Manchin and his daughter are starting a new nonprofit promoting moderate politics. Their history should alarm those concerned with government accountability.
Politics is the Manchin family business, and it looks like the West Virginia senator has a new product to sell. He and his daughter, Heather Manchin Bresch, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, have begun pitching donors on a “coalition that would ‘mobilize the middle’ and support a shift toward the political center” called Americans Together. The father-daughter duo is reportedly seeking at least $100 million in funding.
Manchin is one of the likelier elected officials to make a third-party run in 2024 and has headlined events hosted by No Labels, the organization aiming to secure ballot access for such a campaign should Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off once again in a rematch of the 2020 presidential election. Though this particular project is not associated with No Labels and not directly connected to a potential independent bid, WSJ reported, Manchin has previously signaled his interest in leaving the Democratic Party, saying on a West Virginia radio program earlier this month that he “can’t accept either party right now.”
But it is Manchin’s conducting business with his daughter that may interest observers more than his flirtations with becoming an independent or running a third-party campaign for president. Keen-eyed political junkies may remember that Manchin has a history of familial patronage going back to his time as West Virginia’s governor. As Matt Lewis writes in his recent book Filthy Rich Politicians:
In 2007, Manchin appointed his wife Gayle Manchin, a teacher, to the West Virginia Board of Education. In 2012, she became president of the National State Boards of Education (NASBE), where, according to USA Today, “she spearheaded an unprecedented effort that encouraged states to require schools to purchase medical devices that fight life-threatening allergic reactions.” As a result, Mylan (the maker of EpiPens) assumed “a near monopoly in school nurses’ offices.”
The only problem? The CEO of Mylan was Joe and Gayle Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch . . . under Bresch’s leadership, Mylan jacked up the price for the life-saving EpiPen device by 400 percent, as CNN reported. (“because of the patent on the EpiPen delivery device, a true generic doesn’t exist,” explained NBC News). During this time, Bresch’s own salary increased from $2,453,456 to $18,931,068. It might not surprise you to learn that Mylan gave large amounts of money to the campaign of (you guessed it!) Joe Manchin, according to OpenSecrets.
Aside from being a shocking example of those in power enriching themselves and their families through the privileges of their office, the family’s spotty history might be a reason why “some donors who have been part of the Manchin conversations or heard about them said they would need more details, including on how the money would be deployed, before deciding whether to get involved.” Moreover, “because Americans Together is organized as a 501(c)(4), it won’t be required to publicly disclose its donors.”
A private donor list is by no means a sign of wrongdoing or shady acquaintances on its own, but given Manchin and his daughter’s history of ethical boundary-pushing, there may be cause for concern about the sort of influence to which the West Virginia senator and his family may be subjected. Whenever Joe and Heather Manchin’s names appear in the same sentence, good-government advocates would be right to take note.