According to an April 21 editorial: “Patrick Meehan, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and a likely Republican candidate for governor, has challenged the Rendell administration’s move to hire a Houston law firm to file a suit against several drug firms over the alleged improper marketing of antipsychotic drugs….While nearly three dozen other states joined forces to sue the drug companies, Pennsylvania decided to go it alone. This wouldn’t be remarkable — Rendell says Pennsylvania could win a bigger settlement this way — if it wasn’t for the fact that the founder of the law firm was a major Rendell campaign contributor. F. Kenneth Bailey gave the governor more than $91,000 in cash and airfare in 2006, according to campaign finance records.”
WATCHDOG: So far, so good. But then the editorial concludes “This won’t be the last time Meehan and Corbett square off over the next year and a half. We hope it will be about a more substantive matter the next time.”
“More substantive?” Enriching contributors at the expense of the public is the root of much waste and often mindless projects that lead to future disasters. It is hard for us to imagine criticism that would be more substantive.
