Raimondo Refuses Again to Return Sackler Money on Democratic Governors Association Press Call
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo continued to refuse to return or donate $12,500 from Purdue Pharma scion Jonathan Sackler and his wife, as Sackler finds himself facing new lawsuits in which he is personally named.
Raimondo made the remarks during a press call on Tuesday as Chair of the Democratic Governors Association to address “the Trump administration’s new attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.”
Raimondo was asked on the national call by GoLocal if the DGA's criticism of Trump is undermined because of Raimondo's fundraising link to the Sackler family and the corresponding opioid health crisis in America.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“This is something we’ve talked about many times before,” said Raimondo in response to whether she continued to be comfortable keeping money from the Sacklers. “This call is about the ACA. We did an enormous amount of work — we are proud to see a reduction in the number of [opioid] deaths…and it underscores how it important it is to keep the ACA strong to have access to health insurance.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Rhode Island has seen no significant change in the number of overdose deaths under Raimondo.
While Raimondo had last responded to the question of keeping the Sackler money in October 2018, major developments have occurred regarding the Sacklers — including who is now suing them individually, and who is now refusing to take their money.
When pressed if she continued to be comfortable with her campaign relationship with Sackler, “I have nothing more to add on this,” said Raimondo.
"Rhode Island is among the top ten states with the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths. In 2016, there were 279 opioid-related overdose deaths in Rhode Island—a rate of 26.7 deaths per 100,000 persons and more than twice the national rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000," reports the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
More for Sacklers -- and Money
Raimondo (L) defended her decision to keep money from Jonathan Sackler (left) and his wife on Tuesday in the wake of recent developments.
As GoLocalProv.com reported in December:
New York’s Suffolk County has filed suit naming members of the Sackler family -- multi-billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin -- individually, including a top donor to Governor Gina Raimondo.
The recently filed New York suit alleges that the Sacklers individually “actively participated in conspiracy and fraud to portray the prescription painkiller as non-addictive, even though they knew it was dangerously addictive.”
This follows a recent change in legal strategy in Massachusetts, where Attorney General Maura Healey has named the top members of the Sackler family in the Commonwealth’s lawsuit — now, naming them personally, including Raimondo’s donor Jonathan Sackler.
“For them [the Sacklers] it’s greed, it was all about profits over people,” Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey told The Guardian. “I feel very confident naming the family members.”
More than 1,600 states, cities and counties across the country have filed suit against Purdue Pharma.
“The family has been thrust into the spotlight recently when details of its involvement in Purdue’s OxyContin marketing efforts were made public in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. In the wake of a wave of negative headlines, Britain’s National Portrait Gallery said this week it declined a $1.3 million donation from the Sacklers’ charitable arm,” reported Bloomberg.
“This nation is facing an unprecedented opioid addiction epidemic that was initiated and perpetuated by the Sackler defendants for their own financial gain,” lawyers for local governments said in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
Now, the Sackler Trust has “temporarily paused all new philanthropic giving.”
“Facing rejection from three major art museums, the philanthropic trust of the Sackler family, which built its wealth from the sale of opioids, announced that it would stop making donations”, reported the Washington Post on Tuesday.
The news came on the heels of the settlement this week in which Purdue Pharma LP, agreed to pay $270 million to resolve claims by the Oklahoma Attorney General that the company fueled the opioid crisis. The State of Rhode Island is suing Purdue in another action.
“I remain fully committed to all the causes the Sackler Trust supports, but at this moment it is the better course for the trust to halt all new giving until we can be confident that it will not be a distraction for institutions that are applying for grants,” Theresa Sackler, chairwoman of the trust, said in a statement on its website.
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