Political cartoonists have long characterized Washington politicians as puppets of special interests, but the recent revelation about the influence of lobbyists for Genentech during the health care debate demonstrates the joke can be all too real. Genentech is a subsidiary of the Swiss drug company Roche. According to a story by The New York Times, Genentech claimed that 42 members of the House of Representatives made speeches using talking points provided by their lobbyists. Genentech sent one version of the remarks to Democrats and another to Republicans. Their quest for bipartisanship was successful, with 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats relying on speech material from advocates for the biotech giant. The lobbyists’ remarks were not only uttered on the House floor, but more than a dozen of them also had them inserted in the Congressional Record.