Mona Charen is upset that those mean liberals are attacking her friend:

A recent inductee into the falsely accused Hall of Fame is my friend Daniel Troy, currently serving as general counsel at the Food and Drug Administration.

Troy has been attacked in U.S. News and World Report, the Denver Post and the Boston Globe. He is being described as “too close to those he regulates” because he played a minor role in a case involving Pfizer Pharmaceuticals when he was in private practice.

Minor player, major income:

…according to Troy’s financial disclosure form, Pfizer had paid Troy’s firm nearly $360,000 for services “provided directly by” Troy in less than six months.

And just what did US News & World Report?:

For a decade, a Washington lawyer named Daniel Troy tried to restrict the regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration. He won his share of legal battles, taking the side of the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries against the federal agency. But Troy is no longer on the outside throwing stones. […]

Since taking over as the FDA’s chief counsel in August 2001, Troy, 43, has held dozens of private meetings with drug manufacturers and others regulated by the FDA. He kept no notes or minutes of those meetings. A U.S. News inquiry shows he has also favored less rigorous enforcement of regulations for some products and has been lenient about scrutinizing advertising claims by companies. […]

Troy’s doorway has been crowded by an industry legendary for its lobbying clout. A report from the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen shows drug companies employed 625 lobbyists in 2000–more than one for every member of Congress. Between September 2001 and November 2002, Troy operated as the de facto head of the FDA, sources in the drug industry say; it was not until November 14 that Mark McClellan, a medical doctor and health care economist, was sworn in as FDA commissioner. During that period, documents show, Troy held at least 50 meetings with representatives from the industries FDA regulates. U.S. News sought records of those meetings with industry under the Freedom of Information Act but was informed by Troy’s office that there are “no minutes, no memos, no nothing.” Troy declined to say why he did not keep notes of those meetings. […]

The FDA’s central focus, however, remains the regulation of pharmaceuticals. During Troy’s tenure, the FDA has seen a falloff in enforcement actions against drug companies for questionable advertising claims. […]

He represented the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in its effort to fend off the FDA in the 1990s.

Sounds like Troy is just the guy one would want at the FDA. And where was he before? The American Enterprise Institute. It’s beautiful.