The Boston Globe - 07.09.2019

4
SEPTEMBER 7, 2019

METRO

By Colin A. Young
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Talks between state attor-
neys general and Purdue Phar-
ma over a possible $12 billion
settlement to resolve thou-
sands of lawsuits brought
against the opioid manufactur-
er have stalled, in part because
Massachusetts Attorney Gener-
al Maura Healey is not on
board, according to a national
media report this week.
Reuters reported that Oxy-
Contin maker Purdue Pharma
is preparing to file for Chapter
11 bankruptcy by the end of
September unless it is able to
reach a settlement with the
states and municipalities suing
it for its role in the nationwide
opioid abuse and overdose epi-
demic. Word of the talks involv-
ing various state attorneys gen-
eral, Purdue Pharma, and its
owners, the Sackler family, was
reported throughout the media
last week.
NBC News reported that
Purdue and the Sacklers had
proposed a settlement of $
billion to $12 billion to resolve
the more than 2,000 suits
against the company and fami-
ly members. But Reuters re-
ported Tuesday that “strong op-
position from some attorneys
general such as those in Massa-
chusetts and New York
emerged last week after confi-
dential discussions on Purdue’s
settlement talks became public
in media reports.”
“Their main sticking point
is how much Purdue’s control-
ling Sackler family will pay,”
Reuters reported, citing people
familiar with the negotiations.
Healey’s office declined to
address the Reuters report di-
rectly.
“Our fight against Purdue
and the Sacklers is about ex-
posing the facts, making them
pay for the harm they caused,
and shutting them down for
good. The people who have
been hurt by Purdue’s miscon-
duct have spoken, loud and
clear, about how important it is
to have real accountability,”
Healey said in a statement.
“Our lawsuit exposed the roots
of this crisis and we will contin-
ue to push for the full truth to
be made public and to secure
the justice these families de-
serve.”
In June 2018, Healey filed
the first state lawsuit against
individual members of the
Sackler family as well as Pur-
due Pharma, alleging that they
“engaged in a deadly, deceptive
scheme to sell opioids in Mas-
sachusetts” and profited from
the drug epidemic they helped
create.
Healey’s complaint alleges
that Purdue “created the epi-
demic and profited from it
through a web of illegal deceit”
by misleading doctors and pa-

tients to get more people on

their drugs, at “higher and

more dangerous doses” and for

longer periods of time, as well

as by deploying falsehoods to

keep patients away from “safer

alternatives.”

A total of 671 Massachusetts

residents who filled prescrip-

tions for Purdue opioids since

2009 later died of an opioid

overdose, according to the suit.

According to Healey’s office,

Purdue sent sales representa-

tives to Massachusetts doctors,

offices, clinics, and hospitals

more than 150,000 times since

2008.

Under the settlement frame-

work described last week to

NBC News and later to the New

York Times, the Connecticut-

based Purdue Pharma would

file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

and restructure itself as a “pub-

lic beneficiary trust.” Future

profits from the company

would flow to the plaintiffs,

namely state and local govern-

ments that have sued Purdue.

The Sackler family would

cede control of the company

and contribute $3 billion to the

settlement fund over seven

years and would add another

$1.5 billion by selling another

Sackler-owned business. Reu-

ters reported that “several state

attorneys general contend the

Sacklers’ proposed settlement

contribution is too low” and

that the attorneys general

would rather that the Sacklers

guarantee $4.5 billion.

Purdue Pharma said last

week that it is “prepared to de-

fend itself vigorously in the opi-

oid litigation” but is discussing

a settlement because it “sees lit-

tle good coming from years of

wasteful litigation and appeals”

and “the people and communi-

ties affected by the opioid crisis

need help now.”

“Purdue believes a construc-

tive global resolution is the best

path forward, and the company

is actively working with the

state attorneys general and oth-

er plaintiffs to achieve this out-

come,” the company said in a

statement.

Last week, a judge in Okla-

homa ruled that Johnson &

Johnson had to pay the state

$572million. In the order, the

judge declared that the compa-

ny had run “false, misleading,

and dangerous marketing cam-

paigns”that“causedexponen-

tially increasing rates of addic-

tion, overdose deaths.”

A federal judge in Cleveland

is overseeing the more than

2,000 lawsuits filed against the

Sacklers and Purdue. Reuters

reported that the judge expect-

edplaintiffstoupdatehimon

settlement progress this week

and that he “wants 35 state at-

torneys general on board with

a deal, a threshold that has not

yet been reached.”

Report: Healey

balked at proposed

Pharma settlement

horses whose owners cannot
afford the vaccination to
Southern New Hampshire,
Bristol County, and south cen-
tral Massachusetts, the group
announced Friday.
The emergency clinic was
originally serving only the Mer-
rimack Valley — where one
horse died in Methuen — but
the MSPCA chose to expand it
because of the high demand
from horse owners in Southern
and Western Massachusetts, as
well as Southern New Hamp-
shire, said Rob Halpin, a
spokesman for the Massachu-
setts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.
Local communities are con-
tinuing truck-mounted spray-
ing for mosquitoes, authorities
said.
The state completed aerial
mosquito spraying in parts of
Bristol, Plymouth, Middlesex,
and Worcester counties in Au-
gust. Sudbury will have town-
wide spraying on Monday and

uEEE
Continued from Page 2

Tuesday, weather permitting.

The EEE virus has also been

detected on the Outer Cape,

with mosquitoes carrying the

potentially deadly disease

found in Wellfleet, according

to town officials.

In a statement dated

Wednesday, officials in the

popular summer tourist town

said the “Massachusetts De-

partment of Public Health

(MDPH) announced today that

EEE virus has been detected in

mosquitoes collected from

Wellfleet. The samples were

taken on August 29, 2019, and

we continue to sample the ar-

ea.”

Globe correspondent Maria

Lovato contributed to this

report. Danny McDonald can

be reached at

[email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@Danny__McDonald. Travis

Andersen can be reached

[email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@TAGlobe.

“Iowa is nothing less than

huge,” said Harold Schaitberg-

er, the union’s longtime presi-

dent general, who concedes

Biden might be at a disadvan-

tage in New Hampshire against

local candidates Warren and

Sanders and need to put a win

on the board. “We are going to

be entirely focused on Iowa

and doing what needs to be

done, hoping that gives him a

strong finish in New Hamp-

shire.”

As for Warren and Sanders,

while New Hampshire is a

must-win, they might be look-

ing to Iowa to settle the New

Hampshire grudge match.

“Both Warren and Sanders

are evenly matched in New

Hampshire and both know

they need to win the state to

survive, so I can see how they

both are looking at Iowa as to

how they are break their stale-

mate and get an advantage,”

said University of New Hamp-

shire professor Dante Scala.

Indeed, both are heavily in-

vested in Iowa. Sanders nar-

uIOWA

Continued from Page 2

rowly lost Iowa in 2016 to Hil-

lary Clinton and still has the

largest network of staff and vol-

unteers there. Warren, mean-

while, has one of largest staffs

in the state and visits there

nearly as often as she goes to

New Hampshire, which is a

short jaunt from her home in

Cambridge.

That said, former New

Hampshire Democratic Party

chairman Joe Keefe is skeptical

about the success of a New

Hampshire-win-via-Iowa strat-

egy in 2020.

“Sure, if a candidate can win

both, that will be hard for any-

one else to overcome,” said

Keefe, who is backing Senator

Kamala Harris of California.

“But an Iowa caucus voter is

just different from the wide

New Hampshire electorate

made up of both Democrats

and independents and proba-

bly more focused on electabili-

ty.”

However, Keefe and others

all said that while Iowa could

shift the playing field among

the top tier of Democratic can-

didates, for the 15 or so other

candidates it might be Iowa or

bust.

“Given that only five or six

candidates will even be able to

continue their campaigns after

Iowa, I think the most interest-

ing thing to watch in the

months ahead will be whether

more of the minor candidates

justshifttospendthemajority

of their time in Iowa as op-

posed to being 50-50 with New

Hampshire,” said Scala.

James Pindell can be reached

at [email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@jamespindell or subscribe to

his Ground Game newsletter

on politics:

http://pages.email.bostonglobe.

com/GroundGameSignUp

and once voters pay more atten-

tion, he’ll drop. That may well

be true, but Biden detractors

have been saying that for six

months and Biden has re-

mained the leader throughout.

uRANKINGS

Continued from Page 2

candidates drop out, watch to

see if Warren benefits.

4. 
   

Mayor Pete

Buttigieg

It has been six

months since Buttigieg blasted

off with Democratic primary

voters, proving

he is far from a

flash-in-the-

pan type of

candidate. His

huge audiences

in his latest

swing through

the state two

weeks ago are

evidence of a candidate who

continues to intrigue the prima-

ry electorate. In the last two

weeks, his campaign has been

staffing up in a real way, and

now has offices in all 10 coun-

ties. That said, he is closer to

fifth place than he is to third.

5. 
   

Senator Kamala

Harris

There continues to

be great interest in Harris from

voters in New Hampshire, but

her campaign’s actions suggest

her path to the nomination, if

there is one, tracks elsewhere.

NECN’s candidate tracker

shows she has spent the least

amount of time in New Hamp-

shire of anyone on this list and

a recent CNN article notes she

will continue to staff up in Iowa

and South Carolina, but omit-

ted New Hampshire.

We’ve seen candidates, such

as Ted Cruz and

Marco Rubio in

2016, who had a

New Hamp-

shire-light strat-

egy. They

planned to do

well in Iowa, do

fine in New

Hampshire, and

return with a triumphant win

in South Carolina.

None of those candidates ev-

er became president — or the

nominee.

6. 
   

Senator Cory Booker

Is Booker actually

above Yang? By a

smidge. There’s not much en-

thusiasm for him among activ-

ists, but Book-

er’s plodding

and established

campaign infra-

structure gives

him the edge.

Booker punches

well above his

weight in cam-

paign talent and

local endorsements. As a candi-

date, he is liked among the

state’s voters, who largely give

him good favorability ratings in

polling. If he has a moment in a

debate, he has the ability to cap-

italize. But if he doesn’t have a

moment — well his ceiling is

set, and it is pretty low.

7. 
   

Andrew Yang

There might not be

a historical precedent

for the fact Yang is on

this list, at least not in the mod-

ern era. He is a 44-year-old en-

trepreneur who

was a complete

nobody a year

ago. He doesn’t

have a fortune

to fund a cam-

paign. But he

does have an

idea: Give

$1,000 a month

to every American to offset the

role automation is playing and

will play in the future.

His supporters are all in, in a

Ron Paul 2012 kind of way.

Supporters drive hundreds of

miles to help campaign for him

in New Hampshire, a largely or-

ganic campaign that other can-

didates would covet. Yang is

now raising money and hiring

staff; three more come on board

next week. We’re very unlikely

to see Andrew Yang, Democrat-

ic nominee. But let’s see where

this goes.

James Pindell can be reached at

[email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@jamespindell or subscribe to

his Ground Game newsletter on

politics:http://pages.email.bost

onglobe.com/GroundGameSign

Up

JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF

In Methuen, a large hawk screeched while perched on a high branch in a tree.

CRYING FOWL

Two new EEE cases

bring total to seven

Road to N.H. may go through Iowa

Ranking the Democrats in New Hampshire

2. 
   

Senators Bernie

Sanders and

Elizabeth Warren

New Hampshire is effective-

ly a must-win state for the

neighboring Senators-turned-

White House hopefuls. But

right now, it’s not clear who is

ahead.

Sanders began the race with

the most advantages. In 2016,

he won the New Hampshire

primary with 60 percent of the

vote. If just half of those voters

stuck with him, he’d cruise to

another win. But polling re-

peatedly has him around 20

percent support or less. And

Warren is on the move.

One key factor: In polling,

Warren is frequently the second

choice among Democratic vot-

ers who had a different first

choice. If a number of these

ERIN SCHAFF/NEW YORK TIMES

Presidential candidate Andrew Yang spoke with reporters

at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines last month.

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