The Maine Council of Senior Citizens asked federal and gubernatorial candidates this week to pledge that they will refuse contributions from pharmaceutical companies and return the ones they have already received, because of that industry’s legal attack on Maine’s Rx law.

“The pharmaceutical industry is challenging the state of Maine on the prescription drug bill and they are spending a lot to do that,” said John Carr, president of the association.

Every day the bill is delayed costs seniors $80,000 in higher drug prices, contends the council, which has more than 2,000 members.

Additionally, the industry’s challenge has been costly to Maine’s taxpayers who are footing the state’s legal costs in defending the law.

Maine Rx passed in 2000 and has been tied up in the courts ever since. It would force drug companies to negotiate prescription prices with the state for the roughly 325,000 citizens who lack drug coverage. If drug manufacturers don’t play ball, the state could impose price controls in three years or hit companies with profiteering charges.

Of U.S. Senate, House and gubernatorial candidates reached Thursday, four said they would sign a pledge, three said they wouldn’t and one remained on the fence.

Green gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Carter was not asked to pledge since he is a “clean election” candidate, which prohibits him from accepting private campaign contributions.

Sen. Susan Collins, who has received contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, will not return or refuse pharmaceutical money, said Felicia Knight, her campaign communications director.

Knight said the pledge request is just politics. The council is an organization that has already endorsed Collins’ Democratic challenger Chellie Pingree, author of Maine Rx. The group is also affiliated with the AFL-CIO, Knight said.

“When people contribute to the senator’s campaign it’s because they agree with her positions,” not because she agrees with theirs, Knight said.

In fact, Collins has taken positions that have been “vehemently” opposed by pharmaceutical companies, Knight said. For instance, Collins supported a bill to speed availability of generic drugs that won bipartisan support, but was opposed by some drug companies.

Collins’ contributors from the pharmaceutical world include the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), Eli Lilly and Company Political Action Committee and employee action committees for Abbot Laboratories and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Pingree will sign the pledge and has refused pharmaceutical money, said spokeswoman Deborah Barron.

Barron noted Collins’ campaign has accepted a personal donation from Alan F. Holmer, president of PhRMA. If Collins is really seen as standing up against the pharmaceutical industry, why is the president of the organization fiercely fighting Maine Rx donating to her campaign, Barron asked.

The campaign of Steven Joyce, a Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Tom Allen in the 1st District, will not swear off contributions from the industry, said Chuck Mahaleris, campaign manager.

“All you’re saying [with the pledge] is we’re ostracizing this business,” Mahaleris said. Drug companies have developed many life-saving drugs, and pharmaceutical companies “have the right to conduct business just as anyone else does,” he said.

Rep. Allen, a Democrat seeking reelection, won’t sign the pledge because it doesn’t differentiate between brand name drug companies and generic companies, which are working to bring cheaper drugs onto the market.

But Allen does refuse all donations from brand name drug companies because the industry’s power in Washington is too great, he said.

“They are spending too much money on the political process right now,” he said. “It’s an overwhelming amount of money.”

The press secretary for Mike Michaud, Democratic candidate for the Second District House seat, said he had signed the pledge. Michaud was a Maine Rx sponsor and believes there should be a similar law nationally, said press secretary Monica Castellanos.

Kevin Raye, the Republican competing with Michaud for the Second District House seat, already refuses prescription drug money, said campaign manager Kathie Summers.

She explained that the decision has less to do with possible influence, and more with association. The industry is raising health care costs by its significant advertising. She noted that Raye recently pointed out that 28 pages of a Reader’s Digest magazine were devoted to pharmaceutical advertising at a time when a Medicare prescription drug benefit has yet to become a reality.

U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, Democratic candidate for governor, refuses money from pharmaceutical companies and tobacco companies, said spokeswoman Donna Gormley.

On Thursday, the campaign’s business office found a $500 donation from drug maker Eli Lilly given on June 11. It was accepted by mistake and has been returned, she said.

Gormley said that although Baldacci’s “vote can’t be bought,” he feels so strongly about prescription drug prices he decided to simply refuse to accept donations from those industries.

Peter Cianchette, Republican candidate for governor, has yet to decide on what donations he will or won’t refuse, said Campaign Manager Roy Lenardson.

The Council was a driving force behind the Maine Rx bill. Seniors packed hearings at the statehouse in the winter of 2000, and the bill won overwhelming support from both parties. At the time, many proponents and opponents said they expected a legal challenge from PhRMA.

PhRMA has been tirelessly fighting to prevent the bill from becoming a model for other states. In a conference call this week to describe briefs filed against the state in Supreme Court, a PhRMA lawyer said the law would be an unpleasant precedent for other states to emulate. PhRMA has six lawsuits underway against states and the federal government to stop prescription drug initiatives.