Rep. Bishop criticized for donations from opioid companies

Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — A Democratic challenger of U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop is criticizing him for taking thousands of dollars in donations from two pharmaceutical companies under legal scrutiny in Michigan for ties to the opioid drug crisis.

Elissa Slotkin, a former assistant secretary of defense and national security official who lives in Holly, put out a statement on Wednesday criticizing Bishop, R-Rochester, for taking funds from Endo Pharmaceuticals and McKesson Corp., even as she said she would no longer take corporate PAC funds of any kind.

"In his bid for re-election, Bishop has accepted ... thousands of dollars from two leading pharmaceutical companies, Endo and McKesson, both of which are being sued by Oakland County for misleading tactics that have led to opioid addiction," Slotkin's campaign said in a memo sent to the Free Press. "Bishop accepted this support despite his position on Congress’ Opioid Conference Committee, a group charged with enhancing opioid abuse treatment and prevention."

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Bishop's campaign spokesman, Stu Sandler, did not dispute the contributions in an e-mail to the Free Press on Wednesday but said that Bishop "has been working on bipartisan solutions to address the opioid epidemic," including being part of the group that negotiated the final version of addiction prevention and recovery legislation and pushing an amendment to help keep drugs from children.

"Mike Bishop will continue to provide real solutions to address the opioid epidemic," Sandler said.

Sandler also asked whether Slotkin intends to return a $2,000 contribution to her campaign from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's campaign, received on Sept. 30, 2017 — the same day Hoyer's campaign received a $2,500 contribution from McKesson. Her campaign did not respond.

Both PACs have given to many Republicans and Democrats in 2017, however, according to Federal Election Commission records. In Michigan, U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, and Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, received $1,000 each from Endo. Both are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees drug safety as well as many other issues.

Last October, Oakland and Wayne counties' executives announced a joint federal lawsuit against Endo and McKesson as well as other manufacturers and distributors, alleging they engaged in the "deceptive marketing and sale of opioids" including OcyContin and Fentanyl, blamed for thousands of overdose deaths in Michigan.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette in October announced he was joining a multistate investigation of several opioid manufacturers, includlng Endo, and a call for documentation from several distributors of opioids, including McKesson, saying the level of addiction and overdose in Michigan is "staggering."

A Free Press review of Bishop's fund-raising records for the first nine months of 2017 indicated his campaign had received $10,000 from Endo's political action committee and $5,000 from McKesson Corp.'s employee political fund.

Bishop is a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is running for a third two-year term in what is considered by political handicappers in Washington a potential pickup for Democrats this year.

Slotkin hit Bishop for taking the funds in a memo in which she announced her campaign will take no contributions from political action committees linked to corporations, saying Bishop has taken more than $1 million in such contributions since his first run for Congress. Corporate PAC donations, however, are legal and are routinely received by many Democrats as well as Republican members of Congress.

Bishop's most recent fund-raising report, from the end of September, indicated at that time he had received about $548,000 in PAC funds. His next report is not due until Jan. 31, when 2017 year-end reports are to be filed.

Meanwhile, Slotkin — who is running against Michigan State University professor Chris Smith for the Democratic nomination to challenge Bishop — said she posted another strong three months of fund-raising at the end of 2017, raising more than $440,000 during the fourth quarter of 2017.

It was her second quarter in a row of fund-raising at that level and her campaign said more than 98% of her contributions have come from individual donors. Her campaign said that as of Dec. 31, it had more than $711,000 in cash on hand — which is about as much cash on hand as Bishop's campaign had at the end of September.

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.