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California Groups Protest Stem Cell Grant, Seek Probe

March 23, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Bloomberg News</p> <p>A second advocacy group, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, called on the state stem cell agency to freeze the grant while it looks into the institute's corporate links. The Santa Monica, California-based group also raised questions in an e-mailed statement yesterday about a plagiarism scandal that has surrounded Kwang-Yul Cha, the chairman of the institute's parent company, CHA Biotech.</p>

AT&T Delivers 500Gs for Arnold– Will it Get to the Kids?

March 21, 2007  ·  Jamie Court

<font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">The Gov had to go out of state yesterday, straight into the heart of Texas, to pick up a <a href="http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=6256610">$500,000 check from AT&T</a> for his favorite...</font>

PRESCRIBING CAUTION: From Wall Street, a Warning About Cancer-Drug Prices;

March 15, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Morgan Stanley Analyst Creates Stir in Industry As He Sees a Backlash</h3><p class="source">The Wall Street Journal</p> <p>In the spring of last year, a taxpayer group in California began publicly condemning Genentech for charging too much for Avastin, noting that the federal government's National Institutes of Health had subsidized some clinical trials of the drug. Not long after, Genentech said it was considering capping the price of Avastin.</p>

Donor appeal raises brows;

March 15, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Governor promises dinner, other perks for up to $250,000.</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Watchdog groups criticized the governor for giving special access to an elite group of donors at the same time he has asked legislators to approve a fundraising blackout that stretches at least several weeks in the spring and summer. "Here's a governor who proposed a ban on fundraisers during budget season, and now he's asking the highest price ever for people to come to his dinner table," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica.</p>

State to collect from stem cell institute

March 13, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Examiner</p> <p>John Simpson, of the nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said he'd like to see the regulations not only provide a return to the state, but one to "average, everyday Californians" who might be price-gouged by some drugs and therapies that result from the funding.</p>

Arnold is No Hiram Johnson

March 12, 2007  ·  Carmen Balber

<font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to be remembered as the second Hiram Johnson, but having <a href="http://arnoldwatch.org/special_interests/index.html">raised over $114 million from private...</a> </font>

THE DEALMAKER: SCHWARZENEGGER DONORS GET WHAT THEY WANT

March 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Daily News of Los Angeles</p> <p>...with all politicians, it's wisest to watch what they do, not what they say. And when Schwarzenegger's remark is linked to what his administration actually does, it's as if the governor were really saying, "What's best for my donors is best for all the people of California.''</p>

U. Wisconsin signs national stem cell patent rules

March 10, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Daily Cardinal (University Wire)</p> <p>There have been problems recently with technology transfers in terms of licensing which limit the work scientists at universities are able to accomplish, according to accusations lobbed at the University by the California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which claimed UW-Madison was restricting research at other universities with its formerly tight patent regulations.</p>

Early presidential primary on governor’s desk;

March 7, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3> CRITICS SEE CHALLENGE TO TERM LIMITS AS HIDDEN MOTIVE BEHIND DATE CHANGE</h3><p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>"This is so blatantly geared toward retaining power and influence that the public is bound to be cynical,'' said Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "They could just as easily do a term-limits extension that didn't grandfather all the leaders. Instead, they're doing it for their own political interest.''</p>

SEIU, nursing home operators agree to Washington pact

March 6, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>But there are critics of the pact, who say it goes much further than it should. "This a terrible abrogation of a union's duty," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, a California-based consumer-advocacy group that has criticized similar alliances the SEIU has formed elsewhere. "These types of agreements are unions becoming wholly owned subsidiaries of the health-care corporation that they are supposed to have an adversary relationship with."</p>

As WARF Updates Embryonic Stem Cell Policy To Ease License Requirements, IP Row Unfolds

March 5, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">BioTech Transfer Week</p> <p>On the same day that WARF issued its statement on policy changes, the Foundation for Taxpayer Consumer Rights, a California-based consumer watchdog group, said that the changes were "a step in the right direction, but don't go far enough."</p>

Union, nursing home alliance team up;

March 5, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Agreement's details kept secret amid $60 million lobbying push - Draft of pact calls for no strikes, industry to allow labor organizing</h3><p class="source">The Seattle Times</p> <p>Brown said agreements like the one in Washington "skirt on the edge of a very cynical bargain: We're for better patient care, we're for more money for patients, but only if we get organizing rights. And we'll stop pushing for more money for these facilities if we don't get organizing rights." Other critics accuse the union of being too focused on adding new dues-paying members, and too willing to forsake workers and consumers.</p>