Boy, oh, boy, does this stink, and it's a story that cruised relatively under the radar.

According to reporter Tom Loftus, writing for the Kentucky Lantern, Pfizer "donated" a whopping one million dollars last month to the Republican Party of Kentucky Building Fund.  To put that into perspective, the same fund raised only $6,000 in the first three quarters.

For what, you might ask?

According to Loftus:

In response to questions ... Sean Southard, spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky, released a statement Monday that said in part 'the Republican Party purchased the lot next door to our Frankfort headquarters and is planning an expansion project.' ...

A sign identifies the party headquarters as the Mitch McConnell Building[.]

The pharmaceutical giant "donated" the money?  Yeah, right.  Seems more plausible that Pfizer took a cue from BlackRock's Laurence Fink and bought the Kentucky turncoat's political favor.  Fink recently gifted Zelensky with "pro bono" advice on how to implement a "special patronage" system in Ukraine, which currently sees municipalities, buildings, really whatever auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Or perhaps it was payment for McConnell's rabidly aggressive push in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine?  After all, as Loftus notes:

Fueled by sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer's revenue doubled [emphasis added[ to $81.3 billion from 2020 to 2021. ...

For the first three quarters of 2022, Pfizer reported $76 billion in revenues.

From an NBC News piece in August of 2021:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has filmed a public service announcement to encourage people to get the Covid-19 vaccine, a 30-second video shot and distributed by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Kentucky Broadcasters Association.

The PSA begins with a voice-over, then turns to McConnell speaking directly to the camera saying: 'As a boy, I fought polio. Today, America's ben polio-free for 40 years — thanks to vaccinations. We'll beat Covid-19 with vaccines, too. Protect yourself and your family. Get vaccinated.'

The PSA is just another example of McConnell's push for Americans to get vaccinated. Just last month, he launched radio ads in Kentucky to promote vaccine efforts in the state.

The ad has been made available to stations across the country, but it has aired over 100 times in local TV markets in Kentucky, a spokesman for McConnell tells NBC News. McConnell's office approached the National Association of Broadcasters about doing the PSA.

Interesting...McConnell approached the radio station?  Seems as if a FOIA ought to be in order...

Generally, people tend to frown upon a system that sees large corporations buy votes or political favor via a patronage system.  Apparently not Mitch McConnell or his swamp cronies, though!

In a strange and aggravating way, McConnell is perhaps the most loyal congressman in the Senate, albeit his allegiances lie with corporations and foreign nations, not the American people.

Image: DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.