ASTRAZENECA DITCHES PHRMA: The leading lobbying group for drugmakers has lost its third member in six months, POLITICO’s Megan R. Wilson reports. AstraZeneca is leaving the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, effective July 1. — AstraZeneca joins the ranks of AbbVie and Teva, which also left the association in recent months following a major legislative defeat for the industry with the drug pricing provisions in last year’s reconciliation bill — despite PhRMA and allied groups pouring millions of dollars into efforts to block the measure. — “We regularly evaluate our memberships with industry trade associations to ensure alignment with our purpose to accelerate the delivery of life-changing medicines that create enduring value for patients and society. Given the significant investment, we want to ensure it is the most productive and effective use of our resources,” an AstraZeneca spokesperson said in a statement. “Based on a recent assessment, we have made the decision not to continue our membership with PhRMA.” RACING TO RAISE MONEY: “When Kyrsten Sinema ran the Boston Marathon last year, it was a proud moment the Arizona senator—an avid marathoner and triathlete—wanted to publicize,” The Daily Beast’s Sam Brodey reports. — “Far less publicized, however, was another aspect to Sinema’s long-awaited journey to Boston: She appears to have turned it into a fundraising junket, allowing her campaign to cover the thousands of dollars in expenses she would have incurred herself by traveling to the race. According to Federal Election Commission records, Sinema collected over $16,000 in campaign contributions from a handful of Massachusetts-based donors in April 2022—many of them at the maximum level, suggesting she held some type of fundraiser, if a small one.” — Such an overlap doesn’t appear to be an anomaly: “On at least six total occasions since 2019, Sinema has participated in a race while engaging in fundraising activity—and covering expenses—in the area of the competition, according to a review of public campaign finance and competition records.” — “Under FEC rules, candidates cannot use campaign funds to ‘fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective’ of their running for or holding public office. ... According to campaign finance experts, Sinema may be following the letter of that rule, but is pushing into a gray area by appearing to tie legitimate campaign activity to unrelated personal pursuits.” FIRST IN PI: LGBTQ rights group Accountable For Equality is going after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, calling for Thomas to either resign or face impeachment as a result of the stream of recent revelations about financial ties between Thomas, his wife Virginia and prominent business leaders and conservative judicial activists. — The group, which formed to “educate the public about the concerted efforts of anti-LGBTQ extremists,” has launched a digital ad buy within the Beltway highlighting the recent revelations, which include that the Thomases failed to disclose decades’ worth of lavish trips paid for by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, who also paid for tuition for a child being raised by the justice, as well as Thomas’ family home. — Christy Setzer, a spokesperson for the group, said in a statement that the revelations “should worry all Americans. Judges are supposed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and yet a member of the highest court in the land is directly involved in scandal after corrupt scandal.” Thomas, she argued, “should resign or be impeached - the integrity of the Supreme Court depends on it.” — Accountable for Equality declined to specify how much money it is putting behind the ad but spokesperson Matt Goodman said in an email that “significant resources are being put behind this campaign.” ICYMI — ANNALS OF SCAM ‘PACS’: “A group of conservative operatives using sophisticated robocalls raised millions of dollars from donors using pro-police and pro-veteran messages. But instead of using the money to promote issues and candidates, an analysis by The New York Times shows, nearly all the money went to pay the firms making the calls and the operatives themselves, highlighting a flaw in the regulation of political nonprofits,” the Times’ David Fahrenthold and Tiff Fehr report. — The network of groups, organized as 527 political nonprofits that can raise unlimited funds, and operating under benign-sounding names like the American Police Officers Alliance, Firefighters and EMS Fund and Veterans Action Network, have raised $89 million since 2014. — The vast majority of that money was plowed back into fundraising efforts, and hardly any of it was spent supporting candidates for office — which an attorney for the groups said was by design. But almost $3 million over that time was steered to three Republican political consultants from Wisconsin through a maze of shell companies that obscured their involvement with the 527 groups, the Times found. FLYING IN: The National Association of Truck Stop Operators, which represents travel centers, truck stops and off-highway energy providers, are hitting the Hill tomorrow to meet with offices of House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate EPW committee members. NATSO will call on lawmakers to support legislation dealing with disparities between energy tax credits for over-the-road and aviation renewable fuels that compete for the same feedstocks, allowing year-round sales of E-15, continuing a ban on commercial activity at rest areas, expanding truck parking capacity and cracking down on credit card swipe fees. — The National Utility Contractors Association will kick off its fly-in later this week, with members planning to discuss implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, workforce development and supply chain issues. Over two days, members are slated to meet with the offices of Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), McConnell, Sinema and Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), to name a few. — The heating and cooling industries are in town this week as well as part of a fly-in led by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, the Heating, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International and the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors — National Association. More than 500 members will hear from Biden administration officials and meet with Hill offices to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits, the push to transition to low-global warming potential refrigerants and other regulations affecting the industry.
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