San Francisco Chronicle - December 12, 2004
Carl T. Hall at chall@sfchronicle.com.

Robert Klein, the Palo Alto real estate developer, is regarded as the leading contender for the job in part because the peculiar language of the proposition seemed closely tailored to someone with his background. He said last week he would be willing to serve, at least for a while, before he returns to his business ventures.

State officials technically had until today to appoint policy makers to run the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which voters created Nov. 2 by passing Proposition 71. As of Friday, only 13 of 29 members had been named to the institute's governing body, known as the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee.

Twenty-seven members will be appointed by various state officials. The last two are supposed to be nominated to the posts of chair and vice chair by four particular state officials -- the governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and controller -- then chosen to serve by a vote of the 27 other committee members. Those two individuals will be the board's only full- or part-time paid employees under the terms of Prop. 71. The choice is expected to be made at the board's first meeting Friday in San Francisco.

At the weekend, at least two other names emerged as possible nominees, although neither has publicly confirmed any interest in the top job: Dr. Michael Friedman, a former cancer specialist at UCSF who now serves as CEO of the City of Hope National Medical Center in Southern California; and former University of California President Richard Atkinson, a cognitive scientist who holds a faculty post at UC San Diego. Neither could be reached for comment.

Some of the other individuals who have been named to the board so far already are backing Klein -- assuming he is nominated.

"I would be supportive," said John Reed, chief executive of the private Burnham Institute in San Diego. "He was the mastermind who really made all this happen. He has wide experience, and I certainly would advocate him for chairman."

But at least one of the newly designated board members has expressed a strong desire to see more than one possibility for the post to be put before the other board members.

San Francisco AIDS activist Jeff Sheehy, who was named by outgoing state Senate Pro Tem John Burton to the committee to represent HIV/AIDS interests, said board members should have a choice among different backgrounds and philosophies, to prevent the Friday meeting from becoming a "coronation ceremony" for anyone.

Sheehy, 47, works as a public information officer for the UCSF AIDS Research Institute. He also once joined in a protest at which a coffin was flung onto university grounds to protest UCSF's AIDS research priorities.

He made it clear that he has enormous respect for Klein and the role he has played in advancing the cause of stem cell science. At the same time, he said he is not convinced that Klein should automatically assume the leadership role.

The most important goal, Sheehy said, should be avoiding any impression that leaders of the stem cell enterprise are steaming ahead with a preset agenda before he and other board members have even had a chance to gather.

"Everybody's going to have issues around the ethics of this," he said. "This technology has the capability to transform mankind if we're open and democratic about how we proceed. But it would be wrong to just crank up a new technology, turn it over to private industry and see what happens. That's not what the voters wanted."

He added, "We need to be very cautious here at the beginning. Even though some of the things we are talking about may seem small, as we go down the road we may be dealing with pretty big issues. So we need to put in place a fair and open process to see us all the way through."

For his part, Klein has made it clear that nothing is to prevent other candidates from entering the fray. Privately, state officials said they have been actively seeking top individuals, but as of Friday were not ready to reveal any candidates.

The politics of the selection process are hard to untangle. Klein is a Democrat and prominent backer of liberal candidates, but Prop. 71 won endorsement from Nancy Reagan, widow of the former president, as well as the Republican governor.

The remaining appointments to the high-profile committee are expected to be announced very shortly. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante plans to name three more appointments on Monday, including San Francisco deputy city attorney David Serrano Sewell, who has multiple sclerosis and is being selected as a patient advocate representing people with MS and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly are also likely to announce more choices Monday. They would not comment last week amid signs of intensive lobbying behind the scenes on behalf of candidates.

Sheehy, in a lengthy interview in his San Francisco office, also said it would be a mistake for leaders of the institute to continue trying to defy key legislators such as state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, who proposed legislation last week to correct what she considers to be defects in Prop. 71.

Ortiz, who wrote an earlier measure legalizing controversial embryonic stem cell research in California, was a big supporter of the initiative. She now wants to add guarantees that publicly financed stem cell findings will benefit California taxpayers and consumers, in the form of patent royalties and cheaper treatments.

The law enacted by voters gives the stem cell enterprise considerable latitude in setting up intellectual-property provisions, although it does contain a requirement that taxpayer interests be taken into account when development rights are granted from publicly financed research.

Ortiz's stance drew a rebuke from Klein, who noted that Prop. 71 specifically was designed to insulate scientists from the vagaries of politics. He said the individuals being named to run the stem cell venture can be counted on to look out for the public interest.

But at least one of those individuals -- Sheehy -- argues it would be a good idea to bring Sacramento lawmakers into the loop.

"I would support the Legislature having some oversight," Sheehy said. "The law doesn't require it, but it doesn't forbid it either. Why can't we figure out a way to interact with the Legislature for some additional oversight, maybe set up a formal process for that? They do represent the people of California. They've been elected. No one elected me."

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