Examining A Questionable Big Pharma Influence in Connecticut Law and Politics

Exploring the individuals, and individual entities, that are really behind the actions taken by government, whether local, state, federal, or global, is a constant theme here at TheGoodmanChronicle.com, and one such organization that will continue to come up, when researching events taking place in Connecticut, as well as across the country, is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

The RWJF is one of the largest private foundations in the country, with a stated goal to "improve the health and health care of all Americans."  Important to note, as we trace the RWJF's involvement in Connecticut legislative policy, is that the RWJF was established with a bequest of shares of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from its late chief executive, Robert Wood Johnson.  Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.  This connection is important because many legislative actions, and programs, supported, and funded, by the RWJF, would seemingly benefit the pharmaceutical industry.  Let us explore some of these programs, and legislation, supported by the RWJF, in the state of Connecticut.

In March 2014, I published an article titled Forced Mental Health Assessments Being Proposed For All Children In Connecticut, which discussed legislation that was being presented in the state legislature of Connecticut, which would have required "each pupil enrolled in public school at grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 and each home-schooled child at ages 12, 14 and 17 to have a confidential behavioral health assessment."  This legislation was lobbied for by the president of the board of directors for the CT Association of School
Based Health Centers, JoAnn Eaccarino.  The CT Association of School Based Health Centers receives funding and support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

There is also a program in operation in Connecticut, that has received millions of dollars from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called "Child First", which is an "evidence-based model that uses home visits and a network of community services to prevent the devastating effects of early childhood adversity."  The founder of Child First, Darcy Lowell, regularly submits testimony to the state legislature, usually in favor of legislation that would use the state to increase the number of children being examined for "mental health".

In a presentation to the state Commission on Children, Lowell discussed the Child First program, where she listed situations that her organization deems "environmental risks" to children.  The list includes obvious risks to children, such as physical abuse, and lack of food, but it also includes questionable risks such as "single parenthood", and "unemployment".  The DCF, or Department of Children and Families, is listed as the leading agency of the Child First program.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation connection to these type of programs should be scrutinized.  It is important to understand how these home-visitation programs and behavioral mental health assessments can be used to increase the number of children on pharmaceutical drugs, thus profiting big pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson.  Former veteran Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, in 2011, was speaking out against this push for mandatory health screenings, calling it "a persistent lobbying effort, funded by pharmaceutical companies, to increase the number of these (drug) prescriptions to even more children."  If you are thinking that you have nothing to worry about, because neither you, or your children, have a mental illness, keep in mind that the list of mental disorders is ever-growing, and includes illness' such as "Oppositional Defiant Disorder", which you can be labeled with for "disagreeing with someone in a position of authority".  Also, some studies, like the one put out by the Children’s Services Working Group, suggest that the number of people that have a mental illness, many of whom unknowingly, may be as high as 20%, in a state like Connecticut.

Forced Mental Health Assessments Being Proposed For All Children In Connecticut

In the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, CT, some legislators in the states capital have been working hard to implement a 'mental health' plan, under the guise of 'protecting the children', that would greatly benefit pharmaceutical companies.  The plan seems to be, to get you, and your child, onto addictive, and deadly, prescription medication, by mandatory health assessments, and forced medication.

Senator Toni Harp

Representative Toni Walker

The latest bills having to do with 'mental health' proposed in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook, are Senate Bill 169, AN ACT CONCERNING MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS FOR CHILDREN, and Senate Bill 374, AN ACT REQUIRING BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS FOR CHILDREN.  Both of these bills were introduced by Senator Toni Harp, and Representative Toni Walker, who are both Democrats representing the New Haven area.


Senate Bill 374 would require "each pupil enrolled in public school at grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 and each home-schooled child at ages 12, 14 and 17 to have a confidential behavioral health assessment.", while the other piece of legislation, Senate Bill 169, would "require that local and regional boards of education and health care providers assess every child for social, emotional, behavioral and mental health to ensure the delivery of necessary services and interventions."

The Home School Legal Defense Association, a non-profit advocacy group, recently sent out a call to action over this matter, requesting that citizens contact their representatives to urge them to strike the bill down.  Senator Toni Harp has since said she would drop the requirement for homeschooled children, but said she would consider adding private school to the legislation.

The state's Committee on Children held a vote concerning Senate Bill 169, and it passed with an 8-4 vote.  Representative Whit Betts was one of the four representatives to vote against it, calling the legislation "far reaching".  For a video of this hour-long committee hearing, which also discussed the labeling of genetically modified baby foods, click here.

Also, the state Public Health Committee held a public hearing, March 08, at Wesleyan University in Middletown, and the other piece of legislation, Senate Bill 374, requiring behavioral health assessments for children, was on the agenda to be reviewed, however I can not find a transcript, or recording, of this event.  The only information I can find regarding this hearing, is the submission list of the public testimonies concerning S.B. 374, and other bills discussed that day.  According to the Connecticut General Assembly website, there has yet to be a vote on S.B. 374.

One notable group that is lobbying for the passage of these two bills is the CT Association of School Based Health Centers.  The President of this organization, JoAnn Eaccarino, submitted testimony to the public health committee, in support of Senate Bill 374, and suggested even more strict standards, or as Eaccarino puts it, "some changes to enhance the spirit of the bill".  Among these changes are making sure behavioral assessments be done on children, much younger than suggested:

"Our suggestion would be to start these assessments with their first entry into school.  Educators have told us that they can identify a troubled child by 1st grade…so waiting until 6th grade may have missed some critical developmental milestones."

Also discussed in the testimony of Eaccarino are suggestions to allow the health care provider performing the assessment on the child, to share the results with more people, as well as having health centers based in the school, screening children.

What you need to know is that the CT Association of School Based Health Centers is connected to the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, Johnson & Johnson, which would greatly profit off legislation, like these two bills proposed in Connecticut, which would require more involvement of medical 'professionals', meaning more involvement of pharmaceutical drugs, in the lives of the American people.

The full connection goes like this; the Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers launched as part of a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).  According to the RWJF website, "the Foundation was established as a national philanthropy in 1972 with a generous bequest of shares of Johnson & Johnson (J&J)", and has total assets of $9 billion.

Dave Hitt, of DaveHitt.com, shared his experiences with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

"In reality they are a front group for the pharmaceutical industry..specifically for the giant Johnson & Johnson corporation.  If Johnson & Johnson were to get directly involved in the politics of health most people would be very suspicious of their motives and critical of their claims. So one of the founders did something very clever - he set up the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as an "independent" charity whose primary source of income is the dividends on six billion (yes, billion) dollars worth of Johnson & Johnson stock. What's good for J&J is good for RWJF...Political activism can theoretically cost a charity its non-profit status. Although this law is (sadly) seldom enforced, RJWF is careful not to violate it directly. Instead of pushing for laws themselves, they generously fund third party activist groups, then sit back and let their lackeys do all the work."

The third party activist group in the case discussed today is the CT Association of School Based Health Centers.

A universal health screening program has been the stated goal of pharmaceutical company lobbyists before the shooting in Newtown, CT.  Former veteran Congressman Ron Paul, in 2011, was speaking out against this push for mandatory health screenings, calling it 'a persistent lobbying effort, funded by pharmaceutical companies, to increase the number of these (drug) prescriptions to even more children."  The tragedy of Sandy Hook has enhanced these efforts.

If you are thinking that you have nothing to worry about, because neither you, or your children, have a mental illness, keep in mind that the list of mental disorders is ever-growing, and includes illness' like "Oppositional Defiant Disorder", which you can be labeled with for "disagreeing with someone in a position of authority".  Also, some studies, like one put out by the Children’s Services Working Group, suggest that the number of people that unknowingly have a mental illness may be as high as 20%, in a state like Connecticut.

It could be you, or your child, who is one day force medicated, after your mental health screening comes back to show that you have a 'mental illness', like 'oppositional defiant disorder'.

Related Stories:

• TV Doctors Are Paid To Push Drugs and Vaccines - January 16, 2013 (link)
• President Obama's 23 Executive Actions; Federal Spy Doctors, Forced Medication & Involuntary Commitment - January 21, 2013 (link)
• Legislators Pushing Forced Medication In Wake of CT School Shooting  - December 22, 2012 (link)
• Newtown, CT School Shooting: Medication, Tragedy, Truth, & Conspiracy - December 18, 2012 (link)

After Writing ObamaCare Legislation, Elizabeth Fowler Goes To Work For Largest Pharmaceutical Company In The World

Elizabeth Fowler

Big corporations have given Capitalism a bad name.  While the idea of looking for new ways to generate profit, and cut expenses, is noble to most small business owners, big business has been taking this goal of bigger profits to a different, immoral, and often illegal, level.  Governments are often used by big business to help pass rules and regulations that are favorable to one group, and harmful to others.  Instead of an actual free-market capitalist system, where everyone is on equal ground competing with each other, we have a system of pay-offs, lobbyists, and revolving doors, often referred to as crony-Capitalism.

The best modern-day case of crony-Capitalism is probably the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), or as it is commonly referred to as, ObamaCare, a bill that penalizes people who choose not to buy insurance from a private provider.  This act essentially creates millions of new customers for the insurance companies.  On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal government does not have the Constitutional right to mandate that people must buy health insurance from a private company. However, it does have the right to tax those that don't, according to the Supreme Court. Therefore, it upheld the Act.

The poster child for this immoral merger of big business and government would have to be the "architect" of ObamaCare, Elizabeth Fowler.  In 2001, Fowler was working as chief health policy counsel under Montana Sentator Max Baucus, until 2006, when she departed for a two-year stint at health insurance company WellPoint, only to return to the Senate in 2008, again working on health policy for Senator Baucus, where she would end up being a main player in the Senate health care negotiations that would eventually bring us Obamacare.  Senator Baucus had even singled out Fowler as the person who layed the "foundation" and the "blueprint" of what eventually became ObamaCare.

(Sidenote: WellPoint, Inc. is the largest managed health care, for-profit company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, a federation of 38 separate health insurance organizations and companies in the United States. Combined, they directly or indirectly provide health insurance to over 99 million Americans.)