LHC set to destroy CA stem cell program

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

Dear Stem Cell Research supporters:

This week we learned from Trauti Boyd that her husband's neurologist and
head of movement disorders at Duke University didn't know about the research
going on at Duke where spinal cord implants were used to improve PD-like
symptoms in mice.   Lack of communication between researchers and others is
one obstacle to finding a cure for PD.

Another is the deliberate and organized opposition in the state
legislatures.
Yet another tactic is to undermine and gut existing projects like the
California Stem Cell program with lawsuits and bureaucratic interference.

While you and I sit and get worse every day, opponents of research work
tirelessly to
undo progress that has already been made.

Read the following below from Don Reed's column and consider sending a
polite letter of support for the
California stem cell program to: littlehoover@xxxxxxxxxx, attention Stuart
Drown. Tell him you oppose reducing the number of board members to half,
reducing their salaries to then hire more people, eliminating indispensable
Chairperson Robert Klein and politicizing the CIRC.

Be ready to oppose a potential new law attacking the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine.  After I run this by Don I will give
you a sample letter, but think about it as you or your loved one slowly
turns to stone.

"On May 27th, an open meeting of the Little Hoover Commission was held to
discuss ways to drastically overhaul the California stem cell program.   It
was a disaster.

First, a little background. The Little Hoover Commission* (LHC) is a
California "efficiency organization" with the power to suggest new laws to
"improve" the function of California programs. That sounds okay, doesn't it?
But the California stem cell program has already been "improved" half to
death; much more such "improvement" and the patient may not survive!

As you know, the CIRM (California Institute of Regenerative Medicine) has
endured three lawsuits, (which nearly shut it down for two years); been
audited five times (came up squeaky clean, thank you very much), and has had
seven (7) laws thrown at it; can anyone name a government program which has
been more systematically investigated, almost to the point of harassment?
And yet it has prevailed. All seven laws were defeated, the audits found the
CIRM open and honest, the lawsuits were defeated on every point.

But now comes the Little Hoover Commission anyway, to take its turn.
Friends of this column might remember I have been worried about this group.

As you know, stem cell research's greatest enemy in California is probably
Senator George Runner. Mr. Runner, described by one newspaper (the Los
Angeles City Beat, 3/24/05) as "virulently anti-embryonic stem cell
Republican George Runner"    is against our research in general and
Proposition 71 in particular. He is, I believe, co-author to every anti-CIRM
law that has been proposed. One of his bills was the source of the original
request for the Little Hoover Commission to study the California program,
and his wife, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, was until very recently a member
of the Little Hoover Commission.

However, at the first meeting of the LHC discussing the stem cell program,
several board members complimented it. One said Bob Klein deserved "an A
plus" for leveraging $272 million in California dollars into $1.15 billion
in purchasing power; another said the program should be studied as an
example of government at its best: successful public/private partnership.

So was I worried for nothing?   Unfortunately, no. My worst fears were just
realized. "


Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
rbrown@xxxxxxxxx

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