Blag-daddy earmarks money for Stem Cell Research

[Soxy]

Linkage

 

Blagojevich earmarks money for stem cell research

 

The Associated Press

Published July 12, 2005, 1:28 PM CDT

 

Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued an executive order Tuesday that directs $10 million in state money to be used for stem cell research, including embryonic stem cells.

 

The money is to be given in grants to medical research facilities and would be part of a program the governor called the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute. The Illinois Department of Public Health is to over see that program, which is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

 

Blagojevich said he would consider it immoral not to act because stem cell research is an important avenue through which some diseases could be cured.

 

The cash was included in the state budget as money for medical research.

 

The executive order permits funding for research on adult, cord blood and embryonic stem cells.

 

Obtaining embryonic stem cells requires destroying days-old embryos, so abortion foes oppose using them. The Bush administration has dramatically restricted federal funding for the practice.

 

New Jersey, California and Connecticut already provide state funding for stem cell research.

Edited July 13, 2005 by ChiSoxyGirl

[Wong & Owens]

This might be the only non-ass backward move a politician has made all week!

[CubKilla]

Funny. Blago continually tells his State workers the State is broke but he's finding millions for stem cell research and salt dome pressure washing contracts to contributors to his campaign. Let's not forget the millions he's earmarked to his wife so that she can organize flower planting areas along the State's highways..... flowers that DIE every winter from the salt spray of vehicles traveling well in excess of the 55 MPH posted speed limit.

 

f*** "Blag-daddy" and his stem cell research :finger

[Soxy]

Funny. Blago continually tells his State workers the State is broke but he's finding millions for stem cell research and salt dome pressure washing contracts to contributors to his campaign. Let's not forget the millions he's earmarked to his wife so that she can organize flower planting areas along the State's highways..... flowers that DIE every winter from the salt spray of vehicles traveling well in excess of the 55 MPH posted speed limit.

 

f*** "Blag-daddy" and his stem cell research :finger

The money was ear marked for research anyway, so I don't think this is a misappropriation of funds. . .

[southsider2k5]

The money was ear marked for research anyway, so I don't think this is a misappropriation of funds. . .

 

Earmarked ahead of time? This is the Trib article today. It sounds like it was an endaround to me, and the only people who knew the money was there were two people. They never gave anyone a chance to vote on this, dispite knowing the controversy it would start. George Bush and company were taken to the matt with controversy when they tried sneaking a rider into a bill dealing with the IRS, but now things are seemingly quiet, dispite how this was done. Whether you believe stem cell research is right or wrong, Blago's techniques here were at very least a gross misuse of power, and I await all of the ethical screamings that accompanied the samething from the other side of the aisle.

 

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday ordered state health officials to direct $10 million to stem-cell research, putting Illinois among a select group of states that have started their own programs in the face of federal funding restrictions. Angry opponents called the move an end-run around state lawmakers, who have repeatedly defeated such proposals.

 

The Democratic governor signed an executive order directing the money be used for grants to jump-start research in Illinois during a news conference at Children's Memorial Hospital. He was surrounded by children with diabetes and adults with spinal cord injuries, conditions such research could help treat.

 

Blagojevich said he was making the "morally right" decision even though opponents believe creating embryonic stem cells is akin to cloning and destroying them during research is ending a potential human life.

 

"So whatever criticism and remarks that come my way--and I suspect there will be a firestorm of criticism because I'm using executive power--I enthusiastically embrace it," Blagojevich said. "I feel very good about this decision."

 

The governor's order follows the defeat of several stem-cell research measures in the spring session of the legislature. The most ambitious plan, pushed by state Comptroller Dan Hynes, proposed increasing taxes on cosmetic surgery to raise $100 million for research.

 

Although Blagojevich opposed Hynes' proposed tax increase, he supported allocating more money for stem-cell research, and the two hatched the plan to plug the $10 million into the $55 million budget that took effect July 1.

 

The money was added as a single line item to the budget of the Illinois Department of Public Health and was listed as being "for scientific research," without mentioning stem cells.

 

"This is clearly a manipulation of the legislative process by taking a controversial major public policy issue and end-running the legislature. What they did was they snuck $10 million into a budget without being up-front with the public," said Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville). "They have tried to cut the legislature out of the process and did so for $10 million in research money, which might just be a drop in the bucket."

 

The governor said it is foolish to do nothing when a new frontier of medical science is not being fully explored.

 

"While we are forced to live in a democracy with several branches of government, sometimes in a democracy the process is frustratingly slow," Blagojevich said.

 

Hynes, a fellow Democrat who has occasionally criticized Blagojevich on other issues, praised the governor on Tuesday. He said Blagojevich was a leader on the issue in the face of Republican opposition statewide and nationally that, he said, squelched hope for thousands of families.

 

"Today we will restore that hope, maybe only partly, maybe only for a short while, but today that hope is renewed," Hynes said.

 

Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield), who broke ranks by supporting the measure in part because his 12-year-old daughter has diabetes, acknowledged that when he voted against the budget in May as most Republicans did, he had no idea the $10 million was included. But he defended the governor's move.

 

States have begun to take the initiative on funding stem-cell research after President Bush placed restrictions on such research in 2001. Several measures are wending their way through Congress, including a bill to expand stem-cell research that the House passed despite vows of a presidential veto.

 

Illinois is among a few states that have committed to funding stem-cell research, though most have made far bigger investments.

 

In California, voters recently approved $3 billion over 10 years for research. New Jersey has allocated only $6.5 million so far, but has proposed spending an additional $300 million, while Connecticut has approved $100 million over 10 years.

 

Wisconsin also has approved a new $375 million research facility in Madison and millions more for research at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, officials said.

 

Blagojevich expressed the hope the $10 million will be the start of a bigger effort. A panel under the Public Health Department will begin taking applications for grants by the end of the year, officials said.

 

Mary J.C. Hendrix, president of the Children's Memorial Research Center, said Blagojevich's measure would allow researchers to work on embryonic stem-cell lines that are not approved for federal funding.

 

Janet Rowley, professor of medicine and molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago, said the $10 million "is politically significant."

 

But she said Illinois would probably need $500 million to $1 billion over a 10-year period to make a significant impact in stem-cell research.

 

Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, said the state is making a drastic mistake and that the move will be fought.

 

He said even though there is wording in Blagojevich's order saying that no funds will be used for human cloning, one of the procedures approved for funding--somatic cell nuclear transfer--is considered cloning by the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Gilligan and others, many of whom are Republicans, oppose only embryonic stem-cell research and support research on adult stem cells.

 

"Gov. Blagojevich is taking our tax dollars and using it to fund research that people have ethical questions about," Gilligan said.

[CubKilla]

Whether you believe stem cell research is right or wrong, Blago's techniques here were at very least a gross misuse of power, and I await all of the ethical screamings that accompanied the samething from the other side of the aisle.

 

[Soxy]

If you actually read the article I posted you'll see that the money was already earmarked for medical research. I was going off of that information. I'll go back and add that for empathesis.

 

If it will placate those crying foul--put it to a vote. It will pass. Or better yet, ask the research community how the money can be best spent and I'm sure they'll tell you the need for stem cell research.

 

We have at least one poster here who does stem cll research, and I'm sure he could enlighten you as to why this is the best option, both for the state and for the furthering of our medical knowledge and ameliorating our chances of finding cures for a plethora of genetic and contagious diseases.

[CubKilla]

If you actually read the article I posted you'll see that the money was already earmarked for medical research. I was going off of that information. I'll go back and add that for empathesis.

 

If it will placate those crying foul--put it to a vote. It will pass. Or better yet, ask the research community how the money can be best spent and I'm sure they'll tell you the need for stem cell research.

 

We have at least one poster here who does stem cll research, and I'm sure he could enlighten you as to why this is the best option, both for the state and for the furthering of our medical knowledge and ameliorating our chances of finding cures for a plethora of genetic and contagious diseases.

 

I'm in favor of stem cell research. The problem I have with this entire deal is Blago and his constant crying, ".....that the State is broke.....", all the while he's greasing his campaign contributors pockets and cutting 'under the table' research agenda's with $$$$$ that, supposedly, the State doesn't have.