Thursday, January 20, 2005

CIRM Shows Us The Money

Members of the CIRM oversight committee have filed the first set of official disclosure documents regarding their financial holdings. Lest you get your voyeuristic hopes up, the statements are fairly general, basically confirming that many of the committee members are wealthy.

Several of the major California newspapers ran stories on the filings and reaction to them. Carl Hall's story in the San Francisco Chronicle had this paragraph:

“ 'It would be naive for anybody in California to believe the good-old-boy network is not at play here,' said Deborah Burger, president of the California Nurses Association, which opposed Proposition 71.”

Lisa Krieger and Paul Jacobs of the San Jose Mercury News filed a story that noted that CIRM Chairman Robert Klein has made millions during his career in real estate. The story went on:

“As a member of the subcommittee seeking a site for the taxpayer-funded institute, Klein will be in a position to influence decisions affecting commercial real estate in the chosen community. He also has temporary authority to hire staff and to rent short-term offices during the start-up phase of the program.”

Hall had this nugget near the end of his story on the wealthy committee members:

“At the other end of the spectrum, Dr. Josephine Phyllis Preciado, a Fresno physician appointed to the stem cell board because of her advocacy for low-income people and minority communities affected by diabetes, filed one of the shortest forms, detailing only one outside source of income: her husband's salary as a sales associate at Home Depot.

“Preciado said her spouse, Kevin Sutter, is a handyman who has spent most of his time lately rearing the couple's two children and remodeling their home. She added that he is no relation to the namesake of Sutter Health, the prominent California health care provider.

“'He doesn't even like to go into hospitals,' Preciado said.”

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We welcome your comments on CIRM or the failings of this blog. Please send them to djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

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