Financially speaking, Will Jawando, a former campaign staffer for President Obama, isn’t doing well in the crowded contest for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District seat. With just $357,000 raised as of Dec. 31, he trails the race’s top fundraiser, Kathleen Matthews, by more than a million dollars.
About 8 percent of that money — $28,300 — was given by either Martin Shkreli or employees of his former company, Turing Pharmaceuticals. After Shkreli became the infamous “pharma bro” — a superlative he earned when Turing hiked the price of a lifesaving drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill last year — Jawando did not give all of Shkreli’s money to charity, as he said he would. Rather, he kept half of it, or $2,700 the campaign had earmarked for the general election.
Jawando’s campaign told OpenSecrets Blog in an email that it would donate the rest of the money after Jawando wins the primary.
Last week, Shkreli grinned his way through a hearing at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, claiming his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Afterward, he tweeted, “Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.”
On Dec. 17, he was arrested on fraud charges over a hedge fund he managed from 2009 to 2014 and was later released on $5 million bond. That same day, the Baltimore Sun reported that Jawando would refund the $5,400 Shkreli contributed to his campaign in August and September.
“I met Mr. Skhreli (sic) one time and he decided to support my campaign after hearing me speak,” Jawando said in a statement to the newspaper. But, he said, “There’s no mistaking my strong support for preventing drug companies from price gouging and Hillary Clinton‘s proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors.” Jawando told the Sun he would donate all $5,400 to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington. Shkreli resigned as CEO of Turing the following day.
In an email to the Washington Blade in early January, the campaign said it had already donated the money. Federal Election Committee records tell a different story. The day after the Baltimore Sun article ran, on the day Shkreli resigned as Turing’s CEO, Jawando’s campaign donated half of what Shkreli had contributed.
“Our compliance attorneys told us that that other half is earmarked for the general election,” a representative of the campaign told OpenSecrets Blog; he said the rest of the money would be donated to the Boys and Girls Club if Jawando wins the primary. If he loses, the campaign will have to refund that money to Shkreli.
But what about the $22,900 from six other Turing employees? The campaign is keeping that. “They didn’t do anything illegal,” said Aubrey Sylvester, Jawando’s campaign manager. “They weren’t indicted for anything.” Asked whether the fact that such a significant portion of the campaign’s total contributions has come from employees of a single company — one that’s currently being investigated for pharmaceutical price gouging — would affect Jawando’s policies, Sylvester said no.
Jawando is the only candidate that five of the six other Turing contributors have supported with contributions.
Turing Pharmaceuticals has not responded for a request for comment on this article.
Martin Shkreli has given to two other candidates this cycle: Rep. Gregory Meeks($2,600) and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders ($2,700). Sanders donatedthe contribution to Whitman-Walker Health, a Washington, D.C. health clinic specializing in HIV/AIDS care; Washington Business Journal confirmed the donation two days later.
Researcher Anya Gelernt-Dunkle contributed to this story.