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FROM: Sacramento Bee George Shultz backs stem cell bond measure By Laura Mecoy -- Bee Los Angeles Bureau Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, September 8, 2004 LOS ANGELES - Former Secretary of State George Shultz on Tuesday endorsed Proposition 71, saying the $3 billion bond measure for stem cell research has adequate safeguards to protect the public's money. Shultz, who is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, said Proposition 71 is "quite well-designed from a fiscal standpoint and from a governance standpoint." "It is a very good initiative, and it will be good for California as well as for humanity," he said in a phone interview with The Bee. Shultz said he consulted scientific experts who were "wildly excited about what can happen if steady, adequate funding is available" for embryonic stem cell research. The initiative on the state's Nov. 2 ballot would authorize the issuance of bonds to pay for about $295 million annually in embryonic stem cell research in California over the next 10 years. The legislative analyst has estimated the ultimate cost to California taxpayers would be about $6 billion. Proposition 71 supporters contend some of the $6 billion would be recouped through lowered health-care costs and from royalties paid on patents on treatments developed through the state-funded research. Wayne Johnson, the opponents' consultant, said the initiative doesn't offer enough safeguards for taxpayers' money or any guarantee that the state would collect royalties. "This is a papier-mâché attempt to lend some credibility to the weakest part of the argument by focusing on a personality instead of the facts," he said. He said he believed Shultz had the "best of intentions." But Johnson said he didn't believe the late President Reagan's secretary of state had "any cachet" on state budgetary matters. Shultz, who has a doctorate in economics, served as chairman of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board. During the 1970s, he served as secretary of the treasury, secretary of labor and director of the Office of Management and Budget. He is one of a handful of prominent Republicans to endorse Proposition 71. Most of its political support has come from Democrats. "It doesn't have much to do with being Republican or Democratic," Shultz said. "It's about research on something that is important." The Republican Party is officially opposed to abortion and views embryonic stem cell research as destroying human life because the cells come from days-old embryos created in the lab. Shultz said he has two grandchildren who are the result of in-vitro fertilization - a process that produces the excess embryos used in embryonic stem cell research. "What do opponents believe should happen - that those should just be thrown away?" he said. His endorsement is the latest in a long series of endorsements lined up by supporters, who are far ahead of opponents in endorsements and fund raising. Johnson, the opponents' consultant, said the opposition campaign isn't trying to compete on endorsements and questioned how influential they would be in this election. "Endorsements only matter if people aren't interested in the issue (on the ballot,)" he said. "They are interested in this one." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ The Bee's Laura Mecoy can be reached at (310) 546-5860 or [log in to unmask] http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/10666586p-11585304c.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn