Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO - Stanford University will bar physicians working at its two hospitals from accepting even the tiniest gifts from drug industry sales representatives to try to eliminate corporate influence from medical decisions, the school announced Tuesday. The policy takes effect Oct. 1 and also bans accepting gifts from other companies such as medical device makers that do business with the hospitals. The policy also prohibits the doctors from accepting free drug samples and publishing articles in science journals that were ghost written by corporate authors. The industry's sales force also would be prohibited from areas where patients are seen...

LOS ANGELES - Top aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have skirted state regulations by accepting gifts such as sporting event tickets provided by companies, business groups and other special interests, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. California law allows officials to accept up to $340 in gifts in a year from any one special interest, but state officials have sidestepped the cap in several instances, according to a Times review of lobbying reports published on the newspaper's Web site. Five of Schwarznegger's senior aides and their families each accepted more than $340 in tickets to a Sacramento Kings basketball game...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said he was "shocked and mystified" by reports that $205,000 contributed to his 2002 campaign may have violated state or federal laws. Even though he wasn't familiar with the donors, Shelley said he didn't have any reason to be suspicious of the contributions because they were raised by his friend, Julie Lee, a San Francisco real estate broker and a leader in the city's Chinese American community. "I didn't ask, because I trusted Julie Lee," Shelley said Wednesday during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "It is not uncommon for...