banded in May 1993, the lawsuit movedrnforward. Believing they had evidencernthat Mr. Magaziner’s affidavit was false,rnMr. Brown and his clients prepared arnmotion for summary judgment in Marchrn1994. At that hearing, Judge Lamberthrngranted neither side’s motion but insteadrnset the case for trial in September 1994.rnMr. Brown demanded certain documentsrnhe hadn’t yet received, and statedrnplans to call both Mrs. Clinton and Mr.rnMagaziner to the witness stand.rnPerhaps this had an effect on thernWhite House, because by August the twornsides were discussing a settlement. Forrn13 days they worked on an agreement,rnand then Mr. Brown’s clients decidedrnthey would not settle. Consequently, hernwithdrew as attorney on the case. (Therndoctors’ group AAPS pursued —unsuccessfullyrn— a perjury charge against Mr.rnMagaziner. Then-U.S. Attorney forrnD.C. Eric Holder cleared him in 1995.)rnThe day he withdrew, Mr. Brown said,rnthe White House released to the NationalrnArchives millions of documents relatedrnto the task force — effectively makingrnthe case moot. In late September, SenaternMajorit}’ Leader Ceorge Mitchell ofrnMaine announced that Congress wouldrnabandon health care legislation for thernrest of the year—and the Clintons’ billrnwas dead.rnHealth care reform, however, remains anrnissue—partly due to the influence of certainrnnot-for-profit foundations. In researchingrnthe hundreds of individualsrnwho were members of Mrs. Clinton’srnworking groups, Mr. Brown discoveredrnsomething peculiar: most of these peoplernhad a strong tie to one of three foundations.rn”The vast bulk of them were closelyrntied either as program directors, officials,rngrantees or contractors to thernRobert Wood Johnson Foundation ofrnPrinceton, New Jersey, or to the PewrnCharitable Trust in Philadelphia, or thernHenry J. Kaiser Family Foundation ofrnCalifornia. The latter two were secondaryrnto Robert Wood Johnson,” hernsaid. This foundation was formed inrn1972 with $1 billion worth of Johnson &rnJohnson stock left by the company’s formerrnchairman and CEO. An independentrnRepublican who hated bureaucracyrnand advocated a higher minimum wage.rnGen. Johnson left a will creating whatrnwas from the start one of the largest foundationsrnin the country.rnThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundationrnpublicly supported the Clinton taskrnforce in a few ways, most notably byrnfunding a June 21, 1994, two-hourrnhealth care debate special on NBC,rnwhich featured Mrs. Clinton. (Thernfoundation spent $1.5 million on thernbroadcast time, and another million tornpromote and advertise the special.) Itsrnless-public support was uncovered byrnlawyer Genevieve Young, who found thernconnections between the individuals inrnthe working groups and the foundationrnby checking through annual reportsrnand other records. For example, listedrnamong the working group membersrnwere several congressional fellows, whornsat on the staff of senators Kennedy,rnBumpers, Bradley, and Rockefeller.rnOddly, however, Mr. Brown and hisrnteam couldn’t find these people on thernfederal payroll.rnMs. Young found them in foundationrnrecords instead. Going through thernRobert Wood Johnson files, she camernacross a brochure for the foundation’srnHealth Policy Fellowships. In this program,rnthe foundation (working through arnsponsoring university) pays for an individualrnto sit on the staff of a legislator orrnmember of the executive branch and assistrnin the development of policy. Forrnthat, Johnson pays a stipend of up torn$50,000 a year, plus moving expensesrnand fringe benefits. The program continuesrntoday.rn”Now began the search for all thesernother names, where they come from,rnwhere they have a relationship,” Mr.rnBrown said. “It was totally clear that ofrnthe hundreds in the working groups, halfrnwere private individuals, and that theyrnhad connections with [the Johnson]rnfoundation either as program directors,rnofficials, or by serving on boards of agenciesrnthat the foundation creates such asrnAlpha Center for Health Planning inrnWashington.rn”Others were contractors. We foundrnhuge numbers of people from grantee institutions,rnuniversities that have programsrnunderwritten by the foundation.rnJudith Fader, one of the I2-member taskrnforce [and who had headed Clinton’srnhealth care transition team], was a grantrninvestigator for the Robert Wood JohnsonrnFoundation and in fact was servingrnin that capacity at the time she was in thernWhite House. Even Hillary Clinton —rnwe found out she was a program directorrnfor a rural health initiative for the foundationrnin the 1980’s.”rnFor other clients Mr. Brown has studiedrnthe Johnson Foundation’s involvementrnin state health reform, both in Kentucky,rnwhich passed health care reformrnlegislation in 1994, and in Pennsylvania.rnMr. Brown was surprised that statesrnwould take grant money tied to majorrnpolicy changes. “Health reform in Kentuckyrngot a $399,000 grant from RobertrnWood Johnson. That paid $40,000 forrnone health policy board member’s salary.rnIt paid $40,000 to the salary of the executiverndirector. It paid the salaries or portionsrnof salaries of six policy analysts onrnthe health board, and there was $50,000rnleft over to pay contiactors. The foundationrnreserved to itself the right to determinernemployment of everyone on thernhealth policy board. They were selectedrnafter their resumes were run by the foundationrnfor its approval. These are staternemployees. Doesn’t that bother somebody?”rnMr. Brown was hired by the State Legislaturernin Pennsylvania because, he says,rn”their Medicaid budget was going out ofrncontiol. We found there what the foundationrntried to do is go through the publicrnschools to get school clinics, turnrnthem into health resource centers, andrnthen try to get all the children in thernschools to have their services renderedrnand paid for by Medicaid—whether theyrnwere eligible for Medicaid or not. GovernorrnRobert P. Casey, we found, hadrnwritten to every school district superintendentrnsaying ‘Look, if you go alongrnwith this we can get you $4,000 per childrnper year in reimbursement,’ and thesernpeople are biting on this thinking it’srnmoney for them — not counting the factrnthat it’s money out of the state tieasury asrnwell.”rnThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundationrnhas the influence it does because itrnis (in its own words) “one of the world’srnlargest private philanthropies,” with assetsrnof $5.6 billion. In 1996, the foundationrnspent $267 million in grants andrncontracts, and it expects to be givingrnaway $360 to $400 million annually byrn2000. Those of us who assume our statesrnoperate on tax money alone should noternthat Robert Wood Johnson made aroundrn35 grants to various state and local governmentsrnin 1996.rn”This case is remarkable in what itrnshowed me is happening in this country,”rnMr. Brown said. “I used to think,rnwhere does the government come uprnwith these crazy ideas—statutes or regs orrnwhatever? And 1 know now. It’s somethingrnthat’s well-financed, plenty of peo-rnAPRIL 1998/47rnrnrn