Councilmember Riemer’s strong financial ties to Pfizer found
Pushing legislation for vaccine mandate, while substantial household income attributable to Pfizer connection
Councilmember Riemer’s 2020 financial disclosures hint at a strong financial connection to Pfizer Inc through stock ownership and family employment--which he fails to mention while promoting vaccine-related legislation.
We demand Mr. Riemer disclose the full extent of his financial connection to the vaccine producer Pfizer.
- How much money comes into his household from Pfizer? His financial disclosure shows executive salary from and stock holdings in the company for 2020 but totals are not listed.
- How much are his stock holdings worth now in 2021 after another year of stock price growth?
- Has his household received any corporate bonuses from Pfizer for job performance?
Before Mr. Riemer holds forth on anything promoting the approved Pfizer vaccine, the public deserves to know the extent of his connection to the firm and any possible conflicts of interest that may arise. Is he striving to protect the public health or to appease the source of a majority of his household income?
We call the public attention to these questions because Riemer’s bad faith actions have real world consequences.
The union community is working expeditiously to verify the vaccination status of its membership working in county government. There are a substantial number of employees who are on FMLA caring for disabled family members, on bereavement leave because of death in the family, or out due to injuries or illness incurred while working for the county. Others have varied but legitimate reasons why they have not rushed to respond to emails asking to upload vaccine cards. Mr. Reimer emphasizes the need to care for one’s mental health, but now pushes legislation that could take a grave toll on the mental health of employees who struggled to maintain services through the height of the pandemic without a vaccine. Mr. Riemer counts them as a problem and his legislation would condemn them to firing and compromise our county’s public services to further his political and selfish interests.
A substantial majority of employees are vaccinated and the unions and the County are working tirelessly to close the remaining small vaccination gap. Together, we can complete this mission without draconian mandates that would surely result in a loss of services.
Mr. Riemer is a harm to the public health and should end his grandstanding and let competent people who truly care about Montgomery County residents do their jobs.
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