It should come as no surprise that U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-Bridgeport, attempted to take the spotlight off of fellow Republican and Bush family friend, Roger Clemens during the House committee hearings on the use of steroids and human growth hormone in baseball last week. But it was Shays' blasting of Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, calling him a "drug dealer" and a "pusher" and categorizing the inquisition as a "Roman Circus" that raised some eyebrows and engendered the wrath of WFAN's Mike and the Mad Dog. Lost in the finger-wagging histrionics is the simple fact that Shays' hands are by no means clean when it comes to the issue of "drug pushing."

In his campaigns for congress since 1989, Shays has had injected into his coffers a total $122,450 in either addictive, carcinogenic, mood-altering or performance-enhancing drug money from pharmaceutical and tobacco companies.

According to www.opensecrets.com, a website that compiles campaign contribution information from the Center of Responsive Politics, included in the list of Shays' top campaign contributors over the past 18 years are Stamford-based Purdue Pharma L.P., which has donated $52,250; UST Inc., also known as U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, which donated $42,300; and Pfizer Inc., which donated $27,900 to his campaigns over the past 19 years.

Some of Purdue's most well-known drugs are MS Contin and OxyIR C-II, both of which are morphine-related pain relievers, and the infamous OxyContin, a narcotic pain reliever that has become one of the most abused pain killers on the market, and is a preferred pharmaceutical among young drug abusers.

And while Shays takes issue with performance-enhancing drugs on the ball field, he apparently has no qualms with its use in the bedroom. Not only is Pfizer the maker of Zanax and the anti-depressant Zoloft, (a drug that has been prescribed to many thousands of Americans even as a number of studies have made claims about its possible contribution to suicides) but it is also the creator of the impotency miracle drug Viagra (which itself was pushed onto the public several years ago in ads featuring former senator Bob Dole). In some studies, Viagra has been linked to hundreds, if not thousands of fatal heart attacks in young men with no other apparent cardiac illness.

But the most damning contributions to Shays' multiple re-elections over the years are from the smokeless-tobacco "pushers" at U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. According to its website, www.ustinc.com, UST Inc., is the producer and marketer of two popular and carcinogenic snuff brands: Copenhagen and Skoal. Those products and other chewing-tobacco products have been associated with Major League Baseball for generations, luring countless teenagers in thrall with the Great American Pastime to emulate their favorite players by also indulging in the tobacco products. And while chewing is not banned from the Major Leagues, it is banned in the minor leagues.

Rick Bender, a former ballplayer with the California Angels association, lost a third of his tongue and half his jaw as a result of chewing tobacco. Bender, who has become the poster-child for the anti-chew, anti-dip movement, speaks to students and ballplayers across the country about the dangers of the drug. (A video of one of Bender's presentations can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=gBov9AH4EFg.)

According to the American Dental Association, products like Skoal contribute to much greater incidences of oral cancer in people who use the product. The ADA lists oral cancer as the fourth most common cancer, with roughly 30,000 people diagnosed per year.

Also, the National Spit Tobacco Education Program states that the nicotine content in a can of dip or snuff is approximately 144 milligrams, which is equal to about 80 cigarettes, or four packs.

And Major League Baseball, over the past few years, due to public perception and its well-known health risks, has attempted to have its players curb their chew or snuff habits and turn to, say, bubble gum or sunflower seeds instead.

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When asked to comment on the "drug pushers" who have been donating to his campaign throughout the years, Dave Natonski, Shays' press secretary, said in an email "Christopher has voted to increase the cigarette tax, supports bringing tobacco companies under FDA regulation and in 2007 voted in favor of stronger FDA oversight of prescription drugs already on the market, and he believes anyone who takes or deals in controlled substances in the manner in which they are not intended is breaking the law."

With regard to the actual companies donating to Shays' campaign, Natonski said he could not comment because, "With regard to the donations, like I said over the weekend, we don't keep any campaign records in our congressional office."

Shays has bent over backwards to keep UST in good standing. In 2005, even as he was co-sponsoring the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, Shays was doing PR work on behalf of his friends in the tobacco lobby. "This legislation would, for the first time, bring tobacco under the control of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)," Shays reported on his website, going on to drop this bit of pro-smokeless public relations into the spittoon:

"I understand the concerns of companies such as U.S. Tobacco, however, which believe the legislation will prevent them from offering smokeless tobacco products as an option for lowering a tobacco user's health risk. U.S. Tobacco, for example, believes that it should be able to offer tobacco as a third option for tobacco users who can't quit smoking but want to improve their health. The company points to the example of Sweden, a country that has seen higher rates of smokeless tobacco use with no corresponding increase in the rate of oral cancers."

In his 2006 re-election campaign, according to opensecrets.com, UST donated $12,600 to Shays.

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Shays' grandstanding comments directed at the Clemens trainer McNamee not only demonstrated his own hypocrisy on the issue of "drug pushing" and its impact on Major League Baseball, but also gave his opponent in the upcoming election, Democrat Jim Himes, support from an unlikely quarter. When Shays addressed the panel he said he was upset that the focus was on Clemens and not the 88 other players listed in George Mitchell's list of baseball players who could have used performance-enhancing drugs. The Connecticut Post quoted Shays as saying in the committee hearing: "So now we have a player here, one player. There were 89 players. One player is here. And he's here because everyone in this audience knows he is the icon in baseball... He's what brings all these cameras and all those people out there—in my judgment, we're lining up like you're going to a Roman circus, seeing the gladiators fight it out. And so my view of this hearing is this isn't where it's at."

Shays failed to acknowledge that the main reason the Texas Republican Clemens, with whom Shays had a private meeting the previous week, was even testifying before congress was because Clemens has been claiming he has never taken steroids or human growth hormone, despite a raft of evidence that says otherwise. Clemens was reduced to claiming, for example, that his Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte, who has acknowledged his use of human growth hormone, "misremembered" a conversation he had with Clemens over Clemens' own use of the hormone.

Shays' defense of Clemens angered WFAN radio's "Mike and the Mad Dog" and the duo lambasted the congressman on the air. During a program that followed Shays' finger-pointing escapade, the radio show's hosts, Chris Russo and Mike Francesa, threw their support behind Jim Himes.

Russo and Francesa went as far as to promote Himes' website, www.himesforcongress.com, read his bio on the air and urged their listeners living within the 4th Congressional District to vote for Himes in November. Russo, a New Canaan resident and a Republican, said on the air: "Here's the thing about Shays. I'm gonna go out of my way in November. We're gonna get him the hell out of Connecticut. We're gonna get Himes in there."

It was a home run for Himes, who said after the radio show aired that he was bombarded with new supporters, "our phones were ringing off the hook and our email boxes have been full. It has been a great boost to us," he said. "We are going to win this one vote at a time and since Chris Russo is in my district, I am glad to have him in my column," Himes said.

Himes, who said while he "would never condone cheating," said he found it odd that while Shays was "hurling invectives over a game" when he should really be concentrating on "a threat to the republic, and this is not a threat."

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It's a little ironic that during the same week that Shays vocalized his distaste over the steroid hearing even as he grandstanded his way through it, he also unveiled a proposal for a "universal healthcare" program alongside U.S. Rep. James Langevin, D-RI.

According to information supplied by Shays' office, the American Health Benefits Program Act would allow participants to choose from a very basic package to "more inclusive plans" such as a fee-for-service plan, local HMOs and high-deductible plans. It's a good plan: The proposal would be open to every American and legal immigrant; the government would be responsible for 72 percent of the total premium while those enrolled would be responsible for 28.

The act not only mirrors the benefit plan currently offered to those working within the federal government, but, according to documents supplied by the Himes campaign, it mirrors two bills Langevin attempted to bring before congress in 2004 and 2005, when Shays' party was in the majority. At neither time did Shays offer his support to the bills. Why the big turnaround now?

Commenting on Shays' bill, Natonski wrote in an email to the Weekly, "With regard to his support of AHBP, Mr. Langevin knew Christopher was interested in health care reform and approached him as he was drafting the bill six months ago. They both believe universal health care will not become a reality until there is a strong, bipartisan proposal on the table, which is what AHBP is."

An email from the Himes camp pointed out that "Shays refused to support the same bill when his party was in the majority and he could have moved it forward" and claims that "Shays only supports this now in a tough re-election year when Democrats are in the majority and he needs to shore up his record against a Democratic challenger running for health care reform."

It should be noted that Himes' campaign has not taken any money from Big Pharma or the tobacco lobby. That's a fact Congressman Shays may want to stick between his cheek and gum as this election season unfolds.