Health lobby gives $73K to Matheson

Some say the health care reform debate is "heated," "contentious" or even "crucial." But now add "lucrative" for Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

Health care and insurance industries funneled at least $73,000 to him during the past three months, or half the money his campaign raised in that period, according to disclosure forms filed Thursday.

Those health care industry donations were also more than double what Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, raised from all sources in the same quarter, and about what Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, raised from all his donors.

So how much influence or access do such health care industry donations buy?

"It has no influence," Matheson said. "It (the money) is from all over the map in terms of the political spectrum."

He added, "I have such a diverse set of funding over my career that it sort of validates that if they want to give me money, they can give me money. But it's not going to affect what I do."

Matheson is a leader of the Blue Dog Caucus and was chosen last week as its co-chairman. That group of swing vote, moderate Democrats has been courted heavily by all sides in the reform debate. Matheson was among few Democrats who voted against a Democratic reform bill in committee.

Matheson received at least 46 separate donations from health industry groups or individuals in the last quarter. Some included $3,000 from Blue Cross & Blue Shield; $2,500 from drugmaker AstraZeneca; $2,500 from Molina Healthcare; $2,500 from the National Emergency Medicine PAC; and $1,500 from the National Association of Health Underwriters.

Matheson has amassed $1.14 million in cash on hand for his campaign. He is being challenged so far by Republican Casey Anderson and independent Dave Glissmeyer, who have yet to report raising any money to the Federal Election Commission.

House Candidates file disclosure forms electronically, so forms appear online immediately. Online data for Senate candidates are often delayed for days because they may file by paper. Only Democrat Sam Granato among Utah's Senate candidates provided the Deseret News with a copy of his disclosure form before the midnight Thursday filing deadline.

Granato raised just under $20,000 during the quarter, but spent a bit more than he raised. He reported a total of $9,247 in the bank as of Sept. 30.

How much incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has in the bank now is not yet known, but he had $933,563 at the end of June, more than all his opponents combined.