But this may be Iowa's last such payday.
A settlement with CVS and Walgreens is set to bring over $70 million into Iowa's coffers to fight the opioid crisis which the pharmacy chains helped to cause, outgoing IA Attorney General Tom Miller (D) announced last Monday. The settlement results from accusations leveled by attorneys general from multiple states that the pharmacy chains ignored warning signs about opioid prescriptions and failed to prevent abuse of the drugs. Iowa was also part of a national settlement with Walmart worth $3.1 billion which was announced in November, after states accused the company of similar oversight failures.
"My colleagues and I have worked on a bipartisan basis to hold accountable the companies that created and fueled this crisis," Miller said in a news release. "Securing more than $10 billion from CVS and Walgreens nationwide means our states can provide more resources for the treatment and prevention of Opioid Use Disorder to those most in need."
According to Miller, who lost his bid for re-election in the 2022 midterms, Iowa plans to join the agreement, which must be completed by the end of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the agreements will be offered to local governments for approval. The pharmacy companies' agreements have different timelines for disbursement: funds from Walmart will be paid in the first year, CVS's payments will be made over a period of 10 years, and Walgreens' over a period of 15 years. These longer payment schedules are intended to provide sustained funding for opioid treatment, recovery, and prevention programs.
The states which join the agreement will be required to spend a significant portion of the funds from these recent settlements (as well as those from previous settlements with drug makers) on programs and services that help people with opioid use disorder. Going into 2023 Iowa is flush with greater than $19 million available for the state legislature to use on opioid recovery services.
These services may include methadone clinics and other "medication-assisted treatment" programs, such as provisioning a supply of Naloxone – a drug that can save lives at the last minute by reversing opioid overdoses – to schools, first responders, and community groups.
Iowans dealing with opioid dependence can find treatment providers in the state at the website opioidhelp.iowa.gov for themselves, or a loved one.
A long history of winning big fights for Iowans
Miller holds the record for the longest serving Attorney General in United States history. In his time in office Miller became known as a master of the multi-state lawsuit model. Long before holding pharmacy chains responsible for their part in causing the opioid crisis, Miller was well known for holding many other major corporate actors responsible for misdeeds that harmed the public.
In a 2019 interview with Bloomberg Law, Miller explained that “doing things together on a multistate basis has enormous power." Working with other Attorneys General made sense, Miller said, because, "we are the only ones in the country that have the same job and the same concerns and pressures.”
Over the years Miller has taken on a who's who list of powerful corporations and industries who harmed Iowa consumers, including Big Tobacco companies like Phillip Morris, Big Pharma companies like OxyContin maker Perdue Pharmaceuticals, automobile manufacturer General Motors, for profit colleges, shady mortgage companies, and Big Tech powerhouses including Microsoft and Alphabet (parent company of Google). Over the years, Miller's suits have brought billions of dollars in relief to Iowa Consumers.
Miller also established the first farm division of an Attorney General's office in United States history. The office resisted corporate consolidation in agriculture, protecting family farmers. Miller's attention to protecting farmers “will be very hard to replace,” Aaron Heley Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, told Bloomberg Law.
Because of Miller's record of success in multistate suits and his long tenure in office, Iowa's Office of the Attorney General exerted greater influence under Miller than that of other states, said former Maine Attorney General James Tierney (D), now a Harvard Law School lecturer. "He became a very significant national legal figure,” Tierney explained, and under his leadership “Iowa punched way, way over its weight.” Tierney also put his money where his mouth was, donating to Miller's campaign.
A sharp contrast to A.G. elect Bird
While Miller will leave office with a legacy of standing up to the rich and powerful, Iowa's Attorney General elect, Brenna Bird (R), comes into office riding on their coat-tails.
Bird has been the Guthrie County attorney since 2018, and prior to that served as counsel to former Gov. Terry Branstad (R). Branstad was later appointed U.S. Ambassador to China by then President Trump (R). Brandstad has since started a China focused consulting group, the Branstad Churchill Group, with his former Chief of Staff, former state legislator Steve Churchill (R).
Branstad is currently a consultant to Bruce Rastetter, an Iowa multimillionaire who is a principal of Summit Carbon Solutions, a company which is seeking to build a carbon pipeline across Iowa. Although the company has sought easements from landowners willing to accept their terms and a payout, Summit has also pursued forcing landowners to surrender control of their land by use of Eminent Domain. Rastetter is a major donor to Iowa Republican politicians, who Politico called "the real Iowa kingmaker".
And, despite the many scandals connected to former President Donald Trump – including the extremely serious investigations into Mr. Trump, his administration, and his business empire – Bird accepted and campaigned on Trump's endorsement. Trump is currently under investigation for corruption and criminality both in and out of office.
The most serious investigations into Trump himself include an espionage probe related to classified documents found at the former President's home, and sedition investigations resulting from Trump's actions before and during the January 6th, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol as Congress worked to certify the election results.
Several figures involved in the planning and in carrying out the coup attempt that would have kept Trump in power despite losing the Presidential election have already been convicted of sedition. And while the espionage probe revolving around the Mar-a-lago documents is ongoing, a previous investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller (R) into collusion by Trump's campaign with Russia during his initial run for the Presidency concluded that were he not President of the United States at the time, he would have faced charges.
Miller's record shows he prioritized protecting Iowans from powerful interests, and holding those interests accountable. Bird, however, has declared her priority will be in bringing legislation to harass the Biden administration. It remains to be seen if Bird will continue participating in the kinds of multi-state litigation that have brought billions of dollars in damages into Iowa's economy, even as they offered recompense and resources to the victims of Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and Big Tech among others.
Gwendolyn Cooley, Wisconsin's Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, expressed her hope Bird would not change course where prosecuting abusers of Iowans was concerned. “I think that from an antitrust perspective, you should still expect to see coordination with other states on issues important to Iowa, as well as local investigations of antitrust being handled capably by their office,” Cooley said, noting that her office had worked closely with Miller's over the years.
But Bird's record – and that of her political allies – suggests Bird may change course to use the Attorney General's office to protect big business. Prior to Bird's election many of her political allies in the Iowa Republican Party criticized Miller's antitrust work in recent years, culminating in a truce between Miller and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) who vetoed an attempt by Republican legislators to limit the powers of the state Attorney General's office only after Miller promised to ask her permission before joining any further multistate suits.
If Bird does change the course of the Iowa A.G.'s office, the Walgreens and CVS settlement could be Iowa's last big payout due to corporate abuses of Iowans.
