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FIRST ON FOX: New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mikie Sherrill took tens of thousands of dollars from companies linked to the opioid crisis as she hammers her Republican opponent over his alleged connection to that same crisis.
Sherrill spoke during a press conference on the Garden State’s opioid epidemic on Monday, where she accused Ciattarelli of “looking at ways to help people get access to the drugs that were killing them” through his ties to pharmaceutical-backed training programs.
“So you heard it, Jack made millions,” she said. “The opioid companies made billions, and thousands of New Jerseyans were dying.”
However, this attack might come back to haunt her campaign. Her congressional campaigns received three $1,000 donations from the AmerisourceBergen political action committee in 2018, 2019 and 2022, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.
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Her campaign also received at least $4,500 from the Teva Pharmaceuticals PAC, $1,000 from the Endo Pharmaceuticals PAC and $17,000 from Johnson & Johnson.
In total, a Fox News Digital review found at least $25,500 in donations going from companies tied to the opioid crisis to Sherrill’s campaign.
AmerisourceBergen has been accused, perhaps most notably in 2021 by Washington state’s Democratic attorney general Bob Ferguson, of profiting off billions from the opioid epidemic through the shipment of dangerous prescription painkillers with no regard for how those drugs were contributing to the deaths of citizens. AmerisourceBergen, which now goes by Cencora, and two other companies would go on to reach a settlement with Washington state for over $500 million.
In early 2022, AmerisourceBergen, whose executives were exposed for previously mocking West Virginians as “pillbillies” at the height of the opioid crisis, announced it would be agreeing to a $6.1 billion settlement that would be paid out over 18 years and would cover the “vast majority of the opioid lawsuits filed by state and local governmental entities,” according to a press release.
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In late 2022, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen, one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors, alleging the company “for years flouted its legal obligations and prioritized profits over the well-being of Americans” by failing to report suspicious orders of controlled substances, like fentanyl and oxycodone, which were then sold illegally, fueling the devastating opioid epidemic.
The other three pharmaceutical companies that donated thousands of dollars to Sherrill’s campaigns through their PACs also reached massive settlements for their roles contributing to the opioid crisis, which includes over $4 billion from Teva to participating states and local governments, according to a press release from Texas AG Ken Paxton’s office.
Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5 billion as part of their settlement, according to their 2022 press release.
Mikie Sherrill for Governor Communications Director Sean Higgins responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, calling the story a “desperate attack from perennial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who refuses to answer for his role publishing misinformation about the dangers of opioids at the height of the opioid epidemic.”
“Mikie Sherrill has shown time and again that she will take on anyone to stand up for families and fight the opioid crisis. That’s why she helped pass landmark bipartisan legislation, signed into law by President Trump, to help fund treatment, recovery, and prevention programs in New Jersey.”
The campaign did not address a question from Fox News Digital about whether the money donated from the pharmaceutical companies would be returned.
In 2017, Ciattarelli received $1,500 from Mallinckrodt LLC PAC, a company that reached a settlement for its involvement in the opioid crisis in 2022. Additionally, the New Jersey Republican received $500 from Johnson & Johnson, a company that also reached an opioid settlement, in 2016.
Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Just like Mikie Sherrill got caught red-handed, personally profiting from investments in the same NJ utility companies she blamed for electricity rate increases, it’s no surprise to learn Mikie’s hypocrisy extends to taking thousands in campaign contributions from the very pharmaceutical companies she maligned yesterday.”
“At this point, if Mikie Sherrill’s lips are moving you can just assume she’s lying,” he continued.
Sherrill first made her claims that Ciattarelli contributed to the opioid epidemic during last week’s gubernatorial debate.
“With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided [for] my family, it’s a lie. I’m proud of my career,” Ciattarelli responded at the debate.
It was during his 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.
And Ciattarelli’s campaign fired back the day after the debate, pledging to file a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill.
“Mikie Sherrill cracked,” Ciattarelli campaign chief strategist, Russell said at the time.
“In doing so, she claimed — twice — that Jack Ciattarelli ‘killed tens of thousands of people, including children,’ a clearly defamatory attack that shocked the moderators, press, and public alike,” Russell added. “In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.”
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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