Posted on 12/10/2004 10:42:22 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Voters in November leapt before they looked when approving Proposition 71, an initiative that creates a $3 billion California stem cell research institute headed by a 29-member oversight committee.
In coming days, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other elected officers will finish appointments to the committee. Those picks could determine whether this landmark research effort ends up financing medical breakthroughs or boondoggles.
Called the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, this panel will have tremendous power but little accountability. It will be the final grant maker on $3 billion in research and building funds over 10 years.
The committee - which meets Dec. 17 and may start approving grants within months - will determine if taxpayers receive a rare return from any patents and royalties financed by this public investment.
To top it off, this committee alone will monitor conflicts of interest among its members and advisers, many of whom will have ties to the universities and biotechnology companies seeking multimillion-dollar grants.
All along, supporters of the stem cell institute have promised a transparent process, even as they wrote ballot language that effectively pulls the shades down on oversight by lawmakers or the public.
Under Proposition 71, the deliberations of the working groups that recommend grant approvals will be held in secret, exempt from the state's open meetings laws. Members of the oversight committee must file statements of economic interest, but those reports won't be as detailed as the ones required for lawmakers and other state officers.
State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, introduced legislation this week to plug some of these holes, but it is unclear if her bill can pass legal muster. Proposition 71 prevents legislators from amending the law for three years, and even then, 70 percent of the lawmakers would have to approve any changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Studio chief Lansing to join stem cell panel (Excerpt)
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/11716341p-12604857c.html
Sherry Lansing, a cancer research advocate and the first woman to ever head a major motion picture studio, will join the citizens committee that will oversee the state's $3 billion stem cell research program.
State Controller Steve Westly appointed Lansing to the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee on Thursday.
Lansing already serves on the University of California Board of Regents.
Boondoggle. Chalk one up on the dislike side of the Arnold ledger.
Anyone paying attention knew about all these flaws before the initiative was voted on, but the news media were silent about them. NOW the newspapers are starting with the "here's what a boneheaded measure you voted for" stories. Not to mention politicians like Ortiz, who were invisible on the issue before the vote. Thanks a lot for your "oversight", Deborah, pun intended.
They should just go out and throw the money in the Pacific, it'll do just as much good.
Well, I am proud to say I voted against this measure. I do not think it would have passed if AH-nold would have kept his mouth out of it. We do not need the expense of this research especially in light of the fact that nothing may ever come of it!
One known outcome: a larger deficit :-(
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