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STEM CELL BATTLES
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In politics, enemies come at you sideways.
Remember the lawsuits which tried to shut down Proposition 71, the California Stem Cells for Research and Cures Act? The ideological opponents who sued to kill the stem cell program did so on legal grounds that never mentioned their real objectives. Study the trial transcripts; it is all about “single-subject” provisions and “conflicts of interest”—never a word about how they want to stop the research, any way they can.
Now, pretend for a moment that you are an enemy of the research: an intelligent, enthusiastic, and skilled opponent, like Senator George Runner, described by the Los Angeles City Beat as “the virulently anti-embryonic stem cell Republican”. (March 24, 2005, Los Angeles City Beat)
Would you come out and frontally attack California’s genuinely beloved stem cell program, which offers hope to millions of suffering people, and their families?
No. You would put on a smiling face, and find clever ways to kill or at least hamstring the program—and all from directions which sound noble.
A careful study of SB 1565 reveals the legislative poison and not just the part where Senator Runner wants to reduce California’s official preference for embryonic stem cell research. It goes way beyond that.
Below are two key paragraphs from the legislative analysis.
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE ANALYSIS Senator Sheila J. Kuehl, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1565 AUTHOR: Kuehl & Runner
“The authors also state that…CIRM and the ICOC should be thoroughly scrutinized by an independent body to ensure the highest level of public trust and confidence. The authors believe that the Little Hoover Commission is the best entity to undertake a study of the existing governance structure and that such a study would help maximize CIRM and the ICOC's ability to achieve the goals of Prop 71 and protect the integrity of the institution from real or perceived conflicts of interest.” (Emphasis added)
How nice it sounds! If it only involves an examination of the program, who could be against that?
But look closer, at the problem the bill is supposed to solve.
“…to protect the institute from real or perceived conflicts of interest.”
“Perceived” means an opinion, which can of course be wrong. Shall we make changes in our stem cell program on the basis of an opinion? My perception of parachute jumping is that it is crazy— shall we therefore make parachutes illegal? What’s next? Shall we arrest and convict people on the basis of an opinion? Oh, my perception on that guy is that he looks like a criminal—- let’s arrest him--?
Are we to have a law against what may be an imaginary crime?
This flies in the face of both common sense, and the rule of law.
This is not nitpicking, as you will see from what comes next.
At stake is far more than just another investigation. Our program has already endured three in-depth investigations, and come out squeaky clean every time.
This is something completely different.
What exactly does the Little Hoover Commission do? Read the next paragraph carefully.
“Little Hoover Commission ("Commission") …the Commission's role differs in three distinct ways from other state and private sector bodies that analyze state programs. Unlike fiscal or performance audits, the Commission's studies look beyond whether programs comply with existing requirements, instead exploring how programs could and should function in today's world. The Commission produces reports that serve as a factual basis for crafting effective reform legislation and follows through with legislation or administrative changes to implement its recommendations. (emphasis added)”
Little Hoover Commission is a way to rewrite laws.
What does this mean to us?
If the purpose of SB 1565 is to legislate against a “perceived conflict of interest”, even an imaginary one, the obvious answer is to remove all the experts from the ICOC, and replace them with politicians.
Here is the real point of the whole bill, to take a pool of money which is currently being directed by patient advocates, and make it one more bureaucracy—which could easily have its budget cut. Right now, our money is being spent in the way the voters intended—but take away the patient advocates, and replace them with politicians?
In these times of economic scarcity, when every public budget is being cut, how many politicians could resist the opportunity to channel our pool of money in different directions?
Could research funds be redirected?
I have seen it done.
Two state-funded spinal cord injury research projects, one in New York and one in Maryland, had their money redirected—into the general fund. In both cases, things eventually worked out, but it took years of delay, years in which the money (and therefore the research) was held up and not spent where the public wanted it to be spent.
SB 1565 contains the seeds of destruction for the California stem cell program.
I urge all stem cell supporters to contact Chairman Mark Leno of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the last committee hearing before the bill is voted into law.
Assemblymember Leno is a good man, deserving of respect. He is a legitimate supporter of both stem cell research and the California stem cell program.
But he has about 150 bills to keep track of, and no one can fully understand such a volume of legalese.
It is up to us, the stakeholders, to reach out to the one man who can protect our program.
Please call his office, (916) 319-2081. The hearing is scheduled for July 9th, so time is short. Do it today. Not much is needed, just say who you are, that you would like to leave a message for Assemblyman Leno, and that you strongly oppose Senate Bill 1565.
Emails should go to his legislative analyst, Mary Ader, at: Mary.Ader@asm.ca.gov
Assembly Appropriations Committee Members Assemblymember.walters@assembly.ca.gov
Send one single email to the above members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, as blind carbon copies.
The assembly members below can be contacted on their websites.
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma http://legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=AD12& Assemblymember Mike Davis http://legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=AD48& Jared William Huffman http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a06/http://legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=AD06&
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