Politico Looked At How Pence Dragged His Feet On Indiana’s HIV Crisis

Politico: “How Pence's Slow Walk On Needle Exchange Helped Propel Indiana's Health Crisis.” Politico reported that Pence “dragged his feet before agreeing to lift a ban on programs that distribute sterile needles” in order to combat “a spiraling HIV outbreak in his home state as a result of opioid addicts sharing contaminated needles.” The article noted that Pence changed his views only after coming “under enormous pressure” and even then, the compromise still “explicitly prohibited using state funds to purchase syringes.” From the August 7 article:

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a pledge last month, along with most of the nation’s governors, to combat the opioid crisis, calling it “one of the deadliest drug epidemics in our nation’s history.” But when confronted with a spiraling HIV outbreak in his home state as a result of opioid addicts sharing contaminated needles, Pence dragged his feet before agreeing to lift a ban on programs that distribute sterile needles.

Indiana became a national flash point for the opioid epidemic last year when nearly 200 people in rural Scott County became infected with HIV primarily as a result of injecting Opana, a powerful prescription opioid, using dirty needles. Those needles spawned one of the biggest outbreaks of HIV in decades, with more than 20 new cases being diagnosed every week at the height of the outbreak last year.

Public health experts from around the country advised immediately lifting the state’s ban on needle exchange programs as a way to stop the spread of the disease — an approach that has proved effective in other places.

The governor resisted, but, under enormous pressure, he eventually agreed to a partial lifting of the ban. But critics say the statewide compromise has been ineffective because it offered little financial help to cash-strapped counties and permitted only “limited and accountable" exchange programs, as Pence described it.

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After meeting with federal health officials who warned him of the rapidly growing epidemic, Pence initially authorized a 30-day amnesty from the state’s needle exchange prohibition in March 2015, but that was limited to Scott County. “I am opposed to needle exchange as anti-drug policy,” Pence said then. “But this is a public health emergency and, as governor of the state of Indiana, I'm going to put the lives of the people of Indiana first.”

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With new cases mounting, Pence eventually agreed to extend the amnesty in Scott County beyond 30 days and to sign statewide legislation lifting the state ban on exchange programs. That compromise did not give counties a green light to distribute sterile needles to intravenous drug users, however. Instead, it requires officials from counties experiencing increasing HIV or hepatitis C infections to declare a public health emergency and then submit a plan for state approval to set up needle exchange programs for up to one year.

The legislation didn’t include any money to assist counties, many of which are rural and already struggling. And it explicitly prohibited using state funds to purchase syringes. [Politico, 8/7/16]

IB Times Found Gambling Donations Matched Up With Pence’s Support Of Gambling Legislation

IB Times: Pence Supported Legislation Gambling Interests Wanted Following Donations. The International Business Times found that as “casino industry cash went … into groups supporting Pence’s campaigns, the GOP governor used his power to help gambling interests.” In total, “Indiana gaming interests gave more than $2 million to groups supporting Pence” despite “Indiana statutes officially banning gaming industry donations to state officials.” Pence, who “initially pledged to oppose efforts to grow the state’s gambling industry,” subsequently “signed tax legislation benefiting the gaming industry” and “allowed for the passage of separate landmark legislation permitting riverboat operators to move casinos on shore.” From the October 4 article:

As casino industry cash went around Indiana’s anti-corruption laws and into groups supporting Pence’s campaigns, the GOP governor used his power to help gambling interests. While Trump has promised throughout the 2016 presidential campaign that his personal wealth would insulate his administration from donor influence, his running mate's actions on the gaming issue challenge that pledge.

An International Business Times/MapLight review of campaign finance records shows that despite Indiana statutes officially banning gaming industry donations to state officials, Indiana gaming interests gave more than $2 million to groups supporting Pence since he first began running for governor. That includes gaming-linked lobbying firms and their employees donating nearly a half-million dollars directly to Pence’s campaign account.

During much of Pence’s term, he was serving in a leadership and fundraising role at the Republican Governors Association while the group raised money from Indiana gaming operators. Meanwhile, casinos hit a legislative jackpot at Indiana’s state Capitol: Pence signed tax legislation benefiting the gaming industry; by not vetoing the bill, he allowed for the passage of separate landmark legislation permitting riverboat operators to move casinos on shore. His administration also helped a major RGA donor from the lottery industry, GTECH. (That company has since merged with a competitor, International Game Technology.)

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Pence initially pledged to oppose efforts to grow the state’s gambling industry. “I do not support an expansion of gaming in Indiana,” he said in March of 2013, just two months after becoming governor. The statement won praise from a major religious group in the state. Pence also trumpeted his congressional efforts to outlaw Internet gaming, and said, “I’ve never bought a lottery ticket.”

IBT/MapLight’s review, however, shows that since 2011, Pence received roughly $2.2 million from Indiana gaming operators and their lobbying firms. That includes about $490,000 from nine gaming-linked lobbying firms and their employees directly to Pence’s campaign; at least $360,000 more from gaming industry lobbying firms and their employees to the Indiana Republican Party; and $1.4 million from Indiana gaming interests and their lobbying firms to the RGA, which backed Pence’s gubernatorial bids.

With that money flooding into the state, the governor helped Indiana’s gaming industry just when it was facing increased competition from neighboring states. [International Business Times, 10/4/16]

ThinkProgress Examined Pence’s Staunch Support For The Tobacco Industry

ThinkProgress: Throughout His Political Career, Pence “Has Consistently Carried The Tobacco Industry’s Water.” ThinkProgress reported that Pence “has consistently carried the tobacco industry’s water, denying the dangers of cigarettes, opposing government regulation, and slashing smoking cessation efforts.” The report found that Pence in 2000 criticized “a proposed settlement between government and the tobacco industry” as “‘big government’” and claimed “‘that there was no causal link medically identifying smoking as causing lung cancer.’” Throughout his career, the piece found, Pence has had “significant tobacco industry support,” including donations from the industry, and as governor “his administration slashed the already small amount of the tobacco tax and settlement money available for smoking prevention and cessation” and he opposed raising the state cigarette tax. From the July 14 article:

Over his political career Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) has consistently carried the tobacco industry’s water, denying the dangers of cigarettes, opposing government regulation, and slashing smoking cessation efforts. In return, they rewarded him with more than $100,000 in campaign donations.

In 2000, Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN), then running for an open U.S. House seat, came out against a proposed settlement between government and the tobacco industry, calling it “big government.” In a shocking editorial, he wrote: “Time for a quick reality check. Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” Pence acknowledged that smoking is not “good for you,” but claimed that two-thirds of smokers do not die from smoking related illness and “9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer.” He warned of a slippery-slope in which government would soon seek to discourage fatty foods, caffeine, and SUVs.

In a debate that September, his Democratic opponent pressed him on the suggestion that smoking does not cause cancer and noted his contributions from tobacco companies. According to the Indianapolis Star’s coverage of the exchange, “Pence clarified that he wrote that there was no causal link medically identifying smoking as causing lung cancer.” While cigarette manufacturers might have been still claiming that there was not causal link between smoking and lung cancer, medical science had settled the question years earlier. A landmark report by the U.S. Surgeon General had documented the link — in 1964.

After the debate, the paper reported, Pence acknowledged he had received an estimated $5,000 and $10,000 in contributions from tobacco companies. His actual total was already at least $13,000 in contributions from the political action committees for Brown & Williamson, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and US Tobacco, according to Political MoneyLine data reviewed by ThinkProgress. A May 2000 letter from the Reynolds PAC to Pence, now available in the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents archive archives, conveyed a $1,000 check and praised his “position on issues important to our company.”

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Three years later, Pence ran for governor, again with significant tobacco industry support. Altria/Phillip Morris, Lorillard, and R.J. Reynolds/Reynolds American have combined to contribute at least $63,500 to his 2012 and 2016 campaigns, according to
data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

And Indiana’s public health has paid the price. In 2015, Pence signed a law making it easier to create cigar bars in the state. And his administration slashed the already small amount of the tobacco tax and settlement money available for smoking prevention and cessation in 2013, well below the CDC’s recommended levels. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, “Funding for Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation was down to $8 million per year when Pence took office in January 2013. And within his first week, the Pence administration slashed the agency’s budget to $5 million.”

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Pence rejected a plan put forth by his fellow Republicans in the state legislature in February that would have raised the state cigarette tax by 5 cents a pack to fund tran[s]portation, saying “I’m very confident that we can meet the needs that Indiana has over the next four years to improve our roads and bridges without raising taxes.” [ThinkProgress, 7/14/16]

Daily Beast Examined Gun Violence In Indiana’s Capital And Pence’s Support For Loosening Gun Laws

Daily Beast: Pence Supported Gun Restrictions While Gun Violence In Indiana’s Capital Worsened. The Daily Beast reported that “the murder rate in Indianapolis,” Indiana’s capital, “reached 16.9 per 100,000 in 2015 with 144 murders, the most in that city’s history.” Meanwhile, Pence “arrang[ed] for the National Rifle Association to train the Indiana National Guard in carrying concealed weapons,” “signed laws that legalized sawed-off shotguns, permitted people to keep guns in vehicles in school parking lots, and retroactively barred a 1999 suit by the city of Gary against gun manufacturers.” From the October 4 article:

Donald Trump made much of the violence in President Obama’s hometown during the first 2016 presidential debate with Hillary Clinton.

Clinton might have noted in reply that Chicago’s murder rate last year was topped by the murder rate in Indianapolis, where Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, currently resides as the governor of Indiana.

Pence himself should be asked about it during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate with Tim Kaine. A pre-debate fact check shows that the murder rate in Indianapolis reached 16.9 per 100,000 in 2015 with 144 murders, the most in that city’s history. Chicago’s rate came in slightly lower, 16.7 per 100,000, with 468 homicides but more than three times the population.

In both cities, around 80 percent of the homicides involved firearms. Chicago police note that some 20 percent of the guns recovered in crime scenes there were purchased in Indiana, where access has gone from easy to even easier.

Pence’s most notable actions as governor with regard to firearms include arranging for the NRA to train the Indiana National Guard in carrying concealed weapons. Pence also signed laws that legalized sawed-off shotguns, permitted people to keep guns in vehicles in school parking lots, and retroactively barred a 1999 suit by the city of Gary against gun manufacturers.

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Maybe somebody at Tuesday’s debate will ask Pence how even a parking lot behind a police station is not safe in the town where he now officially resides. [The Daily Beast, 10/4/16]