Jackley donor busted for bribery

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is up to his areolae:

In a major departure from industry practice, GlaxoSmithKline, the sixth-largest global drug maker, announced Tuesday that it will no longer hire doctors to promote its drugs. It also makes the diabetes drug Avandia, which was subjected to tough restrictions from the FDA in 2010 because of concerns about heart risks. The FDA recently eased those restrictions after reconsidering the risks. In July 2012, Glaxo agreed to pay $3 billion, a record, to settle criminal and civil claims “arising from the company’s unlawful promotion of certain prescription drugs, its failure to report certain safety data, and its civil liability for alleged false price reporting practices,” the U.S. Justice Department announced. Glaxo also agreed to plead guilty to two counts of introducing misbranded drugs, Paxil and Wellbutrin, into interstate commerce and one count of failing to report safety data about Avandia to the Food and Drug Administration. [Charles Ornstein, ProPublica]

But, South Dakota's top cop is too busy covering up the misdeeds of his political party to intervene in the offal from his donors.

Utah will get $8.5 million from GlaxoSmithKline for defrauding the state’s Medicaid program through allegedly false and misleading marketing of Avandia. [Paul Sakuma, Associated Press, Deseret News]

So, Marty negotiated behind closed doors with GSK to lower its settlement to South Dakota? How conservative.

From the Guardian:

Chinese newspapers said travel agencies working for GSK would invent meetings that required travel but use the money to bribe doctors to prescribe GSK drugs. "Each doctor had a credit card from the company. The kickbacks were transferred to the cards the day after the drugs were prescribed," one newspaper alleged. [Rupert Neate, GlaxoSmithKline 'the big boss' in £300m bribery scandal, China says]

Marty Jackley is the beneficiary of GSK's profits and litigated a case against it; he got wads of dough from Monsanto and BNSF Railway, too.

Huh: Zoloft, Prozac, Effexor, Ritalin and Paxil all seem to weave through gun violence. They all love the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), too.

There have been movements afoot in red state legislatures to limit lawsuits against medical providers and the pharmaceutical industry usurping the power of end-users to sue for damages caused by their products: the gun industry is already immune to such class actions even as they collude in violent deaths.

Is this a great country or what?

Kristi Noem's ALEC handlers are putting the screws to her.

Helping middle class families take advantage of the benefits of the health care law, like ensuring millions of seniors and people with disabilities have access to more affordable prescription medications and free preventive services through Medicare, should be a top priority for lawmakers in Washington. Yet instead of working to fix the law, Congresswoman Noem and her tea party friends have voted to repeal the health care law more than 40 times. They even shut down the government to prevent new benefits, like saving seniors money on prescription drugs and preventative services, from taking effect. [South Dakota Democratic Party]

Daugaard: Thanks for making us look good. You are the best.
— todayskccr (@todayskccr) December 17, 2013

South Dakota joins New Mexico, Iowa, Wyoming, and Kentucky as states where animal abusers get off easy according to the California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund:

The full report, including a rankings map, chart, and details about each state, is available at aldf.org/staterankings. ALDF’s complete “Animal Protection Laws of the U.S.A. and Canada” compendium, on which the report is based, is available at aldf.org/compendium. ALDF was founded in 1979 with the unique mission of protecting the lives and advancing the interests of animals through the legal system.

A former South Dakota governor is behind in his fundraising goal:

Round[s] has built his fundraising lead with donations from retirees, commercial banks, insurance companies, securities and investment firms, and Republican senators. He said he is an outspoken advocate for the industry, including the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition, he said his father was a former director of the South Dakota Petroleum Council, so he has connections in the industry. [Daniel Simmons-Ritchie, Rapid City Journal]

via @drshow TPP would raise drug prices around the world.
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 17, 2013

Daugaard inviting SD businesses to go to China http://t.co/30a7HkpgDc http://t.co/N3dyLVD3Uz #sdgov #sdsen
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 17, 2013

Vince Two Eagles: The Rez Of The Story: Culture And Perseverance http://t.co/pAOGk8BgHO http://t.co/e4ixRJGFvx #sdsen #ndnz
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 17, 2013

McLaughlin holds “resiliency day” to help strengthen students: http://t.co/xxxSpw5glY via @bistrib http://t.co/tZiNrulPoH #ndnz #sdsen
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 17, 2013