Johnny? Be good.

Meet Dr. Jonathan Gruber.

Dr. Gruber is a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research fellow with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

As a prominent economist, he's been an outspoken proponent of universal health care and authored numerous opinion pieces in favor of it. He acted as a consultant to the Clinton, Edwards and Obama Presidential campaigns in 2008. The Washington Post referred to him as “possibly the [Democratic] party's most influential health-care expert.”

More recently, he's contracted to the Department of Health and Human services under the Obama administration for $297,600 to provide "technical assistance" in evaluating health care reform proposals which has creating the impression of a conflict

Gruber authored numerous opinion pieces in favor of a public option during his time with HHS, yet strongly denies accusations that he is a hired gun:

"NONE of the work I have done in public, or any public declarations I (have) made, has been in any way funded by the administration. That funding was strictly for internal work that I did for the administration and, via the administration, for Congress. All externally visible work and comments, such as my editorials or public reports, have been done on my own time."

The position of the Obama administration has been that they do not have a position. Dr. Gruber is an award winning economist whose credibility they believe to be above academic reproach.

Which is where we part ways on the matter. He is an award winning economist. But he didn't win his awards for doing the heavy lifting, examining the state of the economy, and drawing new and logical conclusions based on empirical observation. He's won awards by beginning with the political left's conclusions already in mind, and cherry picking data points to support them. In short he's won awards for serving the party's good intentions.

Kind of like Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

If you have any questions for Dr. Gruber either on his involvement with Health and Human Services, his research methodology, or even just to say "thanks"...you can contact his office at MIT at 617-253-8892 or email him directly.