Posted on 12/13/2004 7:01:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller Steve Westly on Monday nominated Proposition 71 campaign chairman Robert Klein II to head the oversight committee that will guide the landmark $3 billion stem cell research initiative approved by voters last month.
The governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and controller each nominate candidates for chairman and vice chairman of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, with the selection to be made by the committee's 27 members Friday at University of California, San Francisco.
Schwarzenegger and Westly's choice for vice chair is former biotech executive Edward Penhoet.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Treasurer Phil Angelides had yet to release their nominations, though spokesmen said they were imminent.
The committee will oversee the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine that was created by the passage of Proposition 71.
Schwarzenegger, in his announcement, said his nominees would "provide the leadership, vision and oversight necessary to guide this important and landmark committee as they work to establish California's prominence as a leader in stem cell research."
Schwarzenegger's nomination of Klein, 59, of Portola Valley, had been anticipated.
He is president of Klein Financial Corp., which finances and builds affordable housing. His interest in medical research was spurred in 2001 when his youngest son, Jordan, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. In addition, his mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and his father died from heart disease.
In 2002, he helped persuade Congress to approve $1.5 billion to continue a national diabetes research program another five years.
Though Klein has been a major Democratic campaign donor and Schwarzenegger is a Republican, the governor broke ranks with the state Republican Party and President Bush to support the stem cell initiative effort chaired by Klein and overwhelmingly approved by voters.
Penhoet, 64, of Oakland, also a Democrat, co-founded Chiron Corp. in 1981 and was chief executive officer until 1998. In 1999 he co-founded Renovis, another biotech firm that worked on nerve regeneration. He now is president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which promotes science, education and environmental conservation.
The positions pay $100 per meeting and do not require Senate confirmation.
Members of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee
http://www.bakersfield.com/state_wire/story/5144668p-5187105c.html
Here are the appointees by the governor, lieutenant governor, controller, Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem to the 29-member Independent Citizens Oversight Committee. Treasurer Phil Angelides had yet to make his five appointments. The chancellors of the University of California at San Francisco, Davis, San Diego, Los Angeles and Irvine each appoint a representative. Those 27 members will select a chairman and vice chairman Friday, filling the final two positions.
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Gov.:
- Keith Black, director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and director of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
- Brian Henderson, dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
- Oswald Steward, chair and director of the Christopher Reeve-Irvine Research Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the University of California, Irvine.
- Leon Thal, chair and professor of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center there.
- Gayle Wilson, Los Angeles, sits on corporate boards including Gilead Sciences Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. She's the wife of former Gov. Pete Wilson.
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Lieutenant governor:
- Josephine Phyllis Preciado, executive director of the Diabetes Resource Network, Fresno Collaborative, University of California, San Francisco; and executive director of the Latino Center for Medical Education and Research, Fresno.
- Tina S. Nova, president and chief executive of Genoptix Inc., San Diego.
- Richard Murphy, chief executive officer of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
- Robert J. Birgeneau, chancellor of University of California, Berkeley.
- David Serrano Sewell, San Francisco deputy city attorney.
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Controller:
- Ted Love, president, chief executive officer and director of Nuvelo Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in Sunnyvale.
- Joan Samuelson, founder and president of the nonprofit Parkinson's Action Network.
- Philip Pizzo, dean of the Stanford Medical School.
- John C. Reed, chief executive of Burnham Institute.
- Sherry Lansing, chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group.
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Assembly speaker:
- John Hein, executive director of the national advocacy organization Communities for Quality Education.
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Senate president pro tem:
- Jeff Sheehy, deputy director for communications at the University of California, San Francisco, AIDS Research Institute.
A big waste of tax payers money.
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