Posted on 05/27/2005 10:18:02 AM PDT by NYer
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco officials were elated that the city beat out 16 other California cities to become the headquarters of the new $3-billion, state-funded stem cell institute. But their elation was tempered by news that litigation is blocking bonds from being issued to fund the institute.
A motion filed by a pro-life advocacy group on behalf of two successful tax limitation citizen groups could stall or even stop the money from being given out. The motion, filed by Life Legal Defense Foundation April 6 on behalf of People's Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation, contended it is unconstitutional for an entity without any oversight by elected officials to disburse state funds.
Apparently no one paid attention to the lawsuit until May 6, when San Francisco won the bid for the site.
“There are not going to be any bonds issued anytime soon,” said Tom Dressler, spokesman for the California attorney general. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the litigation may mean a delay of 18 months or more.
Both State Attorney General Bill Lockyer and State Treasurer Phil Angelides vowed to fight the litigation, saying in a statement: “We are concerned that a few, narrow anti-choice interests are attempting to thwart the will of California's voters, who voted decisively to make funding available for this important research.”
A human embryo is a unique boy or girl from conception to eight weeks, with DNA, life-expectancy — and the right to life. Embryonic stem cells are obtained by cutting open a five-day old living human embryo and extracting his or her stem cells, thus killing the embryo. The research has never proved medically helpful. Meanwhile, non-fatal, morally acceptable adult and umbilical cord stem-cell research has benefited many patients.
California's constitution allows citizens to gather signatures and place proposed laws before the voters, circumventing the state legislature. The initiative process has resulted in a number of far-reaching government reforms through the years.
In the case of Proposition 71, a well-funded campaign led by entrepreneur Robert Klein and backed in its closing days by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger resulted in the creation of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
The Life Legal motion filed in state superior court contends the ballot initiative that created the institute illegally deprives taxpayers of the protection of oversight by elected officials.
“In sum, the Act delegates the dispersal of huge sums of public money to the unfettered discretion of an institution whose governing board and Working Groups are unaccountable to the public,” the motion stated. “Plaintiffs desire a judicial determination of the rights and duties of the parties and a declaration that the Act is unconstitutional.”
People's Advocate was founded by the late Paul Gann, part of the Jarvis-Gann coalition behind the famous Proposition 13 property tax-limitation measure passed by two-thirds of California voters in 1978. The organization was also one of the groups behind the successful recall of former Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
The National Tax Limitation Foundation is a California non-profit organization founded in 1976. It supports such fiscal changes as a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the line-item budget veto.
Big Risk
Life Legal's Executive Director Dana Cody said the motion is filed purely on constitutional grounds and does not address any of the moral issues surrounding the so-called “clone-and-kill” procedure of creating embryos and killing them to use their cells to try to develop treatments for disease.
Cody said the new institute is an “entity that is not accountable to the state, yet they are going to be a recipient of state money.”
San Francisco won the headquarters' bid partly because of the Bay Area's large concentration of research centers, including the University of California-San Francisco which is already heavily involved in embryonic stem-cell research.
There are a number of biotech companies in the area, and the city offered the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine a $17-million package that includes free office and research space with sweeping views of the Bay, near the Giants' Pac Bell Park.
At its first meeting May 9, the finance committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine voted to authorize the California state treasurer to issue $3 billion in state bonds, even as it acknowledged the difficulties.
Institute finance committee members are attempting to procure $200 million in short-term, or bridge, financing to begin funding research, but without a guarantee that the state will eventually back the bonds, those who buy them may end up empty-handed.
Bridge funding is being sought, “while access to the critical research funding approved by California voters is temporarily blocked by groundless lawsuits,” according to a statement by Klein, who heads the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the Institute. Klein predicted a charitable organization would buy the bonds and take the risk of losing its money.
“Authorizing and moving forward on interim financing is going to be very challenging given the litigation,” Mike Roth, spokesman for the state treasurer, said. “The marketing and the marketability of the bonds is going to be very challenging. I will add this: Back in November, the California voters voted overwhelmingly to approve Proposition 71 and Treasurer Angelides is committed to make this bond sale happen and see the will of the people through and through.”
Another meeting of the finance committee of the stem cell institute is scheduled next month.
Meanwhile, Life Legal's Cody says she is receiving threatening phone calls wishing that her children contract cancer and AIDS. She said her detractors believe the false promises of those campaigning for embryonic stem-cell research.
“It's pitiful, is what it is, because these people have been given false hope,” Cody said.
‘Ripping Off Taxpayer'
Jennifer Lahl, national director of The Center for Bioethics and Culture, an early opponent of Proposition 71, is elated by the legal snag. Asked if the state will be able to sell bonds to fund the Institute, Lahl said, “Not yet. As long as we can tangle them up in these lawsuits — which we hope it will be resolved favorably on our part. Basically the lawsuit is not attacking the ethics of using the embryo, it is attacking the ethics of ripping off the taxpayer.”
Lahl hopes as more of the 70-plus successful adult stem-cell treatments get public attention, the tide will turn against proponents of embryonic stem-cell research. Indiana recently passed legislation promoting adult stem-cell research and barring embryo-destructive research, she notes.
The new California institute also was thought to be a boon for the local economy. From 2000 to 2004, more than 340,000 payroll jobs were lost in the Bay Area. But with or without litigation, the stem cell headquarters is unlikely to do much to replace that immediately.
“There's not much of an industry around stem cells yet,” University of California-San Francisco Chancellor J. Michael Bishop told the San Francisco Chronicle . “We haven't figured out how to make the stem cells do what we need them to do to be useful clinically. Until that is done, it's a pretty shaky base for startups.”
Pro-life ping!
Well good...a delay. Messing with embryos for stem cells is just wrong. They are living organisms, we were all embryos once. They should not be tampered with.
life is gift from good G-D!!!Respect this good persons respect human persons respect good G-D thank you"NYer"
"Messing with embryos for stem cells is just wrong. They are living organisms, we were all embryos once. They should not be tampered with."
Where was the "concern for the will of the voters" when Prop. 187 was litigated?
I think the problem they are going to run into is that embryonic stems cells are different from adult stem cells. Embryonic cells are designed to grow into a whole baby while adult cells are more restricted.
Of course this is just assumption on my part but seeing as every embryonic cell 'cure' they've attempted has really messed up the patient and at least 70 adult stem cell therapies now work it makes sense to me
Remember that South Park episode with the conjoined-twin myelitis lady?
I've never seen South park. Just don't care for cartoons except for Tom and Jerry and classic Bugs Bunny (before PC). Haven't seen any of the new cartoons (not even simpsons)
In short, it is all about cash flow.
Kind of answers the question, "What can I do? I'm only one person."
Bless you! Get yourself on Coleus' pro-life ping list.
Don't forget Popeye - a veritable hero!
Coleus,Pro-Life bump.
That's good news - for now!
BTW, is that signature still on going - I'm an Irish citizen, as you know, will it help??? And actually how do I sign?
BTW, I like the picture of Benedict XIV!!
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