Drug industry lobbyist Billy Tauzin to resign
 

Los Angeles Times | Feb. 11, 2010 | 6:55 p.m.


Drug industry lobbyist Billy Tauzin to resign


Billy Tauzin, the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry who forged a private deal with the Obama administration to push the healthcare overhaul forward, will announce his resignation Thursday, the Los Angeles Times has learned.


A source close to Tauzin, a garrulous former Louisiana congressman who once chaired the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tauzin left his post voluntarily after nearly 5 1/2 years in the job "because he wants to do other things with his life."


The source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the retirement, said that Tauzin was asked to stay by a majority of board members and that the decision was personal.


However, Tauzin has been under fire from the left and the right -- and from the mainstream of his fellow business lobbyists, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.


The chamber and other business organizations that opposed the administration's approach to the healthcare overhaul were unhappy that Tauzin had cut a private deal with the White House, undermining a business coalition that opposed both the House and Senate versions of healthcare legislation.


More soon at: http://www.latimes.com/