Sweeney and The Pharmacy Lobbyist

Sweeney is listed among the Republicans who are "most likely to lose their seats because they abandoned the interests of their constituents for payoffs from Big Pharma" (as in Pharmacy) read about it in: WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FALL INTO A DOUGHNUT HOLE OF VOTER WRATH IN NOVEMBER?

Sweeney's most recent "Skiing with Sweeney" was a $2,000 per person event which included dinner at the home of Jeffrey Kimbell, a pharmaceutical lobbyist. (This was his second annual "Skiing with Sweeney" weekend.) Read more about it here.

Kimbell is a member of Capital Club, a "club for 100 ‘socially aggressive,’ well-connected guys" including:

President Bush’s nephew Billy Bush, a host on “Access Hollywood”; House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) press secretary, Jonathan Grella; John Breaux Jr., the Louisiana senator’s son; White House spokesman Taylor Gross; Fox News Pentagon correspondent Brett Baier (The Hill 4/28/04)

The article claimed the purpose of the group was charitable, but it gives just $10,000 a year to charity which seems pretty skimpy considering the membership rolls if you ask me. In the 2004 article, Kimbell claims he went to public school, but this June 13, 2006 Hill article says:

Kimbell also arrived in Washington at the same time as some notable classmates from his prep school, St. George’s School in Newport, R.I., such as future Republican National Committee spokesman Jim Dyke and future pundit Tucker Carlson. Kimbell also remains close friends with classmate and “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, a first cousin of President Bush.

Early in his career as a lobbyist, Kimbell "exploited the rules of the House and Senate to scuttle a bill" that would require medical device makers to pay the FDA a fee to get their products reviewed. The bill had Democratic backing. Kimbell would:

“Do anything I could possibly do to kill that bill.”

In short order, he says, he did just that, demonstrating a craftiness that continues to be respected by his peers. ...

“Through some good friends and luck, we were able to create some parliamentary questions … to kill a bill which likely would have become law late that session,” Kimbell says.

The GOP took control of congress in the following election and the bill never came to the floor again.