Magic at 2 AIDS Panel Meetings, Official Says

Carlton Lee, chief liaison officer for the National Commission on AIDS, confirmed Monday that Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin (Magic) Johnson attended two commission meetings during his eight-month tenure on the panel.

President Bush told a national television audience Sunday during the presidential debates that Johnson attended only one meeting. Bush said he “was a little disappointed” in Johnson. The basketball star, who is infected with the virus that causes AIDS, said Monday in Honolulu, where the Lakers are practicing, that he had attended two of four meetings scheduled while he was a commissioner.

Lee said that six meetings occurred during Johnson’s time on the commission and that Vince Bryson, of the Magic Johnson Foundation in Los Angeles, attended when the Laker star was unable to be there. Lee also noted that Johnson’s two appearances were twice as many as Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan made during his three years on the commission. Sullivan “stayed only for 30 minutes” during the one meeting he attended, Lee said.

Sullivan is a non-voting member of the panel but he heads the department that oversees all the nation’s federally funded AIDS efforts and formulates all federal AIDS policies.

Lee said that not all commissioners attend all meetings. Moreover, he added, “Magic Johnson made valuable contributions” and “was very interested and had a lot of good input into the commission’s work.”

Johnson resigned from the commission recently, criticizing the Administration for what he termed its failure to respond adequately to the AIDS epidemic.