… or at least that’s what an organization called The 60 Plus Association thinks. They supposedly represent older folks like me as we stand in the face of possible Health Care Reform. And, indeed, they are representing us older folks with a new television ad:
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So, here I am sitting back in my big chair with my evening insulin shot and miscellany of pills, knowing that this organization is representing me and my age group against a government that wants to put me in front of a “death panel.”
Hey, wait a minute… when I looked this group up on Sourcewatch, I found out that a
2006 report in the AARP Bulletin called 60 Plus a front group for the pharmaceutical industry. 60 Plus, along with Senior Coalition and United Seniors Association, “claim to speak for millions of older Americans, although as recently as 2001 none of the three listed any revenue from membership dues on their tax returns.” The article added: “virtually all of their largest contributions in recent years have come from the same source — the nation’s pharmaceutical industry.”
You know what else I found out?
60 Plus fought state legislation dealing with prescription drugs. The group fought “such legislation in Minnesota and New Mexico,” with assistance from the Bonner & Associates firm, which specializes in astroturf lobbying. “The firm’s paid callers, reading from scripts that identified them as representatives of 60 Plus, urged residents to ask their governors to veto the legislation. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. later said it had paid Bonner & Associates to make the calls,” reported AARP.
Now isn’t Bonner and Associates that lobbyist agency that got brought up on charges last week for pushing forged letters from support organizations in the health care debate? I think they are criminals, aren’t they?
Maybe I should give Jim Martin who is listed as the head of 60 Plus a call at 703 807 2070 and see what he is really doing here… and why there aren’t a lot of us seniors who are members of his organization, while Pfizer and other pharmaceutical guys ARE members and provide funds for his TV ad.
Nah… I’m a Senior and I’m too stupid to think for myself.
