"The fact is we heard that all the time," says Peter Hutt, a Washington lawyer who worked for SmithKline on the matter.
"It's personal involvement." Joel Hutt, a middle-manager in the marketing department of the company's plastics group, is credited with starting the idea.
Adds Peter Barton Hutt, the FDA's former chief counsel, who helped refine the rules: "It shows the best of the regulatory process.
Mr. Hutt proposed that a get-acquainted meeting between managers in his group and those in a newly acquired subsidiary be given a purpose, in this case renovation of a tired San Diego YMCA.