As a follow up to the Vaccinations for Votes drive that the City of Houston was putting on, I looked into where the program is coming from politically and not suprisingly it is funded and sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. This foundation was founded in 1972 by Robert Wood Johnson Jr., former President and Chairman of the Board of Johnson & Johnson and heir to the Johnson fortunes. This program is in place in 20 other cities across the nation so this is not just a local thing. Like ACORN’s actions, they are active all over the country. Here is what Discoverthenetwork.org has to say about this foundation:

www.DiscoverTheNetwork.org Date: 11/2/2006 1:13:33 PM

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

Route One & College Road East
P.O. Box 2316
Princeton, NJ
08543
Phone :609-452-8701
Email :mail@rwjf.org
URL :http://www.rwjf.org/

* Assets: $8,991,086,132 (2004)
* Grants Received: $3,769,926 (2004)
* Grants Awarded: $359,500,275 (2004)

Established in 1972, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is America’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. Its founder, Robert Wood Johnson, Jr., spent thirty-one years as President and Chairman of the Board for Johnson & Johnson, during which time he grew that company into the world’s largest health and medical products manufacturer. Robert E. Campbell, who is the retired Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson, now chairs RWJF.

RWJF’s grant-making is divided into the following interest areas:

Addiction Prevention & Treatment: “… increasing the number of treatment settings employing approaches that have been proven to work.”

Building Human Capital: “… attracting, developing and retaining high-quality leadership and workforce to improve health and health care.”

Childhood Obesity: “… halting the increase in prevalence of overweight among children.”

Disparities: Viewing the United States as a racist nation that does not sufficiently value the well-being of minorities, the Foundation identifies “racial and ethnic disparities” in health care as one of its chief concerns.

Health Insurance Coverage: Advocating the implementation of a taxpayer-funded, government-run health-care system, this program supports “efforts to achieve stable and affordable health care coverage for all Americans.”

Nursing: “… reducing the shortage in nursing staff and improving the quality of nursing-related care by transforming the way care is delivered at the bedside.”

Pioneer: “… promoting fundamental breakthroughs in health and health care through innovative projects.”

Public Health: “… improving the strategic use of information and accountability measures by leaders to enhance performance and raise the visibility and impact of public health.”

Tobacco Use & Exposure: “… recruiting new funding partners to sustain the state and national tobacco policy change infrastructure and maintain policy gains and momentum through targeted grantmaking.”

Vulnerable Populations: Founded on the premise that various segments of the U.S. population are denied access to proper health care, this program supports “promising new ideas that address health and health care problems that intersect with social factors—housing, poverty and inadequate education—and affect society’s most vulnerable people, including low-income children and their families, frail older adults, adults with disabilities, the homeless, those with HIV/AIDS, and those with severe mental illness.”

Among RWJF’s grantees are the following: the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; Greenpeace International; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the Childrens Defense Fund; the Center for Science in the Public Interest; the Consumers Union; the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; the Western Organization of Resource Councils; Multifaith Works; Senior Action in a Gay Environment; the Interfaith CarePartners; the Chinese Progressive Association; the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network; the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education; the Aspen Institute; Friends Lend Others Wings; Sociedad Latina; the Rockefeller Family Fund; Rails to Trails Conservancy; Women Aware; the Cascade AIDS Project; the Institute for Advocacy; the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; Campesinos Sin Fronteras; Migrant Health Promotion; the OASIS Institute; Physicians for Human Rights; La Clinica de la Raza; El Barrio; the Singer Institute; the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse; Rachel’s House; the Brookings Institution; Columbia University; Cornell University; the Urban Institute; Public Citizen; the Council on Foundations; Duke University; the Presbyterian Church; the United Methodist Church; Harvard University; National Public Radio; UCLA; UC Berkeley; and Yale University.

The Tides Foundation/Tides Center, Urban Institute, Public Citizen are all funded in part by George Soros. The grant specifically requires a link to the polling places or the money is withdrawn. Now tell me again how this is not political.