Man behind Ohio ballot issue wants debate with drugmaker

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The man behind a fall ballot initiative in Ohio aimed at trimming the prices government pays for prescription drugs said on Wednesday he’d be willing to debate any pharmaceutical industry CEO on the measure.

Michael Weinstein, CEO of the California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, told reporters he wants a match-up of “principals” to address voters’ questions about Issue 2, the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act.

Weinstein is particularly interested in answering claims made in the industry-funded opposition campaign’s barrage of TV ads, which could reach total $80 million or more in spending before election day.

“This should be a debate between principals, not hired guns,” he said. “The CEOs of these companies know they cannot lean on the issue of drug pricing, so they have to change the issue.”

The measure would keep state entities from paying more for drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pays.

Weinstein accused opponents of misleading voters by downplaying connections to the pharmaceutical industry and failing to transparently report how much the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, gives to its backing organizations.

Dale Butland, a spokesman for the opponent campaign, Ohioans Against the Deceptive Rx Ballot Issue, said it is unfortunate that Weinstein is unhappy with the performance of the people he’s recruited to debate Issue 2.

He said representatives of both sides already have been debating across the state and are negotiating for a televised debate as the November election nears.

“Whatever his problem is, the problem isn’t a lack of debates,” Butland said. “The problem is he’s got a lousy proposal that would do great harm to this state and its people, and that’s why he’s losing.”

Butland said opponents have been “totally up front” about the fact that their primary funding comes from drug companies, which are joining more than 80 business, labor, veterans and medical organizations who oppose the measure.

“As much as the doctors and the nurses oppose Issue 2, they don’t have the kind of money that this campaign costs lying around in their organizational checkbooks,” he said. “So if the pharmaceutical industry were not willing to foot the bill for most of this campaign, I’m not sure who else would or could.”

Weinstein, whose organization is underwriting the yes campaign, said “dark money” flowing from the pharmaceutical industry is difficult to trace.

“How many individuals in the Ohio Medical Association are receiving money from PhRMA, because this is another part of the dark money,” he said, calling the yes campaign “the underdog, David versus Goliath.”