Interim Kennedy Replacement: Incongrous Pick?

Over at the Sunlight Foundation, Paul Blumenthal runs down the resume of Paul Kirk, the ex-DNC chair and close Kennedy family friend who has been named to temporarily fill the late senator's seat. Given Kirk's background as a drug company lobbyist and ties to a top financial and insurance firm, Blumenthal notes, he seems like a slightly incongruous pick—even on an interim basis—with health care and financial reform topping the congressional agenda.

Some of Kirk's recent career highlights:

Kirk is the CEO and Chairman of Kirk & Associates, a business consulting company, and sits on the board of both an insurance company, The Hartford Financial Group, and a timber and real estate company, Rayonier, Inc. Kirk also previously worked as a lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company, Aventis.

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Kirk sits on the Compensation and Personnel Committee for The Hartford in charge of employee compensation and executive bonuses. While compensation fell significantly from 2007 to 2008, this did not keep The Hartford from escaping criticism for compensation policies. Ramani Ayer, CEO and Chairman of The Hartford, was named by Forbes Magazine one of the most overpaid executives in 2008...

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In 1999, Kirk represented the pharmaceutical company Aventis as a lobbyist for Sullivan & Worcester. Kirk listed on his lobbying disclosure forms “FDA reform” as the sole issue and the Senate as the only body he was lobbying. In 1997, Congress passed and the President signed into law the FDA Modernization Act. One provision of the bill sought to curb red-tape and regulation to streamline the drug approval process. After the bill’s passage pharmaceutical companies and their lobbying arm, PhRMA, complained about the FDA’s speed at implementing the legislation and continued existence of some regulatory barriers. In 1999, the Senate held hearings on the subject with PhRMA President Alan Holmer told the Senate Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee that the legislation “fails to provide the regulatory relief Congress intended and actually codifies some of the agency’s prior-approval practices that Congress wanted to eliminate.” Kirk’s focus on “FDA reform” for Aventis was likely related to the complaints about the FDA Modernization Act and its implementation.

UPDATE: Here's Public Citiizen's Craig Holman commenting to the Boston Herald on Kirk's appointment: "Obviously, this is a conflict of interest and raises serious concerns. It is distressing. There were many qualified people."

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