Senate candidate criticizes drug companies after profiting from them

It is no secret that sometimes politicians say one thing on the campaign trail, but then do the opposite. But catching the contradictions isn’t always easy. A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does a good job catching a candidate for a Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat seemingly saying one thing but doing another. Wisconsin State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski is running for the seat currently held by Ron Johnson. In a recent campaign ad, she promised to take on the big drug companies, saying drug prices shouldn’t keep going up, and if elected she will work to stop that by standing up to big pharma. What Godlewski didn’t say is that she and her husband have gotten rich in part by owning stock in the same drug companies she is criticizing. The multimillionaire reported in her finance disclosure statements that she owns stock in 14 companies, worth as much as $440,000. She has since sold the stocks, the profits of which could potentially be funding her campaign for U.S. Senate. Talk about irony. Godlewski is trying to downplay the conflict between her rhetoric and behavior, saying she isn’t involved in the day to day buying and selling of her investments. Of course there is a way for candidates to avoid getting caught in such disparities. They could simply tell the truth, but in politics that always seems too much to ask.