Rep. Lynch has introduced the FEHBP Prescription Drug Integrity, Transparency and Cost Savings Act (HR 4489) to increase oversight of the tactics used by pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) to negotiate reduced drug costs for federal employees.

But as Mark Merritt recently write in Roll Call:

By any measure, FEHBP is a huge success. It has been routinely touted in the health reform debate as a national model for high-quality health care programs. A recent survey by the Office of Personnel Management, the agency administering FEHBP, found that federal employees are overwhelmingly satisfied with their current health benefits — by a 7-1 margin. This is significant, since pharmacy benefits are the most often used part of the program. The bottom line is that FEHBP offers prescription-drug benefit programs that are as good as or better than those offered by many Fortune 500 companies.

Nonetheless, the goal of this legislation is to force OPM to take FEHBP in an entirely different direction. It wants the program’s prescription drug benefits to operate less like those of savvy large employers and more like those of the Medicaid program for the poor. Currently, FEHBP relies on the same, sophisticated pharmacy benefit managers used by blue chip companies, Medicare Part D, and other successful programs to improve affordability. This bill would drive many well-regarded PBMs out of the program altogether and rely instead upon government price controls and micromanagement to do the job.

Rep. Lynch’s bill would undermine cost-saving tools and reduce choices for federal workers. And the Office of Personnel Management opposes Rep. Lynch’s bill. So why “blow up” a popular program that’s effectively delivering drug benefits to 8 million federal employees? Good question.

The Monitor writes:

Stephen says he is running to make “New Hampshire great again” by cutting taxes, cutting spending and creating jobs. It’s early enough in the campaign season that candidates can stick to generalities. But to be taken seriously as a replacement for Lynch, Stephen will have to get specific. More than most candidates, Stephen, who also served in the attorney general’s office and as deputy safety commissioner, knows state government from the inside. We look forward to the day when he uses that knowledge to offer voters specifics.

What, for example, does he think of proposals to add slot machines and casino gambling? Does he agree with Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas’s plan to reorganize his department? Or with plans to rethink prison recidivism and the parole system? What changes would he make to adequately fund the state’s retirement system? Which taxes would he reduce or eliminate and, more important, just how would he reduce state spending?

What would the state not do that it’s doing now if he becomes governor?

Stephen is known for working hard and being decisive. What voters will need is a clear idea of exactly what his decisions would be.

“I am disappointed, however, that you have chosen to return to New Hampshire to involve yourself in the contested New Hampshire primary for U.S. Senate by supporting Kelly Ayotte,” writes Lamontagne. “You know better than most that independent-minded voters of New Hampshire decide for themselves who to support in a primary.”

“I have become accustomed to the DC establishment and party bosses choosing sides and telling New Hampshire voters who to support for U.S. Senate in this campaign. I have elected to ignore both the “wisdom” of the establishment as well as the politics of entitlement, because it is the voters of New Hampshire who should decide the outcome of this race. It is in their judgment that I place my trust and confidence,” Lamontagne continued.

Lamontagne proceeded to lambast Ayotte over three issue: the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, earmarks – both of which Lamontagne opposed and, he says, Ayotte has supported in the past – and the stimulus bill.

“As Attorney General, Kelly Ayotte publicly encouraged people and organizations to apply for stimulus funding and helped to administer stimulus funds without a word of concern about this boondoggle,” wrote Lamontagne.

“It is for the voters – not Washington – to select the candidate they trust to be their next U.S. Senator. Accordingly, it is their endorsement that I seek,” he concluded in the letter.

Lamontagne has recently stated that he does not respect McCain’s conservative credentials and has had favorable things to say about McCain’s primary opponent.

The Union Leader reports that Tony Podesta, the man that Newseek called “The Lobbyist,” will be there. Podesta’s firm, the Podesta Group, represents Bank of America which received billions during the federal bailout of Wall Street, oil titan BP America, and Dosal Tobacco Company, the Florida cigarette company that is trying amidst ongoing concern regarding Florida’s budget deficit to avoid paying the same per pack fee assessed on other tobacco companies as part of Florida’s legal settlement with the tobacco industry years ago (at present, the company is being hammered over such avoidance efforts by Florida’s former attorney general, who led the case against tobacco companies, and some Florida editorial boards).

The Union Leader also reports that Heather Podesta of her own Heather Podesta Partners is part of the host committee. Her firm represents similar interests such as Marathon Oil which is heavily involved in oil sands mining and health care insurance companies CIGNA Corporation and HealthSouth.

Scene from a recent Freedom of Speech Coalition fundraiser

According to a published report by John Distaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader, among several lobbyists headlining a Hodes cash call this evening in DC is Robert Raben. In addition to his portfolio of corporate customers, the article reveals, “Raben’s firm also had as a client the adult entertainment industry’s trade association, the Free Speech Coalition, and, according to the firm’s Web site, ‘created engagement strategies and best practices’ for that organization.”

The Free Speech coalition is a California-based group whose mission is to, “Lead, protect and support the growth and well-being of the adult entertainment community.”

Last fall, at its “Bada-Bing Bailout Bash” in California, the Free Speech Coalition honored longtime porno king Larry Flynt with a “Legacy Award.” The Free Speech Coalition described the event as a celebration of “mobsters & molls, cops & robbers, big cheeses & beautiful babes.”

Flynt, along with Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis, sought a $5 billion federal bailout from Congress to help traditional pornographers compete with emerging online skin-flicks.

According to Fox Business, Flynt said at the time, “People are too depressed to be sexually active. This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

Citing the government’s partial ownership in private industry, Francis raised the possibility of allowing the feds to buy “equity stakes in their companies.” That would be similar to the automotive industry bailout, which Hodes supported.

Hassan

Van Jones, one of President Barack Obama’s controversial ‘czars,’ was forced to step down from the administration in September of last year when it was revealed that he had signed a petition alleging the administration of President George W. Bush “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”

Jones is also a self-professed communist and has alleged that whites were deliberately poisoning minority neighborhoods.

Jones is speaking at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire on Monday, having been invited by Thomas and Maggie Hassan, NowHampshire.com has learned. Thomas Hassan is the principal of Philips Exeter. His wife Maggie is a Democratic state Senator.

NowHampshire.com has asked both Sen. Hassan and a representative from Mr. Hassan’s office about their motives behind inviting the controversial Mr. Jones, but they did not respond to our inquiry. [See below for update -- the Academy denies the Hassans were involved in inviting Jones.]

As it happens the town of Exeter will also vote on a warrant article at town meeting in March. The article calls for a new congressional investigation into “all of the evidence and unanswered questions” about the 9/11 terror strike. The organization pushing the petition, Vote for Answers New Hampshire, highlights a number of public comments by former elected officials that suggest heavily that the government is, at the very least, covering up facts about 9/11.

Sen. Hassan has refused to say how she will vote on the warrant article, despite our attempts to solicit a comment from her.

The below video contains more information about Van Jones:

UPDATE: The school denies the Hassans had anything to do with inviting Van Jones to Exeter:

Your email of Saturday was just sent on to me by Jennifer Wilhelm the school’s sustainability coordinator. I am the spokesperson for the Academy.

Principal Hassan did not invite Mr. Jones to the Academy In fact, Van Jones is among the speakers invited to campus by the student Environmental Action Committee and the Environmental Task Force, the groups planning activities around Exeter’s seventh annual Green Cup Challenge.

Senator Hassan was not involved in this decision, nor is she involved in other Academy decisions. Please remove the references to the Hassens in relation to Mr. Jones’ visit from your web site.

Here’s what he told the Union Leader’s John DiStaso about the tea party movement:

Bass rejected any suggestion that he’s simply a Washington insider retread, a charge his opponents of both parties rolled out immediately in various forms yesterday.

“There’s a big difference between experienced leadership and being a Washington insider,” he said. “I was anything but a Washington insider” while in Congress.

And just for extra emphasis on that point, Bass cozied up to the tea party movement.

“I love them,” Bass said. “God bless every single one of them. You know what their agenda is? Exactly the same as mine.

“They want a new environment in Washington,” he said, and are “just as terrified as I am about the spending that’s going on.

“I’d stand right with them any day of the week because they have started a grassroots movement in American that is going to save our nation,” Bass said.

Goley and the Democrat Party, led by Ray Buckley, poured money into the race, hoping desperately to convince voters that Goley was not a tax-and-spend Democrat. Goley and the Democrats distributed a controversial mailer claiming Goley would “reform” the LLC Tax when in fact Goley had supported the LLC Tax and voted to pass it into law.

Goley also claimed to be an ardent warrior against a state income tax. However, an early version of a Project Vote Smart survey on the Internet indicated Goley actually supported an income tax. When asked about it, Project Vote Smart actually changed Goley’s answer to the question.

Goley’s defeat is a blow to Democrat U.S. Senate hopeful Paul Hodes who weighed in heavily by going door-to-door with Goley and donating him staff and money.

The victory is seen as another notch in Gov. John Sununu’s belt since he has taken over as chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.

Sgambati

Below is Forsythe’s press release:

Forsythe Declares Candidacy for District 4 State Senate Seat
Laconia, NH- Conservative Republican Jim Forsythe announces his candidacy for the District 4 State Senate Seat.

Jim Forsythe is a small business owner, an Air Force veteran, an aeronautical engineer, and a part-time professor at UNH. Jim’s diverse background in business, the military and academia has instilled in him a deep love for his country and a fierce passion to defend and renew the principles for which it stands.

As a candidate for the New Hampshire State Senate District 4 seat, Jim is committed to reversing the runaway spend-then-tax agenda that has led to the record deficits in Concord. In 2009, the New Hampshire legislature raised taxes and fees over 38 times. To add insult to injury, a jobs-killing “LLC tax” was passed around midnight on June 24, 2009 without the benefit of a public hearing.

Jim Forsythe believes that these types of abuses must be stopped. Jim pledges to be a State Senator who will serve the citizens of District 4 with transparency and accountability, bringing new energy and integrity to the race.

As a small businessman, Jim knows that the economic engines that will create jobs are already right here in our communities – from mom and pop operations to fledgling high tech firms. Forsythe will work to reduce and eliminate the excessive taxes and bureaucratic regulations that cripple small businesses while they are attempting to expand and create new jobs.

Jim Forsythe has taken a leading role to repeal the new “LLC tax”. Adding this to the current business profits tax of 8.5% will result in a completely uncompetitive 13.5% tax rate. Jim is working with Senator Jeb Bradley to pass Bradley’s bill to repeal the “LLC tax”.

Jim believes that government must be restrained in its scope of activities. The last two sessions of the New Hampshire legislature passed budgets that raised spending 25% over previous ones. Today the politicians and bureaucrats in Concord have produced budgets that are hundreds of millions of dollars out of balance. Jim Forsythe believes that it is time to restore fiscal sanity in Concord and to lessen the burden of high taxes on the families of State Senate District 4.

Forsythe is a former USAF pilot who flew KC-135 combat support missions throughout Europe and the Middle East. He was awarded three aerial achievement medals and his senior pilot wings.

Jim graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics and a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering. After completing his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Wichita State University, Jim became an Associate Professor at the Air Force Academy where he taught for five years. He was awarded the Frank J. Seiler Award for groundbreaking research in the computational fluid dynamics field.

Jim is married to his college sweetheart, Sue, and they have two children, Kate and Connor. They live in the town of Strafford where Jim has been co-chair of the local Taxpayers Coalition and was the Cub Master of the Cub Scout Pack.

Please join Jim and his family for the “Forsythe for State Senate District 4” kickoff event at the Margate Resort in Laconia on February 25th at 6:00 PM. RSVP by contacting Jim at jim@jimforsythe.com, by telephoning 603-822-2588 or by signing up online at www.jimforsythe.com.