, aspects of the crisis that dovetail with work jobs. no one should avoid seeking treatment because we already were doing — such as pushing for Even people lucky enough to have health they can’t afford it.” Medicare for All, affordable drugs and democ- insurance still could face large medical bills. The solution, Public Citizen said, is racy reforms, as well as curbing corporate Public Citizen researched the coronavirus- Medicare for All. In the interim, the organiza- influence over the government and protect- related benefits that the top 25 private health tion is pushing for Americans who lose their jobs due to the pandemic to be automatically enrolled in Medicare. Public Citizen worked with U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), who on May 1 unveiled the Medicare Crisis Program Proposal, which would do just that. Public Citizen’s organizers have ramped up support of activists around the country who are calling on their local officials to support the emergency bill and Medicare for All. Thanks to these efforts, the New Orleans City Council unanimously passed a Medicare for All resolution on May 7, joining dozens of municipali- ties nationwide. More than 300 local resolution efforts are underway from coast to coast.

Affordable Medicines The pandemic also highlighted the need to revamp our system for developing drugs and vaccines. Lifesaving medications often are developed with the help of taxpayer money. Then, drugmakers obtain lucrative patents and charge sky-high prices to the very people whose tax money helped develop the drug. Staffers in Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, which has been pushing for years for systemic changes to give Americans affordable medicines, are working to ensure that any COVID-19 treatment or vaccine is affordable. The organization determined that taxpayers have spent at least $70.5 million to develop remdesivir, which emerged as a prom- ising experimental COVID-19 treatment. That's nearly double a previous public estimate of $37.5 million. Initially tested by Gilead as a hepatitis C treatment, remdesivir was refined, developed and evaluated by federal scientists for Ebola and coronaviruses. Public Citizen is calling for it to be priced at $1 a day. The organization also successfully pressured the drugmaker to drop its attempt to get a special seven-year monopoly on the treatment. And Above graphic courtesy of John Tomac. Illustrations of coronavirus molecules courtesy of Bob Savidge. Public Citizen sent a letter on April 16 to National

8 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Institutes of Health sibility of being held Director Francis accountable in court Collins after he serves as a power- CALLING OUT PLUTOCRATS announced that ful incentive for he was working businesses to FOR PRIORITIZING PROFITS to launch “an operate safely unprecedented, and honestly,” OVER PEOPLE public-private said Allison It’s become a truism that with the coronavirus crisis, partnership” to Zieve, direc- “we’re all in this together.” guide the devel- tor of the Public But not everyone agrees. opment of COVID- Citizen Litigation A recent Public Citizen report details how billionaires, 19 treatments and Group. “Without corporate executives, free-market extremists and right-wing vaccines. Public Citizen that incentive, patients, ideologues have prioritized their pocketbooks over ordinary urged Collins to make accessibil- customers, workers and the com- Americans. Some of them urge that we must “normalize” ity and affordability key elements munity at large are at risk. From the economy as soon as possible, implicitly — and in some of the plan. protecting the food supply chain cases, explicitly — accepting that this would mean sacrificing to preventing needless deaths in lives. Others, apparently, just don’t care about those risks, or nursing homes, companies respon- Combating Corporate believe against evidence that they are not real or overblown. sible for the health and safety Influence “Impatient corporate executives and right-wing pundits of others must continue to have For decades, one of the top items using their outsized influence over the Trump administra- every incentive to protect them.” on the wish list of the U.S. Chamber tion to prematurely reopen the economy are risking count- Corporations are looking to of Commerce has been to make it less lives,” said Rick Claypool, research director for Public take advantage of the pandemic much more difficult for consumers Citizen and author of the report. “Deciding whether to scale in other ways. Already, some com- and workers to hold corporations back social distancing measures should be up to medical panies took bailout money they accountable in court for wrongdo- experts whose priority is protecting public health — not didn’t need and had to return it. ing. When the pandemic hit, they billionaires.” Public Citizen led 45 groups in decided to make another run at it. Among the plutocrats listed in Public Citizen’s report is pushing Congress to condition In April, U.S. Senate Majority Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive and former any additional coronavirus-related Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Trump administration economic adviser. With a net worth corporate bailout money on strict and U.S. House of Representatives between $252 million and $611 million, Cohn reportedly executive compensation limits. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke “for many on Wall Street arguing for a need to ‘nor- “Trillions in aid should (R-Calif.) called for busi- malise’ the economy,” according to the Financial Times. go to workers, not nesses to be immune Also making the list is Rudy Giuliani, President Donald senior manag- from liability to Trump’s personal lawyer and former mayor of New York ers,” said Bartlett workers and cus- City, who has an estimated net worth of $45 million. In Naylor, financial tomers for claims March, Giuliani reposted a tweet minimizing the COVID-19 policy advo- related to COVID- death toll. cate for Public 19. Although On March 16, the Trump administration announced its Citizen. McConnell has “15 Days to Slow the Spread” initiative. Less than a week into not yet released a the initiative, Trump signaled his growing impatience with specific proposal, the Calling out social distancing and frustration with its impact on the mar- immunity requested by Trump’s Lies ket. Two days later, the president and Vice President Mike businesses would cover claims Public Citizen also has devel- Pence held a meeting with billionaire Wall Street executives, by people who got sick because oped a rapid response operation after which Trump held a press conference to announce he a business failed to take reason- to quickly send facts to reporters intended to push for a hastened end to social distancing able steps to protect safety, as when President Donald Trump or measures. well as claims based on retalia- administration officials spew lies When criticized by the public for this reckless, aggres- tory firing, defective products and from the White House briefing sive timeline despite credible forecasts that millions could sham cures, among other things. room. die absent aggressive measures, Trump doubled down and If enacted, such a proposal would Dr. Michael Carome, director of accused the experts pushing back on his “beautiful time- undermine consumer and worker Public Citizen’s Health Research line” of being politically motivated. protections and reward negligent Group, has been leading the Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top federal authority on infec- conduct, Public Citizen maintains. charge. “False statements from the tious diseases, pushed back against the president’s arbitrary Public Citizen therefore president and some of his leading timeline to reopen the country on Easter. Several days later, helped organize more than 118 national public health experts are Trump relented and postponed his aspirational reopening organizations to form the No Biz particularly dangerous because of the country after his health advisers persuaded him the Immunity coalition to defeat any they will lead people to ignore casualty cost could be massive. proposals that attempt to immu- critically important public health Yet there’s a great risk that the save-the-economy-and- nize businesses from advice,” Carome said. let-the-chips fall-where-they-may chorus is winning the liability, which “It appears that even the most president’s favor, with potentially horrifying consequences. would make highly respected medical experts “It’s a scandal that profiteers’ influence is repeatedly super- workplaces can be corrupted to the point of seding the lifesaving guidance public health experts provide less safe and spewing misinformation if they — and that our nation’s leadership is willing to risk countless slow down are exposed to Trump’s perni- lives for a dubious economic boost,” said Claypool. economic cious sphere of influence for too — Isabel Wottowa recovery. long. And there’s no vaccine for “The pos- that.” PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 9 PUBLIC CITIZEN IN YOUR STATE Much of Public Citizen's work focuses on federal policies, but the organization also works in the public interest at the local and state levels. Here's what Public Citizen has been doing in your state lately.

In both Austin and San Antonio, Public Citizen worked with partner organizations and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who also serves on the CPS Energy Board of Trustees, to implement the changes. — Kaiba White Protecting Texans From Utility Disconnections The last thing anyone needs during a pandemic is to have their water or power cut off. That’s why Public Citizen’s Texas office is working to protect state residents from utility disconnections during the COVID-19 emergency by pushing for a clear statewide policy that ensures no residential customers are without water or electricity during this public health crisis. As the coronavirus pandemic first bore down on Texas in mid-March and posed a threat to the state’s economy, Public Citizen’s Texas staff began tracking action at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). Public Citizen uncovered a hodgepodge of disconnection policies among Public Power Offers Opportunities to the state’s 130 electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities. Transition to Clean Energy in Texas Along with the Sierra Club, the organization on March 20 urged the Public Citizen’s Texas office has made progress on advancing the transition PUC not to allow utilities to shut off customers’ water or power during the to clean renewable energy in Austin and San Antonio. Both cities own pandemic. The groups also called for service to be restored to anyone their electric utilities, so they are good targets for community organizing. whose water or power was shut off for nonpayment. In Austin, a planning process to update the Austin Energy Resource, Some utilities did the right thing and halted disconnections, and on Generation and Climate Protection Plan has concluded. At the end of March 26, the PUC ordered a temporary moratorium on disconnections March, the Austin City Council adopted the plan, which: at private investor-owned utilities for customers who have applied for • Ends the use of all fossil fuels at the utility by 2035 (coal will be unemployment. But many smaller municipally owned and cooperative phased out by the end of 2022); utilities – many of which are not regulated by the PUC – have not changed • Reduces carbon dioxide emissions during the phase-out period by their policies. This leaves Texans in small towns and rural areas vulnerable using a strategy similar to a price on carbon; and as pandemic-related job losses mount. • Increases local solar and energy efficiency goals. Of the dozens of utilities that are still disconnecting customers, most serve small towns and rural areas in Texas. Twenty-eight of them have suspended In San Antonio, Public Citizen’s Texas office was successful in stopping a disconnections for residential customers. Many electric cooperatives also new contract for a natural gas power plant that was proposed by the city- have suspended disconnections for commercial customers. owned CPS Energy in October. The utility’s leadership is leaning toward The lack of a statewide policy has left thousands of Texans without allowing clean energy resources – such as wind and solar paired with certainty as to the status of their electricity access throughout the COVID-19 batteries – to compete for that business. pandemic. On April 7, Public Citizen and 10 other organizations sent a This strategy of fostering competition has resulted in other utilities letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbot calling on him to issue an executive transitioning more quickly to clean energy sources. The CPS Energy Board order requiring all water and electric utilities to turn on power for any of Trustees also voted in January to create a new committee of customers residential customers whose water and power were disconnected, and to and stakeholders to advise the board on rates and resource plans. suspend any additional disconnections during the crisis. Public Citizen has advocated this as a critical component of increasing As of press time we were awaiting a response. transparency and public participation at the city-owned utility. — Kaiba White

10 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS Public Citizen Uncovers Payments From Secret Service to Trump Companies BY ALAN ZIBEL $628,000 during Trump’s first two Club in Bedminster, N.J., for the Public Citizen’s records request. resident Donald Trump’s years in office. Secret Service. The cost of that These records, consisting Pproperties in New Jersey and Among the newly discov- New Jersey property rental was of bills paid with U.S. taxpay- Florida charged the U.S. Secret ered information in the records nearly $567 per day for most stays, ers’ money, contradict a state- Service more than $140,000 for featured in the Post article were except for three days in 2017 when ment by Trump’s son Eric in an lodging and other rooms, accord- details about thousands of dol- taxpayers were charged $1,666 per October 2019 interview, in which ing to a cache of documents lars spent by the Secret Service at day. he claimed that his father’s own- obtained by Public Citizen. Trump-owned properties, includ- The documents also show that ership of properties “saves a for- After a three-year delay by the ing for rentals at those properties the Secret Service paid an “at tune” for the U.S. government. Secret Service, Public Citizen in when the president was not there. cost” rate of $396.15 on 135 nights The Post reporting highlights February 2020 received a deliv- “Aggressive use of the Freedom of lodging at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago the complexity of Trump’s busi- ery of two 30-pound cardboard of Information Act (FOIA) — the Club in Florida, for a total of about ness relationships. More than boxes of Secret Service records, nation’s premier public records $53,000 at that resort. three years after Trump’s inau- including thousands of pages of law — has been crucial to Public Public Citizen’s public records guration, reporters and watchdog documents for hotel invoices and Citizen’s efforts to hold the Trump battle with the Secret Service groups are still trying to under- rental car bills. administration accountable over dates back to before Trump’s stand the true extent of Trump’s Public Citizen contacted a the past three years,” said Allison inauguration. On Jan. 6, 2017, the business relationship with the team of investigative reporters Zieve, director of the Public Citizen organization submitted a FOIA federal government. at the Washington Post, led by Litigation Group. “Pushing the request to the Secret Service for “Trump treats the presidency reporter David Farenthold, who government to be more transpar- records related to costs incurred as a self-enrichment scheme,” combed through the documents ent is vital to holding the govern- by the Secret Service for Trump’s said Robert Weissman, president and compared the hotel bills and ment accountable to the people.” continued use of his home in New of Public Citizen. “Slowly, we’re other records with documents Most of the bills uncovered York and his other residences. beginning to learn the size of obtained through other sources. for both New Jersey and Florida After three years and two the bill to taxpayers. Our goal in Adding Public Citizen’s records properties were from 2017 and administrative appeals challeng- pursuing this information is to to the others, the Post found that 2018. They show that the fed- ing the adequacy of the agency’s continue highlighting Trump’s Trump’s businesses have charged eral government spent nearly search and withholdings under corruption: He is using the fed- the Secret Service — that is, $87,000 over 147 days to rent a FOIA exemptions, the Secret eral government to line his own American taxpayers — more than cottage at Trump National Golf Service finally complied with pockets.”

PUBLIC CITIZEN ACTIVIST ALLY: ANN REA Born and raised in New York City, Ann Rea had originally planned Public Policy that advocates legislative remedies to get money out of to be an artist. She received her bachelor’s of fine arts degree from politics. Rea also has worked to get out the vote in numerous local, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where she studied paint- state and federal elections, focusing on a 2013 ballot question to raise ing, printmaking and art history and later obtained a master’s degree the minimum wage in New Jersey and a 2014 ballot question for paid in fine art printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. sick leave in Montclair. Rea went on to pursue a decades-long, art-adjacent career, In New Jersey’s Essex County, a coalition of groups, includ- starting as a freelance textile designer before moving to ing SOMA Action, the International Human Rights Clinic Jones New York, where she worked for 22 years before at Rutgers Law School, BlueWaveNJ and NJ Appleseed, retiring in 2009. notched a victory in 2019, when Essex County became Rea became politically galvanized in 2004 after the first in the state to allow voters to mark a paper President George W. Bush won his second term. She ballot by hand, the most secure voting option. realized that “voting was no longer enough” and that In Sept. 17, 2019, Rea worked with BlueWaveNJ, the more money suffused our elections, the less dem- SOMA Action and Public Citizen to organize a national ocratic our government would be. That year, she was day of action to call for legislation that gives states the recruited by the New Jersey-based organization BlueWaveNJ resources they need to secure votes. The event in Newark, to head its Electoral Reform Group. She also became a member of N.J., called for an overhaul of the state's voting system and was the New Jersey chapter of Democracy for America. covered in local press. In 2007, Rea was part of a coalition including BlueWaveNJ, New “Ann Rea is one of the most tenacious and strategic volunteer Jersey Citizen Action, the Brennan Center for Justice and the NJ leaders I have worked with,” said Aquene Freechild, co-director of Chamber of Commerce that worked to pressure the New Jersey Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People Campaign. “Many people legislature to enact a pilot program to publicly finance that year’s have worked to secure elections in New Jersey and been pushed back legislative elections. While the pilot program was not permanently over and over again at the state level. Ann saw an opening to focus on implemented in New Jersey, the experiment showed that this finance the county level. By staying on the case, meeting with local elections system could be used successfully. Public Citizen has since helped officials, building relationships and political power, she was able to enact public financing systems that are used now in Washington, achieve locally what was so elusive on the state level.” D.C., Seattle, Wash., and Howard County, Md. Connecticut, Maine Rea’s activism has been guided by the desire to find “work where and Arizona have statewide systems in place. I could be the most effective” and by the belief that publicly financed Rea went on to join New Jersey for the Overturn of Citizens United elections will lead to a government more responsive to the people. In as state coordinator in 2015. She is a founding member of Restore the coming months, Rea plans to continue pressing for vote by mail, Democracy, a working group within the Network for Responsible Medicare for All, immigration and prison reform. — Rhoda Feng

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 11 Dirty Energy Interests Swamp U.S. Interior Department BY ERIC KOPP op U.S. Department of Interior Tofficials have had 12 times as “Clearly, the best way to get on the Trump administration’s radar is to be an oil, many meetings with dirty energy gas or a mining company looking for favors. As former lobbyists, Bernhardt and executives as with conservation and renewable energy interests, MacGregor speak the same language as industry lobbyists and don’t seem to according to a new Public Citizen think twice about doing their bidding.” and Documented Investigations —Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen report. The March report examines the schedules of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Deputy mining industry, $2.1 million multiple times with the American areas.” Secretary Katharine MacGregor from the oil and gas industry and Petroleum Institute; the National Fulfilling MacGregor’s prom- from January 2017 through March $1.5 million from other energy Petroleum Council; the National ise, the Interior Department rolled 2019. The report was based on companies during his career as a Ocean Industries Association back several vital offshore drill- public calendars and information lobbyist. (NOIA), which represents the off- ing regulations. These rollbacks gathered via records requests. An earlier Public Citizen report shore drilling industry; oil compa- could cause more accidents, put- Both Bernhardt, who suc- found that Bernhardt’s former cli- nies including Shell, ExxonMobil, ting workers and ecosystems at ceeded scandal-plagued Ryan ents spent about $30 million on BP and ConocoPhillips; and the risk. Zinke as Interior Secretary, and lobbying the federal government National Mining Association. “Clearly, the best way to get MacGregor, his top aide, have since the beginning of the Trump By comparison, Bernhardt and on the Trump administration’s deep ties to the oil and gas indus- administration. Further, 17 of the MacGregor had only 19 meetings radar is to be an oil, gas or a min- try and have worked as lobbyists. clients on Bernhardt’s recusal list with conservation and renewable ing company looking for favors,” After Bernhardt graduated have lobbied the federal govern- energy interests, including the said Robert Weissman, president from law school in 1994, he briefly ment since the beginning of the National Park Foundation, Public of Public Citizen. “As former lob- worked as a corporate lawyer Trump administration. Lands Foundation, American byists, Bernhardt and MacGregor before working for the George W. The recent report found that Wind Energy Association speak the same language as Bush administration. In 2009, he Bernhardt and MacGregor had and Solar Energy Industries industry lobbyists and don’t seem returned to his corporate lobby- 361 meetings between January Association. to think twice about doing their ing career, representing the fossil 2017 and March 2019. The oil, In 2017, NOIA held a meeting bidding.” fuel, mining and water industries. gas, electricity, mining and coal in Wyoming and outlined a wish Added Alan Zibel, author of MacGregor worked for 10 years industries participated in 235 of list of “priority regulatory issues,” the report and research direc- in Congress for Republican law- those meetings, while lobbying/ including the rollback of offshore tor of Public Citizen’s Corporate makers, advancing a pro-oil and law firms, which mostly repre- oil regulations. MacGregor, who Presidency Project, “If you’re a big gas agenda. sented industry interests, had 31 attended the meeting, later polluting oil and gas company or According to the Center for meetings, while hunting groups emphasized that “the [Interior] a mining firm, you’ve got a friend Responsive Politics, Bernhardt had 21 meetings, respectively. Department’s ultimate goal is in, and a distinct advantage with, received $1.2 million from the Bernhardt and MacGregor met to open access to new offshore the Trump administration.”

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt testifies on March 10 before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Commitee on his department’s fiscal year 2021 budget request. Photo courtesy C-SPAN.

12 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS Bankrolled Politicians Stonewall Surprise Billing Legislation BY MIKE STANKIEWICZ utting Americans in debt Pfrom surprise medical bills is “The debate over surprise bills highlights the biggest problems with our health care nearly universally despised, but it system. It underscores that our health care system is unnavigable and beholden appears that political dollars may to corporate profits.” have stopped the outlawing of this devious but profitable practice. —Eagan Kemp, Public Citizen’s health care policy advocate Two private equity firms that own health care staffing companies have bankrolled the leaders health care policy advocate. unwittingly receive care from a aisle have made it clear they want of the powerful U.S. House Ways “It underscores that our health physician in a hospital emergency to stop surprise bills, but they have & Means Committee in an apparent care system is unnavigable and room who works for a third-party been thwarted by the House Ways effort to block or weaken legisla- beholden to corporate profits.” physician staffing company that is & Means Committee’s chairman tion that would protect patients Surprise bills are those received out-of-network. and ranking member. from being socked with surprise by patients who have health insur- Private equity firms like Welsh, House and U.S. Senate negotia- medical bills, a Public Citizen ance, but through no fault of their Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) tors worked in 2019 on legislation report released in March found. own are cared for by a doctor or and Blackstone have invested that would have ended surprise “The debate over surprise bills other medical provider who is not in companies that provide the billing but would have meant pri- highlights the biggest problems in the insurance company’s net- types of staffing services that can vate equity companies could no with our health care system,” work. For instance, surprise bills ensnare unsuspecting patients. longer profit from bilking patients said Eagan Kemp, Public Citizen’s often are generated when patients Lawmakers on both sides of the see Billing, page 16 Public Citizen salutes . . . the extraordinary generosity and commitment of our donors, who make our mission and goals their own. This list includes recent leadership donations.

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To become a leadership supporter, please contact Amanda Fleming at (202) 588-7734 or [email protected]. PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 13 Are your medicines IN THE SPOTLIGHT SAFE? The following are highlights from our recent media coverage. Robert Weissman, Public Citizen regard for the facts posing an ongoing president mortal danger to U.S. citizens: Common Dreams. On frontline workers in the On the Trump administration’s hando- Many drugs that come to market have risks health care industry putting their lives ver of the levers of government to that outweigh their benefits. Others, found at risk: Law360. to have risks only after they are approved, corporations: The American Prospect. On Senate Majority Leader Mitch are left on the market for dangerously long McConnell’s (R-Ky.) push for wide- Peter Maybarduk, director of Public periods of time. Find out which drugs are spread corporate immunity for any- Citizen’s Access to Medicines safe—and which you should avoid—with thing connected to the coronavirus Program Public Citizen’s WorstPills.org and Worst crisis: Democracy Now! On price goug- On how Big Pharma doesn’t have Pills, Best Pills News. ing of medical supplies: The Intercept. an incentive to invest in pandem- To subscribe to WorstPills.org, our website, On President Donald Trump’s personal ics: Mother Jones. On the National friends in the energy industry using for only $10 a year, visit www.WorstPills.org, Institutes of Health being too shy their relationships to obtain bailouts and type in promotional code PP4E5PC when about using its federal power during a and environmental rollbacks: Houston pandemic: Roll Call. prompted. Chronicle. On the Trump campaign To subscribe to the monthly print edition secretly paying $180,000 a year to his sons’ significant others: HuffPost. On Public Citizen Litigation Group of Worst Pills, Best Pills News for a On Trump's nominees to lead regula- discount—$10 a year—mail in the form the need for a joint effort to develop and manufacture on a broad scale a tory and enforcement agencies being below. (Phone orders without this coupon coronavirus vaccine: Bloomberg Law, chosen for their ideological opposi- are $20.) The Hill. tion to regulation: Bloomberg Law. On Public Citizen’s lawsuit against the U.S. Yes! I will subscribe to the print Environmental Protection Agency over edition of Worst Pills, Best Pills News Lisa Gilbert, vice president of its decision to relax a policy requiring for only $10 for 12 monthly issues. legislative affairs companies to report their compliance All orders must be prepaid On the $150 billion in emergency virus with pollution standards during the Check (payable to Public Citizen) aid for corporations proposed by coronavirus outbreak: Law360. Republican senators: The Washington Credit card: Visa Mastercard Post, Los Angeles Times. On the need Adrian Shelley, director of Public Amex Discover to strengthen environmental, labor, health and other regulations to protect Citizen’s Texas office the public: The Washington Post, Daily On the Texas Commission on Kos, Washington Examiner. On the Environmental Quality facing criti- CREDIT CARD NUMBER $2.2 trillion rescue plan for American cism for rolling back environmental businesses: Associated Press. On alle- rules for companies during the coro- EXP. DATE gations of congressional insider trad- navirus pandemic: Houston Chronicle, ing against U.S. Senate Intelligence The Statesman. On regulators of Texas oil and gas production weighing pro- SIGNATURE (AS IT APPEARS ON CARD) Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.): Business Insider. On the need duction cuts: Politico. for Congress’ fourth relief bill to ban NAME corporations from lobbying while Tyson Slocum, director of Public using government assistance: Sinclair Citizen's Energy Program 8-DIGIT ID NUMBER (FROM MAILING LABEL) Broadcast, The Charlotte Observer. On filing petitions with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission STREET ADDRESS Lori Wallach, director of Public and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Citizen's Global Trade Watch Commission: El Paso Times. On compa- CITY On the ‘de minimis’ loophole that per- nies using the coronavirus as an excuse mits most shipments of goods bought not to comply with needed consumer online to skirt any inspection: Politico. or environmental regulatory protec- STATE/ZIP On Trump's trade policy coming under tions: Bloomberg News. On capturing fire: The Hill. On the passing of global emissions from power plants: E&E EMAIL ADDRESS activist Martin Khor: Counter Punch. News. On the Defense Production Act: The Young Turks. PHONE NUMBER Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Craig Holman, government affairs Send order to: On the U.S. Food and Drug lobbyist with Public Citizen’s Public Citizen Administration refusing to reveal Congress Watch division P.O. Box 96978 company information that could affect On corporations lobbying for corona- public safety: The New York Times. On virus stimulus money: The New York Washington, DC 20090-6978 mask and gown shortages in hospi- Times. On pay-to-play politics: The tals: The Guardian. On Trump spew- Intercept. On allegations of congres- PP4E5PC ing misinformation at press briefings: sional insider trading against Senate Roll Call, Ralph Nader Radio Hour. Intelligence Committee Chairman On Trump using the U.S. Centers for Richard Burr (R-N.C.): Mother Jones. On Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) dump- the U.S. Postal Service to promote his ing millions of dollars in stock after a www.WorstPills.org own interests: Daily Kos. On the failure coronavirus briefing: The Daily Beast. of some states to do coronavirus test- On the White House not taking pan- ing: Politico. On Trump’s habitual dis- demic planning seriously: Quartz.

14 MAY/JUNE 2020 PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS REST IN POWER, MARTIN KHOR Public Citizen mourns the loss of — and owes an immense debt for a more equitable, democratic alternative during the past 30 of gratitude to — Martin Khor Kok Peng. Following a several-year years. At times, I joked he had to have a clone, as he was everywhere battle with cancer, Martin passed away in early April at the age of he was needed, seemingly bending the rules of physics. 68 at home in Penang, Malaysia. He was a truly extraordinary man But for him, the world would have been blighted with the dam- who will be greatly missed. age of a massive expansion of the World Trade Organization’s power Martin’s brilliant intellect and unparalleled knowledge made and scope. Many people helped detail that disaster, but if Martin him a trusted adviser to prime ministers and activists alike and a had not been leading the effort, it would not have succeeded. He kind teacher and north star to all of us he informed and activated was a master of the inside-outside methodology, analyzing tech- through his tireless and effective economic, environmental and nical texts and advising trade negotiators and high-level govern- social justice advocacy. ment officials around the world about the A Cambridge University-trained econ- tricks and traps in pro-corporate initiatives omist, Martin led the civil society move- they were being pressured to accept. At the ment in Malaysia on issues of economic, same time, his ability to translate arcane ecological and health justice, was an legal texts and concepts into memorable unparalleled leader in the international allegories and examples of direct harm fight against corporate-rigged globaliza- educated and mobilized activists thanks tion and trade, and founded and led sev- to his tireless speaking schedule and strat- eral key organizations. As secretary of egy sessions. the Consumers Association of Penang, he A master translator of vast stacks of fought for consumer rights and in 1984 technical information into accessible, co-founded the internationally renowned motivating language, he modeled how to Third World Network (TWN), which he make real change. He was the person who headed until 2009. From 2009 to 2015, he awakened the world to the perils posed by led the South Centre, an intergovernmen- the Multilateral Agreement on Investment tal policy research and analysis institution (MAI), a proposed pact that would have of developing countries headquartered in vastly expanded the Investor-State Dispute Geneva, as its executive director. Settlement system that empowers multi- I remember first meeting Martin in 1992 national corporations to challenge health, at the G-7 summit in Munich. He became safety and environmental laws and be a guide and mentor to me from that point awarded unlimited taxpayer money. And on — awakening me to the policy, politics Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. he helped orchestrate the MAI’s demise. and power dynamics of the developing world and inter- His influence lives on in the legions he national institutions in the same way that Public Citizen founder mentored at Third World Network, South Centre and Consumer Ralph Nader shaped my understanding domestically. (The main Association of Penang, in his many powerful books and essays, and difference was that Martin’s guidance came along with show tunes with the millions who benefited from hearing from him directly. and a list of favorite restaurants in cities worldwide as well as Nader- May his memory be a blessing to his dear wife, the wonderful like witty sarcasm on top of focused seriousness.) Meena Raman, herself a global environmental and economic justice Martin’s vision inspired the International Forum on Globalization advocate extraordinaire, and to Martin’s daughter and granddaugh- and the Our World Is Not for Sale network — and shaped the under- ter. Public Citizen extends our deepest condolences to them and standing of innumerable leaders of national campaigns as well as the entire extended TWN family. coalitions and organizations worldwide. I can envision him on each Thank you, Martin. You will never be forgotten. battlefront of the fight against corporate-rigged globalization and — Lori Wallach

the first development, Big Tech threatens narrow elite control, Public Citizen Recommends ... companies are no longer primar- two-tier class divides and, perhaps ily interested simply in monetiz- most profoundly, a loss of free ‘The Age of Surveillance of the products and services they ing our wants, needs and dreams. will — as we are subjected to algo- Capitalism: The Fight for a sold. They sublimated a vision Rather they are interested in shap- rithms that influence and direct Human Future at the New in which the data accumulated ing those aspirations altogether. our behavior in ways we cannot Frontier of Power' through use of services over the That is, they don’t just want to sell understand or even know exist. By Shoshana Zuboff; $22.99; internet would be controlled by us a more expensive version of the All of this becomes even more PublicAffairs users and collected only for users. thing we thought we needed. They disturbing in the pandemic era, Instead, the prevailing business want to change what we think alto- as individual reliance on and use Shoshana Zuboff’s ‘Surveillance model is one by which information gether. While this has always been of the internet explodes, as edu- Capitalism’ was written long before and data is collected for the Big a feature of advertising, Zuboff cation migrates to the monitored the coronavirus pandemic spread Tech companies (and some small makes an overwhelming case that internet and as telehealth becomes across the world, but it is even companies, too) and deployed for the Big Tech companies’ manipu- normalized without sufficient pri- more vital now than at the time of their preferred uses — especially lation of the culture — including vacy protections. ‘Surveillance publication. advertising and monetization. the political as well as commercial Capitalism’ is a grim evaluation of This very long book is worth Surveillance capitalism, Zuboff culture — vastly exceeds anything where we are — and a dire warn- the read. It makes two crucial argu- writes, expropriates our every- that preceded it. ing about what is to come, unless ments about the development of day experiences and turns them Looking ahead, Zuboff spins a we take measures to get Big Tech the internet: First, that the charac- into “behavioral data” that is then very troubling tale of how Big Tech under control. — Robert Weissman ter of the user experience on the used to make money off unwitting executives are increasingly gravi- internet changed when companies, consumers. tating to a societal vision that is To order books, contact the publisher led by Google, changed the design Second, and following from profoundly anti-democratic. It or visit your local bookstore or library.

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS MAY/JUNE 2020 15 Billing, from page 13 through surprise bills. nected to WCAS and Blackstone In 2019 alone, these enti- Neal’s Ways & Means Committee As they closed in on a biparti- have given $335,400 to Ways & ties together contributed about released the outline of its proposed san deal last fall, the House Ways Means Ranking Member Kevin $60,000 to Brady and $36,000 to giveaway to the private equity & Means Committee released an Brady (R-Texas) and $55,800 to Neal. industry, torpedoing a bipartisan, outline of legislation that was in Ways & Means Chairman Rep. Additionally, Public Citizen’s bicameral compromise. virtual lockstep with the private Richard Neal (D-Mass.). Nearly report revealed that Blackstone WCAS employees also gave equity industry’s wish list and far all of this money — 95% — was employees donated $30,800 to $45,000 to Brady on a single day removed from the other negotia- contributed to the two politi- Neal in September 2019 alone, in 2019. That’s more money than tors’ proposal, killing the momen- cians since 2015, when the spike accounting for three-fourths of the they gave Brady in any full election tum for passage of the legislation. in donations started and when money they have given Neal in his cycle in his career. Further, these Records show that employees discussions about surprise billing 31-year career. companies have helped under- or political action committees con- legislation started ramping up. Less than two months later, write fear-mongering advertising campaigns predicting emergency room and hospital closures if pro- viders are restricted to charging market rates for their services. “If the private equity firms showed half the generosity toward their patients that they showed the leaders of the Ways & Means Committee, we’d have a surprise billing fix tomorrow,” said Mike Tanglis, a research director at Public Citizen and author of the report. “But ultimately, the blame for the failed legislation lies at the feet of politicians who took the private equity money and did the bidding of the private equity companies.” Public Citizen is continuing to push for an end to surprise billing. In late April, Public Citizen and other members of the No Surprises: People Against Unfair Medical Bills coalition sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to include a provision ending surprise billing in the next COVID- 19 relief package.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE...

Eagan Kemp, Public Citizen's health care policy advocate, frequently speaks about the need for universal health care and affordable Public Citizen releases a report on medicines. Above, he speaks at a conference at Georgetown University Law Center in 2018. sexual misconduct by doctors. Charitable Gift Annuity A gift that gives back to you!

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