Laura and John Arnold Foundation
The Laura and John Arnold Foundation is a philanthropic organization that seeks to “address our nation’s most pressing and persistent challenges.”[1] It was founded by former Enron trader and hedge fund manager John Arnold. It has been strongly criticized for its aggressive, behind-the-scenes funding of efforts to dismantle public pensions and limit patients’ access to prescription drugs.
John Arnold's financial background and career at Enron
John Arnold was a top trader at Enron, which collapsed in 2001, and received an $8 million bonus after the company filed for bankruptcy. [1]. Following his Enron tenure, he ran the hedge fund Centaurus Energy in Houston and became the second youngest self-made billionaire[2], and is still worth a reported $2.6 billion in 2015 in the country.
Public policy activism
As of August 2014, the Arnold Foundation had four areas of focus: criminal justice, K-12 education, public accountability, and research integrity.
According to the AFL-CIO funded website www.truthaboutjohnarnold.com[3], “Today, Arnold is leveraging his fortune to bend public policy to his will. According to his own disclosures, he has spent up to $50 million on a nationwide campaign to gut public pension benefits. He has financed every facet of anti-pension movement, including tainted research, political advocacy organizations, ballot initiatives, journalism, and the campaign coffers of anti-pension politicians.”
One investigative report on the Huffington Post stated that “Some detractors go further and assert that the Arnold Foundation is using Pew’s[[4]] sterling reputation for academic integrity as a fig leaf to hide its own free-market agenda.” [2]
In 2015, the Arnold Foundation entered the area of pharmaceutical drug pricing as well. A $5.2 million grant[3] was sent from the Arnold Foundation to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)[[5]], a self-declared “trusted non-profit,” which has been widely criticized for enabling insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers to restrict patients’ access to medications. Since receiving the grant, ICER has more than doubled its staff.[4]
According to Jordan Marks, executive director of the AFL-CIO[[6]] backed National Public Pension Coalition, non-profits that took money from the Arnold Foundation have “rented their credibility to a right-wing ideologue…” [5] The Foundation tactically exploits public policy areas with “big opportunities for any funder that does move aggressively into this niche.”[6]
Dr. Peter Bach
In February 2016, the Arnold Foundation announced a $4.7 million grant to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center support a three-year initiative, led by industry consultant Dr. Peter Bach[[7]], to "research, pilot, and evaluate alternative value-based payment structures for specialty drugs that link a drug’s price to evidence of how well it works and for which patients."[7] The project has been criticized as a means to "enrich PBMs and insurers"[8] at the cost of worsened health outcomes for patients.
- ↑ "[8]," Laid off Enron workers file lawsuit over bonuses to executives, July 24, 2003.
- ↑ [9], Huffington Post, accessed May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Rising U.S. Drug Prices Are Focus of Research Grant, Wall Street Journal, accessed April 20, 2016.
- ↑ The Boston Globe, accessed April 20, 2016.
- ↑ Wall Street Journal, Nonprofits Caught in Pension Crossfire Between Foundation, Unions, accessed April 20, 2016.
- ↑ Niche Control: How This Funder Dominates the Pension Reform Debate, InsidePhilanthropy.com, accessed April 20, 2016.
- ↑ The Laura and John Arnold Foundation, accessed May 24, 2016.
- ↑ http://drugwonks.com/blog/jimmy-carter-s-cancer-cure-demeaned-by-bach-cancer-abacus Robert Goldberg, Drugwonks.com], accessed May 24, 2016.
