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Partisanship Influences Debate Over California Stem Cell Measure By LAURA MECOY, SACRAMENTO BEE Published: Sep 5, 2004 Modified: Sep 5, 2004 2:44 PM LOS ANGELES (SMW) - In New York, Republican National Convention delegates cheered and waved flags when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attacked Democrat John Kerry's stance on stem cell research last week. In California, this type of partisan presidential bickering makes supporters of the state's stem cell initiative cringe. "We want to take politics out of science and take politics out of medicine," Fiona Hutton, Proposition 71 spokeswoman, said. "We don't want stem cell research to be a political football." But the issue is taking on an increasingly partisan tone in the presidential race, and the partisanship is creeping into the statewide stem cell campaign. Opponents welcome the debate - partisan or not - because they're so strapped for cash that they have little other hope of informing voters about the $3 billion bond measure to finance embryonic stem cell research in the state. "The more (the voters) know about it, the better it is for us," said Wayne Johnson, the opponents' campaign consultant. Opponents have reported raising about $125,000 for two campaign committees, while supporters have banked about $11.5 million. Hutton said Proposition 71's advocates welcome debates and discussion: They just want to avoid casting the issue in a partisan light. But the presidential campaigns have done just that. Kerry has attacked President Bush for his "far-reaching ban" on embryonic stem cell research. The president and his supporters have fired back with the Bush administration's $25 million expenditure last year on embryonic stem cell research. "I challenge John Kerry tonight: What ban?" Frist told convention delegates Tuesday night. "Shame on you, John Kerry." Bush has limited embryonic stem cell funding, leading some scientists to complain that the restrictions amount to a ban on federal dollars for the research. Frist pointed out that Bush's limitations haven't stopped privately financed research. The debate raging on the national stage is playing out among the California electorate. A Field Poll released Aug. 15 found Bush supporters opposed the initiative by about a 2-1 margin, while those voting for Kerry supported it by about a 2-1 margin. Statewide, voters were almost evenly divided, with 45 percent supporting Proposition 71 and 42 percent opposing it. Among elected officials, Democratic Treasurer Phil Angelides, State Controller Steve Westly and Sen. Barbara Boxer have endorsed it. No prominent Democratic elected official has officially opposed the measure. The state Republican Party and GOP Senate nominee Bill Jones are against it, and only a handful of Republican elected officials have declared their support for it. Among them, the most prominent GOP supporters are Rep. Doug Ose of Sacramento, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe and San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy. The state's highest-ranking Republican, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, supports embryonic stem cell research but said he's worried about the state going further into debt for it. Hutton said the campaign hopes to announce more Republican support in the final two months of the campaign. On the other side, Johnson said opponents aren't focusing on their supporters' political affiliations. He said they have expanded beyond the abortion foes that launched the group and have picked up support from some feminists and environmentalists. "We do not see (Proposition 71) as a partisan issue," he said. "People are coming from all walks of life." But most of the opposition's money has come from conservatives. Fieldstead and Co. in Irvine, a firm owned by conservative philanthropist Howard Ahmanson Jr., gave $50,000. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a leading abortion foe, also gave $50,000. The Catholic church and other abortion foes oppose embryonic stem cell research because they consider the harvesting of stem cells from days-old embryos to be the destruction of a life. The embryos used in research are leftover ones from in vitro fertilization attempts that would otherwise be discarded. The embryonic stem cells have the capacity to become any cell in the human body. If scientists could coax these cells to become replacements for damaged or missing cells, they claim they could cure spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Parkinson's and many other diseases. On the other side, the initiative's advocates picked up a $1.3 million contribution last week from a Menlo Park, Calif., venture capitalist who usually gives to Republicans, William K. Bowes Jr. Another venture capitalist, F. Noel Perry, and his wife, Claire, of Newport Beach, Calif., gave $748,000 on Thursday. They already contributed $250,000. The Perrys and Bowes are among a growing number of venture capitalist contributors to the initiative, a trend that has drawn opponents' fire. Johnson contends venture capitalists could profit from investments made with Proposition 71 bond revenues. "They are contributing what to them is chump change," he said. Hutton, Proposition 71's spokeswoman, said the "vast majority" of contributors believe in embryonic stem cell research or have family members with diseases the research could help. She said she hopes voters will focus on the potential for cures, rather than the partisan politics surrounding the issue. "We think Republicans and Democrats get diabetes ... (and) cancer," she said. "We think Republicans and Democrats should support stem cell research." SOURCE: The Sacramento Bee / Raleigh News, NC http://newsobserver.com/24hour/politics/story/1624237p-9320054c.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn