Roles as Honorary Chairs Of Event Are Inappropriate, Consumer Advocates Say
Santa Monica, CA — The stem cell institute’s scientific staff won’t give private scientific briefings to large donors to a black-tie fundraiser, the institute’s president, Dr. Zach Hall, told the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) in a letter.
“Such private briefings by CIRM staff would be improper and we have not, and would not, consider such an arrangement,” Hall wrote.
John M. Simpson, FTCR Stem Cell Project director, wrote Hall today that he was pleased to post Hall’s letter clarifying the situation on FTCR’s Web site.
But continued involvement by the institute’s leaders in the May 22 gala in San Francisco remains troublesome, FTCR said. Money from the benefit featuring Julie Andrews and Marvin Hamlisch will go to the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
Private scientific briefings were offered by the gala to donors paying $5,000 and $10,000 a ticket. Representatives of the gala “Reach for Tomorrow, Research Today” had told FTCR via e-mail that CIRM scientific staff would give the briefings.
Read the Simpson and Hall letters and the e-mails.
Hall also wrote Simpson that the gala would not accept any donations from biotech or pharmaceutical corporations and that the names of the donors would be made public. “This is a the minimum requirement and something we’ve been insisting upon all along,” said Simpson.
But he said the high-profile involvement by Hall, Robert Klein, chairman, and Ed Penhoet, vice chairman, as honorary chairs of the black-tie gala remained troublesome because it continues to create the appearance that donors have privileged access to top ICOC and CIRM officials.
“I know you and your scientific colleagues are seeking to act with the utmost integrity in overseeing the allocation of $6 billion in taxpayer funds,” wrote Simpson. “That’s precisely why it is so important that the avoidance of even the appearance of a conflict is critical. All of us who believe in CIRM‘s potential and stem cell research would be better served if you were not associated with the gala.”
– 30 –
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is California’s leading non-profit and non-partisan consumer watchdog group. For more information visit us on the web at: http://www.ConsumerWatchdog.org. Our stem cell information page is located at: http://www.stemcellwatch.org.
