The Plot Against David Axelrod

Over at Human Events, Rowan Scarborough attempts to advance the story, first floated by House Republicans, of David Axelrod’s long-disclosed financial gains from the sale of his political firms, AKP&D Message and Media and Ask Public Strategies.

AKP, which shares Chicago office space with Ask, is now getting contracts from major groups assembled to push Obama’s massive health care agenda. They include Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care. Their million-dollar media blitz is financed in part my the giant pharmaceutical industry which has a big stake in how the White House — and Axelrod — craft a final health care bill.

Scarborough argues that Axelrod “benefits from any business they receive as do other people on the payroll,” which is only true insofar as Axelrod might lose his installments if the firms went belly-up. The pay-out of $1 million from Ask and $2 million from AKP is locked in; it doesn’t go up or down depending on what passes in Congress. It’s enough to get an attack going, though.