ICYMI: Second District race: What it would mean to elect a former medical device executive to Congress
Angie Craig has centered her campaign around her business background, but a new profile by MinnPost raises some red flags about where Craig’s priorities would lie if elected to Congress.
Angie Craig served on the board of her company’s PAC, directing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to politicians.
During her time at the company, Craig also worked with the company’s political action committee, doling out campaign contributions to industry allies in Congress. She served on the PAC’s board from 2006 to 2011 and directed it in 2011.
Like other medical device companies, St. Jude Medical is an influential presence in Washington, and has bankrolled the campaigns of Republican and Democratic lawmakers to the tune of $770,000 since 2000.
It has ramped up spending in recent years: since 2010, it has spent over $610,000 on campaign contributions.
Now, Craig’s former company is bankrolling her Congressional campaign to the tune of $125,000.
Thus far, St. Jude Medical has stepped up big for Craig: the PAC has given $10,000 to her campaign, while employees of the company have contributed over $115,000. (Per FEC rules, private citizens can give $5,400 total to a candidate’s committee — $2,700 for the primary and $2,700 for the general.)
Craig told MinnPost “I had a great relationship with a number of my colleagues, and they know I’m going to be someone who uses common sense as a member of Congress in Washington, and they have been supportive of my campaign as a result of that.”
During Craig’s time at St. Jude’s, the company was forced to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice for overcharging veterans.
Republicans also made hay of a 2012 episode, in which St. Jude Medical settled with the U.S. Department of Justice, for $3.65 million, over claims that it had “overcharged for implantable cardiac devices.”
The Department of Justice said the company overstated the price of products it was selling to Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense Hospitals; in a press release, the Minnesota GOP claimed that the company “lied to our veterans.”
St. Jude Medical did not admit wrongdoing after the settlement, only saying it was “pleased” to have resolved it.
A representative of the medical device industry called former Medical Alley Association Board Member Angie Craig’s candidacy, “a unique opportunity for the industry.”
People like Shaye Mandle are watching the 2nd District race and others closely.
Craig once served on the board of Medical Alley, and Mandle knows her well. There is no doubt in his mind that Craig would be an asset for his industry on Capitol Hill.
(According to April financial disclosure forms, Craig earned up to $1 million through St. Jude Medical qualified stock options, but she says she has liquidated all her vested stock, and would eliminate any financial connection to the company if elected.)
“Angie would certainly bring something to the Hill for our industry that we haven’t had before,” Mandle told MinnPost. “There’s no doubt that having a former med tech executive in Congress is a unique opportunity for the industry to have someone there who really knows what they’re talking about.”
Click HERE to read the full profile.