Free Republic

... Mr. Tauzin, 66, will retreat, to contemplate the apparent collapse of the grandest in a career of fearless deals — a pact to trade the drug industry’s political support for favorable terms under President Obama’s proposed health care overhaul. Mr. Tauzin is leaving his $2 million-a-year job as the top lobbyist for the drug industry amid complaints from drug makers that he bargained away their profits too cheaply, spent too much in his $150 million advertising campaign to sell the overhaul and miscalculated in his assessment that the passage of the legislation was all but inevitable. Other drug industry...

As a political strategist, Big Pharma lobbyist Billy Tauzin is starting to look less like Dr. Faustus and more like Jack, trading away his industry for magic beans. Last week Mr. Tauzin ostentatiously blabbed to the media that his industry's deal to help fund ObamaCare with $80 billion in prescription-drug discounts was really protection money. In particular, he bragged that he had secured promises from the White House that President Obama would fend off Congressional Democrats who want to "negotiate" drug prices, which in practice means price controls. For days, the White House continued to confirm Mr. Tauzin's understanding: "We...

Romero won't endorse Tauzin or Melancon By The Associated Press NEW IBERIA -- Republican Craig Romero, who finished a strong third in the primary election for Congress to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin Jr., said he will not endorse either candidate in the Dec. 4 runoff. Romero, a conservative state senator from New Iberia, finished behind fellow Republican Billy Tauzin III and Democrat Charlie Melancon in the Nov. 2 primary. Tauzin of Houma had 32 percent of the vote and Melancon of Napoleonville had 24 percent, edging out Romero's 23 percent. Romero said he was still angry at the...

Jan. 28, 2004--Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group, sent a letter to President Bush asking that he call upon the White House Counsel to investigate Vice President Cheney's confirmation of leaked classified information in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on January 9, 2004. Federal law prohibits leaking classified information. Confirming information that has already been leaked is also prohibited. In his Jan. 9th interview, Mr. Cheney referred his interviewer to a story that appeared in The Weekly Standard's November 24, 2003 issue. The story, written by Stephen F. Hayes, discussed...

<p>In this latter-day land of milk and honey -- Washington, D.C. -- the lawmaker from Louisiana who ramrodded the Medicare drug bill is courted by the pharmaceutical industry to perform duties as its chief lobbyist.</p> <p>The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America thinks GOP Rep. Billy Tauzin, 60, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has earned its offering of a $2 million-plus job.</p>

<p>One way you can tell that Republicans have become the dominant political party in Washington is to watch them cash in.</p> <p>Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana has announced that next Monday he will step down as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Observers expect he will soon leave Congress to become the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry at an annual salary that's rumored to approach $2.5 million, a record for a trade association head. Mr. Tauzin isn't doing anything illegal, but what's good for him isn't good for the country or for the Republican Party. Their voters are already showing signs of concern that congressional Republicans are taking on the bad habits of the Democrats they ousted from power in 1994.</p>

January 30. 2004 12:00AM Tauzin likely will not run for 14th term By Jeremy J. Alford Daily Comet Capitol Correspondent BATON ROUGE – A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin said this morning that the 13-term congressmen from Chackbay is leaning more toward leaving office than ever, but his choice of a successor is concrete. “(Tauzin) probably won’t run again given the fact that he’s term limited as (House and Energy Commerce) chairman and given the fact he’s had health concerns recently,” said Ken Johnson, Tauzin’s spokesman. “He’s pretty much closed the door on running for re-election. He hasn’t...

Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) is close to a decision to leave Congress to head the pharmaceutical industry's trade association after turning down an offer from Hollywood to succeed Jack Valenti as the movie industry's top lobbyist, a number of sources in Washington and Hollywood said today. [SNIP] If Tauzin takes the pharmaceutical lobbying offer quickly, a special election to fill his congressional seat likely would be held. The deadline to file for the November election to fill the seat is August. A prominent Louisiana Republican and Tauzin friend, Hunt Downer, a former state speaker of the house and gubernatorial...

<p>Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin has been plucked to replace Jack Valenti, the long-running head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), according to sources familiar with the matter.</p> <p>Speculation that the 82-year-old Valenti, who has headed the movie industry's powerful lobbying group since 1966, would step down has run rampant for years. But now, sources say, Tauzin, a Republican, has agreed to take the job, which comes with a reported $1 million annual salary.</p>

<p>Republican Bobby Jindal has agreed to participate in a number of televised debates, but there could be a problem.</p> <p>He might be the only candidate there.</p> <p>Democrat Kathleen Blanco said Friday she would have to check her calendar to see if she is available on the nights Jindal has set up with television stations.</p>

Filed at 5:52 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two of the largest corporate collapses have at least one thing in common: company chairmen who took their creations to great heights, reaped millions from stock sales -- and said they knew nothing of problems until it was too late. Kenneth Lay's defense after Enron Corp.'s spectacular downfall was that he was largely uninformed of how the energy-trading company's finances worked. In congressional testimony this week, Global Crossing Ltd. Chairman Gary Winnick could not remember receiving a single warning about potential problems at his fiber-optic company, although senior executives were sounding alarms...

BREAKING NEWS FROM ADWEEK ONLINE*MEDIAWEEK ONLINE*BRANDWEEK ONLINE -- Tauzin Says Congress Will Have to Legislate Digital Piracy FlapPrivate industry has failed to agree on how to protect digital-TV broadcasts from Internet piracy, so Congress will move to impose standards, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), the chairman of the powerful House Commerce Committee, said Monday.Tauzin, who has been pushing for movement in the much-delayed transition to digital television, spoke upon emerging from a closed-door Capitol Hill meeting of broadcasters, movie studio executives, consumer group representatives and officials of the computer and consumer electronics industries.Tauzin said he had told his committee's staff to...