In this weekend’s Union Leader, Patrick Hynes highlighted Opioid Lobbyist Cinde Warmington’s record advocating for PainCare, a notorious pill mill that became synonymous with the opioid crisis in New Hampshire and later bankrolled Warmington’s political campaigns:
Patrick Hynes: Warmington must answer for PainCare advocacy
Cinde Warmington is sprinting as fast as she can, but her past keeps catching up with her.
By now, when most people think of Warmington, the first phrase that comes to mind is “opioid lobbyist.” That’s because she has been under relentless—and deserved—scrutiny for her past work as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the notoriously addictive pain drug OxyContin.
Given our state’s recent history, Warmington’s candidacy for governor of New Hampshire against the popular and accomplished incumbent Gov. Kelly Ayotte is absurdly tone-deaf, so much so that even many Democrats admit they would have preferred a different candidate with a less toxic resume.
While New Hampshire has thankfully made huge strides in combating the opioid epidemic, it took an immense toll on our state. We had some of the highest per capita rates of opioid overdose deaths in the entire country around 2016 and 2017. Much of this devastation can be traced back to the explosion of opioid prescriptions that got unsuspecting patients hooked on highly addictive pain medications like OxyContin. Over time, many of those same patients would transition to cheaper and more potent opioids like heroin and fentanyl. In a state as tight-knit as ours, most longtime residents know someone who fell victim in one way or another.
As Warmington tries to frame herself as a victim in her own right, claiming she was duped into advocating for Purdue Pharma, more of the long-forgotten past keeps coming to light. Reporting from WMUR’s Adam Sexton recently reminded us that, nearly 25 years ago, Warmington’s work pitted her against then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who accused Purdue Pharma of trying to sabotage the state’s Medicaid program.
Purdue isn’t the only past client Warmington wishes we’d forget about, though.
She also represented PainCare LLC as a lawyer. PainCare ran a chain of clinics across New Hampshire that became some of the most prolific prescribers of opioid painkillers in the state. PainCare made headlines in the 2010s when a provider was convicted of taking tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for writing hundreds of opioid prescriptions.
Dr. Michael O’Connell, the owner of PainCare, ended up surrendering his medical license over alleged improper sexual relationships with patients, after a disciplinary proceeding that Warmington helped broker.
Warmington’s lobbying for Purdue Pharma took place in 2002, and some are willing to accept that she really believed OxyContin was a “miracle drug” with “few side effects.” But Warmington’s work for PainCare took place in the mid-2010s. In 2015, she even sought to meet with NHPR to defend PainCare’s image amid an effort to defeat legislation banning providers who had lost their medical licenses (like O’Connell) from owning medical practices in New Hampshire. Warmington went on to accept tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from O’Connell and his associates.
Was she still getting duped after all those years?
The choice for Granite Staters in November is clear. One candidate, Gov. Kelly Ayotte, has a record she’s running on. The other, Cinde Warmington, has a record she’s running away from.
I know which of them is getting my vote.
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