Rep. Thomas denies conflict of interest with pharmaceutical industry lobbyist

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two days before the politically charged Republican prescription drug plan is to be considered on the House floor, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-California., the bill's author, denied Monday he was improperly influenced after a newspaper reported he had an "intensely personal" relationship with one of the bill's key lobbyists.

Rep. Bill Thomas

"I have never let anyone substitute their judgment on public policy for mine," Thomas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health, wrote in response to reports in The Bakersfield Californian about his relationship with a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry.

"Any personal failures of commitment or responsibility to my wife, family or friends are just that, personal," the 11-term representative wrote in an "open letter to friends and neighbors."

In separate letters released Monday, Thomas's wife, Sharon Thomas, and chief of staff, Cathy Abernathy, denied aspects of the paper's reporting.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-California, the ranking Democrat on the Health subcommittee, said he thought an ethics complaint might be filed against Thomas because the alleged relationship could be seen as a conflict of interest.

"If the story is correct, it probably did affect the bill and its outcome," Stark told reporters. "I think the definition of what would be ethical in that case would vary between what the Democrats might accept and what might be acceptable to the pharmaceutical lobby or to Mr. Thomas."