PhillyTablet Inquirer Daily News
Mobile
Home Delivery
philly.com
email
font size
comments
0
options
 
Monday, December 22, 2008

Glaxo cuts political giving, keeps PAC

GlaxoSmithKline, the UK-based multinational drugmaker that owns what used to be Smith Kline & French in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, said in a brief statement it will "voluntarily stop all corporate political contributions." U.S. grants to the pharmacy company's friends in Washington and state capitals totalled $585,425 so far this year, of which about 58% went to Republicans, said spokeswoman Sarah Alspach.

"We believe that stopping corporate political contributions is the right thing to do," in order to "improve transparency in terms of our interations with governments, political leaders and candidate for office," said new Glaxo chief executive Andrew Witty in a statement. Though he also saw fit to deny that previous contributions had given Glaxo any "special privileges."

But Glaxo said it will keep its political action committee "to facilitate contributions by eligible GSK employees." The committe collected $726,550 from around 5,000 employees this year to give to U.S. politicians this year, with roughly 58% again going to Republicans, Alspach said.
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 1:52 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Comments   


0 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
Advertise Here