FINE RESCINDS HER PARTICIPATION IN NO PHARMA STOCK PLEDGE

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June 1, 2020

By Barrett Seaman—

On second thought, Congressional candidate Allison Fine of Sleepy Hollow has decided she no longer wants to be a part of the group of other candidates who agreed last Thursday, via a story in the Journal News, to pledge to divest themselves of all assets they might have in pharmaceutical stocks prior to taking office in January 2021. The pledge reads in part: “To provide our potential constituents with the peace of mind to know that our personal financial interests will never interfere with our responsibility to crack down on this industry, we the undersigned pledge to liquidate any direct stock holdings in pharmaceutical companies before assuming office in January of 2021.”

“Last week I made an error in judgment for which I want to apologize”—Allison Fine

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As it is well-known that candidate Adam Schleifer, son of the founder of pharmaceutical company Regeneron Corporation of Tarrytown, has funded his campaign largely from proceeds of what is estimated to be some $25 million in company stock, the pledge was clearly designed to isolate and embarrass him. Schleifer’s campaign insists that he was presented with the choice to sign or not sign on the day The Journal News posted the story on its Lohud website. He chose to push back.

“I am a fiercely independent public servant, and the only person in this race to actually fight fraud and abuse in our healthcare system, both as a consumer-protection regulator for Governor Cuomo and as a federal frauds prosecutor, where I prosecuted Medicare fraud,” Schleifer said. “This ‘pledge’ is a cynical and transparent attempt by career politicians and bureaucrats trying to obscure their substantial holdings, campaign contributions, and family connections to payday lenders; defense-industry bombmakers; fossil-fuel companies, and, most ironically ‘big pharma.’”

A number of the opposing candidates supplemented their endorsement of the pledge with statements, among them Allison Fine. “At a time when a large number of low-income residents do not fill prescriptions because of their high cost,” she was quoted in The Journal News as saying, “no elected official should be profiting from direct stock holdings in pharmaceutical companies.”

But on Monday, Fine told The Hudson Independent that she was retracting her endorsement of the pledge. “Last week I made an error in judgment for which I want to apologize,” said the former president of her Tarrytown synagogue. “I signed onto a statement about divesting from pharmaceutical stocks without careful consideration. It was a cheap shot and not reflective of the values of fairness and decency I have tried to lead with not only throughout my life but during this campaign.”

She did not elaborate on her views about elected officials holding stock in industries that could be subjects of legislation, but she has consistently spoken out against the current system of campaign financing and the need to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case that allows corporations the same campaign contribution status as individuals.

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