Money can and does buy the opportunity to influence :
From the May 1 Burlington Free Press:
“Since January, Patient Choices Vermont has spent $77,983 in lobbying and advertising for the cause, according to a lobbyist disclosure report filed last week with the Secretary of State’s Office. Of that, $40,000 was reported for advertising and nearly $31,000 for compensation to lobbyists.
The group was the third-highest spender of all lobbying firms reporting by last week’s deadline, following only the American Beverage Association ($574,472) and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems ($92,532).
Federal 990 forms also show that Patient Choices Vermont received at least $90,000 from the Death With Dignity National Center in Oregon in the last three years.”
Given claims that this legislation would only be utilized by a tiny percentage of Vermonters, one might wonder who is behind the money financing this aggressive effort, year after year, to promote the “option” to commit suicide. Certainly not the poor, underprivileged and vulnerable whose end of life choices will become more limited as a result of such a law.