Key health care senators have industry ties

Members with connections include Rockefeller, Harkin, Dodd, Coburn, Gregg

	In this Feb. 2, 2009 file photo, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, talk with reporters during a news conference at Dodd's office in Hartford, Conn.

updated 3:35 p.m. CT, Fri., June 12, 2009

WASHINGTON - Influential senators working to overhaul the nation's health care system have investments and family ties with some of the biggest names in the industry. The wife of Sen. Chris Dodd, the lawmaker in charge of writing the Senate's bill, sits on the boards of four health care companies.

Members of both parties have industry connections, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, in addition to Dodd, and Republicans Tom Coburn, Judd Gregg, John Kyl and Orrin Hatch, financial reports showed Friday. .

Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of the Connecticut Democrat, is on the boards of Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cardiome Pharma Corp., Brookdale Senior Living and Pear Tree Pharmaceuticals.

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