In the continuing health care debate the public option remains as the key puzzle piece in the Democrats' health care package. Today, the Senate Finance Committee is debating and voting on amendments to include a public option in their version of health care reform legislation. Both amendments to the bill were defeated in committee.

One of the biggest supporters of the public option is labor, a trusted ally of the Democrats. The public option has been opposed by many in the health sector. A comparison of voting behavior and campaign contributions may provide some more context to today's committee votes.

The chart below shows Senate Finance Committee members, their contributions from the labor and health sectors from 2005-2010, the ratio of health contributions to labor contributions and their votes on the Rockefeller and Schumer public option amendments.

Ratio of Health to Labor Contributions to the Senate Finance Committee (2005-2010) and Public Option Votes
Name	Party	Labor Contributions (2005-2010)	Health Contributions (2005-2010)	Ratio (Health:Labor)	Rockefeller Amendment	Schumer Amendment
Mike Crapo	R	$2,000	$243,226	121.6:1	N	N
Jon Kyl	R	$13,000	$1,188,238	91.4:1	N	N
Chuck Grassley	R	$11,500	$651,627	56.7:1	N	N
Jim Bunning	R	$2,500	$112,650	45.1:1	N	N
John Cornyn	R	$27,250	$1,226,469	44.6:1	N	N
John Ensign	R	$12,000	$521,575	43.5:1	N	N
Orrin Hatch	R	$31,100	$1,020,334	32.8:1	N	N
Pat Roberts	R	$12,000	$343,849	28.7:1	N	N
Blanche Lincoln	D	$36,100	$641,004	17.8:1	N	N
Mike Enzi	R	$26,500	$423,749	16.0:1	N	N
Maria Cantwell	D	$22,500	$353,342	15.7:1	Y	Y
Ron Wyden	D	$39,000	$370,175	9.5:1	Y	Y
Max Baucus	D	$207,925	$1,763,799	8.5:1	N	N
Olympia Snowe	R	$103,750	$367,549	3.5:1	N	N
Kent Conrad	D	$253,750	$652,178	2.6:1	N	N
Debbie Stabenow	D	$284,125	$737,243	2.6:1	Y	Y
Bill Nelson	D	$241,890	$613,594	2.5:1	N	Y
Jay Rockefeller	D	$240,800	$605,400	2.5:1	Y	Y
Chuck Schumer	D	$140,500	$298,650	2.1:1	Y	Y
John Kerry	D	$103,248	$188,558	1.8:1	Y	Y
Jeff Bingaman	D	$229,500	$366,414	1.6:1	Y	Y
Tom Carper	D	$180,010	$287,406	1.6:1	N	Y
Robert Menendez	D	$400,100	$603,343	1.5:1	Y	Y

This data could tell us one of two things: (1) Democrats are far more likely to get money from Labor for ideological reasons; (2) The ratio of health to labor contributions effects the way senators will vote on the public option. It could also be both of these.

For senators voting on the Rockefeller amendment, 58% of those with a 10:1 or under ratio of health to labor contributions voted for the amendment. When that ratio is brought down to 3:1 and under, 67% of senators voted for the amendment.

On the Schumer amendment, 75% of those with a 10:1 or under ratio of health to labor contributions voted for the amendment. When that ratio is brought down to 3:1 and under, 89% of senators voted for the amendment.

There is perfect consistency for No votes for both amendments and in both ranges of 10:1 and over and 3:1 and over. Those senators with a 10:1 or over ratio of health to labor contributions voted against both amendments 91% of the time. Senators with a 3:1 or over ratio of health to labor contributions voted against both amendments 86% of the time.

Rep. Mike Ross has been the most consistent dissenter from his party's attempt to pass health care reform citing costs, fear of government control and rising deficits. One thing he has failed to mention in all of this is his personal financial investment in making sure certain provisions do not pass into law. According to an investigative report by the award-winning Marcus Stern of ProPublica, Ross sold a pharmacy he owned to a national pharmacy chain for a price that far exceeded its value.

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross -- a Blue Dog Democrat playing a key role in the health care debate -- sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment [2] (PDF) and an independent appraisal [3] (PDF) say it was worth.

...

But the $420,000 was just the beginning of what Ross and his pharmacist wife, Holly, made from the sale of Holly's Health Mart. The owner of USA Drug, Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., also paid the Rosses $500,000 to $1 million for the pharmacy's assets and paid Holly Ross another $100,001 to $250,000 for signing a non-compete agreement. Those numbers, which Ross listed on the financial disclosure reports he files as a member of Congress, bring the total value of the transaction to between $1 million and $1.67 million.

Ross' wife was also allowed to keep her job as the store's pharmacist. Ross is also a huge recipient of health care industry campaign cash having pulled in $342,475 since 2007, more than from any other industry. The pharmacy chain in question, USA Drug, is lobbying Congress to not include a public option in any health reform bill that is reported. Ross is one of the biggest opponents of a public option, stating he will vote against any bill that contains one.

Jane Hamsher brought to my attention this morning a contest being run over at Daily Kos to find out why 50 Democrats are resisting their constituents’ support for health care reform. She is asking for folks to look at the lawmakers  -- who they get money from, how they vote, what amendments they offer as a way to explain and other things too, perhaps as a way to explan, who is the most beholden to the special interests who are fighting various elements of the health care reform plan.

This is a terrific idea and I thought it would be really helpful to offer up the number of Sunlight created or sponsored databases to help with the research.

Here’s a bunch of places to start:

Open Congress (voting records, bill and amendment sponsorship)

Open Secrets (campaign finance, campaign expenditure, lobbying, revolving door, personal financial disclosure information)

Party Time (fundraisers)

MAPLight (connections between votes and campaign contributions)

Taxpayers for Common Sense (sponsors of earmarks)

Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker (lobbyists lobbying on behalf of foreign entities, searchable by MOC)

LOUISdb (Congressional Record, Federal Register, Congressional Hearings and Reports, Bills and Resolutions)

Capitol Words (most frequently spoken word by legislator)

LittleSis (an involuntary Facebook for the well-connected)

FedSpending (government contracts. Search by district)

Metavid (video clips of members of Congress)

Good as these resources are, Sunlight would really like to make it even easier for you to do this kind of research so we have underway an effort to create a repository of all the information in that list above (and more!) so that you can seamlessly search through all these data bases. (Think a virtual ‘one-click’ search). It’s going to take a while before it’s a reality but we are hard at work on it.

After yesterday's discussion about discussion drafts, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions released a draft of their version of the public option -- but only the Politico received a leaked version. This would be one of those things that should just be directly posted to the Committee web site. It would help the public understand the ongoing legislative process and provide context to the eventual bill that we hope would be read by lawmakers.

Last week, I took a look at the circle of former staffers turned health care lobbyists that surround Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus. The Senate Finance Committee is one of the two central committees in the Senate charged with formulating health care reform legislation. Knowing the connections to the health care lobby of all committee members provides us with a glimpse into whom may have access to shape the forthcoming legislation. In continuing with mapping Baucus' connections, below you'll find a map of all the committee Democrats and their connections, through former staffers turned health care lobbyists, to various health care lobbies:

The map shows only ten of the thirteen committee Democrats, as OpenSecrets.org does not report any staffers turned health care lobbyists for Sens. Jay Rockefeller, Jeff Bingaman or Bill Nelson. These ten Democrats are connected to a total of 20 former staffers turned health care lobbyists. Sen. Baucus leads all of the committee Democrats with five health care lobbyist connections and Sen. Chuck Schumer and Tom Carper both have three connections.

These 20 staffers represent approximately 91 different organizations, often overlapping in the clients they handle. The overlap usually occurs when the health care lobbyists are employed at the same firm. This can be seen clearly with David Castagnetti, Sen. Baucus' former chief of staff, and Kelly Bingel, Sen. Blanche Lincoln's former chief of staff. Both Castagnetti and Bingel work for Mehlmen Vogel Castagnetti Inc. and handle nearly all the same clients.

The organizations represented by these 20 health care lobbyists include some of the biggest opponents to center piece of President Obama's health care plan: the public option. These include the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, PhRMA, and various pharmaceutical, medical device and insurance companies. The Senate Finance Committee is seen as the biggest obstacle to the public option.

When it comes to money from the health care and insurance industries, Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, leads the pack. For senators who have not run for the presidency, which requires raising exhorbitant amounts of money, Sen. Baucus is ahead of other committee Democrats with Sens. Schumer and Kent Conrad following close behind. See the table below:

Senator	2008 Health Sector	Career Health Sector	2008 Insurance Sector	Career Insurance Sector
MAX BAUCUS (D-MT)	$1,148,775.00	$2,797,381.00	$285,850.00	$1,170,313.00
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV (D-WV)	$515,150.00	$1,674,229.00	$107,874.00	$394,074.00
KENT CONRAD (D-ND)	$117,350.00	$1,331,363.00	$56,650.00	$821,187.00
JEFF BINGAMAN (D-NM)	$14,151.00	$861,841.00	$1,500.00	$160,875.00
JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA)	$289,430.00	$8,145,141.00	$90,250.00	$1,397,367.00
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN (D-AR)	$226,753.00	$1,281,608.00	$49,500.00	$440,033.00
RON WYDEN (D-OR)	$96,925.00	$1,161,488.00	$45,999.00	$229,173.00
CHARLES E. SCHUMER (D-NY)	$10,000.00	$1,402,358.00	$3,000.00	$946,400.00
DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI)	$239,018.00	$1,188,186.00	$40,800.00	$246,750.00
MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA)	$48,951.00	$573,076.00	$12,300.00	$80,850.00
BILL NELSON (D-FL)	$60,015.00	$1,163,210.00	$22,500.00	$520,016.00
ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ)	$81,650.00	$1,216,476.00	$67,450.00	$458,679.00
THOMAS CARPER (D-DE)	$15,450.00	$452,000.00	$28,700.00	$447,984.00

For Senate Finance Committee Democrats, the connections to the health care industry are wide and deep. Campaign contributions are high and staffers easily jump ship to lobby their former bosses. The impact of these influence measures are sure to be felt in the debate over the form of health care reform.

Stay tuned later this week as we look at the other side of the committee: the Republicans.

Technical Notes: The "Gmap" interface is courtesy of Google and the UCL Google Maps Image Cutter. The graph/map was generated using the Graph library of Nodebox.