The article mentions a Mr. Keenan in a few sentences, but the article
seems to focus on stem cells. Why bother putting in Mr. Keenan plight?

If a group of average individuals or unions would it be looked upon as
just as corrupt and/or selfish as Mr. Klein's misson OR as a sign of
people getting together to help someone in their community??

I hope he can help his son which will inturn help others.

nancy m

Murray Charters wrote:

> CALIFORNIA: Two Fathers Take Causes to Ballot Box
>
> Motivated by their sons, they spend more than $5.6 million of their
> personal fortunes to put Propositions 66 and 71 before voters.
>
> By Megan Garvey
> Times Staff Writer
>
> October 31, 2004
>
> Behind two of the highest-profile measures on Tuesday's ballot stands
> one of the oldest of human motivations: fathers seeking to help their
> sons.
>
> They are not ordinary fathers. Bob Klein, the man behind Proposition
> 71, the stem cell ballot initiative, and Jerry Keenan, who brought to
> a vote Proposition 66, the three-strikes amendment, together have
> spent more than $5.6 million of their personal fortunes pursuing
> their chosen causes.
>
> Klein's 14-year-old son, Jordan, suffers from juvenile diabetes — a
> disease that Klein and others believe could eventually be cured using
> therapies derived from embryonic stem cells. Keenan's only child,
> Richard, is serving an eight-year sentence in prison for a car
> accident that left two of his passengers dead and one hurt. Should
> Proposition 66 pass, his time behind bars might be shortened.
>
> The ballot measures have drawn both men into the public eye.
>
> Klein has campaigned statewide for Proposition 71. If it passes, he
> would be in position to become head of the California Institute for
> Regenerative Medicine, which the measure would create. The post would
> give him influence over the $3 billion the measure would distribute
> during the next 10 years to researchers across the state. Opponents
> of the measure say the institute would distribute taxpayer money with
> virtually no government oversight.
>
> Deeply personal causes are not unusual in the initiative process —
> crimes against children drove the three-strikes law to passage a
> decade ago. What is new is for a ballot measure to draw so directly
> on both the emotional capital and financial resources of parents
> whose children could directly benefit.
>
> "I think it's fascinating. Now it is a parent as opposed to people
> who just felt strongly about an issue," said Robert Stern, president
> of the nonprofit Center for Government Studies in Los Angeles. "The
> question is: Is it better or worse than the special interest and
> labor unions pushing their agendas? I think it's about the same.
> Wealthy interests are able to buy their way onto the ballot."
>
> When President Bush announced in August 2001 that he had decided to
> strictly limit how federal funds could be used for stem cell
> research, Bob Klein watched on television.
>
> "At the time, I'm not sure I understood what it meant," he said in a
> recent interview.
>
> A year later, when his son was diagnosed with insulin-dependent
> diabetes, which can shorten a life span by decades, Klein took on the
> pursuit of a cure.
>
> His search, he said, led him to the field of embryonic stem cells.
>
> The field is controversial because embryos must be destroyed in order
> to obtain embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to become
> any type of cell in the body. Because of that potential, many
> scientists believe embryonic stem cells hold great promise in the
> treatment and understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's,
> Parkinson's and diabetes.
>
> What separated Klein from other parents desperate to cure a child's
> debilitating illness was an idea, combined with the means and
> connections to put it into action. With a background in the financing
> of affordable housing, Klein believed that California could replace
> the federal government as the source of funds for research and create
> what he envisioned as a "substitute national program."
>
> The idea quickly took shape as a $3-billion bond initiative, the
> amount Klein determined would be needed to provide research grants as
> well as facilities to insulate the research from political
> interference.
>
> In the mid-1970s, not long after graduating from Stanford University,
> Klein helped create the California Housing Finance Agency. Since
> 1975, the state agency, which supports itself through revenue bonds,
> has lent more than $12 billion to first-time homeowners. Klein used
> that agency as a template to guide his vision for financing research.
>
> Klein spent the better part of a year selling his idea — first to
> scientists, then to major donors, who chipped in more than $20
> million, and now to voters. In doing so, he has sparingly sprinkled
> in his personal experience. He always mentions that his son has
> juvenile diabetes and his mother suffers from Alzheimer's.
>
> Asked about the criticism that wealthy people have an unfair
> advantage getting their issues on the ballot, he said he sees not an
> advantage but a duty.
>
> "I think people who earn the most money in this society have an
> obligation to give back to society," he said.
>
> Klein said he crafted his measure — and took it directly to voters —
> to protect the research from political interference or financial
> raids by state legislators.
>
> Opponents of the measure, however, say Klein's initiative insulates a
> vast sum from any meaningful scrutiny.
>
> "The oversight committee is anything but independent," said Francine
> Coeytaux, who served on the California Advisory Committee on Human
> Cloning. "It's made up of academics and scientists whose careers
> depend on the research and biotech people and disease advocates — the
> conflict of interest is inherent in the structure of the committee.
> It reveals an extraordinary hubris on the part of the backers."
>
> Opponents of the measure suggest that Klein is positioning himself to
> run the institute — a suggestion that he does not deny, saying only
> that he could not afford to take the position for very long.
>
> SOURCE: The Los Angeles Times / KTLA5, CA
> http://tinyurl.com/4zn3q
>
> * * *
>
> .Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]>
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