Thursday, May 30, 2013

Monterey Newspaper Chides California Stem Cell Agency

The California stem cell agency and its former chairman, Robert Klein, came under sharp criticism this week in an editorial in the Monterey County Herald newspaper.

The editorial cited articles on the California Stem Cell Report dealing with a $21,630 gift by Klein to the agency, his employment of the vice chairman of the agency and the violation of the agency's conflict of interest policies by a grant reviewer.

The editorial was headlined "State Stem Cell Agency Still Up to Old Tricks." The piece said,
“Robert Klein is no longer chairman of California's stem cell bureaucracy, but it is still doing things his way. Which is too bad for all concerned.
“Klein is the former developer and financier who wrote and sponsored the ballot measure that created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The ballot language practically guaranteed he would be the chairman, and he ran the agency the way he ran his businesses, using undisclosed side deals and other machinations to create webs that outsiders could never penetrate.
“Now, Klein has been replaced as chairman, but he is still up to his old tricks.”
The editorial concluded,
“Much has been said about the agency setting a new more straightforward direction now that Klein is gone, but so far it seems to be following a twisting and expensive path toward irrelevance and litigation.”

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