Posted on 08/24/2004 9:03:17 AM PDT by Coleus
Contact Info. for those out of state is at the bottom of this post, you can contact the: stem cell institute, gov. mcgreevey, and the NJ State Democrap and Republican Chairs.
We have just learned that Governor Jim McGreevey may be seeking employment at the NJ Stem Cell Institute when he leaves office. Please read the Press Release below. Please contact your two NJ state Assembly Members and your State Senator to express your outrage at this prospect. Seek assurances that your lawmakers will do everything in their power to block this effort.
To find out who your legislators are, you can click here Office of Legislative Services, or call: Phone: (609) 292-4840 Toll Free (800) 792-8630
Marie Tasy
NEW JERSEY RIGHT TO LIFE
113 NORTH AVENUE WEST
CRANFORD, NJ 07016
Contact: Marie Tasy, Public & Legislative Affairs Director (732) 846-2000
NJ Governor Jim McGreevey’s Motives to Finalize Plans For Stem Cell/Cloning Research Institute May Be Self-Serving
Governor May Seek Employment For Pet Project Forced on Taxpayers
August 23, 2004--
At the same time that lame-duck Governor James E. McGreevey is said to be looking to curb influence seeking money, his advisors have let it be known that he is interested in obtaining employment with the NJ Stem Cell Institute he helped spawn and publicly fund without voter approval. This news follows reports that McGreevey is frantically working with his top aides to complete construction plans and develop a management team to head this very same Stem Cell Institute before he leaves office. “Now that the Governor has announced his resignation, he is in a unique position to unduly influence this project for which he may personally benefit. This possibility which is being floated by McGreevey’s advisors should send up a red flag to anyone concerned about government ethics and cleaning up the way Trenton does business,” said Marie Tasy, Public & Legislative Affairs Director for New Jersey Right to Life.
“If McGreevey is hired in some capacity to advance the NJ Stem Cell Institute, it would mean that he would not only be profiting from the $11.5 million pet project he engineered and forced on the taxpayers of New Jersey, he would have unfettered access to secure funding year after year which he would personally benefit from,” noted Tasy.
Under a law signed by Governor McGreevey on January 4, 2004, unethical research is permitted which allows cloned human embryos to be created, gestated and harvested for their organs and parts and used for other types of grisly inhumane destructive experiments. In all his public announcements about the research, McGreevey and supporters have continued to engage in a dishonest campaign about what the law would do. They continue to falsely claim that (a) the “research” would ban human cloning and (b) that it would only allow research on existing human embryos that have been left over from in vitro fertilization treatments and (c) that human embryonic stem cell research will cure people. These first two assertions have all been repudiated by renowned experts in the field of bioethics and law who point to the law’s wording as proof that it doesn’t ban human cloning, but instead expressly authorizes it “through the embryo, fetal and newborn stage.” Regarding the last claim, there is no proof that human embryonic stem cells will lead to cures. The only success with cures scientists have had so far has been with adult stem cells. These studies have been documented in peer-reviewed medical journals. Unlike human embryonic stem cell research which involves the destruction of the human embryo, adult stem cell research does not involve killing the donor.
McGreevey, who once served as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical giant, Merck, who supported the cloning bill, may now be able to “cash in” on his pet project. In an editorial in Sunday’s NY Times, McGreevey outlined his reasons for wanting to stay in office until November 15. As expected, completing plans for the Stem Cell initiative is on the top of the list. “First, there are immediate public policy considerations and actions, which need to be completed. Simply put, there are demands and projects which need to be addressed and put in place now. Having accepted responsibility for my actions by proffering my resignation didn't necessarily mean that I was required to abandon midstream important initiatives that this administration holds dear. For instance, our work to establish a stem cell institute between the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers University is on the cusp of becoming a reality that will be a source of hope to those who are confronting incurable disease.” (NY Times editorial, August 22, 2004, “I Still Have Work to Do,” by James E. McGreevey.)
McGreevey’s close friend and confidante, Senator Ray Lesniak (D-Union) was quoted in an Associated Press story printed in Sunday’s Home News Tribune speculating about the Governor’s plans when he leaves office. "He (McGreevey) loves public policy. My guess is that he'll do something in that area — executive director of some foundation dealing with public policy in health care, economic growth, environmental protection, stem cell research, any of the issues he's worked on successfully," said Lesniak, D-Union. (Associated Press, August 22, 2004 by Tom Curran, “Personally and Professionally, Gay Gov Has Uphill Fight.)
From the very beginning, efforts to fund human embryonic/cloning research in NJ have been tangled in back room deals, arm twisting, pay to play politics and pushed through without voter approval. It should come as no surprise, then, that Governor James E. McGreevey and the NJ Democratic State Committee have decided to further tarnish this effort by donating illegal contributions from McGreevey fundraiser Charles Kushner to the NJ Stem Cell Institute,” said Tasy.
Kushner pleaded guilty last week to 18 charges which included federal witness tampering, filing false tax returns, and violations of campaign finance laws. In July, self-identified Democratic operative Paul Byrne who led a phony front group to support passage of the NJ clone and kill law pleaded guilty to extortion and tax evasion before a U. S. District Court in Newark. Byrne’s front group, NJ Right to Hope, received a $10,000 financial donation from U.S. Senator Jon Corzine to run ads to pressure lawmakers to support the Clone and Kill effort. After Byrne's sentencing, he said he hoped, "not to be remembered for his crimes, but as a proponent of the successful push two years ago that made New Jersey the second state to legalize embryonic stem cell research."
McGreevey Creates Nation’s First State-Supported Stem Cell Institute
NJ Stem Cell/Cloning Effort Tainted by Illegal Contributions and Political Corruption Scandals
NJ Stem Cell Institute
E-mail the Stem Cell Institute here
| Administrative Office | |
| Phone: | 732/235-4580 or 732/235-5388 |
| Fax: | 732/235-4029 or 732/235-4990 |
Contact NJ Democrats Contact NJ GOP
State Democrat Chairman: Assmeblywoman Watson-Coleman
State Republican Chairman: Senator Krillos
Contact McGreevey's "friend" Sen. Lesniak Sen. Lesniak
Orange is his color.
He disgusts me beyond words.
All I can hope for is this human trash musters up the decency to resign IMMEDIATELY rather than dragging it out at taxpayer expense and welfare.
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